end.

"What old tones?" asked Harold.

"The tones of your voice," said Disco.

"Have they changed so much of late?" inquired Harold in surprise.

"Have they? I should think they have, just. W'y, you haven't spoke
like that, sir, for--but, surely--are you better, or is this on'y
another dodge o' yer madness?" asked Disco with a troubled look.

"Ah! I suppose I've been delirious, have I?" said Harold with a faint
smile.

To this Disco replied that he had not only been delirious, but stark
staring mad, and expressed a very earnest hope that, now he had got his
senses hauled taut again, he'd belay them an' make all fast for, if he
didn't, it was his, Disco's opinion, that another breeze o' the same
kind would blow 'em all to ribbons.

"Moreover," continued Disco, firmly, "you're not to talk. I once nursed
a messmate through a fever, an' I remember that the doctor wos werry
partikler w'en he began to come round, in orderin' him to hold his
tongue an' keep quiet."

"You are right Disco. I will keep quiet, but you must first tell me
what you are about, for it has roused my curiosity, and I can't rest
till I know."

"Well, sir, I'll tell you, but don't go for to make no obsarvations on
it. Just keep your mouth shut an' yer ears open, an' I'll do all the
jawin'. Well, you must know, soon after you wos took bad, I felt as if
I'd like some sort o' okipation w'en sittin' here watchin' of you--Jumbo
an' me's bin takin' the watch time about, for Antony isn't able to hold
a boy, much less _you_ w'en you gits obstropolous--Well, sir, I had took
a sort o' fancy for Yambo's youngest boy, for he's a fine, brave little
shaver, he is, an' I thought I'd make him some sort o' toy, an' it
struck me that the thing as 'ud please him most 'ud be a jumpin'-jack,
so I set to an' made him one about a futt high.

"You never see such a face o' joy as that youngster put on, sir, w'en I
took it to him an' pulled the string. He give a little squeak of
delight he did, tuk it in his hands, an' ran home to show it to his
mother. Well, sir, wot d'ee think, the poor boy come back soon after,
blubberin' an' sobbin', as nat'ral as if he'd bin an English boy, an'
says he to Tony, says he, `Father's bin an' took it away from me!' I
wos surprised at this, an' went right off to see about it, an' w'en I
come to Yambo's hut wot does I see but the chief pullin' the string o'
the jumpin'-jack, an' grinnin' an' sniggerin' like a blue-faced baboon