"Come," said _Mr. Punch_, once more taking hold of his aged
companion's arm, without condescending to give the cheating tradesman
any reply, "come--let us get out of this. 'Pon my word, I think we've
almost had enough of Mercury!"

"Their morality does seem to have reached rather a low ebb, I must
confess," replied Father TIME.

"Nothing like this on our Earth, anyhow," continued _Mr. Punch_,
with a satisfied sigh of relief. "But come, we'll hear what the whole
people say of themselves. See here's a chance. I believe there's a lot
of them over there singing their National Anthem."

They listened as _Mr. Punch_ spoke. He was right. There was a vast
crowd collected outside one of the principal buildings on the other
side of the square, and they were clearly finishing some popular
anthem in chorus, for, as Father TIME and _Mr. Punch_ paused to
listen, the well-known familiar refrain--

"Never, never, never,
Shall be slaves!"

smote their ear.

"Capital! Capital!" cried _Mr. Punch_, approaching the throng. "We'll
have that again." He turned his ring once more as he spoke, and the
mob responded by shouting their second verse.

"Fool! Mercurius!