What I have got to take care about is that he doesn't catch sight of either Miss King or Simpkins.

I don't know whether you quite realise, Major, that as long as that judge is in Ballymoy we are living on the edge of a volcano.

The smallest spark might set the thing off and cause an alarming explosion." "Do sparks set off volcanoes ?" "That, I suppose, is the kind of remark that you consider clever.

As a matter of fact, it is simply an evidence of your mental sluggishness.
My thoughts had passed on, by a perfectly natural transition, from volcanoes to powder magazines, which are things that sparks do set off.
Any one with even a moderate amount of what I may call mental agility would have followed me without any difficulty, and refrained from asking your very foolish question.

But it is difficult to be literal enough to please you.