'Is—is that action typical of the boy?' the Hermit asked.
'Well, they get up to larks now and then,' Chimp admitted.
'As time is short,' said the Hermit, 'I am disposed to begin this morning—at once. That is not too soon for you, I hope, Alexander Joseph Ch——?'
'Oh, please don't,' Chimp interrupted. 'You know, boys don't call each other by all their names like that; they either stick to the last one or invent a nickname.'
'I am sorry to have hurt your feelings,' said the Hermit. 'If you will tell me your nickname I will call you by it.'
'I think,' replied Chimp, unwilling to explain his own, 'that perhaps we'd better begin now and give each other fresh ones.'
'Very well,' said the Hermit, after a minute's thought, 'I shall call you Simian, or, for the sake of brevity, Sim.'
'Simeon?' cried Chimp. 'Oh, that's not the thing at all! A nickname should describe a fellow, you know—it shouldn't be just another ordinary name.'
'Yes,' replied his apprentice, 'and I mean to call you Sim, an abbreviation of Simian. And what will you call me?'
Chimp pondered awhile. 'I shall call you,' he said at length, 'Billykins, because of your long goat's beard.'