within the hour. Assisted by his familiarity with medical terms, he
seemed to produce a marked impression. At last, Johnson went his way,
promising aloud that he would send Long Ghost what he desired.

When the medicine boy came along the following morning, the doctor was
the first to accost him, walking off with a small purple vial. This
time, there was little else in the basket but a case-bottle of the
burnt brandy cordial, which, after much debate, was finally disposed
of by someone pouring the contents, little by little, into the half of
a cocoa-nut shell, and so giving all who desired a glass. No further
medicinal cheer remaining, the men dispersed.

An hour or two passed, when Flash Jack directed attention to my long
friend, who, since the medicine boy left, had not been noticed till
now. With eyes closed, he was lying behind the stocks, and Jack was
lifting his arm and letting it fall as if life were extinct. On
running up with the rest, I at once connected the phenomenon with the
mysterious vial. Searching his pocket, I found it, and holding it up,
it proved to be laudanum. Flash Jack, snatching it from my hand in a
rapture, quickly informed all present what it was; and with much
glee, proposed a nap for the company. Some of them not comprehending
him exactly, the apparently defunct Long Ghost--who lay so still that
I a little suspected the genuineness of his sleep--was rolled about as
an illustration of the virtues of the vial's contents. The idea
tickled everybody mightily; and throwing themselves down, the magic
draught was passed from hand to hand. Thinking that, as a matter of
course, they must at once become insensible, each man, upon taking
his sip, fell back, and closed his eyes.

There was little fear of the result, since the narcotic was equally