Page:Old ninety-nine's cave.djvu/263

 "An earnest one, I am sure you will make it," said Eletheer. "Tell us about your life at Shushan."

All but Hernando started at this allusion to that hateful place for, by common consent, they had avoided mentioning it. He, however, seemed pleased as he said—

"Dr. Herschel's Chinaman, Wing—my companion at Shushan—is a very intelligent man. He speaks several languages fluently and his own perfectly. I studied Chinese under him, also botany and astronomy. Like myself, he was a leper. Our treatment, of course, consumed some time and aside from that we made astronomical observations, botanized and studied. I must show you some rare specimens found among those rocks."

"Of what beside baths and hygiene did your treatment consist?" Eletheer asked.

"Prepared snake venom, given hypodermically."

"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Celeste, whom the very sight of a snake sent into hysterics.