I
commenced to smoke it, that is. How long I continued to smoke it is more
than I can say. It had on me the same peculiar effect which it appears to
have had on you. When I recovered consciousness I was lying on the floor."

"On the floor?"

"On the floor. In about as uncomfortable a position as you can easily
conceive. I was lying face downward, with my legs bent under me. I was
never so surprised in my life as I was when I found myself _where_ I was.
At first I supposed that I had had a stroke. But by degrees it dawned upon
me that I didn't _feel_ as though I had had a stroke." Tress, by the way,
has been an army surgeon. "I was conscious of distinct nausea. Looking
about, I saw the pipe. With me it had fallen on to the floor. I took it
for granted, considering the delicacy of the carving, that the fall had
broken it. But when I picked it up I found it quite uninjured. While I was
examining it a thought flashed to my brain. Might it not be answerable for
what had happened to me? Suppose, for instance, it was drugged? I had
heard of such things. Besides, in my case were present all the symptoms of
drug poisoning, though what drug had been used I couldn't in the least
conceive. I resolved that I would give the pipe another trial."

"On yourself? or on another party, meaning me?"

"On myself, my dear Pugh--on myself! At that point of my investigations I
had not begun to think of you. I lit up and had another smoke."

"With what result?"

"Well, that depends on the standpoint from which you regard the thing.
From one point of view the result was wholly satisfactory--I proved that
the thing was drugged, and more."

"Did you have another fall?"

"I did. And something else besides."

"On that account, I presume, you resolved to pass the treasure on to me?"

"Partly on that account, and partly on another."

"On my word, I appreciate your generosity. You might have labeled the
thing as poison."

"Exactly. But then you must remember how often you have told me that you
_never_ smoke your specimens."

"That was no reason why you shouldn't have given me a hint that the thing
was more dangerous than dynamite."

"That did occur to me afterwards. Therefore I called to supply the slight
omission."

"_Slight_ omission, you call it! I wonder what you would have called it if
you had found me dead."

"If I had known that you _intended_ smoking it I should not have been at
all surprised if I had."

"Really, Tress, I a