"I had the honor!" the voice replied.
Turning, I saw upon the shelf a diminutive figure carrying a little lantern in one hand, and something like a needle in the other.
Before I could recover from my astonishment, and not before I had been asked sarcastically whether I should know him the next time we met, the little man went on:
"This is a pretty way to treat me,—is n't it?"
"What in the world—what does this mean?" I blundered out.
"Well! I like that," replied the pygmy in a scornful tone; "asking what this means,—after having kept me shut up in that old leather satchel for over two thousand years! Why, I should have been starved before long; my provisions were almost gone, I can tell you! Perhaps you think I'm not hungry now? Oh, no! of course not!—and you want to know what this means?"
Here he burst out laughing so loudly that I plainly heard it.
"I should be glad to do anything in my power to aid you," I began, wishing to do my best to pacify the little fellow; "but as for having kept you shut up for twenty centuries, why, my dear fellow, that's simply absurd, for I am only twenty-three years old now!"
"Oh, see here," he answered scornfully, "that's a little more than I can stand! You 've played the innocent game long enough; you can't fool me that way again. Why, I suppose you will deny that your name is Trancastro, next?" and he hopped up and down in a rage.
"Tran—which? Tran—what?" I began.
"That's right, that's right!" cried the little imp in a perfect fury. "Go on—deny everything!"
"See here!" I cried, now out of patience with his folly, "I don't know anything about you or your Tran-what-you-may-call-him, and if you had n't kicked up such a racket in my closet I
