Dr. Watson carefully opened the little antique silver box, which was about the size and shape of an ordinary watch, and showed that it contained a gray powder and 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 […]

[MR. FORSTER’S STORY.] I took the powder as agreed, and sat down to read the evening paper before retiring, with the result that I did not retire at all. I became much interested in an article on new explosives with which the Government has been lately experimenting, and had nearly finished it, when I heard […]

I. A committee from the Phoenix Athletic Club and one from the Prescott Club had met, and after considerable discussion had arranged a match to decide the Amateur Championship of Arizona. As the Phoenix and Prescott clubs were far and away the foremost athletic organizations in the Territory, the contest was looked forward to with […]

“I do not believe,” said the curiosity dealer, “that the bite of the gila monster is fatal. It is poisonous, no doubt, and there have been one or two cases of death where persons have been bitten by it, but it is always well to remember that the teeth themselves may be in a condition […]

When Dr. Watson entered I saw by his manner that he had something of more than usual interest to communicate. Watson has a trick of winding and unwinding his watch chain around his finger whenever he has some case in which he is particularly interested. As a rule, his work in the asylum keeps him […]

“No,” said the curiosity dealer, “that mummy is not for sale. I had too big a job to get it.” “Tell me about it,” I asked. The curiosity dealer carefully closed and locked the case, and then meditatively rolled a cigarette. “Well, it was this way: you see I was out after snakes and other […]

I. Wendell Harrison was a club man with no ambition in life beyond making his small income pay his club fees, and leave enough for him to live in the manner peculiar to young men of his class. His one hope in life, as he often told his particular crony, was to find a rich […]

“Behold,” said Doctor Watson, “the Elixir of Life!” Robinson looked up from his writing and assumed an expression of deep interest. “Wonderful! I have often heard of it. Is it the true Elixir vitae of the ancients, or a new and more subtle compound?” “Listen, scoffer; if you will behave with a decorum consistent with […]

“You say,” said Doctor Watson, as he rested one arm on the mantel and looked thoughtfully at the open fire,–“you say there is no proof of the actuality of what is called telepathy or thought-transference, and perhaps you are right, but I have several times in my life had experiences which were very difficult to […]

“That pocket-piece of yours,” said the doctor, “reminds me that I have an interesting one of my own; perhaps you can tell me what it is.” He took from his pocket a silver coin and handed it to Jennings, as he spoke. One edge had been flattened, and a hole pierced in it. “Ah! an […]

“I ought to know something about it,” said the Drummer, “for I went with the Prospector and the Eastern man to see Judson. “I remember when we started out together the Eastern man asked the Prospector if he thought Judson was really crazy. “‘Yes,’ said the Prospector, ‘he is as crazy as a loon, as […]

Malita was a half-breed, the daughter of an old squaw man. She had spent several years at the Indian school in Phoenix, and had proved herself an apt pupil. Later she went to work on Simmons’ Ranch. She was a very pretty, healthy looking girl, and one day Morgan Jones, the hunter and trapper, asked […]

[DR. WATSON’S STORY.] It is with the greatest difficulty, (said Dr. Watson), that I force myself to believe that what I am about to relate to you did not actually happen. It seemed to me that I was as wide-awake as I am at this present moment, and impossible that the strange series of incidents […]

“Pretty good cigar this,” remarked the Cowboy. The Eastern man nodded. “Nowadays we can buy good ones out where I live, but ‘twa’n’t very long ago when good cigars were as rare out there as buffaloes are now round Kansas City.” “The enormous increase in population in some of your Western cities is astonishing,” remarked […]

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 […]