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Rh wise men, and one fair damsel&mdash;who, doubtless, is as wise as any graybeard of the company: here we are, I say, all bound on the same goodly enterprise. Me-thinks, 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?&rdquo;

&ldquo;How enjoy it!&rdquo; exclaimed the aged Seeker, bitterly. &ldquo;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,&mdash;the energy of my soul,&mdash;the warmth of my blood,&mdash;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.&rdquo;

&ldquo;O wretch, regardless of the interests of science!&rdquo; cried Doctor Cacaphodel, with philosophic indignation. &ldquo;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&mdash;for I have a presentiment, good people, that the prize is reserved to crown my scientific