a tongue which my
father could not understand, but which he felt sure was the hypothetical
language of which he has spoken in his book.

Presently Hanky said to my father quite civilly, "And what, my good man,
do you propose to do with all these things? I should tell you at once
that what you take to be gold is nothing of the kind; it is a base metal,
hardly, if at all, worth more than copper."

"I have had enough of them; to-morrow morning I shall take them with me
to the Blue Pool, and drop them into it."

"It is a pity you should do that," said Hanky musingly: "the things are
interesting as curiosities, and--and--and--what will you take for them?"

"I could not do it, sir," answered my father. "I would not do it, no,
not for--" and he named a sum equivalent to about five pounds of our
money. For he wanted Erewhonian money, and thought it worth his while to
sacrifice his ten pounds' worth of nuggets in order to get a supply of
current coin.

Hanky tried to beat him down, assuring him that no curiosity dealer would
give half as much, and my father so far yielded as to take 4 pounds, 10s.
in silver, which, as I have already explained, would not be worth more
than half a sovereign in gold. At this figure a bargain was struck, and
the Professors paid up without offering him a single Musical Bank coin.
They wanted to include the boots in the purchase, but here my father
stood out.

But he could not stand out as regards another matter, which caused him
some anxiety. Panky insisted that my father should give them a receipt
for the money, and there was an altercation between the Professors on
this point, much longer than I can here find space to give. Hanky argued
that a receipt was useless, inasmuch as it would be ruin to my father
ever to refer to the subject again. Panky, however, was anxious, not
lest my father should again claim the money, but (though he did not say
so outright) lest Hanky should claim the whole purchase as his own. In
so the end Panky, for a wonder, carried the day, and a receipt was drawn
up to the effect that the undersigned acknowledged to have received from
Professors Hanky and Panky the sum of 4 pounds, 10s. (I translate the
amount), as joint purchasers of certain pieces of yellow ore, a blanket,
and sundry articles found without an owner in the King's preserves. This
paper was dated, as the permit had been, XIX. xii. 29.

My father, generally so ready, was at his wits' end for a