'Well, you said there were more beasts and birds and fishes in the Ark than in the Zoo. Were there, father?'
'I am not quite sure about the fishes, Fred. I am afraid there are more fishes in the Zoo than in the Ark. Certainly there were more birds and beasts and reptiles in the Ark than there are in the Zoo.'
'But if the Ark wasn't as big as the Zoo, father, how did Noah manage?'
'The animals in the Ark were much better packed, and they had nothing in the Ark nearly so fine for the lions as the new lion-house at the Zoo.'
'And, father, who used to ride the elephants?'
'I do not think we are told, Fred. I don't think there were any little boys and girls in the Ark. There were only eight people saved, and the eight were all grown up.'
'But, father, if there were more beasts, birds, and fishes in the Ark than there are at the Zoo, how did eight people mind them? There are heaps more than eight people minding the birds, beasts, and fishes at the Zoo.'
'I never said there were fishes in the Ark,' broke in Loo, with the conscious responsibility of that prize upon her mind.
'Well, you see, my boy, we are told that, in those days, there were giants, and that would account for a good deal.'
'Were they as big as the great giant at Madame Tussaud's?'
'We are not told. You must remember, Fred, that the Bible does not tell us everything; it tells us only what is necessary.'
Mr Parkinson motioned the servant to take away.
'But I'd like awfully much to know how big they were,' said the boy, discontentedly dropping his eyes on the cloth, and falling into a desponding attitude, as custards and jam and fruit were placed on the table.
'Father, you said that thigh-bone on the sideboard was the oldest man's thigh-bone ever found. Was it long since that man died?'
'And is that thigh-bone bigger than the thigh-bone in the giant at Madame Tussaud's?'
The father and mother exchanged momentary glances and smiles, in which each said to the other, 'This boy is no fool. There are duller boys than this in London.' To the boy he answered,--
'The bone on the sideboard is not as long as the thigh of the giant Louschkin. But then, Fred, you must remember the bone was found in Egypt, very far away from where the Ark was built, and that we are not told all the people on earth then were very tall.'