"Puffs enough," said King Media, "Vee-Vee! haul down my flag. There,
lie down before me, oh Gonfalon! and, subjects, hear,--when I die, lay
this spear on my right, and this pipe on my left, its colors at half
mast; so shall I be ambidexter, and sleep between eloquent symbols."



CHAPTER XVIII
They Visit An Extraordinary Old Antiquary


"About prows there, ye paddlers," cried Media. "In this fog we've been
raising, we have sailed by Padulla, our destination."

Now Padulla, was but a little island, tributary to a neighboring king;
its population embracing some hundreds of thousands of leaves, and
flowers, and butterflies, yet only two solitary mortals; one, famous
as a venerable antiquarian: a collector of objects of Mardian vertu; a
cognoscenti, and dilettante in things old and marvelous; and for that
reason, very choice of himself.

He went by the exclamatory cognomen of "Oh-Oh;" a name bestowed upon
him, by reason of the delighted interjections, with which he welcomed
all accessions to his museum.

Now, it was to obtain a glimpse of this very museum, that Media was
anxious to touch at Padulla.

Landing, and passing through a grove, we were accosted by Oh-Oh