ed upon the floor, a dozen feet
below the bench, and from the neck of the rapidly collapsing body, which
had pitched forward upon his desk, poured a thick stream of sawdust! For
thirty years that great and good man had been represented by a stuffed
manikin. For thirty years he had not entered his own court, nor heard a
word of evidence or argument. At the moment of the accident to his
simulacrum he was in his library at his home, writing his decision of the
case on trial, and was killed by a falling chandelier. It was afterward
learned that his clerk, twenty-five years dead, had all the time been
personated by a twin brother, who was an idiot from birth and knew no law.

HITHER

Listening to the history of the golden statue in the great square, as
related by a Tortirran storyteller, I fell asleep. On waking I found
myself lying in a cot-bed amidst unfamiliar surroundings. A bandage was
fastened obliquely about my head, covering my left eye, in which was a
dull throbbing pain. Seeing an attendant near by I beckoned him to my
bedside and asked: "Where am I?"

"Hospital," he replied, tersely but not unkindly. He added: "You have a
bad eye." "Yes," I said, "I always had; but I could name more than one
Tortirran who has a bad heart."

"What is a Tortirran?" he asked.

FOR THE AKHOOND

FOR THE AHKOOND

In the year 4591 I accepted from his gracious Majesty the Ahkoond of
Citrusia a commission to explore the unknown region lying to the eastward
of the Ultimate Hills, the range which that learned archaeologist, Simeon
Tucker, affirms to be identical with the "Rocky Mountains" of the
ancients. For this proof of his Majesty's favor I was indebted, doubtless,
to a certain distinction that I had been fortunate enough to acquire by
explorations in the heart of Darkest Europe. His Majesty kindly offered to
raise and equip a large expeditionary force to accompany me, and I was
given the widest discretion in the matter of outfit; I could draw upon the
royal treasury for any sum that I might require, and upon the royal
university for all the scientific apparatus and assistance necessary to my
purpose. Declining these encumbrances, I took my electric rifle and a
portable waterproof case containing a few simple instruments and writing
materials and set out. Among the instruments was, of course, an aerial
isochronophone which I set by the one in the Ahkoond's private dining-room
at the palace. His Majesty invariably