The fact is, breakfast is
ready, and I have only had one square meal since I went away, and that
was yesterday at Estcourt."
"Go, by all means," the captain laughed. "I breakfasted half an hour
before you came in, and forgot that it was possible that you had not
done so." It was a full half-hour before Chris returned, and when he did
so he left Sankey still telling the story of their adventures, which had
made very little progress, as he had declared that he could not enjoy
his breakfast if he was obliged to keep on talking all the time. When
Chris, on his part, had told the story to Captain Brookfield, the latter
said:
"I can't say that I am altogether surprised to see you back, though I
certainly did not expect you for a long time, for I felt sure that if
you and Sankey were not seriously wounded you would manage to give them
the slip before you got to Pretoria; and I thought we should hear the
first news of you at Durban, for it would be shorter and easier for you
to make your way down again to Lorenzo Marques than to follow this
line."
"We should certainly have gone that way if we had not escaped until we
were near Pretoria, but it was a great deal easier to slip away from the
waggons than it would have been if we had been once put into the train.
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