I changed my mind
in respect to my midnight walk immediately upon receipt of the news, for I
knew that before one o'clock some one would call upon me at my lodgings
with reference to this robbery. It could not be otherwise. Any mystery of
such magnitude could no more be taken to another bureau than elephants
could fly--"
"They used to," said Adam. "I once had a whole aviary full of winged
elephants. They flew from flower to flower, and thrusting their
probabilities deep into--"
"Their what?" queried Johnson, with a frown.
"Probabilities--isn't that the word? Their trunks," said Adam.
"Probosces, I imagine you mean," suggested Johnson.
"Yes--that was it. Their probosces," said Adam. "They were great
honey-gatherers, those elephants--far better than the bees, because they
could make so much more of it in a given time."
Munchausen shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid I'm outclassed by these
antediluvians," he said.
"Gentlemen! gentlemen!" cried Sir Walter. "These interruptions are
inexcusable!"
"That's what I think," said the stranger, with some asperity. "I'm having
about as hard a time getting this story out as I would if it were a
serial. Of course, if you gentlemen do not wish to hear it, I can stop;
but it must be understood that when I do stop I stop finally, once and for
all, because the tale has not a sufficiency of dramatic climaxes to
warrant its prolongation over the usual magazine period of twelve months.
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