story--that you may credit that which fol-lows.

Shortly thereafter I started for the Sahara in search of a rather
rare species of antelope that is to be found only occasionally
within a limited area at a certain season of the year. My chase
led me far from the haunts of man.

It was a fruitless search, however, in so far as antelope is
concerned; but one night as I lay courting sleep at the edge of a
little cluster of date-palms that surround an ancient well in the
midst of the arid, shifting sands, I suddenly became conscious of
a strange sound coming apparently from the earth beneath my head.

It was an intermittent ticking!

No reptile or insect with which I am familiar re-produces any such
notes. I lay for an hour--listening intently.

At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, lighted my
lamp and commenced to investigate.

My bedding lay upon a rug stretched directly upon the warm sand.
The noise appeared to be coming from beneath the rug. I raised
it, but found nothing--yet, at intervals, the sound continued.

I dug into the sand with the point of my hunting-knife. A few inches
below the surface of the sand I encountered a solid substance that
had the feel of wood beneath the sharp steel.

Excavating about it, I unearthed a small wooden box. From this