y tennis and shoot! You know these English boys."

Magin considered those English boys in silence for a moment.

"Yes, I know them. This one told me he liked a bit of a lark! I know
myself what a lark it is to navigate the Ab-i-Diz, at the end of July!
But what is most curious about these English boys is that when they go
out for a bit of a lark they come home with Egypt or India in their
pocket. Have you noticed that, Ganz? That's their idea of a bit of a
lark. And with it all they are still children. What can one do with
such people? A bit of a lark! Well, you will perhaps make me a little
annoyance, Mr. Adolf Ganz, by sending your English boy up to Dizful to
have a bit of a lark. However, he'll either give himself a sunstroke or
get himself bitten in two by a shark. He asked me about the channel, and
I had an inspiration. I told him he would have no trouble. So he'll go
full speed and we shall see what we shall see. Do you sell coffins, Mr.
Ganz, in addition to all your other valuable merchandise?"

"Naturally, Mr. Magin," replied the Swiss. "Do you need one? But you
haven't explained to me yet why you give me the pain of saying good-bye
to you a second time."

"Partly, Mr. Ganz, because I am tired of sleeping in an oven, and partly
because I--the Father of Swords has asked me to run up to Bala Bala
before I leave. But principally because I need a case or two more of
your excellent _vin de champagne_--manufactured out of Persian
petroleum, the water of the Karun, the nameless abominations of Shuster,
and the ever effervescing impudence of the Swiss Republic!"

"What can I do?" smiled the flattered author of this concoction. "I have
to use what I can get, in this Godforsaken place."

"And I suppose you will end by getting a million, eh?"

"No such luck! But I'm getting a piano. Did I tell you? A Bluethner. It's
already on the way up from Mohamera."

"A Bluethner! In Shuster! God in heaven! Why did you wait until I had
gone?"

"Well, aren't you still here?" The fact of Magin's being still there, so
unexpectedly, hung in his mind. "By the way, speaking of the Father of
Swords, did you give him an order?"

"I gave him an order. Didn't you pay it?"

"I thought twice about it. For unless you have struck oil, up in that
country of yours where nobody goes, or gold--"

"Mr. Adolf Ganz," remarked the Brazilian with some pointedness, "all I
ask of you is to respect my signature and to keep closed that
many-tongued