The air was wonderfully reviving, though, and I felt
a subtle change stealing over me. An odd, pricking sensation, like one's
foot awakening from sleep, gradually took possession of me, and to my
horror I appeared to be separating from myself. Any one who has had that
feeling knows what it is. At one moment I was the Professor; the next, I
was undoubtedly Manysnifters! I found myself walking by the side of one;
then, in the twinkling of an eye, with the other. It was not long,
however, before I began to get tired of it, so just before I reached the
hotel I determined to decide once for all who I was. I felt that it was
important I should know. The decision was arrived at by a simple
expedient to which I invariably resort whenever I find my judgment
wavering. There is no patent on the thing, and I don't mind letting you
all into it. Fortunately, I still had my luck-piece--an ancient Roman
coin--with me.
"'Now,' thought I, 'let the antique beer check decide it. I will cinch
this question by tossing up. If it falls heads, I am Manysnifters, and
if the reverse appears, I am the Professor. I will abide by the decree
of Fate.'
"Up went the Denarius, striking the asphalt with a merry ring in its
fall. I bent eagerly over it, and lo, the image and superscription of
Caesar stared me in the face!
"So I was Manysnifters after all, and this fact was further impressed
upon me an hour or so later by an enterprising office-seeker, to whom,
in my enfeebled state, I fell an easy prey--I endorsed his application
for the Nova Zembla consulship.
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