y packed, they had been well supplied with food
and water on the way down; and a herdsman with four men under him
had been sent, in each boat, to take care of them, as Tom Pearson
was very anxious that his first consignment should be reported upon
favourably. The animals were all landed in the course of the
afternoon and, with the acknowledgment of their receipt, in
excellent order, in his pocket, the contractor went off again, with
Stanley, to his own dhow.

"I have told them to have everything in readiness to drop down the
river with the tide, tomorrow morning. It will turn just about
sunrise. That is a rare bit of business, Stanley; and I doubt if a
contractor ever got his work through so quickly, before. Of course,
it is principally due to you. They would never have pushed things
through so quickly, had you not gone with me. I thought that very
likely I might be detained here a week, before I could get all the
cattle on shore--and by that time, if all goes well, I shall be at
Ramgur again.

"Now we can have a comfortable evening's talk, which is very much
better than my going to dine with you at mess; for there is a great
deal to hear about, and I daresay that I can give you as good a
dinner as we should have had, on shore."

"A good deal better," Stanley said. "Things have improved
immensely, during the last month; still our mess cook is certainly
not so good as your man and, at any rate, the quiet of your cabin
makes a very pleasant change, after always sitting down with a
large party."

After dinner was over, Stanley gave a full account of his
adventures, from the time that he was taken prisoner.

"You have done wonderfully well for yourself, lad; wonderfully
well. Certainly when you picked up Burmese from my man, we had no
idea that it was ever likely to turn out so useful. I thought that
it would have been an assistance among the Mugs on the coast; and I
had, too, some idea that the war might lead to the opening of a
trade up the Irrawaddy; but it has turned out infinitely more
useful than that. If you could not have spoken Burmese, Bandoola
would never have thought of asking for you to be spared as an
interpreter and, if he had not done so, you would have had your
head chopped off, at Ava.

"Of course that leopard business was the turning point of your
fortunes but, though it has turned out so well, I must say that I
hardly think that you were justified in risking your life in such a
desperate act fo