No wonder we found that poor Yankee’s skeleton with the canes growin’ between his ribs. It was horrible⁠—but it was doocedly interestin’ too. We were all fascinated to see them take the dive, even when we thought it would be our turn next on the springboard.

“Well, it wasn’t. They kept six of the Indians up for today⁠—that’s how I understood it⁠—but I fancy we were to be the star performers in the show. Challenger might get off, but Summerlee and I were in the bill. Their language is more than half signs, and it was not hard to follow them. So I thought it was time we made a break for it. I had been plottin’ it out a bit, and had one or two things clear in my mind. It was all on me, for Summerlee was useless and Challenger not much better. The only time they got together they got slangin’ because they couldn’t agree upon the scientific classification of these redheaded devils that had got hold of us. One said it was the dryopithecus of Java, the other said it was pithecanthropus