e I won't torture
yer as I would like ter,--God give me strength to keep from doin'
it!--but I'm afeared He won't unless I kill yer quick. All I hope is
that if there is a hell, your black soul will roast in it for ever and
ever, amen!"

The muzzle of the pistol was now within a few inches of the naked
breast; still the low, wild chant went on, the bronze figure standing as
if turned to stone. Then another shot and the chant stopped.

* * * * *

Ten minutes later a horseman rode slowly into the desert. To his left,
as he crossed the half-dry bed of the alkali stream, two Indian boys
were skinning a rabbit alive and laughing at its agony. From afar back
on the other side of the valley he heard the strains of the "Star
Spangled Banner" played by the pride of the Reservation--the Indian
band!

A QUEER COINCIDENCE.

"You say," said Doctor Watson, as he rested one arm on the mantel and
looked thoughtfully at the open fire,--"you say there is no proof of the
actuality of what is called telepathy or thought-transference, and
perhaps you are right, but I have several times in my life had
experiences which were very difficult to explain except by some such
theory, and if you care to listen I will tell you one of them which I
have in mind."

Our chorus of approval evidently left no doubt as to our desire to hear
the story, for Watson smiled, and lighting a fresh cigar he began as
follows:

"On the seventeenth of January last year there was a slight wash-out on
the Northern road not far from Chicago, and the forward trucks of one of
the cars on train 61, on which I was a passenger, left the rails, but
luckily the train was going slowly at the time and there was little
damage done except a general shaking up of the passengers in the car as
the forward wheels bumped roughly over the sleepers for a few yards
before the train stopped. The other cars did not leave the track, and
only one man was seriously injured.

"This man had been standing on the platform at the time and was thrown
between the cars and badly crushed. I was close to the end window and
saw him fall, and when the conductor called for a doctor I responded at
once.

"I found the man lying on a blanket surrounded by a number of the
passengers. He seemed to suffer but little pain, and I feared, from a
casual examination, he was badly injured internally, although he was
perfectly conscious; he was bleeding at the mouth, an