28 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



swiftness and precision of much repetition he 

 fished out a match, struck it, applied the flame 

 to the alleged coral, and blew out the match ; 

 cast the necklace on the pavement, produced 

 mysteriously a small hammer, and with it pro- 

 ceeded frantically to pound the beads. Evi- 

 dently he was accustomed to being doubted, and 

 carried his materials for proof around with him. 

 Then, in one motion, the hammer disappeared, 

 the beads were snatched up, and again offered, 

 unharmed, for inspection. 



" Are those good tests for genuineness ? " we 

 asked the professor, aside. 



" As to that," he replied regretfully, " I do 

 not know. I know of coral only that is the 

 hard calcareous skeleton of the marine crelen- 

 terate polyps ; and that this red coral iss called 

 of a sclerobasic group ; and other facts of the 

 kind ; but I do not know if it iss supposed to 

 resist impact and heat. Possibly," he ended 

 shrewdly, " it is the common imitation which 

 does not resist impact and heat. At any rate 

 they are pretty. How much ? " he demanded 

 of the vendor, a bright-eyed Egyptian wait- 

 ing patiently until our conference should 

 cease. 



" Twenty shillings," he replied promptly. 



