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AURORA AUSTRALIS themselves, saying;

Behold! the task which Shackleton hath set himself to perform is great, and the good which shall come from it, will it not also be unto us, as unto the country of the Great King.

Let us therefore of our plenty, give unto him five thousand pieces of gold and thus give him a leg up, which being interpreted is to say, help him over the stile. And they all with one consent did exclaim,

Yea! let it be even so.

¶ Now amongst the wise men of the land was one whose fame was noised abroad over the whole earth, for he had travelled from his youth up in every country in pursuit of knowledge and the furtherance thereof, and whose name was called after that of one of the mightiest kings of old time, even David.

And though his years were not few and his hair was whitened unto the likeness of hoar frost, yet was his blood still full of fire and did ﬂow swiftly through his veins;

And his body was lusty and strong as that of a young man, for could he not with one bit which is to say, sallikatowzer, of his clenched hand, totally ﬂummax, or in the modern tongue, put to sleep, a fullgrown and stalwart man.