Herbert's face lit up like a chandelier at the prospect. The next best thing to having one's own adventures, he thought, was to hear about them from one who was just so good at adventuring. He had long envied his brother-in-law's globetrotting ways—not insofar as wishing them for himself, of course, but in the way that one might envy a friend's jolly good fortune. He knew Arven would do the
expedition properly. He was just about to say as much when Somersby entered.

"Your uncle is off to Africa!" he answered brightly.