“Good morning, Mr.—h’m—Mr. Johnson,” said old Mr. Wright. “As we told you, sir, we have, as a necessary preliminary to the inquiry, requested Professor Lieblein to step in and inspect—h’m—the personal marks of which you spoke. Professor Lieblein, of Bonn, is a great authority on these matters—author of ‘Die Tattuirung,’ a very learned work, I am told.”
Thus introduced, the Professor bowed.
“Glad to meet you, sir,” said the sailor-man gruffly, “or any gentleman as really knows what’s what.”
“You have been a great traveller, sir?” said the learned Professor, whose Teutonic accent it is superfluous to reproduce. “You have in many lands travelled? So!”
“Yes, sir; I have seen the world.”
“And you are much tattooed: it is to me very interesting. You have by many races been decorated?”
“Most niggers have had a turn at me, sir!”
“How happy you are to have had such experiences! Now, the Burmese—ah! have you any little Burmese marks?”
“Yes, sir; from the elbow to the shoulder,” replied the seafaring man. “Saving your presence, I’ll strip to the buff.”
“The buff! What is that? Oh, thank you, sir,” this was in reply to young Mr. Wright “The naked body! why, buff! ‘Buff,’ the abstract word, the actual stuff, the very wesen of man unclothed. ‘Buffer,’ the concrete man, in the ‘buff,’ in the flesh; it is sehr intéressant.”