t is unwise to argue
with you. Still, I will venture to assert that a strong imagination like
yours, over-heated and saturated with Oriental ideas--to which I fear I
may have contributed--is not incapable of unconsciously assisting in its
own deception. In other words, I think that you may have provided all
this yourself from various quarters without any clear recollection of
the fact."

"That's very scientific and satisfactory as far as it goes, my dear
Professor," said Horace; "but there's one piece of evidence which may
upset your theory--and that's this brass bottle."

"If your reasoning powers were in their normal condition," said the
Professor, compassionately, "you would see that the mere production of
an empty bottle can be no proof of what it contained--or, for that
matter, that it ever contained anything at all!"

"Oh, I see _that_," said Horace; "but _this_ bottle has a stopper with
what you yourself admit to be an inscription of some sort. Suppose that
inscription confirms my story--what then? All I ask you to do is to make
it out for yourself before you decide that I'm either a liar or a
lunatic."

"I warn you," said the Professor, "that if you are trusting to my being
unable to decipher the inscription, you are deceiving yourself. You
represent that this bottle belongs to the period of Solomon--that is,
about a thousand years B.C. Probably you are not aware that the earliest
specimens of Oriental metal-work in existence are not older than the
tenth century of our era. But, granting that it is as old as you allege,
I shall certainly be able to read any inscription there may be on it. I
have made out clay tablets in Cuneiform which were certainly written a
thousand years before Solomon's time."

"So much the better," said Horace. "I'm as certain as I can be that,
whatever is written on that lid--whether it's Phoenician, or Cuneiform,
or anything else--must have some reference to a Jinnee confined in the
bottle, or at least bear the seal of Solomon. But there the thing
is--examine it for yourself."

"Not now," said the Professor; "it's too late, and the light here is not
strong enough. But I'll tell you what I will do. I'll take this stopper
thing home with me, and examine it carefully to-morrow--on one
condition."

"You have only to name it," said Horace.

"My condition is, that if I, and one or two other Orientalists to whom I
may submit it, come to the conclusion that there is no real inscription