"You are late," said I, looking at my watch.

"I know it," was the response. "But I can't help it. During the
campaign I am kept so infernally busy I hardly know where I am."

"Campaign, eh?" I put in. "Do you have campaigns in Hades?"

"Yes," replied Boswell, "and we are having a--well, to be
polite, a regular Gehenna of a time. Things have changed
much in Hades latterly. There has been a great growth in the
democratic spirit below, and his Majesty is having a deuce
of a time running his kingdom. Washington and Cromwell and
Caesar have had the nerve to demand a constitution from the
venerable Nicholas--"

"From whom?" I queried, perplexed somewhat, for I was not yet
fully awake.

"Old Nick," replied Boswell; "and I can tell you there's a
pretty fight on between the supporters of the administration
and the opposition. Secure in his power, the Grand Master of
Hades has been somewhat arbitrary, and he has made the mistake
of doing some of his subjects a little too brown. Take the
case of Bonaparte, for instance: the government has ruled
that he was personally responsible for all the wars of Europe
from 1800 up to Waterloo, and it was proposed to hang him
once for every man killed on either side throughout that
period. Bonaparte naturally resisted. He said he had a good
neck, which he did not object to have broken three or four