'Old friends,' I said, 'how long is it since we got back from Kukuanaland ?' 'Three years,' said Good.

'Why do you ask ?' 'I ask because I think that I have had a long enough spell of civilization.

I am going back to the veldt.' Sir Henry laid his head back in his arm-chair and laughed one of his deep laughs.

'How very odd,' he said, 'eh, Good ?' Good beamed at me mysteriously through his eyeglass and murmured, 'Yes, odd -- very odd.' 'I don't quite understand,' said I, looking from one to the other, for I dislike mysteries.
'Don't you, old fellow ?' said Sir Henry; 'then I will explain.
As Good and I were walking up here we had a talk.' 'If Good was there you probably did,' I put in sarcastically, for Good is a great hand at talking.

'And what may it have been about ?' 'What do you think ?' asked Sir Henry.
I shook my head.