* * * * *
[Illustration: PUNCHIUS PHOEBUS, THE GREAT UNIVERSAL HYPNOTISER.
("_He who must be Obeyed!_")
A TRANSFORMATION SCENE.]
* * * * *
VISIT TO THE DOG-STAR.
[Illustration: THE DOG STAR]
"Take care of the plank, Sir," I said, as my esteemed master lightly
skipped across the gangway, marshalling a well-grown youth carrying
a scythe; "we don't have many visitors here. One who looked in the
other day slipped his foot, fell over, and we've never seen him since.
Listening intently, watch in hand, we heard a slight thud, and have
reason to believe he dropped on Jupiter. It was useful to us, seeing
that, by use of a well-known formula, we were able to reckon our
precise distance from that planet. For him, I fancy, it must have
been inconvenient."
"Are you serious, TOBY?" said _Mr. Punch_, stepping with added
caution.
"No, Sir, _I'm_ not. This," I said, waving my hand with graceful and
comprehensive gesture around the orb where I am temporarily located,
"_this_ is Sirius."
"Ah, I see," said _Mr. P._, glad to find himself with his foot on
our native heath; "I want to present you to an old friend, whom, I am
afraid, you have sometimes misused. TIME, this is TOBY, M.P., a humble
but faithful member of my terrestrial suite. I am showing the young
fellow round, TOBY, and we looked in on you, hearing that you had a
Parliament that should serve as a model for the firmament.
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