s has induced the publishers of
this----"

"My God!" said Macpherson, "it's a canvasser. Here, Tom Sayers, Tom
Sayers!" and he whistled and called for his dog. "Now," he said, "will
you go out of this office quietly, or will you be thrown out? It's for
yourself to decide, but you've only got while a duck wags his tail to
decide in. Which'll it be?"

"---- works of modern ages," said the canvasser. "Every person
subscribing to this invaluable work will receive, in addition, a
flat-iron, a railway pass for a year, and a pocket-compass. If you will
please sign this order----"

Just here Tom Sayers came tearing through the office, and without
waiting for orders hitched straight on to the canvasser's calf. To
Macpherson's amazement the piece came clear away, and Tom Sayers rolled
about on the floor with his mouth full of a sticky substance which
seemed to surprise him badly.

The long Scotchman paused awhile before this mystery, but at last
he fancied he had got the solution. "Got a cork leg, have you?" said
he--"Well, let's see if your ribs are cork too," and he struck the
canvasser an awful blow on the fifth button of the waistcoat.

Quicker than lightning came that terrific right-hand cross-counter.
Macpherson never even knew what happened to him. The canvasser's right
hand, which had been adjusted by his inventor for a high blow, had
landed on the butt of Macpherson's ear and dropped him like a fowl. The
gasping, terrified bull-dog fled the scene, and the canvasser stood over
his fallen foe, still intoning the virtues of his publication. He had
come there merely as a friend, he said, to give the inhabitants of
Ninemile a chance to buy a book which had recently earned the approval
of King O'Malley and His Excellency the Governor-General.

The Genius and his mate watched this extraordinary drama through the
window. The stimulant habitually consumed by the Ninemilers had induced
in them a state of superlative Dutch courage, and they looked upon the
whole affair as a wildly hilarious joke.

"By Gad! he's done him," said the Genius, as Macpherson went down, "done
him in one hit. If he don't pay as a canvasser I'll take him to town
and back him to fight Les Darcy. Look out for yourself; don't you handle
him!" he continued as the other approached the figure. "Leave him to
me. As like as not, if you get fooling about him, he'll give you a clout
that'll paralyse you."

So saying, he guided the automaton out of the offic