These insinuations and doubts worried him very much. One day in a drawing-room in Edinburgh, a Scotchman repeated in Bruce's presence the subject of the daily jokes; and as to the uncooked meat, he did not believe it was either possible or true. Bruce made no remark. He went out of the room and shortly afterwards returned with a raw beefsteak, salted and peppered after the African manner."
"'Sir,' said he to the Scot, 'in throwing doubt upon what I have declared to be true, you have gravely insulted me, and in disbelieving the possibility of the occurrence, you have made a great mistake. Now, to prove it, you are going to eat this raw steak, or give me satisfaction!' The Scot was a coward, and he ate the steak with many grimaces. Then, with great coolness, Bruce added: 'Supposing, even, that the thing is not true, sir, you will hardly in future maintain that it is impossible!'"
"A capital retort," said Joe. "If the Scot got indigestion, it was no more than he deserved; and if, when we return to England, anyone cast doubts on our journey———"
"Well, Joe, what will you do?"
"I will make the skeptics eat the fragments of the 'Victoria,' without salt or pepper!"
All laughed at Joe's determination. So the day wore on in pleasant chat; with strength, hope returned—with hope, boldness. The past was effaced by the future with providential rapidity. Joe did not wish to leave this delightful asylum. It was the country of his dreams; he felt at home here, he obliged his master to take the exact bearings, and he wrote it with much ceremony in his notebook, 15° 43′ longitude, 8° 32′ latitude. Kennedy only regretted his inability to hunt or shoot in that miniature forest; in his eyes the place only wanted a few wild beasts, to be perfectly charming.
"Well, my dear Dick, you have a very bad memory. How about that lion and lioness?" said the doctor.
"That's nothing," replied Dick, with a true hunter's contempt for what he had killed. "But, as a matter of fact, we may suppose their presence in this oasis is indicating our approach to more fertile regions."
"By no means a certain proof, Dick; these animals, impelled by hunger or thirst, often travel immense distances.
