Many of the white officers, who come here sometimes, speak our language, but none of them as well as you do." "You see, they only learn it after they come out here, while I learnt it from my mother, who has talked to me in it since I was quite a little boy; so it comes as naturally to me as to you." In a few minutes, supper was announced.

The two boys sat down with their father and Dick, and the meal was served in English fashion.
Dick had already become accustomed to the white-robed servants, at the hotel at Madras, and everything seemed to him pleasant and home-like.
"Tomorrow, Dick," his uncle said, "you must have your first lesson in riding." The two boys looked up in surprise.

They had been accustomed to horses from their earliest remembrance, and it seemed to them incredible that their tall cousin should require to be taught.

Dick smiled at their look of astonishment.
"It is not, with us in England, as it is here," he said.

"Boys who live in the country learn to ride, but in London, which is a very great town, with nothing but houses for miles and miles everywhere, few people keep horses to ride.