IT WAS THE FIRST TIME that Jack Shaftoe had been called 'sir' or mistaken for a knight. He glared meanly at the ostrich, which was staggering around in circles and losing the strength to stand. The woman had meanwhile switched into yet another strange language. Jack interrupted her: 'My Qwghlmian is rusty,' he announced. 'Wandered up to Gttr Mnhrbgh once when I was a boy, as we'd heard a rumor that a Spanish Treasure-Galleon had been wrecked, and pieces of eight scattered up and down the shore, as thick as mussels. But all we found was a few drunken Frenchmen, stealing the chickens and burning the houses.'