“And bravely done it is. Mohi tells us, that Mardi was made in six days; but you, Babbalanja, have built it up from the bottom in less than six minutes.”
“Nothing for us geologists, my lord. At a word we turn you out whole systems, suns, satellites, and asteroids included. Why, my good lord, my friend Annonimo is laying out a new Milky Way, to intersect with the old one, and facilitate cross-cuts among the comets.”
And so saying, Babbalanja turned aside.
CHAPTER XXIX.
They Still Remain Upon The Rock
“Gogle-goggle, fugle-fi, fugle-fogle-orum,” so hummed to himself Babbalanja, slowly pacing over the fossils. “Is he crazy again?” whispered Yoomy.
“Are you crazy, Babbalanja?” asked Media.
“From my very birth have I been so, my lord; am I not possessed by a devil?”
“Then I’ll e’en interrogate him,” cried Media. “—Hark ye, sirrah;— why rave you thus in this poor mortal?”
“’Tis he, not I. I am the mildest devil that ever entered man; in propria persona, no antlers do I wear; my tail has lost its barb, as at last your Mardian lions lose their caudal horns.”
“A very sing-song devil this. But, prithee, who are you, sirrah?”