now, it were not amiss that each of us declare what he proposes to do
with the Great Carbuncle, provided he have the good hap to clutch it.
What says our friend in the bear skin? How mean you, good sir, to enjoy
the prize which you have been seeking, the Lord knows how long, among
the Crystal Hills?'

'How enjoy it!' exclaimed the aged Seeker, bitterly. 'I hope for no
enjoyment from it; that folly has passed long ago! I keep up the search
for this accursed stone because the vain ambition of my youth has become
a fate upon me in old age. The pursuit alone is my strength--the energy
of my soul--the warmth of my blood--and the pith and marrow of my bones!
Were I to turn my back upon it I should fall down dead on the hither
side of the Notch, which is the gateway of this mountain region. Yet not
to have my wasted lifetime back again would I give up my hopes of the
Great Carbuncle! Having found it, I shall bear it to a certain cavern
that I wot of, and there, grasping it in my arms, lie down and die, and
keep it buried with me forever.'

'O wretch, regardless of the interests of science!' cried Doctor
Cacaphodel, with philosophic indignation. 'Thou art not worthy to
behold, even from afar off, the lustre of this most precious gem that
ever was concocted in the laboratory of Nature. Mine is the sole purpose
for which a wise man may desire the possession of the Great Carbuncle.

'Immediately on obtaining it--for I have a presentiment, good people,
that the prize is reserved to crown my scientific reputation--I shall
return to Europe, and employ my remaining years in reducing it to
its first elements. A portion of the stone will I grind to impalpable
powder; other parts shall be dissolved in acids, or whatever solvents
will act upon so admirable a composition; and the remainder I design