THE STEEL FLEA
and I have the very melkoscope with which it can be seen, and with the key the nymfozoria can be wound up through its belly, and it will skip over any space you like,and make variations in all directions."
They wound it up, and it began to leap, and Platoff says: "This, Your Majesty, is really a very delicate and interesting bit of work, but it is not meet that we should view it with ecstasy of spirit only; we must also submit it to Russian inspection in Tula or in Sesterbek,"—Sesthoryetzk was still called Sesterbek at that time,—"to see whether our artisans cannot surpass this, so that the English may not exalt themselves above the Russians."
"Thou sayest well, valiant old man, and I commission thee to establish this matter. This little box I do not want at present, in all my anxieties, therefore do thou take it with thee; and
[ 26 ]
