I hope you won't have cause to regret it one day."
"Don't be silly, dear. Come on!" she replied, touching her pony with the
whip. The animal seemed to dislike entering the forest as much as the man
did. "Oh, do go on, Kitty. Don't be tiresome."
The pony balked, but finally gave way under protest, and they rode on into
the jungle. A bridle path wound through the undergrowth and between the
trees, and this they followed.
It was easy to understand the girl's enthusiasm and desire to be in the
forest. After the tameness of the tea-garden the wild beauty of the giant
trees, their huge limbs clothed in the green leaves and drooping trails of
blossoms of the orchids, the tangled pattern of the interlaced creepers,
the flower-decked bushes and the high ferns, looked all the lovelier in
their untrammelled profusion.
The nursery was visited and the damage done to the young plants inspected.
Then they turned their ponies' heads towards home and went back through the
strip of jungle. They rode over the whole estate, including the untidy
ramshackle village of bamboo and palm-thatched huts of the garden coolies,
where the little, naked, brown babies rushed out to salaam and smile at
their friend Noreen.
As they came in sight of the ugly buildings of the engine and drying-houses
with their corrugated iron roofs and rusty stove-pipe chimneys, Daleham
said:
"Look here, old girl, while I go to the factory, you'd better hurry on and
see to the drinks and things we've got to send to the club.
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