During The Task Of Pacifying Lizzie, The "Heap" Had Again Sunk Into
Comparative Silence, And Only A Confused Murmur Was Audible From Its
Depths.
Allowing no time to be lost, Dunmore said to Lizzie - who was
puffing out huge mouthfuls of smoke, greatly to the astonishment of the
other gins, who looked as if they expected to see her suddenly blaze up -
"Lizzie, you ask, suppose they been see any white fellow on island? White
fellow in plenty big canoe. That fellow canoe been come like 'it shore.
You tell them, 'Baal white fellow hurt you, suppose you been show, where
brother belonging to him sit down.' You tell them that, Lizzie."
Lizzie proceeded with the greatest gravity, and evidently with an
overwhelming sense of self-importance, to put the required questions,
whilst we anxiously awaited her replies.
"Well, what they been say?" exclaimed Dunmore at last, when there was a
momentary break in the conversation.
I should imagine that the vernacular of the Hinchinbrook Islanders was not
pre-eminently adapted for the noble intricacies of diplomatic intrigue. In
the first place it contains but few words, and none representing any number
higher than five, so that even the courtly nobleman now presiding over
Foreign Affairs, would find the smooth flow of his amenities subjected to
rude shocks; and as for expressing any large number either in words or
figures - say, for instance, the Alabama indemnity of three millions - to
do so, would tax to the utmost the genius of the late Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
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