'I expect so, sir. I don't have many things in my philosophies.'
'It's all about the ball,' said Ridcully, slamming it down hard on the flagstones again and catching it. 'Tomorrow, we'll bring it here and see what happens. You gave the ball a mighty kick, Mister Stibbons, and yet you are, by your own admission, a wet and a weed.'
'Yes, sir, and a wuss, and I am proud of the appellation. I'd better remind you, Archchancellor, that the thing mustn't spend too long outside the Cabinet.'
Gloing!
'But we could make a copy, couldn't we?' said Ridcully. 'It's only leather stitched together, probably protecting a bladder of some sort. I bet any decent craftsman could make another one for us.'
'What, now?'
'The lights never go off on the Street of Cunning Artificers.'
By now, they were back in the Great Hall and Ridcully looked around until his gaze lighted on two figures pushing a trolley laden with candles. 'You lads, to me!' he shouted. They stopped pushing the trolley and walked over to him. 'Mister Stibbons here would like you to run an errand for him. It's of considerable importance. Who are you?'
'Trevor Likely, guv.'
'Nutt, Archchancellor.'
Ridcully's eyes narrowed. 'Yes... Nutt,' he said, and thought about the spells in his pocket. 'The candle dribbler, yes? Well, you can make yourselves useful. Over to you, Mister Stibbons.'
Ponder Stibbons held out the ball. 'Have you any idea what this is?'
Nutt took it out of his hands and bounced it on the tiles a couple of times.
Gloing! Gloing!
'Yes. It appears to be a simple sphere, although technically I believe it to be, in actual fact, a truncated icosahedron, made by stitching together a number of pentagons and hexagons of tough leather, and stitching means holes and holes let the air leak... Ah, there is lacing just here, you see? There must be some internal bladder¨Canimal, probably. A balloon, as it were, for lightness and elasticity, encapsulated by leather, simple and elegant.' He handed the ball back to Ponder, who was open-mouthed.
'Do you know everything, Mister Nutt?' he said with the sarcasm of a born pedagogue.
Nutt's reply was concentrated and there was a lengthy pause before he said, 'I'm not sure about a lot of the detail, sir.'
Ponder heard a snigger behind him and felt himself redden. He'd been cheeked, by a dribbler, even if Nutt was the most incontinently erudite one he'd ever encountered.
'Do you know where a copy of this may be made?' said Ridcully loudly.
'I expect so,' said Nutt. 'I believe dwarf rubber will be our friend here.'
'There's plenty of dwarfs up at Old Cobblers who could knock one up, guv,' said Trev. 'They're good at this sort of thing, but they'd want paying, they always want paying. Nuffin's on credit when you're dealing with a dwarf.'
'Give these young gentlemen twenty-five dollars, Mister Stibbons, will you?'
'That's a lot of money, Archchancellor.'
'Yes, well, dwarfs, while the salt of the earth, don't have much of a grasp of small numbers and I want this in a hurry. I'm sure I can trust Mister Likely and Mister Nutt with the money, can't I?' He said it jovially, but there was an edge to his voice. Trev, at least, got the message very quickly; a wizard could trust you because of the hellish future he could unleash on you if his trust was betrayed.
'You can certainly trust us, guv.'
'Yes, I thought I could,' said Ridcully.
When they had gone, Ponder Stibbons said, 'You're entrusting them with twenty-five dollars?'
'Yes, indeed,' said Ridcully cheerfully. 'It will be interesting to see the outcome.'
'Nevertheless, sir, I have to say that it was an unwise move.'
'Thank you for your input, Mister Stibbons, but may I gently remind you who is the guv around here?'