A whole week passed by. Neither the mermaid nor merman were again seen, so Skeleton's story was believed. It was believed also that the mermaid had either died of grief or been so frightened that she had left the coast.
Hearing the story, the scientists came back, determined not to believe even their own eyes. To them in the gloaming of a summer evening the merman was first shown. The tank was about fourteen feet deep, and electric light was flashed down from above, and there, sure enough, the awful creature could be seen crouching in a corner at the bottom.
'But,' the scientists said, 'that might be a mere doll or dummy.'
'No, Mr Biffins Lee, we can't swallow your mermaid, or rather merman.'
'Gentlemen,' replied Lee in his grandest manner, 'I should be very sorry indeed if you did swallow him. There he is, nevertheless; and if you will be kind enough not to swallow him I will have the honour and pleasure of showing him to all the crowned heads in Europe.'
'Has he ever been to the surface of the tank yet?' asked a disbeliever.
'That he was, sir, only this morning. He swam up and took down two fish, and'——
At this moment these savants were standing, confronting Biffins, about ten yards from the tank, and with their backs thereto.
Suddenly, 'See! see!' shouted Biffins. He seized the foremost scientist and wheeled him right round; and although the man evinced a strong inclination to fly, Mr Biffins Lee held him there as in a vice.
The other scientists retreated in a body many yards away, and stood staring at the tank in terrified astonishment.