Read Books Online, for Free |
The Wheels of Chance | H. G. [Herbert George] Wells | |
XXIX. The Unexpected Anecdote Of The Lion |
Page 3 of 4 |
"On the Karroo--was it called?" "That's the term. Some of it was freehold though. Luckily. We got along very well in the old days.--But there's no ostriches on that farm now." He had a diamond mine in his head, just at the moment, but he stopped and left a little to the girl's imagination. Besides which it had occurred to him with a kind of shock that he was lying. "What became of the ostriches?" "We sold 'em off, when we parted with the farm. Do you mind if I have another cigarette? That was when I was quite a little chap, you know, that we had this ostrich farm." "Did you have Blacks and Boers about you?" "Lots," said Mr. Hoopdriver, striking a match on his instep and beginning to feel hot at the new responsibility he had brought upon himself. "How interesting! Do you know, I've never been out of England except to Paris and Mentone and Switzerland." "One gets tired of travelling (puff) after a bit, of course." "You must tell me about your farm in South Africa. It always stimulates my imagination to think of these places. I can fancy all the tall ostriches being driven out by a black herd--to graze, I suppose. How do ostriches feed?" "Well," said Hoopdriver. "That's rather various. They have their fancies, you know. There's fruit, of course, and that kind of thing. And chicken food, and so forth. You have to use judgment." "Did you ever see a lion?" "They weren't very common in our district," said Hoopdriver, quite modestly. "But I've seen them, of course. Once or twice." "Fancy seeing a lion! Weren't you frightened?" |
Who's On Your Reading List? Read Classic Books Online for Free at Page by Page Books.TM |
The Wheels of Chance H. G. [Herbert George] Wells |
Home | More Books | About Us | Copyright 2004