ut of a bottle not much bigger
than a pint. This is it."

And he opened a lockfast place, and took out a round-bellied bottle with
a long neck; the glass of it was white like milk, with changing rainbow
colours in the grain. Withinsides something obscurely moved, like a
shadow and a fire.

"This is the bottle," said the man; and when Keawe laughed, "You do not
believe me?" he added. "Try, then, for yourself. See if you can break
it."

So Keawe took the bottle up and dashed it on the floor till he was
weary; but it jumped on the floor like a child's ball, and was not
injured.

"This is a strange thing," said Keawe. "For by the touch of it, as well
as by the look, the bottle should be of glass."

"Of glass it is," replied the man, sighing more heavily than ever; "but
the glass of it was tempered in the flames of hell. An imp lives in it,
and that is the shadow we behold there moving; or so I suppose. If any
man buy this bottle the imp is at his command; all that he desires--love,
fame, money, houses like this house, ay, or a city like this city--all
are his at the word uttered. Napoleon had this bottle, and by it he grew
to be the king of the world; but he sold it at the last, and fell.
Captain Cook had this bottle, and by it he found his way to so many
islands; but he, too, sold it, and was slain upon Hawaii. For, once it is
sold, the power goes and the protection; and unless a man remain content
with what he has, ill will befall him."

"And yet you talk of selling it yourself?" Keawe said.

"I have all I wish, and I am growing elderly," replied the man. "There
is one thing the imp cannot do--he cannot prolong life; and, it would
not be fair to conceal from you, there is a drawback to the bottle; for
if a man die before he sells it, he must burn in hell for ever."

"To be sure, that is a drawback and no mistake," cried Keawe. "I would
not meddle with the thing. I can do without a house, thank God; but
there is one thing I could not be doing with one particle, and that is
to be damned."

"Dear me, you must not run away with things," returned the man. "All you
have to do is to use the power of the imp in moderation, and then sell
it to someone else, as I do to you, and finish your life in comfort."

"Well, I observe two things," said Keawe. "All the time you keep sighing
like a maid in love, that is one; and, for the other, you sell this
bottle very cheap."

"I have told you already why I sigh," said the man.