with them." To the best of my ability I described the
appearance of the old crab, and aided my description with a slight
sketch on the sand made with the point of my umbrella. He gazed at this
with much interest and murmured to himself "considerable artistic
talent," and then aloud, "Oh yes, yes, I remember him quite well;
indeed, he was here only recently about a little matter of supper. Well,
well, I'm afraid I cannot be of any help to you here. You see, it's like
this. Earlier in the day, I came to a little arrangement (quite a little
business affair, by the way) with an old lady conger eel I have known
for many years, and it happened in this way. We were having a little
dispute as to who should sup off the other, and without going into
details, the upshot of it all was that the eel managed to tie herself in
a knot round my throat, and so, you see, was mistress of the situation.
I need not tell you that I did not lose my presence of mind--indeed, I
never do--and I politely asked her if she had ever tasted crab, and
effectually persuaded her that they were much better eating than
lobster, and undertook to procure her a beauty (thinking all the time,
of course, of our mutual friend), on the understanding that I should go
quite free. It's very sad and all that sort of thing, no doubt, about
the little oyster--sweet little chuck--indeed, I am more sorry than I
appear to be about it, but really what can one do?" And the lobster
shrugged his bristling shoulders. "Speaking to you," he continued, "as
one man of the world to another, business is business after all, you
know. And if we don't fulfil our obligations, where do we stand? Of
course, I don't say but what a little chat with the conger might make it
all right, and there's no harm in trying--she's a nice eel. I feel sure
you would like her, at least I felt I should, when I invited her to be
my supper--and if nothing comes of the meeting, well, we shall none of
us be any worse off than we are at the present moment. If at any other
time I can be of use to you, I do hope that you will not hesitate to
come round and ask. Good day."

'I now left him to search for the conger, whom I found dozing in a pool
near the sea. I took her out and placed her gently on the sand, and she
gradually opened her eyes and fastened them on me. I once more expounded
the reasons why, in my opinion, this cruel arrangement should not be
persisted in. I quite astonished myself by my own eloquence,