of another quarrel
in our tray while we were waiting for the sale to begin. The culprit in
this instance was a certain Queen Anne's shilling attached to the chain
of an insignificant-looking watch.

"What business has that ugly bit of tin here?" asked a burly hunter.

"Who calls me an ugly bit of tin?" squeaked out the coin.

"I do; there!" said the hunter; "now what have you got to say?"

"Only that you're a falsehood. Why, you miserable, machine-made,
wheezing, old make-believe of a turnip--"

"Draw it mild, young fellow," said the hunter.

"Do you know that I was current coin of the realm before the tin mine
that supplied your carcass was so much as discovered? I'm a Queen
Anne's shilling!"

"Are you, though? And what good are you now, my ancient Bob?"

The shilling grew, so to speak, black in the face.

"I won't be called a Bob! I'm not a Bob! Who dares call me a Bob?"

"I do, Bob; there, Bob. What do you think of that, Bob? What's the use
of you, Bob, eh? Can _you_ tell the time, Bob, eh, Bob, Bob, Bob?"

And we all took up the cry, and from that moment until the time of our
sale every sound, for us, was drowned in a ceaseless cry of "Bob!" in
the midst of which the unlucky Queen Anne's shilling crawled under his
watch, and devoutly wished he were as undoubtedly dead as the
illustrious royal lady whose image and superscription he had the
misfortune to bear.

In due time the sale began. Among the earliest lots I recognised my
acquaintance the solid silver sugar-tongs, which went for very nearly
his full value, thus confirming me in my belief that, after all, there's
nothing like the genuine thing all the world over.

After the disposal of the silver goods--for which comparatively few
people bid, and that with little or no competition--the real excitement
of the auction began.

"I have here, ladies and gentlemen," said the auctioneer, "a remarkably
fine and superior lot of silver watches, all of which have been
carefully cleaned and kept in order, and which, I can safely say, are
equal to, if not better than, new. In many cases the watches are
accompanied by chains of a very elegant and chaste description, which
appendages considerably enhance their value. When I inform you that we
value the contents of this tray, at the very lowest, at L90, being an
average of L4 per watch, you will see I am not presenting to you any
ordinary lot of goods. I will put up the watches singly in the order in