adding greatly to the discomfort we already
experienced owing to our thick clothes.

To still further increase the torture, a crowd of Chinese which had
collected in the streets below commenced to throw stones through the
open windows. One passed between my right-hand neighbour and myself,
shivering my wine-glasses to atoms. The windows and shutters were
hastily closed, and very shortly the temperature must have still
further increased by several degrees. Champagne flowed in streams, a
short speech of welcome was made by the local sport, to which the
guest of honour replied, "White Wings" was sung by the doctor, and the
parboiled throng descended to the lower precincts of the building to
watch a display of fireworks. The heat was awful. Not a breath of air,
and the sulphurous smoke from the fireworks hung low on the ground in
white masses, and seemed to seek shelter in the club, for in a very
short time the place was flooded with the choking fumes which caused
one to feel a tightness across the chest and a stinging in the eyes,
and which made it impossible to see across the room.

The prince withdrew at a somewhat early hour, and after a time the
guests commenced to disperse.

The heat, the champagne and the sulphur smoke had proved too much for
me. I attempted to walk straight, but the power to do so was gone.
First one foot would strike a hill, then the other would go down into
a deep hole, and so on, while lamp-posts and buildings seemed to whirl
past and round at a fearful pace.

When nearing my quarters I heard a faint "hillo" from a by-street, and
a continental mess-mate stumbled almost into my arms. He fully
intended to do so and I had no wish to avoid him but somehow we missed
each other and both fell prostrate on the pavement. Far from feeling
any ill-humour at this catastrophe, we both thought it a capital joke,
and I can distinctly remember our sitting side by side in the gutter
and swearing eternal friendship. After this things are vague, and the
next I remember is going upstairs on all fours and then opening my
bedroom door. A most remarkable sight presented itself. I have seen
mirage in the Arabian desert, but I have never seen anything like
that. There was my bed, shrunk to the size of about one inch in
length, at the top corner of the room near the ceiling, dancing up and
down at the end of a bright and circling tunnel. How to get there I
did not know. I can just remember sinking on hands and knees i