“Io, my love, I have just been speaking with Pinfold about you,” he said. “The doctor suggests that a change of air and scene might do you more good than medicine. What say you to a little camping out—an expedition to Tavoy?”
“I should like it extremely,” replied Io in her natural tone. She felt that it would be pleasant to escape from curious eyes, and wearisome inquiries after her health, to enjoy freedom in the wild woods, with Oscar for her companion. Her husband was pleased at the readiness and cheerfulness of her reply.
“You are not afraid of a little roughing it?” inquired Oscar tenderly, taking a seat beside his wife. “We should have to sleep in my little tent.” He had taken Io’s hand in his own, and was gently caressing it as he spoke.
“I should enjoy the life,” was Io’s reply; “only, I was forgetting one thing: I could not leave my Maha behind, there is no lady in Moulmein to whom I could trust the poor child.”
“You shall take Maha with you,” said Oscar; “she shall share your tent at night, and wait on you by day.”
“But where would you sleep, my Oscar?”
“Under the trees—I’ve done so before; that is nothing to an old sportsman like me. A knapsack for a pillow, a rug for a bed—in this fine climate that is luxury enough for a man.”
“For you, I daresay, but not for me,” observed Thud, who had joined the Coldstreams in the veranda, and so had heard the conversation between them. “I have an idea that sleeping under trees is bad for the constitution.”
“By all means remain under a roof,” said Oscar, who was not anxious to have the company of Thucydides Thorn. “I shall ask Mr. Lawrence to let you live with him during our absence, and you will go on with your work at the wharf.”
“With Mr. Lawrence!” said Thud dolefully; “I’d rather be sent to prison at once. Fancy being boxed up with a parson! I’d rather by far chum with Pogson.”
“I will not consent to your chumming with Pogson. As long as your mother trusts you to my care, you must allow me to make your arrangements,” said Coldstream, with that quiet decision which even Thud was learning to respect.
“Then I’ll go to Tavoy,” decided Thud. “I daresay that you can get another tent for my use.”
“Not without expense and delay,” replied Oscar. “I am anxious to start on Monday, so as, if possible, to reach Tavoy by the end of the week. Remember that all our luggage has to be carried on mules. A large cavalcade is not to be desired. I should like you to stay in Moulmein.”
“And I should like to go to Tavoy,” said the lad. “If I must sleep under a tree, I must. I’ll have two rugs and a blanket. Camping out will give me fine opportunities of adding to my knowledge of natural history.”
“Yes; you will have the opportunity of finding out whether the mosquito has a proboscis not due to man’s cultivation,” said Io archly.
“How would you like to travel, my love?” inquired Oscar of his wife. “To ride your pony all the way would be far too fatiguing, and there is no proper carriage-road. What say you to a litter, or a howdah on an elephant’s back?”
“I should like an elephant of all things,” exclaimed Io, with so much of her old playfulness that Oscar’s face relaxed into something like a smile.
“I should like it of all things too!” cried Thucydides Thorn.
“The howdahs used here are very small,” observed Oscar; “there is room for but two persons in them.”
Join or Log In!
You need to log in to continue reading
(Left Keyword <-) Previous:
CHAPTER XII. CONJECTURES.
Back
Next:
CHAPTER XIV. A DISCOVERY.
(Right Keyword:->)