"You surprise me."
"Well, I will convince you it is fact," returned Clawbonny, and taking up a thermometer, he plunged it into the steaming coffee. He waited till the mercury rose as high as 131° and then withdrew it, and swallowed the liquid with evident gusto.
Bell tried to follow his example, but burnt his mouth severely.
"You are not used to it," said the Doctor, coolly.
"Can you tell us, Clawbonny," asked Altamont, "what is the highest temperature that the human body can bear."
"Yes, several curious experiments have been made in that respect. I remember reading of some servant girls, in the town of Rochefoucauld, in France, who could stay ten minutes in a baker's large oven when the temperature was 300°, while potatoes and meat were cooking all round them."
"What girls!" exclaimed Altamont.
"Well, there is another case, where eight of our own countrymen- Fordyce, Banks, Solander, Blagdin, Home, Nooth, Lord Seaforth, and Captain Phillips-went into one as hot as 200°, where eggs and beef were frizzling."
"And they were Englishmen!" said Bell, with a touch of national pride.
"Oh, the Americans could have done better than that," said Altamont.