Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/187

 amongst his clothing. I immediately swallowed them. The next day I suffered severely from indigestion. What doubt, then, can there be that coin is a kind of poison?"

After several other speeches had been delivered, the president closed the proceedings by addressing the following brief but eloquent words to the Congress:—

"Ladies and Gentlemen,

The evening is now far advanced and the usual time for 'business' is at hand. To put the matter in a concrete form, who knows when a herd of deer may present itself? I will not therefore try your patience with a long address. I am sure you will agree with me that the speeches we have heard this evening have been excellent, and we are much obliged to our learned lecturer for supplying us with so interesting and suggestive a subject for discussion. One conclusion we must all have drawn from what we have heard, and that is that men are a very uncivilised species. We, on the other hand, are a highly civilised race. It is our