He at
length asked me a single short question, which I supposed meant "Who are
you?" I answered in English quite composedly as though he would
understand me, and endeavoured to be my very most natural self as well as
I could. He appeared more and more puzzled, and then retired, returning
with two others much like himself. Then they took me into an inner room,
and the two fresh arrivals stripped me, while the chief looked on. They
felt my pulse, they looked at my tongue, they listened at my chest, they
felt all my muscles; and at the end of each operation they looked at the
chief and nodded, and said something in a tone quite pleasant, as though
I were all right. They even pulled down my eyelids, and looked, I
suppose, to see if they were bloodshot; but it was not so. At length
they gave up; and I think that all were satisfied of my being in the most
perfect health, and very robust to boot. At last the old magistrate made
me a speech of about five minutes long, which the other two appeared to
think greatly to the point, but from which I gathered nothing. As soon
as it was ended, they proceeded to overhaul my swag and the contents of
my pockets. This gave me little uneasiness, for I had no money with me,
nor anything which they were at all likely to want, or which I cared
about losing.
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