Bruce laughed uneasily. "It's the Nadir Bandar," he said. At that moment the door opened, and Mrs. Jones came in again with a mushroom omelette. I stuffed the infernal piece of jade away in my pocket, and we sat down at the table. It was not until she had shut the door behind her that I took it out. "And what the devil is the Nadir Bandar when it's at home?" I asked, setting the horrible thing up on the tablecloth in front of me. Bruce laid down his fork, and, putting his hand in his pocket, pulled out a couple of sheets of dirty folded foolscap. "You'd better read that," he said'. I took them with no little curiosity. They were written in a very fine sloping hand, and were headed: "An Account of the Finding of the Nadir Bandar. Not to be published until after my death.--MERVYN BRUCE." Here is the whole thing as it was written: "I first heard of the Nadir Bandar when I was at Nikh in '73. I was told of it by the Sheikh Al-Abbas, who claimed himself to be descended from Nadir Shah. "Al-Abbas had been wounded in the rebellion against Nasr-ed-Din, and had fled to Nikh, where I found him dying and in disguise. I took him into my house and looked after him as well as I could, for the man was a great man of noble blood, and not an accursed Turkish dog like Nasr-ed-Din. "On the night before he died he spoke to me of the Nadir Bandar. "'If I had it,' he said, 'I would wish to be well, and I would also wish that Nasr-ed-Din should be eaten of worms.' "Myself: 'What is the Nadir Bandar, Sheikh Al-Abbas? I have not heard of it.' "The Sheikh: 'There is but one who has heard of it, and he will die with the coming of the sun.' "Myself: 'It is a great power if it can grant such wishes as you name.' "The Sheikh: 'There is no wish that it cannot grant. Four times may a man call upon it and four times will it answer. With its aid my ancestor, Nadir Shah, conquered the entire world.' "Myself: 'If he possessed such a power, Sheikh Al-Abbas, why did he allow himself to be slain?' "The Sheikh: 'Four times had he called on it and four times had it answered.' "Myself: 'You mean that its power had passed away?' "The Sheikh: 'He had buried it at the meeting of the waters. His last wish had been that he might win the world and gain the mountain of light. When this was granted he buried it beneath the great sun stone at the meeting of the waters. After that he was slain.' "Myself: 'And where is the meeting of the waters, Sheikh Al-Abbas?' "The Sheikh: 'I cannot say. All that I know I was told by my father, who had had it from his father before him.' "When I rose next morning the Sheikh Al-Abbas was dead. I buried him, pondering greatly over his story. Some would have dismissed it from their minds as the babbling of a dying man, but I have seen many strange things in this world, and I knew well that the Sheikh Al-Abbas had spoken what he believed to be true.