ge could have done.

Meinik always accompanied Stanley, wherever he went. He had now, to
the latter's quiet amusement, modified his Burmese costume; making
it look like that of some of the whites and, indeed, he would have
passed without notice as one of the Goa-Portuguese mess waiters, in
his suit of white nankeen. When riding, or on any service away from
the headquarter camp, he was dressed in a suit of tough brown khaki
which he had obtained from one of the traders at Rangoon. The coat
differed but little from that of the suit Stanley had handed over
to him; except that it was somewhat shorter and without the small
shoulder cape and, in fact, resembled closely the modern regimental
tunic. Below he wore knee breeches of the same material; with
putties, or long bands of cloth, wound round and round the leg, and
which possessed many advantages over gaiters. He still clung to the
turban but, instead of being white, it was of the same colour as
his clothes, and was much larger than the Burmese turban.

"Burmese are great fools," he often said to Stanley. "They think
they know a great deal; they know nothing at all. They think they
are great fighters; they are no good at fighting, for one
Englishman beats ten of them. Their government is no good--it keeps
everyone very poor and miserable. You come here; you know nothing
of the country, and yet you make everyone comfortable. We ride
through the villages; we see everyone rejoicing that they are
governed by the English, and hoping that the English will never go
away again.

"What do you think, sir--will you stay here always? You have had
much trouble to take the country. A great many people have been
ill; a great many died. Now you have got it, why should you go away
again?"

"It is quite certain that we shall not give it all up, Meinik. It
has been, as you say, a troublesome and very expensive business;
and the farther the king obliges us to go up, before he makes
peace, the more he will have to pay, either in money or territory.
Of course, I cannot say what the terms of peace will be; but I
should think that, very likely, we shall hold the country from the
sea up to here, with Aracan and a strip along the sea coast of
Tenasserim."

"That will be good," Meinik said. "I shall never go outside the
English land, again. There will be plenty to do, and a great trade
on the river; everyone will be happy and contented. I should be a
fool to go back to Upper Burma; where the