Hearing the story, the scientists came back, determined not to believe even their own eyes. To them in the gloaming of a summer evening the merman was first shown. The tank was about fourteen feet deep, and electric light was flashed down from above, and there, sure enough, the awful creature could be seen crouching in a corner at the bottom. 'But,' the scientists said, 'that might be a mere doll or dummy.' 'No, Mr Biffins Lee, we can't swallow your mermaid, or rather merman.' 'Gentlemen,' replied Lee in his grandest manner, 'I should be very sorry indeed if you did swallow him. There he is, nevertheless; and if you will be kind enough not to swallow him I will have the honour and pleasure of showing him to all the crowned heads in Europe.' 'Has he ever been to the surface of the tank yet?' asked a disbeliever. 'That he was, sir, only this morning. He swam up and took down two fish, and'---- At this moment these savants were standing, confronting Biffins, about ten yards from the tank, and with their backs thereto. Suddenly, 'See! see!' shouted Biffins. He seized the foremost scientist and wheeled him right round; and although the man evinced a strong inclination to fly, Mr Biffins Lee held him there as in a vice. The other scientists retreated in a body many yards away, and stood staring at the tank in terrified astonishment. And no wonder. For, above the surface, the head, shoulders, and bare arms, with fingers ending in claws, had appeared. The face was very old-looking and wrinkled, but the scream it gave would have done honour to a mountain curlew. Then it swam to the side of the tank. The scientists were shaking with dread. 'Se--se--send him d--d--down, Mr Lee. Have you no co--co--co--control over him?' 'Not a bit,' cried Biffins. 'Serve you right if you're frightened, I say.' But Skeleton now rushed in with a live fish and threw it towards the water. The merman caught it and disappeared. Then the scientists stood there for ten whole minutes as if turned into stone, with their watches in their hands. 'If you care to have him up again, gentlemen,' said Lee, 'I think I have only to throw in another haddock.' 'No, no--not for the world. We mean, we are perfectly satisfied, Mr Lee.' It was the mouthpiece of the party who spoke. 'I think, my friends,' he went on, 'that we must now thank Professor Lee for his great kindness, and--and retire; for verily, verily, gentlemen, there are more things in heaven and earth than--er--we dream of in our--er--philosophy.' Biffins followed them out beyond the compound, and as he bade them good-night he said, 'You'll give me a paragraph in your papers, won't you, my friends?' 'My good fellow, we will give you a leading article. You are a benefactor to science!' The scientists then had had the honour of the first view. The clergy came next. They said but little, were a trifle timid, but evidently satisfied.