“Ah! mein frond! mine brodder!” he exclaimed, in fairly idiomatic English, but with a broken pronunciation that was a mixture of Dutch, American, and Malay.  His language therefore, like himself, was nondescript.  In fact he was an American-born Dutchman, who had been transported early in life to the Straits Settlements, had received most of his education in Hongkong, was an old school-fellow of Van der Kemp, became an enthusiastic naturalist, and, being possessed of independent means, spent most of his time in wandering about the various islands of the archipelago, making extensive collections of animal and vegetable specimens, which he distributed with liberal hand to whatever museums at home or abroad seemed most to need or desire them.  Owing to his tastes and habits he had been dubbed Professor by his friends.

“Ach!  Van der Kemp,” he exclaimed, while his coal-black eyes glittered as they shook hands, “vat a booterfly I saw to-day!  It beat all creation!  The vay it flew—­oh!  But, excuse me—­v’ere did you come from, and vy do you come?  An’ who is your frond?”

He turned to Nigel as he spoke, and doffed his sombrero with a gracious bow.

“An Englishman—­Nigel Roy—­who has joined me for a few months,” said the hermit.  “Let me introduce you, Nigel, to my good friend, Professor Verkimier.”

Nigel held out his hand and gave the naturalist’s a shake so hearty, that a true friendship was begun on the spot—­a friendship which was rapidly strengthened when the professor discovered that the English youth had a strong leaning towards his own favourite studies.

“Ve vill hont an’ shot togezzer, mine frond,” he said, on making this discovery, “ant I vill show you v’ere de best booterflies are to be fount—­Oh! sooch a von as I saw to——­ but, excuse me, Van der Kemp.  Vy you come here joost now?”

“To save you” said the hermit, with a scintillation of his half-pitiful smile.

“To safe me!” exclaimed Verkimier, with a look of surprise which was greatly intensified by the rotundity of the blue spectacles.  “Vell, I don’t feel to vant safing joost at present.”

“It is not that danger threatens you so much as your friend the Rajah,” returned the hermit.  “But if he falls, all under his protection fall along with him.  I happen to have heard of a conspiracy against him, on so large a scale that certain destruction would follow if he were taken by surprise, so I have come on in advance of the conspirators to warn him in time.  You know I have received much kindness from the Rajah, so I could do no less than warn him of impending danger, and then the fact that you were with him made me doubly anxious to reach you in time.”

While the hermit was saying this, the naturalist removed his blue glasses, and slowly wiped them with a corner of his coat-tails.  Replacing them, he gazed intently into the grave countenance of his friend till he had finished speaking.