148
IN TIMES OF PERIL.
and himself, the ranee coquettishly held out a little hand whose size and shape an Englishwoman might have envied, and the boys kissed it—Ned respectfully, Dick with a heartiness which made her laugh, and draw it away.
"You are a darling," Dick said, in English, with the native impudence of a midshipman, "and I wish I knew enough of your lingo to tell you."
"What does he say?" she asked of Ned.
"He is a sailor," Ned said; "and sailors say things we on shore would not venture to say. My brother says you are the flower of his heart."
"Your brother is an impudent boy," the ranee said, laughing, "and I have a good mind to hand him over to the Nana. Now good-by. Ahrab will let you out."
