Atoms of Empire

Then Baines said: " By God, he is brave enough. When I told him what Katti City was really like, he never turned a hair. I watched the beggar."

"Pah! Brave?" said Forbes. " It was only mutton-headed ignorance. Simply, he didn't believe you."

"Think so?" said Baines. " Perhaps you're right. He certainly doesn't take any of us much at our own valuation here. Well, he'll find out many things for himself in due time, and after that the wires '11 begin to work, and the nice pink English Tommies will begin to come, and the West African squadron Good Lord! that gives me jumps."

His Excellency the Governor had accidentally tipped over a tall soda-water tumbler, which fell with a crash on to the floor. The men in the room, with their nerves all on springs, started as if a shell had burst under the table, and by the time they had settled down again, frowning and fanning, the Governor had finished apologising fo