“It happened about five years ago I was performing in London, and every evening I played poker in the taverns with an ill luck that would not change. All my savings were lost, and when I had no money left the idea occurred to me to insert an advertisement in _The Era_ (you know that is our professional newspaper), in which I said— [Illustration] “‘_J. H. Walter, the celebrated Serpent-man, will dispose of his skeleton upon his death for one thousand guineas, payable at once._’ “On the following day I received a visit from a celebrated surgeon. He made me undress, carefully examined [p254] my back, felt the vertebræ of my spine, then drawing out a pocket-book, he handed me a cheque for a thousand guineas without a word! [Illustration] “Alas! my ill-luck still pursued me, and the money soon followed my wages. “It is now eighteen months since I lost the last guinea of the surgeon’s money on the card-table. But if the treasure has gone, the contract still stands. In obedience to a formal clause in the agreement, I always travel with this. . . .” The Serpent-man rose, went to his bed, and, stooping down, he drew a long, narrow oak box from under it. An [p255] address was painted in large black letters upon this queer violin-case— DOCTOR __________ __________ __________ _London._ The acrobat raised the lid, and I saw that the box was empty. “This,” he said, “is my coffin; I always travel with it. Now, when I break my neck, I shall be hurriedly embalmed and packed into it. You see this paper gummed inside the box? It contains instructions from the doctor himself, written in four languages, for the undertakers, who will lay me out. Look, here are the directions.” The Serpent-man stooped down with the lamp in his hand; I knelt beside him, and read— “_The persons who place the acrobat, J. H. Walter, in this coffin, are begged to inject a solution of chloride of mercury and acetic acid into his veins, according to the method used by the American, Doctor Ure._ “_In default of the above, an injection of about four quarts and a half of sulphate of zinc may be used. The latter is even preferable, if the coffin will be more than forty days on the road._” “Well,” said the acrobat when I had finished reading, “what do you think of it all?” “I think, my friend, that you must have been tempted more than once to leave this box in the cloak-room.” [p256] I smiled as I spoke, hoping to induce the Englishman to speak out; but the Serpent-man replied rather dryly— “No, sir; such a temptation has never occurred to me: a gentleman keeps his word.” [Illustration] . . . . The performance of carpet acrobatics is something like a state of larva to gymnasts. They all aspire to take flight. The first step in this elevation is the “bars.” The second, the glorious altitude, is “vaulting.”