“Will you have him?” asked he of Captain Hood.
“What on earth do you expect me to do with him?” returned the captain.
“You can make him into beefsteaks,” replied the zoologist, “if I may make use of the catachresis!”
“Mr. van Guitt,” said Banks gravely, “the catachresis is allowable, when for lack of any other expression, it renders the thought properly.”
“That is quite my opinion,” replied the zoologist.
“Well, Hood,” said Banks, “will you or will you not take Mr. van Guitt’s bear?”
“Of course not,” replied the captain. “To eat bear steaks when once the bear is killed is all very well; but to kill a bear on purpose to make steaks of him isn’t an appetizing job!”
“Then you may give that plantigrade his liberty,” said Van Guitt, turning to his shikarries.
They obeyed. The cage was b
