"Stay, Constable, I want to see what you put into thatfire pot—open it"

TOLD BY THE
DEATH'S HEAD

A ROMANTIC TALE

BY
MAURUS JÓKAI

TRANSLATED BY
S. E. BOGGS

Translator of Prof. Haeckel's "India and Ceylon," Maurus Jokai's"The Nameless Castle," etc.

ILLUSTRATED

Copyright, 1902,
BY
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY

MADE BY
THE WERNER COMPANY
AKRON, OHIO

PREFACE.

In Part II, Vol. 2, of the Rhenish Antiquarius, I once came across askull that is said—see page 612—to swing, enclosed in a metalcasket, from an iron bar in the foundry of Ehrenbreitstein fortress.Distinction of this order does not fall to an ordinary mortal. Yonempty shell of human wisdom once bore the burden of no less thantwenty-one mortal sins—the seven originalia trebled. Each crime isnoted. The criminal confessed to the entire three-times-seven, and yetthe death sentence was not passed upon him because of the twenty-onecrimes. His fate was decided by the transgression of a militaryregulation.

What if this skull could speak? What if it could defenditself?—relate, with all the grim humor of one on the rack, the manypranks played—the mad follies committed, from the banks of theWeichsel to the delta of the Ganges!

If my highly esteemed readers will promise to give me their credulousattention, I will relate what was told to me by the death's head.

The Author.