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31 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey - Ingersoll Lockwood · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty one, in which you read of the glorious
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  Speaker 1: caverns of white marble fronting on the wonderful river in
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  Speaker 1: the tropics of the underworld. How we came upon a
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  Speaker 1: solitary wanderer on the banks of the river, my conversation
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  Speaker 1: with him, and my joy at finding myself in the
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  Speaker 1: land of the rattle brains, or happy forgetters. Brief description
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  Speaker 1: of them. With every turn in the winding way that
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  Speaker 1: skirted the white shores of this wonderful stream, its swarms
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  Speaker 1: of light emitting animals lented in new beauty. For as
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  Speaker 1: the day advanced, if I may so express it, they
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  Speaker 1: lifted their glowing bodies nearer and nearer to the surface,
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  Speaker 1: until now the river shone like molten silver, and as
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  Speaker 1: the sheer walls of rock on the opposite bank held
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  Speaker 1: set in them vast slabs of mica. The effect was
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  Speaker 1: that these gigantic natural mirrors reflected the glowing stream with
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  Speaker 1: startling fidelity, and through the flood of soft light, in
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  Speaker 1: dazzling shimmer, against the fantastic portals of the white marble
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  Speaker 1: caverns on this side of the stream. It was a
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  Speaker 1: scene never to forget. And again again I paused in
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  Speaker 1: silent wonder to feast my eyes upon some newly discovered beauty.
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  Speaker 1: Now for the first time I noted that every white
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  Speaker 1: marble basin of cove and inlet was filled with a
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  Speaker 1: different glow, according to the nature of the tiny phosphorescent
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  Speaker 1: animals which happened to fill its waters, one being a
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  Speaker 1: delicate pink, another a glorious red, the third a deep,
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  Speaker 1: rich purple, the fourth a soft blue, the fifth a
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  Speaker 1: golden yellow, and so on, the charm of each tent
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  Speaker 1: being greatly enhanced by the snowy whiteness of these marble basins,
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  Speaker 1: through which long lines of curious fish, scaled in hues
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  Speaker 1: of polished gold and silver, swam slowly along, turning up
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  Speaker 1: their glorious sides to catch the full splendor of the
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  Speaker 1: light reflected from the mica mirrors. And now the chilly
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  Speaker 1: breath of King Galadus's domain no longer filled the air.
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  Speaker 1: I stood in the tropics of the underworld, so to speak.
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  Speaker 1: And but one thing was lacking to make my enjoyment
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  Speaker 1: of this fair region complete, and that was some one
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  Speaker 1: to share it with me. True Bulgar had an idea
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  Speaker 1: of its beauty, for he testified his happiness at being
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  Speaker 1: once more in a warm land, by executing some mad
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  Speaker 1: capers for my amusement, and by scampering along the shore
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  Speaker 1: of the glowing river and barking at the stately fish
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  Speaker 1: as they slowly fanned the water with their many colored fins.
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  Speaker 1: But I must admit that I longed for the Princess
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  Speaker 1: Shnibouleh to keep me company. But it was a rash wish,
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  Speaker 1: for the warm air would have thrown her into convulsions
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  Speaker 1: of fear, and she would have preferred to meet her
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  Speaker 1: death in the cool river rather than attempt to breathe
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  Speaker 1: such a fiery atmosphere. By this time I had advanced
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  Speaker 1: several miles along the white shores of the glowing stream,
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  Speaker 1: and feeling somewhat fatigued, I was about to sit down
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  Speaker 1: on the jutting edge of a natural bench of rock,
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  Speaker 1: which seemed almost placed on the river ranks by human hands,
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  Speaker 1: for human forms to rest upon and watch the wonderful
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  Speaker 1: play of tints and hues in this wide, sweeping inlet. When,
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  Speaker 1: to my amazement, I saw that a human creature was
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  Speaker 1: already sitting there. His eyes were mixed upon the water,
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  Speaker 1: and methought that his face, which was gentle and placid,
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  Speaker 1: wore a tired look. Certainly, he was plunged into such
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  Speaker 1: deep meditation that he either took or feigned to take
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  Speaker 1: no notice of my approach. Bulgar was inclined to dash
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  Speaker 1: forward and attract his attention by a string of ear
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  Speaker 1: splitting barks. But I shook my head. This wander along
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  Speaker 1: the glowing stream of day wore rather a graceful cloak
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  Speaker 1: like garment, woven of some substance that shimmered in the light,
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  Speaker 1: and so I concluded that it must be a mineral wool.
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  Speaker 1: His head was bare, and so were his legs to
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  Speaker 1: the knees, his feet being shod with white metal sandals,
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  Speaker 1: tied on with what looked like leathern thongs. All and all,
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  Speaker 1: he had a friendly, though somewhat peculiar look about him,
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  Speaker 1: and his attitude struck me as being that of a
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  Speaker 1: person either plunged into deep thought or possibly listening for
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  Speaker 1: some anxiously expected signal. At any rate, Accustomed as I
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  Speaker 1: was to meet all sorts of people on my travels
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  Speaker 1: in the four corners of the globe, I determined to
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  Speaker 1: make bold enough to interrupt the gentleman's meditations and wish
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  Speaker 1: him good morrow. Whom have I the pleasures meeting in
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  Speaker 1: this beautiful section of the world within a world. The
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  Speaker 1: man looked at me in a dazed sort of way
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  Speaker 1: and replied, I really don't know. I'm happy to say,
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  Speaker 1: but sir, thy name, I insisted, forgot it years ago,
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  Speaker 1: was his remarkable answer. But surely, sir, I exclaimed rather testily,
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  Speaker 1: or not the sole inhabitant of this beautiful underworld. Thou
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  Speaker 1: hast kinsman wife family, A gentle stranger. He replied, in
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  Speaker 1: slow and measured tones. There are people farther along the shore,
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  Speaker 1: and they are good, dear souls, although I have forgotten
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  Speaker 1: their names, and I have to a very faint recollection
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  Speaker 1: that two of these people are sons of mine. Stop
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  Speaker 1: no a. Their names are gone from me too. I
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  Speaker 1: forgot them the day my own name slipped from my mind.
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  Speaker 1: And as he uttered these words, he threw his head
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  Speaker 1: back with a sudden jerk, and I heard a strange
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  Speaker 1: click inside of it, as if something had slipped from
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  Speaker 1: its place, And that instant, a mysterious expression used by
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  Speaker 1: that master of masters, don fume, flashed through my mind. Rattlebrains, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: that was it. And now I felt sure that I
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  Speaker 1: was standing in the presence of one of the curious
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  Speaker 1: folk inhabiting the world within a world to whom Don
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  Speaker 1: Fume had given the strange name of Rattlebrain's or happy Forgetters.
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  Speaker 1: I was so delighted that I could barely keep myself
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  Speaker 1: from rushing up to this gentle visaged and mild mannered
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  Speaker 1: person whose head had just given forth the sharp click,
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  Speaker 1: and grasping him by the hand. But I feared to
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  Speaker 1: shock him by such a friendly greeting, and so I
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  Speaker 1: contented myself with crying out, Sir, thou seest before thee
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  Speaker 1: none other than the famous traveler Baron Sebastian von Trump.
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  Speaker 1: But to my great amazement and greater chagrin, he simply
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  Speaker 1: turned his strange eyes with the far away look upon
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  Speaker 1: me for an instant, and then resumed his contemplation of
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  Speaker 1: the beautifully tinted sheet of water as if I had
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  Speaker 1: and opened by mouth. It was the most extraordinary treatment
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  Speaker 1: that I had experienced since my descent into the underworld,
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  Speaker 1: and I was upon the point of resenting it as
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  Speaker 1: became a true knight, and especially of Van Trump. When
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  Speaker 1: don Fum's brief description of the rattle brains are happy
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  Speaker 1: forgetters flitted through my mind, said he. By the exercise
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  Speaker 1: of their strong wills. They have been busy for ages,
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  Speaker 1: striving to unload their brains of the to them now
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  Speaker 1: useless stock of knowledge accumulated by their ancestors. And the
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  Speaker 1: natural consequence has been that the brains of these curious folk,
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  Speaker 1: who call themselves the happy forgetters, relieved of all labor
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  Speaker 1: and strain of thought, have absolutely shrunken, rather than increased
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  Speaker 1: in size, so that with many of the happy forgetters,
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  Speaker 1: their brains are like the shriveled kernel of a last
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  Speaker 1: year's nut, and give forth a sharp click when they
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  Speaker 1: move their heads suddenly with a jerk, as is often
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  Speaker 1: their wont for they take great pride in proving to
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  Speaker 1: the listener that they deserve the name of rattle brain.
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  Speaker 1: Nor do I need remind the old reader. Concluded Don
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  Speaker 1: Fum in his celebrated work on the World within a World,
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  Speaker 1: that the chiefest among the happy forgetters is the man
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  Speaker 1: whose head gives forth the loudest and sharpest click, For
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  Speaker 1: he it is who has forgotten most. You can have
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  Speaker 1: but a faint idea. Dear friends of my delight at
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  Speaker 1: the prospect of spending some time among these curious people,
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  Speaker 1: people who look with absolute dread upon knowledge as the
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  Speaker 1: one thing necessary to get rid of before happiness can
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  Speaker 1: enter the human heart. No joy can equal the happy forgetters, when,
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  Speaker 1: upon clasping a friend's hand, he finds that he has
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  Speaker 1: forgotten his very name. And no day is well spent
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  Speaker 1: in this land at the close of which the inhabitant
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  Speaker 1: may not exclaim this day I succeeded in forgetting something
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  Speaker 1: that I knew yesterday. At last, the happy forgetter rose
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  Speaker 1: from his seat and calmly walked away, without so much
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  Speaker 1: as wishing me good day. But I was resolved not
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  Speaker 1: to be so easily gotten rid of, so I called
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  Speaker 1: after him in a loud voice in vulgar following my example,
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  Speaker 1: raised a racket at his heels, whereupon he faced about
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  Speaker 1: and remarked, BEG, pardon, I had quite forgotten thee I'm
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  Speaker 1: happy to say, and thy name too, I've forgotten that.
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  Speaker 1: Let me see art thou al radiate one of the
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  Speaker 1: animals in the water. I was more than half inclined
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  Speaker 1: to lose my temper at this slur, classing me a
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  Speaker 1: backboned animal with a mere jelly fish. But under all
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  Speaker 1: the circumstances, I thought it best to control myself, for
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  Speaker 1: I could well imagine that from the size of my
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  Speaker 1: head and the utter absence of all click inside of it,
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  Speaker 1: I was not destined to be a very welcome visitor
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  Speaker 1: among the happy forgetters. And therefore, swallowing my injured feelings,
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  Speaker 1: I made a very low bow and begged this curious
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  Speaker 1: gentleman to be kind enough to conduct me to his people,
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  Speaker 1: among whom I wished to bide for a few days.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter thirty one