"Jeekie," he called, "wake up those fellows and come and light the
oil-stove. I want my coffee."
Thereon a deep voice was heard speaking in some native tongue and
saying:
"Cease your snoring, you black dogs, and arouse yourselves, for your
lord calls you," an invocation that was followed by the sound of kicks,
thumps, and muttered curses.
A minute or two later Jeekie himself appeared, and he also was much
changed in appearance, for now instead of his smart, European clothes,
he wore a white robe and sandals that gave him an air at once dignified
and patriarchal.
"Good-morning, Major," he said cheerfully. "I hope you sleep well,
Major, in this low-lying and accursed situation, which is more than we
do in boat that half full of water, to say nothing of smell of black man
and prevalent mosquito. But the rain it over and gone, and presently the
sun shine out, so might be much worse, no cause at all complain."
"I don't know," answered Alan, with a shiver. "I believe that I am fever
proof, but otherwise I should have caught it last night, and--just give
me the quinine, I will take five grains for luck."
"Yes, yes, for luck," answered Jeekie as he opened the medicine chest
and found the quinine, at the same time glancing anxiously out of the
corner of his eye at his master's face, for he knew that the spot where
they had slept was deadly to white men at this season of the year.
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