Why, you miserable, machine-made, wheezing, old make-believe of a turnip--" "Draw it mild, young fellow," said the hunter.
"Do you know that I was current coin of the realm before the tin mine that supplied your carcass was so much as discovered?
I'm a Queen Anne's shilling!" "Are you, though?
And what good are you now, my ancient Bob ?" The shilling grew, so to speak, black in the face.
"I won't be called a Bob! I'm not a Bob! Who dares call me a Bob ?" "I do, Bob; there, Bob.

What do you think of that, Bob?
What's the use of you, Bob, eh?
Can _you_ tell the time, Bob, eh, Bob, Bob, Bob ?" And we all took up the cry, and from that moment until the time of our sale every sound, for us, was drowned in a ceaseless cry of "Bob!" in the midst of which the unlucky Queen Anne's shilling crawled under his watch, and devoutly wished he were as undoubtedly dead as the illustrious royal lady whose image and superscription he had the misfortune to bear.
In due time the sale began.

Among the earliest lots I recognised my acquaintance the solid silver sugar-tongs, which went for very nearly his full value, thus confirming me in my belief that, after all, there's nothing like the genuine thing all the world over.
After the disposal of the silver goods--for which comparatively few people bid, and that with little or no competition--the real excitement of the auction began.
"I have here, ladies and gentlemen," said the auctioneer, "a remarkably fine and superior lot of silver watches, all of which have been carefully cleaned and kept in order, and which, I can safely say, are equal to, if not better than, new.

In many cases the watches are accompanied by chains of a very elegant and chaste description, which appendages considerably enhance their value.

When I inform you that we value the contents of this tray, at the very lowest, at L90, being an average of L4 per watch, you will see I am not presenting to you any ordinary lot of goods.