er of the Chinaman on board the ship, against
which you defended me, was on account of it. And now I lie here dying
like a dog, with the key to over ten millions in my hand. Nikola has
tried for five years to obtain it, without success however. He little
dreams I've got it after all. If he did I'd be a dead man by now.'

"'Who is this Nikola then?' I asked.

"'Dr. Nikola? Well, he's Nikola, and that's all I can tell you. If
you're a wise man you'll want to know no more. Ask the Chinese mothers
nursing their almond-eyed spawn in Peking who he is; ask the Japanese,
ask the Malays, the Hindoos, the Burmese, the coal porters in Port Said,
the Buddhist priests of Ceylon; ask the King of Corea, the men up in
Thibet, the Spanish priests in Manilla, or the Sultan of Borneo, the
ministers of Siam, or the French in Saigon--they'll all know Dr. Nikola
and his cat, and, take my word, they fear him.'

"I looked at the little stick in my hand and wondered if the man had
gone mad.

"'What do you wish me to do with this?' I asked.

"'Take it away with you,' he answered, 'and guard it like your life, and
when you have occasion, use it. Remember you have in your hand what will
raise a million men and the equivalent of over ten mil----'

"At this point a violent fit of coughing seized him and nearly tore him
to pieces. I lifted him up a little in the bed, but before I could take
my hands away a stream of blood had gushed from his lips. Like a flash
of thought I ran to the door to call the girl, the boy on the stairs
re-echoed my shout, and in less time than it takes to tell the woman was
in the room. But we were too late--_China Pete was dead_.

"After giving her all the money I had about me to pay for the funeral, I
bade her good-bye, and with the little stick in my pocket returned to my
home. Once there I sat myself down in my study, took my legacy out of my
pocket and carefully examined it. As to its peculiar power and value, as
described to me by the dead man, I hardly knew what to think. My own
private opinion was that China Pete was not sane at the time he told me.
And yet, how was I to account for the affray with the Chinaman on the
boat, and the evident desire the Celestials in Sydney had to obtain
information concerning it? After half an hour's consideration of it I
locked it up in a drawer of my safe and went upstairs to bed.

"Next day China Pete was buried, and by the end of the month I had
well-nigh forgotten that he