d a little gold measure resembling a miniature
thimble. It was evidently very old, the cover being worn smooth in many
places, nearly effacing the peculiar hieroglyphics with which it had
once been engraved.

"I consider this," he said, "my _chef-d'oeuvre_, my 'star exhibit,' as
it were. The powder possesses such wonderful properties, and is so
unlike any known drug, that I hesitate to describe its effects. That it
is a powerful poison there can be no doubt, but when taken in small
doses it is apparently harmless enough."

"What is its history?" asked Dr. Farrington.

"I picked it up in London. Got it from Burridge, the explorer, who had
just returned from a year's trip in the interior of West Africa. He went
into Benin City with the English when they cleaned out the town.
Burridge says he took it from a dead Jou Jou priest, and he made me pay
a pretty stiff price for it. It is a wonderful drug, entirely unknown
outside of Africa. Burridge thinks it is made from the leaves of some
plant; but its preparation is a secret of the priests of Jou Jou.

"Now, I propose that we each take a small quantity of the powder
to-night, and then dine together to-morrow evening and compare notes. I
may as well tell you now, it produces strange hallucinations. I tried
it once myself, and my experience on that occasion was, to say the
least, peculiar; therefore I am more than anxious to try it again, and
compare notes with you afterwards, and I think I can promise you a new
and novel experience."

Farrington and Forster were perfectly willing to try the experiment
which Watson hinted promised such interesting results, and it was agreed
that each should take a dose of the powder before retiring, and meet
together the next evening.

Promptly at the time appointed, the three men met in Watson's study, and
after cigars had been lighted Watson asked Farrington to be the first to
relate his experience, whereupon the Doctor drew from his pocket several
pages of closely written manuscript, and began as follows:

AN AZTEC MUMMY.

[DR. FARRINGTON'S STORY.]

I was standing in a museum looking at a case of mummies. One of them was
marked "Mummy of an Aztec, found in a Cliff Dwelling," and it interested
me very much. In size it was that of a small man, and was in a fine
state of preservation, with the exception that the bones of the legs
were exposed, and more or less disintegrated, in some places. The hands,
even to the finger nails