Think av the burnin’ shame to the sufferin’ coolie-man that the army in Injia are bound to protect an’ nourish in their bosoms! Two thousand coolies defrauded wanst a month!’ ‘Dom t’ coolies. Has’t gotten t’ cheer, man?’ said Learoyd. ‘Hould on. Havin’ onearthed this amazin’ an’ stupenjus fraud committed by the man Dearsley, I hild a council av war; he thryin’ all the time to sejuce me into a fight with opprobrious language. That sedan-chair niver belonged by right to any foreman av coolies. ‘Tis a king’s chair or a quane’s. There’s gold on ut an’ silk an’ all manner av trapesemints. Bhoys, ‘tis not for me to countenance any sort av wrong-doin’--me bein’ the ould man--but--anyway he has had ut nine months, an’ he dare not make throuble av ut was taken from him. Five miles away, or ut may be six--’ There was a long pause, and the jackals howled merrily. Learoyd bared one arm, and contemplated it in the moonlight. Then he nodded partly to himself and partly to his friends. Ortheris wriggled with suppressed emotion. ‘I thought ye wud see the reasonableness av ut,’ said Mulvaney. ‘I made bould to say as much to the man before. He was for a direct front attack--fut, horse, an’ guns--an’ all for nothin’, seein’ that I had no thransport to convey the machine away. “I will not argue wid you,” sez I, “this day, but subsequently, Mister Dearsley, me rafflin’ jool, we talk ut out lengthways. ‘Tis no good policy to swindle the naygur av his hard-earned emolumints, an’ by presint informashin’”--‘twas the kyart man that tould me--“ye’ve been perpethrating that same for nine months. But I’m a just man,” sez I, “an’ overlookin’ the presumpshin that yondher settee wid the gilt top was not come by honust”--at that he turned sky-green, so I knew things was more thrue than tellable--“not come by honust, I’m willin’ to compound the felony for this month’s winnin’s.”’ ‘Ah! Ho!’ from Learoyd and Ortheris.