I took him up and made much of him, and encouraged him all I could. But there was more work to do yet; for I perceived the savage whom I had knocked down was not killed, but stunned with the blow, and began to come to himself: so I pointed to him, and showed him the savage, that he was not dead; upon this he spoke some words to me, and though I could not understand them, yet I thought they were pleasant to hear; for they were the first sound of a man’s voice that I had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty-five years.
De wilde, wien ik naar hem wees, zeide mij eenige woorden, die ik niet verstond, maar die mij de aangenaamste geluiden toeschenen, die ik in vijfentwintig jaren gehoord had; want het was de eerste menschelijke stem, buiten de mijne, die ik in al dien tijd gehoord had. Ik had echter thans geen tijd daar aan te denken.