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swag and the contents of my pockets. This gave me little uneasiness, for I had no money with me, nor anything which they were at all likely to want, or which I cared about losing. At least I fancied so, but I soon found my mistake.
They got on comfortably at first, though they were much puzzled with my tobacco-pipe, and insisted on seeing me use it. When I had shown them what I did with it, they were astonished, but not displeased, and seemed to like the smell. But by and by they came to my watch, which I had hidden away in the inmost pocket that I had, and which I had forgotten when they began their search. They seemed concerned and uneasy the moment that they got hold of it. They then made me open it and show the works; and, as soon as I had done so, they gave signs of very grave displeasure, though I could not conceive wherein it could have offended them.
I remember that, when they first found it, I had thought of Paley, and how he tells us that a savage, on seeing a watch, would at once conclude that it was designed. It was true that these people were not savages, but I none the less felt sure that this was the conclusion they would arrive at; and I was thinking what a wonderfully wise man Archbishop Paley must have been, when I was aroused by a look of horror and dismay upon the face of the magistrate, a look which conveyed to me the impression that he regarded my watch not as being designed, but rather as the designer of himself and of the universe; or as, at any rate, one of the great first causes of all things. Then it struck me that this view was quite as likely to be taken as the other, by a people who had no