has no right to think anything of
the kind. You three have got to work together and be like messmates, as
you sailors call it."

"That's right, sir; messmates is the word; but--" The man stopped.

"Well, out with it," said Mark. "What were you going to say?"

"Well, sir," said the man, hesitating, and he turned now to look half
appealingly at Dean, "you see, sir, I am a bit weak still in the head."

"Of course you are! Then go on getting strong."

"Thankye, sir; that's what I am doing," said the man; "but I can't help
every now and then thinking that all this 'ere is too good to be true,
and that as soon as Sir James and the doctor thinks that I'm all right
again they will say, `There, my lad, you are about fit to shift for
yourself, and you can go.'"

"Oh, I see," said Mark sarcastically.

"Yes, sir, that's it," said the man, with a sigh.

"Now, let's see," said Mark, and he gave his cousin a peculiar look; "I
suppose, fairly speaking, it will take about a month before you are
quite right again."

"Bless your heart, sir, not it! Fortnight, more likely; I should say
about a week."

"Well, I hope that in a month's time--for that's what I'll give you; eh,
Dean?"

"Oh, quite," said his cousin decisively.

"Well, I will put it at three weeks," said Mark, "and by that time I
hope we shall be a couple of hundred miles farther up the country, with
the ponies and the waggons and the teams of oxen all with us in
travelling trim, right away in the wild country, where there's no
settlement--not a house--nothing but here and there one of the blacks'
camps--kraals, as they call them; eh, Dean?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Well, then, at the end of that time--oh, I shall make it a month--"

The man drew a deep breath.

"And then my father will have a quiet chat with the doctor and take his
opinion. He always goes by Dr Robertson's opinion, doesn't he, Dean?"

"Always," said his cousin.

"And then he'll what slang people call sack you. You sailors don't say
sack, do you?"

"No, sir," said the man sadly. "When I was in the Royal Navy we used to
call it being paid off."

"Well, it doesn't matter," said Mark. "Then of course when we are
hundreds of miles from everywhere my father will pay you off."

"Oh, no, sir," said the man earnestly, "I don't expect no pay."

"Never mind what you expect. My father, I say, will tell you to be off
and shift for yourself and get back to that moist oven of a port the
be