explains--in apology--to some extent, his unfortunate misstep.

Moreover, there is but one volcano on the surface of Japat; it seems all
the more unique that he, who had lived for thirty years or more on the
island, should have stepped into it in broad daylight, especially as it
was he who had tacked up warning placards along every avenue of
approach.

Inasmuch as he was more than eighty years old at the time, it would seem
to have been a most reprehensible miscalculation on the part of the Grim
Reaper to have gone to so much trouble.

But that is neither here nor there.

Taswell Skaggs was dead and once more remembered. The remark is proper,
for the world had quite thoroughly forgotten him during the twenty odd
years immediately preceding his death. It was, however, noticeably worth
while to remember him at this particular time: he left a last will and
testament that bade fair to distress as well as startle a great many
people on both sides of the Atlantic, among whom it may be well to
include certain distinguished members of the legal profession.

In Boston the law firm of Bowen & Hare was puzzling itself beyond reason
in the effort to anticipate and circumvent the plans of the firm of
Bosworth, Newnes & Grapewin, London, E.C.; while on the other side of
the Atlantic Messrs. Bosworth, Newnes & Grapewin were blindly struggling
to do precisely the same thing in relation to Messrs. Bowen & Hare.

Without seeking to further involve myself, I shall at once conduct the
reader to the nearest of these law offices; he may hear something to his