'
"'Don't tempt me!' I says. 'I will not have any dealings with a woman, not
till we are a dam' side more settled than we are now. I've been doing the work
o' two men, and you've been doing the work of three. Let's lie off a bit, and
see if we can get some better tobacco from Afghan country and run in some good
liquor; and no women.'"
"'Who's talking o' women?' says Dravot. 'I said wife--a Queen to breed a
King's son for the King. A Queen out of the strongest tribe, that'll make them
your blood-brothers, and that'll lie by your side and tell you all the people
thinks about you and their own affairs. That's what I want.'
"'Do you remember that Bengali woman I kept at Mogul Serai when I was a plate-
layer?' says I. 'A fat lot o' good she was to me. She taught me the lingo and
one or two other things; but what happened? She ran away with the Station-
master's servant and half my month's pay. Then she turned up at Dadur Junction
in tow of a half-caste, and had the impidence to say I was her husband--all
among the drivers in the running-shed too!'
"'We've done with that,' says Dravot; 'these women are whiter than you or me,
and a Queen I will have for the winter months.'
"'For the last time o' asking, Dan, do not,' I says.
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