92 PRINCE FILDERKIN

‘The question then is how this can best
be managed. I may at once tell you that
he who is now speaking to you is the only
person in the world who can tell you this ;
and as you have placed your trust in me, I
will assuredly do my best to help you.’

At this point the speaker paused to take
breath, which is not to be wondered at when
we count the length of the speech which he
had already made without any pause. Prince
Filderkin had all this time kept his eyes
earnestly fixed upon him, and had listened
with the deepest attention to every word.
Astonished as he had been at the strange
story which he had heard, he did not venture
to interrupt the wise man, and the latter,
after the delay of a single moment, thus
continued his instructions.

‘That which you have to do,’ he said, in
a grave and solemn voice, ‘is to secure the
hump which is so precious to the hump-backed
mountaineers. If it is once safely in your
possession, they will willingly offer to take
your hump as well as that which they have
lost, if you consent to return the latter. By
their power alone can your hump be removed
without injury to your life and health, and