"
"Oh yes, young man," he answered, "it is all very well for you to talk
like that, but if you had found yourself in the position which it was
my privilege to occupy a few hours afterwards, it is my belief that you
would have thrown the tusks away altogether and taken to your heels."
"Oh," said Good, "so that isn't the end of the yarn? A very good yarn,
Quatermain, by the way--I couldn't have made up a better one myself."
The old gentleman looked at Good severely, for it irritated him to be
chaffed about his stories.
"I don't know what you mean, Good. I don't see that there is any
comparison between a true story of adventure and the preposterous tales
which you invent about ibex hanging by their horns. No, it is not the
end of the story; the most exciting part is to come. But I have talked
enough for to-night; and if you go on in that way, Good, it will be some
time before I begin again."
"Sorry I spoke, I'm sure," said Good, humbly. "Let's have a split to
show that there is no ill-feeling." And they did.
V--THE MESSAGE OF MAIWA
On the following evening we once more dined together, and Quatermain,
after some pressure, was persuaded to continue his story--for Good's
remark still rankled in his breast.
"At last," he went on, "a few minutes before sunset, the task was
finished. We had laboured at it all day, stopping only once for dinner,
for it is no easy matter to hew out five such tusks as those which
now lay before me in a white and gleaming line.
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