"Why, yes, till they get a new mainspring and start going again. If not, why, they're done for, that's all."
"You've a neat way of putting it, Bramsen. Like a parable."
"And then they're mostly cased up smart and fine, and we wear them mostly near our hearts——"
"Bravo! Right again!"
"Well, now, begging your pardon, Knut, might I be so bold as to ask if it's a widow you've got your eye on this time?"
"No, indeed, my dear fellow, it's not."
"Good for you, Knut. I've never cared much for second-hand goods myself, there's always something wrong with them somewhere, and they soon go to bits."
"You're not far out either. I like them new myself."
"But I was going to tell you, I'd a rare time of it here the other day. You've maybe heard about me gammoning the youngsters down here—ay, and others too for that matter, simple folk like Garner, for instance—that I could talk Chinese through having picked up the lingo the five years I was on board the Albatros in the China Seas?"
And, by way of illustration, Bramsen showed his eyes round sideways, screwed up his mouth and uttered the following syllables: "Hi—ho—fang—chu—ka—me—lang—poh—poh—ku!"