"Your honor has hit my meaning precisely."
"You don't pretend to say that you came by water?"
"Far from it, sir."
"How then, under the heavens, did you come?"
"I didn't come under the heavens at all."
"I don't believe," said the irritated gentleman, turning to his companions, "that the fellow came at all; he must be lying."
All the answer that he received was the rustling of forty newspapers, bearing the imprint, "February 16, 1867, Boston." There was no getting over this.
After a pause of several minutes, during which a bright idea entered my mind, I came forward into the circle, and said, "Well, gentlemen, I want to see if I can make a good bargain with you; and when that is settled, I will tell you how I came over—I mean, I will tell you how I got here; that is, I will tell you the route that I took. If I can arrange for the delivery in Canton of the New York and Boston daily papers, within thirty-six hours of the time when they are issued in those cities, will you all promise to give me your generous patronage?"
"Of course we will," they cried all together.
"Very well; then I pledge myself to appear again in this place one week from this day, ready to carry out my part of the bargain. And now, in bidding you good-night, allow me to inform you that I came from America to China by the air-line."