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

receptacle issued the strange sound that I had heard.

How had it come here?

What did it contain?

In attempting to lift it from its burying place I dis-covered that

it seemed to be held fast by means of a very small insulated cable

running farther into the sand beneath it.

My first impulse was to drag the thing loose by main strength;

but fortunately I thought better of this and fell to examining the

box. I soon saw that it was covered by a hinged lid, which was

held closed by a simple screwhook and eye.

It took but a moment to loosen this and raise the cover, when, to

my utter astonishment, I discovered an ordinary telegraph instrument

clicking away within.

"What in the world," thought I, "is this thing doing here?"

That it was a French military instrument was my first guess; but

really there didn't seem much likelihood that this was the correct

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