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Alignment-Lab-AI

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GutenDialogue2

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[ { "from": "human", "value": "The house is on fire!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "There are three men running away towards the swamp!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I see them!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Put the fire out first, and we will attend to them afterwards! said Levi." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Keep an eye on them while you work, and see where they go." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I suppose this fire is the work of the ruffians," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No doubt of that; but it is a mystery to me how any of them got this side of the house without being seen," }, { "from": "human", "value": "But there is the road I came over yesterday morning," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And you can see that low place this side of it, where the ruffians could neither walk nor swim. There is a pond farther along, with a stream from it that flows into Bar Creek," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I should say they came across the river above the bridge," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But the rapids run close to the shore, and they would not find very good boating right there, replied the overseer with a smile." }, { "from": "human", "value": "However, we will go over to the river, and beat the edge of the swamp to the pond." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That makes it look as though Major Lyon had fallen upon them, said Levi, as he quickened his pace." }, { "from": "human", "value": "There is another and another;" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Out of the reach of the revolver; and he had better have brought one of the breech-loaders, said the lieutenant." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It looks to me just as though they had a first-rate chance to escape." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We are not euchred yet, replied Levi, as he ran with all his might in the direction of the pond, but to a point much nearer the road." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I have often thought of this place since the troubles here began. The high ground extends very nearly to the road, over which a bridge goes over a small creek, flowing into the pond. I have crossed this place on a plank to the road." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then we are all right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We are if I can find the plank. One of the cows got mired here, and it was brought over to use in getting her out. There it is!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "What does that mean, Mr. Bedford?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The placards we posted last night have waked up the ruffians, and they are coming over here on the same mission as the three we have driven off to Bowling Green, replied Levi, as he whipped up the mules." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They are the ruffians without a doubt, and we are going to have music of some sort before the sun goes down to-night." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I did not expect to be besieged so soon, Major Lyon," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We shall hardly be besieged, Lieutenant, for I think it will be a fight as soon as they get near enough to begin it, replied the planter, who was seated on a log, resting himself after the hard tramp he had had after the incendiaries." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But the enemy seem to be better prepared for business than they were when they came before, for you say that all you could see were armed with muskets." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I could not see at the distance they were from us how well they were armed," }, { "from": "human", "value": "About every family in these parts has one or more persons who do something at hunting in the woods and swamps, and I reckon it would be hard to find a house without a fowling-piece or an old king's arm in it," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They have all got guns of some sort, interposed Simeon Enbank, one of the recruits." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They have been drilling all the time for the last two days in one of Dr. Falkirk's fields." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I went over to look at them this morning, and the sight of them made me so mad that I came right over here and enlisted," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Good for you, Yowell! exclaimed the officer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Could you see what sort of guns they had?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I went in and looked at them; for they were not using them when I was there. They were in line, sort of taking steps, as they do in a dancing-school," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But the arms?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "They were all sorts and kinds, mostly fowling-pieces and old flint-locks that might have been used in the Revolutionary War." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But we are losing time, said Major Lyon impatiently." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If they had reached the bridge when you saw them, they will be here very soon." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We don't lose time while we are looking up the condition of the enemy. I believe you are all ready for an attack, and we can do nothing till they reach the other side of the creek. But we can talk while we work, replied the officer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I suppose these recruits will assist us in the defence of the place?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are a dozen more men over in the grove, said Ben Decker;" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "THE BOYS CLIMBED A BIG TREE TO OBTAIN A BETTER VIEW." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are a lot of wagons on the bridge, said Deck, who was the first to discover them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What do you suppose that means?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There are three mule teams, added Artie, who had taken a higher place in the tree than his brother." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I see now; the wagons are loaded with boats." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That means that they intend to cross the creek, replied Deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They ought to know this at the fort at once; and if you will study up the thing while I am gone, Artie, I will run up and carry the information." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That is a good scheme; go ahead with it as quick as you can." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "It is time to do something, said the major, after he had welcomed the young lawyer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The ruffians have a wagon-train loaded with boats in their rear, as my son has just informed me. We will adjourn to the fort and call in the lieutenant." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They intend to make it easy work for us to repel them," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You are the only military man among us just now, Lieutenant, and I place you in command of all the forces, added Major Lyon." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Levi had some experience in the artillery many years ago." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I don't aspire to any command, added the overseer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I will obey orders as a private; and that is all I ever was in the artillery." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But I shall do something better for you, replied Captain Gordon, as they began to call him from this time." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You are a good soldier, Mr. Bedford, and I shall make an officer of you at once. You will limber up your two guns, and haul them down to the boathouse. Have you any gunners?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Plenty of them, Captain; for I have trained enough of the hands to handle a full battery," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Captain Gordon, we are not going into the army with niggers, said he in a very decided tone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We ain't going to drop down to the level of niggers, and we want to take our names off that paper." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not a single negro has been enlisted, and will not be," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But there is a squad of niggers marching down to the creek with muskets in their hands," }, { "from": "human", "value": "If we had a sufficient force of white men here, we should not call in the negroes as fighting men, interposed Major Lyon." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That Home Guard that has just crossed the bridge over the river consists of over a hundred men, and this time they are armed with guns. We can muster only twenty-four white men at present to beat them off. The other night we called upon the hands to help defend the place because no others were to be had; and to some extent the same is true to-day. My house has been set on fire, and that mob are coming to burn my buildings and capture my wife and daughters. If the white man won't fight for me, the negro will!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "That alters the case, replied Keene." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We didn't understand it before, and we will fight for you, one and all;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No negroes will be enlisted for the army, for there are no orders to that effect," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That's enough! exclaimed Enbank." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We will stand by Major Lyon as long as there is a Secesher in sight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And you will find the negroes as stiff under fire as any white man ought to be," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "There is only one boat on each wagon, which is drawn by two mules," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They must have expected to get the boats into the water before they were discovered, added Deck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Perhaps they would have done so if we had not happened to see them crossing the bridge when we were coming up after the hunt for the firebugs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There comes our artillery," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Get behind the trunk, Artie! shouted Deck, a position he had secured before." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now use your musket, my boy!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I hit the man in uniform! exclaimed Deck, with no little exultation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A man is tying up one of his arms." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "If they had any plan of attack it is a failure, said Captain Gordon, as he and the planter were seated on their horses watching the enemy from the front of the boathouse." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "One of the recruits informs me that they have a leader in the person of a captain from the Confederate army in Tennessee, who was either sent for by Captain Titus, or was despatched by General Buckner to organize recruits for the Southern army." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I should say that his first business would be to prevent recruiting for the Union forces," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Whatever he is, he has made a mess of it," }, { "from": "human", "value": "But what did he expect to do?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course he expected to put his pontoons into the water, and send over a force of from thirty to fifty men before they were discovered. If he had done that, they could have acted as sharpshooters from behind the trees on this side. They are just out of range of our muskets now, though the twelve-pounders would catch them with a single shot of canister." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But I don't wish to have any more of them killed and wounded than is absolutely necessary," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You desire to carry on the war on peace principles, answered the captain with a smile." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You don't seem to understand that the war has actually begun, and the more damage we can do the enemy, the better it will be for us." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You are in command, and I shall not interfere with your operations," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Why don't we fire at them, Captain?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why don't you fire at the moon? Because you are too far off, and nothing is to be gained by it, replied the commander." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I am waiting for the enemy to make a movement of some kind; and as soon as they do so, you shall have enough of it, I will warrant you." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They are doing something now!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "The mule-teams are in motion!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I see they are, replied Captain Gordon;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What does that mean?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Probably it is intended to cover the launching of the boats. I think the reprobates are in earnest this time," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "That is the idea, is it? said Captain Gordon." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They intend to pick us off from their covert. We must do the same thing. Scatter, my men; and fire at will as you see a head." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "What in the world are you doing now, Levi?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I am throwing up a breastwork, so that my men can work the guns without being shot down by the enemy on the other side of the creek," }, { "from": "human", "value": "A capital idea!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But you are putting it behind the boathouse, man!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "These negroes are worth from five hundred to a thousand dollars apiece if you want to sell them, and not many of them would be left if I should set them to digging in the open, replied Levi, laughing at his own argument." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Those ruffians could pick them off at their leisure, and we might as well not have any artillery if the cannoneers are to be shot down as fast as they show themselves. I will warrant that fellow in command on the other side has picked out his best riflemen for duty in the grove." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The negroes are not for sale, replied the planter." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I should as soon think of selling one of my sons as one of them. But the boathouse is between you and the enemy, Levi." }, { "from": "human", "value": "How long do you think it will take me with the force at hand to move the boathouse out of the way, Major Lyon?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I indorse Mr. Bedford's work, added Captain Gordon, who had turned to observe the operation of the enemy at the cross roads." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They are not making a good job of their work." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "as he still insists upon styling him, assured that, if he is not of that rank now, he will be in due time. The next volume will present the two boys and others engaged in actual warfare; and what they did will be found in" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "IN THE SADDLE." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Heroes of History." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Swiss Family Robinson," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "An Arctic Boat Journey," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Curfew must not ring to-night." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That day is best wherein we give A thought to others' sorrows; Forgetting self, we learn to live, And blessings born of kindly deeds Make golden our to-morrows." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Outpost." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "The General" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "The Strange Adventures of Kit Bam, Mariner," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "The Cabin on the Prairie." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "In writing this work I have lived over the scenes and incidents of my frontier experience, have travelled once more amid the waving grasses and beckoning flowers, heard again the bark of the wolf and the voices of birds, worshipped anew in the log-cabin sanctuary." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I have endeavored to narrate the events of the Holy War, from the time Peter the Hermit rode over Europe on his mule, rousing the religious zeal of the nations, to that dismal day when Acre, the last stronghold of the Christians in the East, fell before the arms of the successor of Saladin." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Battles at Home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Others come on the scene: some as college students, and are full of their sufferings in being hazed by the cruel" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Bertha" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I am." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Hi!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hi! Dyke!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Hi! Do you hear, Dyke?" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Oh yes, I hear, muttered the lad;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I can hear you, old Joe. He's got away again, and I shan't come. A stupid-headed, vicious, long-legged beast, that's what he is." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hi!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "It's no good, Dyke once said;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And that's bad grammar and bad spelling, said his half-brother;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "And you're another, said Dyke sourly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, haven't we been fried or grilled ever since we've been out here? and don't you say yourself that it's all a failure, and that you've made a big mistake?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, sometimes, when I'm very hot and tired, Dicky, my lad. We've failed so far; but, look here, my brave and beautiful British boy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Look here, Joe; I wish you wouldn't be so jolly fond of chaffing and teasing me," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Poor old fellow, then! Was um hot and tired and thirsty, then? cried his half-brother mockingly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Take it coolly, Dicky." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Don't call me Dicky," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Vandyke Emson, Esquire, ostrich-farmer, then," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ostrich-farmer! cried Dyke, in a tone full of disgust." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ugh! I'm sick of the silly-looking, lanky goblins. I wish their heads were buried in the sand, and their bodies too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "With their legs sticking straight up to make fences, eh, old man?" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Well, they would be some good then, said Dyke, a little more amiably." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "These wire fences are always breaking down and going off _spang_, and twisting round your legs. Oh, I do wish I was back at home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Amongst the rain and clouds and fog, so that you could be always playing cricket in summer, and football in winter, and skating when there was ice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Don't you sneer at the fog, Joe, retorted Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I wish I could see a good thick one now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So that you could say, `Ah, you should see the veldt where the sun shines brightly for weeks together.'" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sun shines! cried Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Here, look at my face and hands." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes; they're burnt of good Russia leather colour, like mine, Dyke. Well, what do you say? Shall we pack the wagon, give it up, and trek slowly back to Cape Town?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, I'm ready!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Get out, you confounded young fibber! I know you better than that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, you don't," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, I do, Dicky. I know you better than you know yourself. You're not of that breed, my boy. You've got too much of the old dad's Berserker blood in your veins. Oh, come, now: withdraw all that! British boys don't look back when they've taken hold of the plough handles." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bother the plough handles!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "By all means, boy; but, I say, that isn't English, Dyke. Where would our country's greatness have been if her sons had been ready to sing that coward's song?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now you're beginning to preach again, Joe," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then say `Thank you,' my lad. Isn't it a fine thing for you to have a brother with you, and then, when there isn't a church for hundreds of miles--a brother who can preach to you?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No; because I know what you're going to say--that we ought to go on and fight it out." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That's it, Dicky. Didn't some one say that the beauty of a British soldier was that he never knew when he was beaten?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'm not a soldier, and I am beaten," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not you. I know you better. Why, if I said `Yes; let's give it up,' and packed up all we cared to take, and got the wagon loaded to-night, you'd repent in the morning when we were ready to start, and say, `Let's have another try.'" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, perhaps I might say--" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ha, ha, ha! laughed Joseph Emson;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, but it is so hot and tiresome, and the ostriches are such horribly stupid beasts, and--" }, { "from": "human", "value": "We're both very tired, and disappointed, and thirsty, and--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I am, you mean, said Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nothing ever seems to worry you." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Hah! I know you, Dicky, better than you know me. I feel as keenly as you do, boy. No: we will not give up. We haven't given the ostriches a fair trial yet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, haven't we!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No; not half. I know we've had terribly bad luck just lately. We did begin well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No: it has all been a dreary muddle, and I'm sick of it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, you often are of a night, Dyke; but after a night's rest you are ready enough to go on again in a right spirit. No, my lad, we'll never say die." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Who wants to! I want to have a try at something else. Let's go and hunt and get lion and leopard skins, and fill the wagon, and bring them back and sell them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Plenty of people are doing that, Dicky." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well then, let's go after ivory; shoot elephants, and bring back a load to sell. It's worth lots of money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Plenty of people are doing that too, boy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, you won't try, Joe, and that's what makes me so wild." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You mean, I won't set a seed to-day and dig it up to-morrow to see why it hasn't come up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That's what you always say," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, because we came out here with so many hundred pounds, Dicky, to try an experiment--to make an ostrich-farm." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And we've failed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh dear, no, my lad. We've spent all our money--invested it here in a wagon and oxen and house." }, { "from": "human", "value": "House! Ha, ha, ha! What a house!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not handsome, certainly, Dicky." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Dicky! There you go again." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, there I go again. And in our enclosures and pens, and horses and guns and ammunition, and in paying our men. So we can't afford to give up if we wanted to." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But see what a desolate place it is!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Big, vast, level, and wild, but the very spot for our purpose." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And not a neighbour near." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To quarrel with? No, not one. No, Dyke, we mustn't give it up; and some day you'll say I'm right." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Never," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Never's a long day, Dyke.--Look here, lad, I'm going to tell you an old story." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Thankye, said Dyke sullenly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I know--about Bruce and the spider." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wrong, old fellow, this time. Another author's story that you don't know." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bother the old stories!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Poor old Dyke! he has got it badly this time. What is it--prickly heat or home-sickness, or what?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everything. I'm as miserable as mizzer, cried Dick." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, this desert is dreary." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not it, Dyke; it's wild and grand. You are tired and disappointed. Some days must be dark and dreary, boy. Come, Dyke, pluck! pluck! pluck!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I haven't got any; sun's dried it all out of me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Has it? said his brother, laughing." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I don't believe it. No, Dicky, we can't go home and sneak in at the back door with our tails between our legs, like two beaten hounds. There are those at home who would sorrow for us, and yet feel that they despised us. We came out here to win, and win we will, if our perseverance will do it." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, haven't we tried, and hasn't everything failed?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, boy, cried the young man excitedly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Look here: my story is of a party of American loafers down by a river. Come, I never told you that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That's better. Then you can be interested still." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One needs something to interest one in this miserable, dried-up desert," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Miserable, dried-up desert! said his brother, speaking in a low deep voice, as he gazed right away through the transparent air at the glorious colours where the sun sank in a canopy of amber and gold." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, Dicky, it has its beauties, in spite of all you say." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh Joe! cried the boy," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ah! to be sure. Well, I only want you to take notice of one part of it. The rest is brag." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then it's a moral story," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, if you like; but it may be fresh to you." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No.--They were throwing stones." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What!--the loafers?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, from a wharf, to see who could throw farthest, and one man, who was looking on, sneered at them, and began to boast about how far he could throw. They laughed at him, and one of them made himself very objectionable and insulting, with the result that the boasting man said, if it came to the point, he could throw the other fellow right across the river. Of course there was a roar of laughter at this, and one chap bet a dollar that he could not." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And of course he couldn't, said Dyke, who forgot his prickly heat and irritation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But you said it was all brag. Well?" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "But it was by an artful trick," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course it was, boy; but what I want you to notice was the spirit of the thing, though it was only bragging; I kin dew it, and I will dew it, if I try till to-morrow morning. We kin dew it, and we will dew it, Dyke, even if we have to try till to-morrow morning-- to-morrow-come-never-morning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh! groaned Dyke, sinking back upon the sand;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I am so hot and dry." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Let him follow me if he wants me, muttered the boy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He isn't half so hot as I am." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jack! Ahoy, Jack!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I shall have to go after him," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, you lazy young sybarite! cried Joe Emson, as he came up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You always know the best places. Why didn't you answer me?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "What's the good of answering? cried Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I can't help old Goblin getting away again. He will go, and nothing will stop him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But something shall stop him, said Joe." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'll have an iron bar driven into the ground, and tether him with a rope." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No good, said Dyke drowsily:" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then I'll tether him with a piece of chain." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He'd roll it up and swallow it.--I say Joe, I feel sure he had that curb chain and the two buckles we missed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nonsense! Come, get up, and help drive him in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'm too tired, and it isn't nonsense. He's always on the lookout for bits of iron and broken crockery. I took a hammer and a cracked willow-pattern plate one day, and broke it up in bits and fed him with them. He ate them all." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, of course: birds do pick up stones and things to fill their gizzards." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And that's just how I feel," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eh? How?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "As if my gizzard was filled with sharp bits of stone, and it makes me irritable and cross." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And lazy. Come: jump up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I can't, Joe. I said last time I'd never go after the goblin again, and I won't." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, you will; you'll come and help me drive him in." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No: let him go." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nonsense! He's the best cock bird I've got." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then the others must be bad ones," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Get up, sir!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Shan't. I don't mind your kicking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Get up, or I'll duck you in the spring." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wouldn't be such a coward, because you're big and strong. Hit one of your own size." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I declare I will," }, { "from": "human", "value": "All right, do: it will be deliriously cool." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Don't leave me everything to do, Dyke, old boy, he said appealingly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I wouldn't lose that great ostrich for any money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All right. I'll go alone," }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'll come, Joe, he said;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Can't afford the luxury, little un, said Joe, clapping his brother on the shoulder." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Let's make our pile first." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then the goblin will live for ever, sighed the boy," }, { "from": "human", "value": "There he is!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Don't see anything." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, you can. Your eyes are sharper than mine. There, just to the left of that rock." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What!--that one like a young kopje?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, just to the left." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What!--that speck? Oh! that can't be it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, it is; and if you had the glass, you could tell directly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But it's so far, and oh dear, how hot it is!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It will be cooler riding." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, it won't, grumbled Dyke;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, but cool air rushing by you. Come, old lad, don't sham idleness." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It isn't sham, said Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I don't think I used to be idle, but this hot sun has stewed all the spirit out of me." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I'm not going to stand that," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What are you going to do?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "You'll see, whispered Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If I'm to be toiling after goblins, he's not going to sleep there like a black pig. Go on a little way and look back." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "What's the matter, Jack?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Big rain--big wet rain--big water--big bucket--all wet, wet," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Make the mealies grow," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Make mealie grow! cried the man. Then a change came over him. The look of doubt and wonder became one of certainty, and his face expanded into a broad grin which displayed all his white teeth." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! he cried, pointing to a couple of wet patches on the leg of the boy's trousers;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You come along and help drive the ostrich," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I say, Joe, you are right, said Dyke now, with animation." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course not. One begins to get moist, and the sun and air bring a feeling of coolness. It's only the making a start. Now then, shall I try to cut him off?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, no! cried Dyke excitedly;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'll do it. I'll make the brute run. You follow up." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Right! said Emson;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, he won't do that," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "All right, Jack, I see," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Ah, you silly, muddled-brained, flat-headed idiot! yelled Dyke, as he raced along over the plain, his steed sending the red sand flying at every spurn of its hoofs as it stretched itself out." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'll be there first, and cut him off. You can't do it--you can't do it. Ah-h-h-h!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Give up, you ugly old rascal, or I'll twist this round your long neck," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Why, Dyke, boy, you've done it now," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, you had better have left me where I was by the spring, said the boy disconsolately." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I hated the old wretch, but I didn't want to hurt him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I know, my lad, I know, said Emson." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'm not blaming you, but it does seem a pity. What bad luck I do have with these birds, to be sure.--Lie still, you savage; you can't get up!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, you had better have stayed at home, old fellow, said Dyke, apostrophising the unhappy bird;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If he were one of the quiet old hens, I'd say yes; but it would be impossible. Directly we went near, there would be a kick or a peck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'll try," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Stop!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'm not afraid, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'll get hold of his neck, and try and hold him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I know, said his brother;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "But so it will if you leave it quiet, cried Dyke; and then, sharply:" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ah! you cowardly brutes, let him alone." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "His fate's sealed if he is put with the rest; that's very evident," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Killum!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Let's shut him up in the stable, said Dyke," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It would mean such a desperate struggle that the poor bird would never get over it; and if it did, it would mope and die. Better put it out of its misery." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Come away, Duke, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "To heel, sir." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I had better shoot the bird, Dyke," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, no; don't. Let's have a try to save it. Perhaps when it finds that we want to do it good, it will lie quiet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, said Emson;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, let's try, said Dyke.--" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Here, Breezy: stable." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "What do you propose doing?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All run in together, and tie his neck to one wing; then he'll be helpless, and we can tie his thighs together. You can set the leg then." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, I'll try, said Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wait till I've cut a couple of pieces of wood for splints. What can I get?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bit of box-lid," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I think I can set it, and secure it," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why, of course you can." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, but as soon as it's done, the poor brute will kick it off. Now then, how about tying him?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rush him, said Dyke laconically." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Come along, Jack, and help." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why, hullo! You won't back out, Jack?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No. Him kick, bite: no good." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Never you mind that, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You rush in with us, and hold his head, while we take his legs and wings. Do you understand?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, said the Kaffir, shaking his head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Killum--killum!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not going to kill, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You rush in and hold the head. Do you understand?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No," }, { "from": "human", "value": "He won't, cried Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We shall have to do it ourselves, Dyke. Make a noose and lasso the brute's head. Then when I run in to seize the leg, you drag the neck tight down to the wing, and hold it there." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Now, Joe, ready?" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Think you can manage now?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes; I'll tie his legs together, after setting the broken one. It's the only chance for him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes; it's all right, cried Dyke;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Seems like it," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Well, there then, he is giving in now, panted Dyke, who had been compelled to put forth all his strength to keep from being thrown off by the violent buffeting of the bird's wings." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Look sharp, and get it done." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, said Emson gravely;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And they know it, too, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Look at them wagging their silly old heads and trying to look cunning.--But hullo why don't you go on?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Can't you see? said Emson." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The horse's hoofs must have struck him in the side as well. The poor old goblin is dead." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, the poor old goblin! said the boy, hurriedly unloosening the rein which held down its head." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I didn't choke it, did I? No: look, the loop was quite big." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No; the ribs are crushed in, said Emson, feeling beneath the beautiful plumage." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Another loss, Dyke. We shall find out all his good qualities now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Breezy kick and killum, said the Kaffir sententiously." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bird kick, horse kick; killum--shouldn't kick." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Here, you go back to your kraal, and set up for a wise man of the south, cried Dyke pettishly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "How long did it take you to find out all that?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, killum dead, said the Kaffir, nodding." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bosh! cried Dyke, turning impatiently away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, we must make the best of it, said Emson then." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "His feathers will be worth something, for they are in fine condition. Let's get them off at once." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "There, said Emson, when the last plumes had been removed;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jackals can't reach it there, can they?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, I think not. Leopard might come and pull it down." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes: don't let Duke be out of a night; there has been one hanging about lately.--But what are you going to do?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Dissect him," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nonsense! Leave it now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I want to see the poor old goblin's gizzard, and open it. I know he has got knives and all sorts of things inside." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then you may look, said Emson." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'm going to feed the horses and have a wash; they haven't been unsaddled yet." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Here, Jack, fetch me some water in the tin; and while the" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I must have a look at you afterwards," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Do for the collection, he said to himself with a laugh." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Label: crystals of quartz, discovered in a goblin's gizzard by Vandyke Emson, Esquire, F.A.S., Kopfontein, South Africa." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wanterwater?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, I do `wanterwater,' cried Dyke, turning sharply on the Kaffir, who had returned." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I want to wash my hands. Look at 'em, Jack!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Narcy!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Hold hard, though; let's have a drink first, cried the boy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It looks clean;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Find the knife?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, but look here, cried Dyke, pointing to the great piece of hoop-iron." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Fancy a bird swallowing that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Iron is good for birds, I suppose, said Emson quietly.--" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Here, Jack, drag that bird right away off; remember, a good way. Mind, I don't want the jackals too close to-night." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Too big," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "You're a dissatisfied young dog, Dyke, cried Joe Emson good-humouredly, as he smiled down from his high horse at his brother;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'm not," }, { "from": "human", "value": "You are, boy. Just as if any one could be low-spirited when he is young and strong, out in this wide free place on such a lovely morning." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's all right enough now, replied Dyke," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Lonely! Why, I'm always with you, cried Emson--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ugh! Stupid old Boers!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, they're civil to you, and that's more than Oom Schlagen is to me. It's because you have got that Dutch name. I say, father meant you to be a painter, I'll be bound, and here you are, an ostrich-farmer." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh yes, and we're going to be very rich when the birds are all dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And they seem as if they meant to die, all of them, said Emson sadly, as he rode along by his brother, each with his rifle across his saddle-bow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I don't seem to have got hold of the right way of managing them, Dyke: we must follow nature more by watching the habits of the wild ones. I have tried so hard, too." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ha, ha, ha! laughed Dyke merrily." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Who's grumbling now!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "That's better, and more like yourself, old fellow, said Emson, smiling down pleasantly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That's more like the light-hearted chap who promised to stick to and help me like a brother should. You hurt me, Dyke, when you turn so low-spirited and sulky. I've plenty of troubles, though I say little, over my venture here; and when I see you so down, it worries me more than I can say." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It makes me feel that I have done wrong in bringing a bright, happy lad away from home and his studies to this wild solitary place. I ought to have known better, and that it was not natural for a boy like you to feel the hard stern determination to get on that I, ten years older, possessed. I ought to have known that, as soon as the novelty had passed away, you would begin to long for change. Father did warn me, but I said to him: `I'm a man, and he's only a boy; but we've been together so much, and always been companions, Dyke and I can't help getting on together.'" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And we can't, cried the boy in a husky voice." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Don't, please don't, Joe, old chap; I can't bear it. I've been a beast." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, come, come, cried Emson, leaning over to clap him on the shoulder;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I didn't mean to upset you like that." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But I'm glad you have, cried Dyke in half-suffocated tones." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I know well enough I have been a beast to you, Joe, and the more quiet and patient you've been with me, the worse I've got, till I quite hate myself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh no, not so bad as that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, cried Dyke excitedly," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why, of course I did," }, { "from": "human", "value": "There's no of course in it. I was always petty and disagreeable, and ready to impose on your good-nature; but you never had an unkind word for me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, you were such a little one, and I was always so big." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I can see it all, Joe, and it's made me miserable many a time; but the kinder you've been, the worse it has made me. You and father always spoiled and petted me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not we. Only kind to you, because we liked you. I say, Dyke, what games we used to have! You see, I never had a brother till you came. There, it's all right. Now then for a canter." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not yet, said Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I feel as if I could talk to you this morning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But you have talked, and it's all over now; so come along." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No," }, { "from": "human", "value": "I say, old chap, are you the boss here, or am I?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I am, this morning, said the boy, looking up in his brother's big manly face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I want you to listen to me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, go ahead then, and let's get it over." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It's been like this, Joe. I've got in a bad way of thinking lately. It's all been so disappointing, and no matter what one did, nothing came right." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, that's true enough, old chap, said Emson, rather drearily;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "You have, Joe, and I've been a regular sulky, disappointed sort of brute." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Coat been a bit rough, Dyke, old chap, eh? Out of sorts." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I suppose in my head; but, Joe, I am sorry--I can't say it as I should like to, but I--I will try now." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just as if I didn't know. We've been chums so long, old man, ever since you first took to me when I was a big stupid fellow, all legs like a colt, and as ugly, and you were a pretty little golden-haired chap, always wanting to stick your soft chubby little fist in my big paw. There, it's all right. Old times again, old un, and we're going to do it yet, eh?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "And you'll forgive me, Joe?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Forgive you? cried Emson, looking at his brother with his big pleasant manly face all in wrinkles." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Get along with you! What is there to forgive?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I will try now and help you, Joe; I will, indeed." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Of course you will, old chap, cried Joe, a little huskily too;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, we will win, Joe," }, { "from": "human", "value": "That's your sort! cried Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We'll have a good long try, and if the ostriches don't pay, we'll hunt, as, I know, we've got plenty of room out here: we'll have an elephant farm instead, and grow ivory, and have a big warehouse for making potted elephant to send and sell at home for a breakfast appetiser. Who's going to give up, eh? Now, then, what about this canter? The horses want a breather--they're getting fidgety. I say, feel better now, old chap, don't you?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "So do I.--Here! What's that?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ostrich!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, I saw her rise and start off! My word! how she is going. I can see the spot where she got up, and must keep my eyes on it. There's a nest there, for a pound. That means luck this morning. Come along steady. Lucky I brought the net. Why, Dyke, old chap, the tide's going to turn, and we shall do it yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But the goblin's dead." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Good job, too. There's as good ostriches in the desert as ever came out, though they are fowl instead of fish. It's my belief we shall snatch out of that nest a better game-cock bird than ever the goblin was, and without his temper. Come along." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Yohoy there! steady, lad, cried Emson;" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I say, little un, he cried," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course not." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To be sure I do." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Didn't think we two would ever go bird's-nesting in Africa then, did we?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No; but do you think there is a nest out yonder, Joe?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I do, cried Emson," }, { "from": "human", "value": "I've seen several hen birds about the last few days; but I never could make out which way they came or went. I've been on the lookout, too, for one rising from the ground." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But is this a likely place for a nest?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, isn't it? I should say it's the very spot. Now, just look: here we are in an open plain, where a bird can squat down in the sand and look around for twenty miles--if she can see so far--in every direction, and see danger coming, whether it's a man, a lion, or a jackal, and shuffle off her nest, and make tracks long before whatever it is gets near enough to make out where she rose. Of course I don't know whether we shall find the nest, if there is one. It's hard enough to find a lark's or a partridge's nest at home in an open field of forty or fifty acres; so of course, big though the nest is, and the bird, it's a deal harder, out in a field hundreds of miles square, eh?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Of course it is." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I say, don't be so jolly particular, Joe," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why not? It's just what you and I ought to be, said the big fellow with simple earnestness." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We're out here in a savage land, but we don't want to grow into savages, nor yet to be as blunt and gruff as two bears. I'm not going to forget that the dear old governor at home is a gentleman, even if his sons do rough it out here." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Till they're regular ruffians, Joe.--I say: see the nest?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh no; it's a mile away yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then there isn't one. You couldn't have seen it at all that distance." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I never said I could see the nest, did I? It was enough for me that I've seen the birds about, and that I caught sight of that one making off this morning. We call them stupid, and they are in some things; but they're precious cunning in others." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But if they were only feeding?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why, then, there's no nest. But I say breeding, and not feeding; and that's rhyme if you take it in time, as the old woman said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But you talked about hen birds. Then there may be more than one nest?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not here. Why, you know how a lot of them lay in the same nest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At home, shut up in pens, but not on the veldt." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why, of course they do, and 'tis their nature to, like the bears and lions in Dr Watts. You don't know everything quite yet, old chap. If you took the glass, and came and lay out here for two or three days and nights, and always supposing the birds didn't see you--because if they did they'd be deserting the nest and go somewhere else--you'd see first one hen come to lay and then another, perhaps six of them; and when they'd packed the nest as full as it would hold, with the sand banked up round the eggs to keep them tight in their places with the points downwards, so as to be close, you'd see hen after hen come and take her turn, sitting all day, while the cock bird comes at nights and takes his turn, because he's bigger and stronger, and better able to pitch into the prowling jackals." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "How did you know all this, Joe?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Partly observation, partly from what I've heard Jack say, replied Emson modestly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Everything comes in useful. I daresay you won't repent saving up all those odds and ends of stones and shells and eggs you've got at home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Why, I often thought you'd feel they were a nuisance, Joe. I did see you laugh at them more than once." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Smile, old man, smile--that's all. I like it. You might grow a regular museum out of small beginnings like that." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then we ought to have stuffed the goblin," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, come, no; that wouldn't do. Our tin house isn't the British Museum; but I would go on collecting bits of ore and things. You may find something worth having one of these days, besides picking up a lot of knowledge. I'd put that piece of old iron the ostrich swallowed along with the rest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Would you?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes; but now let's have all eyes, and no tongues, old chap. We are getting near where that bird got up off the nest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If there was one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If there was one, assented Emson." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now then: think you're mushrooming out in the old field at home, and see if you can't find the nest. Move off now a couple of hundred yards, and keep your eyes open." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Found it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, old fellow. It's a failure this time. Man wants sharp eyes to get the better of an ostrich. I made sure we should get it, but we're done. We've been over the ground times enough, and it's of no use." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What! give up? cried Dyke merrily." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Didn't say we'd find it the first time, but I mean to have that nest, if I try till to-morrow morning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well done, little un, shouted Emson, laughing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That's the right spirit, and I should like to have had the eggs; it would have started us on again. But I'm afraid we shall be wasting time, for we've lost count now of the position where I saw the bird rise, and in this great waste we may wander farther and farther away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But we can tell by the hoof-marks where we've been." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes; and we've pretty well examined the ground. I tell you what, we'll bring the glass this evening, and lie down watching till dark. We may see a bird come to the nest, and then we'll mark down the place, and one shall stop back, while the other rides forward, and number one can telegraph which way to go with his arms." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I am disappointed," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "So am I, old chap, but we won't be damped. It's only putting it off.-- What are you looking at?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "That," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why, he has found it!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Well, you have eyes, old chap! cried Emson, slapping his brother on the shoulder, and then proceeding to loosen a coarsely meshed net from behind his saddle." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Bravo, Dyke! I told you the tide had turned. We'll get these home at once and put them under one of our hens. Shouldn't wonder if we get a nice little lot of chicks from these." }, { "from": "human", "value": "If we can get them home without breaking." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, we'll do that," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Why, we could manage them too," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We might, but if we did we should have mixed them up with the others, which would be a pity; for if we put them under a bird, they would only be addled, whereas if we keep them separate, they will be good either to set under another hen, or to eat. They will not hurt there." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Wonder what the young birds think of their ride, said Dyke merrily." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We shall have one of them chipping an egg presently, and poking out his head to see what's the matter, and why things are getting so cold." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Cold, in this scorching sun! said Emson;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Right it is! cried Dyke in seafaring style." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I say, what a smash it would be if I let go!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ah, it would, said Emson;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I always used to read that the ostriches did lay their eggs in the sand and leave them for the sun to hatch." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There is some truth in it, said Emson;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes: they are getting heavy for one's wrist," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Gently! cried Dyke before they had gone very far." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "If you hang away so hard, I shall be dragged out of the saddle." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Be on the lookout for a kick," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, he won't kick me--will you, old chap?" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Do you double up your perambulators? said Dyke mockingly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, madam, I see you do; but pray don't put a toe through either of the shells." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "So they are, said Dyke--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There, said Emson," }, { "from": "human", "value": "If you like." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No; we'll leave it till to-morrow, and give the nags a rest." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Baas got all eggs. No more. All gone." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "There's no reason why we should not, said Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I've been too easy with Jack; he has not disturbed the birds around for months." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I think we can find the nest again," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why not? We'll find it by the footmarks, if we cannot any other way. But I think I can ride straight to it." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "A bird? cried Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, I see it. No; a beast. Why, Dyke, old chap, there are two of them. What shall we do? Creep in and try a shot, or let them go off?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I should try a shot, said the boy excitedly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why, one is a big-maned fellow." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then perhaps we had better let them alone." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What! to come and pull down one of the oxen. No: let's have a shot at them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Very well, said Emson quietly;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All right, he cried." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now, look here, Dyke. Be ready and smart, if the brutes turn upon us to charge. Sit fast, and give Breezy his head then. No lion would overtake him. Only you must be prepared for a sharp wheel round, for if the brutes come on with a roar, your cob will spin about like a teetotum." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Come on!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not to-day, old chap, he cried." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We're too busy. It would mean, too, a long gallop, tiring our horses before we could get a shot, and then we should not be in good condition for aiming." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, but, Joe, I daresay that is the wretch that killed the white ox, and he is hanging about after another." }, { "from": "human", "value": "To be sure: I forgot that, cried Emson excitedly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Come on. But steady: we can't lose sight of them, so let's canter, and follow till they stand at bay or sneak into the bushes." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I don't think much of lions, after all, Joe, he said;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You haven't seen one in a rage, old fellow," }, { "from": "human", "value": "I don't believe they'd be anything much if they were, said Dyke contemptuously." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They always seem to me to be creeping and sneaking about like a cat after a mouse. Now look at those great strong things going off like that, as soon as they see us, instead of roaring at us and driving us away." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Smell powder, perhaps, and are afraid of the guns." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, but if they did, that isn't being brave as a lion, Joe. Why, when they killed the white ox, there were four of them, and they did it in the dark. I don't believe when you shot that the bullet went near either of the brutes." }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, but we scared them off." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They killed the poor old bullock first, though." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, didn't that give you a good idea of a lion's strength; the poor beast's neck was broken." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Let's show them to-day that we are stronger, and break _their_ necks, said Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Look out: they're gone." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "We shan't get a shot at them now, old chap, cried Emson;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, don't give up, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I know that place well; it's where I found the aardvark, and the bushes are quite open. I am sure we can see them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, as you're so set on it, we'll try; but mind this, no riding in-- nothing rash, you know." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, I'll take care, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I shan't get hurt. You only have to ride right at them, and they'll run." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I don't know so much about that, old cocksure; but mind this, horses are horses, and I don't want you to get Breezy clawed." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And I don't want to get him clawed--do I, old merry legs? cried the boy, bending forward to pat his nag's neck." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Sooner get scratched myself, wouldn't I, eh?" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Steady, steady, Dyke, boy, cried Emson;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Please sir, it wasn't me, replied the boy merrily." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It was him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No nonsense! cried Emson sternly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Steady! This is not play." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All right, Joe, he said quietly;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I will mind." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Look here, Joe; you ride round that way, and I'll go this; then we are sure to see them." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Capital plan, said Emson sarcastically." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Bravo, general! weaken your forces by one-half, and then if I see them I can't fire for fear of hitting you, and you can't fire for fear of hitting me. Try again, clever one." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, all right, you try," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Ride round with me, then, either five yards in front or five behind. Will you go first?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, you go," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Come along, then. Keep a sharp lookout, and if you get a good chance at the shoulder--fire. Not without." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Very well, said Dyke shortly," }, { "from": "human", "value": "They won't leave cover if they can help it," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "There! cried Dyke, after they had ridden round twice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I knew it. While we were talking on one side, they've crept out on the other and gone off! They're miles away now." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Exactly! said Emson;" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Well, what shall we do--ride through?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, said Emson decidedly," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Did you see them?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, but look there." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, let's separate, then, said the boy eagerly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'll mind and not shoot your way, if you'll take care not to hit me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Very good: we'll try, then; but be careful not to fire unless you get a good sure chance. Look here; this will be the best plan. One of us must sit fast here while the other rides round." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But the one who stops will get the best chance, for the game will be driven towards him. Who's to stop?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Something or nothing?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Nothing," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Nothing. Right. Your chance," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then I'll stay here?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Very well then; be ready. I shall ride ahead, and the lions will sneak round till they find you are here, and then they'll either go right across, or break cover and gallop off. There's every chance for a shot. Right forward in the shoulder, mind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Won't charge me, will they?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not unless they're wounded, replied Emson.--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ready?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Here!" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Here--here--here," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Here--here--here," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Here--here--here," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They're gone, said Dyke to himself, with a peculiar sense of relief, which made his breath come more freely." }, { "from": "human", "value": "They would have been here by now. I'll shout to Joe." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Dead?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes; he'll kill no more of our oxen, old chap, cried his brother." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well done, little un! You stopped him splendidly. That last shot of yours brought him up for me to finish." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Think I hit him, then?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Think? said Emson, laughing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You can easily prove it. Your bullet must have hit him end on. Mine were on his left flank." }, { "from": "human", "value": "He _is_ dead, isn't he?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "As dead as he can well be, said Emson, dismounting, and throwing his rein over his horse's head." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes; here we are. Your bullet caught him half-way up the back here; one of mine hit him in the side, and here's the other right through the left shoulder-blade. That means finis. But that shot of yours regularly paralysed him behind. _Your_ lion, little un, and that skin will do for your museum. It's a beauty." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But _you_ killed him," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Put him out of his misery, that's all. He is a splendid fellow, though. But he won't run away now, little un.--Let's get on." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But his skin?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Too hard a job now, Dyke, under this sun. We'll come over this evening with Jack, and strip that off. Now for the eggs." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Won't do them any good shaking them up so, will it?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I've given up all idea of setting these, said Emson." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I should say it would be very doubtful whether they would hatch, and we want a little change in the way of feeding, old fellow. We'll see which are addled, and which are not." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I say, look at Tant, said Dyke merrily." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Did you ever see such a face?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Never, replied Emson quietly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She's not beautiful from our point of view." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Beautiful!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Tastes differ, old chap, said Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No doubt Jack thought her very nice-looking. English people admire small mouths and little waists. It is very evident that the Kaffirs do not; and I don't see why a small mouth should be more beautiful than a large one." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And there isn't so much of it," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Certainly not, and it is not so useful. No: Tant is not handsome, but she can cook, and I don't believe that Venus could have fetched water from the spring in two buckets half so well." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Don't suppose she could, or made fires either," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Very good, then, little un. Tant is quite good-looking enough for us.--Hi! there, old girl, take these and keep them cool. Cook one for dinner." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Oh there you are, Jack, said Dyke;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Baas kill?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes. You're coming with us to skin it this evening?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Jack sick, bad," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Jack no sick bad," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Ah, would you! cried Dyke; and the dog, which had followed him, began to growl." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, you hit her, and I'll set Duke at you, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Can't you see he's ashamed?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No sick bad," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I'd a deal rather we'd shot an antelope, Joe," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, it is time we had some fresh meat, old chap, said Emson good-humouredly." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "After that slice of luck with the birds, we'll try for some guinea-fowl or a springbok in the morning." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I wish we had a river nearer where we could fish," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, it would be handy, if we could catch any fish; but we usen't to get a great many--not enough to live on--in the old days at home." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not often, said Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I say, it is tough." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, yes. A well-beaten-out piece would not make a bad shoe sole, little un. But about that fishing? It would take a great many of those sticklebacks you always would fish for with a worm to make a dish." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, they used to bite, and that's more than your carp would, Joe. Why, you only used to catch about one a month." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But, then, look at the size. One did make a dish." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, of only head and bones. Ugh! I'd rather eat biltong." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Well, he said," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Worse than a cut out of the poor old goblin's breast. But, I say, are we to go and skin that old savage to-night?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'll go with Jack, and do it, if you're tired." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That you won't, cried Dyke." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But, I say, Jack's bad sick he says." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, I suppose so. He generally is now, when we want him to work. We've spoiled Master Jack by feeding him too well; and if it wasn't for Tanta Sal, Master Jack would have to go upon his travels. That woman's a treasure, little un. She's a capital cook; and what a wonderful thing it is that it comes so natural to a woman, whether she's white or black, to like washing shirts. Do you know, I believe that Tanta Sal would take to starching and ironing if she had a chance. Have any more?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No: done," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then let's go and have a look at the chickens. Why, the other day I felt as if I could open all the pens and say to the birds, `There, be off with you, for you're no good.'" }, { "from": "human", "value": "But now you're going to have another good try." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes; and we must give them greater liberty, and try to let them live in a more natural way." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And that means always hunting them and driving them back to the pens." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We shan't mind that if they all turn out healthy, said Emson." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Come along." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Wait till I call Tant," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, he is spoiled, said Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It has always seemed to be so much less trouble to saddle our own horses than to see that he did it properly; but we ought to have made him do it, little un." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Of course we ought, said Dyke." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It isn't too late to begin now?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'm afraid it is, said Emson.--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Here! Hi! Jack," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Jack bad sick, baas. All eat--seep." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes; that's what's the matter, Jack, said Emson, shaking his head at him." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now take hold of the horse's mane, and I'll give you a good digestive run." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I wonder how they find out that there's anything dead, Joe, said Dyke;" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Eyesight, said Emson quietly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The vultures are sailing about on high, and one sees the dead animal; then other vultures see him making for it, and follow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And the jackals see the vultures, and follow too?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "That seems to be the way, old fellow. Anyhow, they always manage to find out where there's anything to eat." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I say, don't he look big?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes; he's one of the finest I have seen. You ought to get the teeth out of his head, little un; they'd do to save up for your museum." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I will," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Ought to have been with us this morning," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Couldn't have done better if we had had him," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Think that one will come back again?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not while we are here," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "You'll have to leave the teeth till another day," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Are you going to let them do that?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Won't be much lion left by to-morrow morning, Joe," }, { "from": "human", "value": "No, boy. Africa is well scavengered, what with the jackals, birds, and flies. But we'd better get that skin well under cover somewhere when we are back." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why? Think the jackals will follow, and try and drag it away?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "No; I was feeling sure that the other lion would." } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "I tell you what, little un, said Emson some mornings later," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'm going to start a crest and motto, and I'll take a doubled fist for the crest, and _Nil desperandum_ for motto." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And what good will that do you?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What good! Why, I shall always have my motto before me--`Never despair,' and the doubled fist to--" }, { "from": "human", "value": "To show that you are always ready to punch Kaffir Jack's head," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "No, said Emson, laughing--" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Haven't touched them. They're underneath you, stupid." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, ah! so they are," } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Magnificent specimen of a canine tooth," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I know better than that. It can't be." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Can't? But it is, replied Emson." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What do you mean?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Canine means dog, doesn't it? Dog's teeth can't grow in a big cat. It's a feline tooth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They can grow in human jaws--in yours, for instance. You have four canine teeth, as the naturalists call them; so why can't they grow in a lion's?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Because it's unnatural, said Dyke, beginning to chip away some of the jawbone from around the last tusk." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Canine teeth can grow in my jaws, because you said one day that I was a puppy." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I say, don't, little un. You're growing too clever, and attempts at jokes like that don't seem to fit out here in this hungry desert. Mind what you are about, or you'll spoil the tooth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'm minding; but what did you mean about your _Nil desperandum_?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "That I'll never despair. When we've tried everything we can out here, and failed, we'll go back home and settle in London. Something always turns up, and you're so handy, that we'll start as dentists, and you shall extract all the teeth." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All right, Joe. My word! this is a tight one. But people wouldn't have their teeth taken out with hammer and chisel." }, { "from": "human", "value": "You could use laughing gas." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They wouldn't laugh much, gas or no gas, cried Dyke," }, { "from": "human", "value": "No; have another try." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But it makes me so hot." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Never mind. Remember my crest and motto--doubled fist for determination, and `Never despair.'" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Who's going to despair over a big tooth? cried Dyke, holding on to the pincers with both hands, giving a good wrench, and tearing out the tusk." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That's got him. Phew! it was a job. I say, they'll look well as curiosities." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, they're a fine set," }, { "from": "human", "value": "See anything?" } ]

[ { "from": "human", "value": "Not yet." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oh, do see something! We must get a buck of some kind to take home with us." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, we ought to get something, or Jack will forsake us because we are starving him; and take away his wife. You'll have to cook then, little un." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Won't matter, if there's nothing to cook, said Dyke sharply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But, I say, Joe, you do think we are getting on better with the birds? Only two chicks have died since we took home those eggs." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Only two, said Emson, rather bitterly." }, { "from": "human", "value": "That's one a week. Easily calculate how long we shall be in getting to the end of our stock." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I say, what about your motto? Who's looking on the black side?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Guilty, my lord. Come along; jump up. We will have something or another to take back for a roast." } ]