so wonderful to
me, you must excuse my apparent incredulity.'

"'The most natural thing in the world,' smiled Sing with grave courtesy,
'but I will let your own eyes banish any doubt you may have as to the
wonderful properties of this strange powder.

"'Ashmed,' he called, 'ask my son to come here a moment if he will be so
good.'

"The attendant who had spoken to me when I entered immediately
disappeared, and in a moment a back door opened and the bent figure of a
very old man entered the room and spoke to Sing in a weak voice. The
language was evidently Hindustani, but I caught a word here and there
which sounded familiar. Sing spoke to him sharply, and turning to me
said, 'This is my son; he is nearly eighty years old, but refuses to
take the powder on account of his religious principles--he belongs to
the sect who believes that to die is better than to live, that his
spirit will become incarnate in another body, and in his next life he
will be at least a Kobtchie.'

"My eyes must have betrayed my incredulity.

"'You do not doubt that he is my son?' sweetly asked Mr. Sing.

"'Certainly not,' I answered.

"'I trust, then, that I shall have the pleasure of furnishing you with
some of the wonderful powder? There is not very much of it left, but
luckily it requires a very small dose. I have enough probably to supply
one hundred men to insure them existence for one hundred and fifty
years. When that is gone the supply can never be replenished.'

"He sighed.

"'Thank you,' I answered. 'I shall think the matter over and in all
probability give myself the pleasure of calling upon you again.'

"Then I came away, being bowed out by the sable attendants with all
ceremony possible. There! What do you think of that?"

"Do you intend to return and purchase the powder?" asked Robinson.

"Perhaps," answered Watson, "but I think I will wait awhile and see if
Jones lives to be one hundred and fifty!"

THE VOODOO IDOL.

Jones lay on the sofa watching the consul mix a long, cool drink of
Apollinaris water and crushed sour-sop. His arm pained him a good deal
and the bandages felt hot and uncomfortable. By his side was a little
table on which were piled numerous articles in a manner common to
mankind, among which were a bottle of whiskey, a revolver, several
books, and a plate containing some bananas and sapodillias. A light
breeze stirred the curtains behind him, and under the awning he could
see the long stretc