"You see that creature on it. Well, when I first had
it it was underneath the pipe."
"How do you mean that it was underneath the pipe?"
"It was bunched together underneath the stem, just at the end of the
mouthpiece, in the same way in which a fly might be suspended from the
ceiling. When I began to smoke the pipe I saw the creature move."
"But I thought that unconsciousness immediately followed."
"It did follow, but not before I saw that the thing was moving. It was
because I thought that I had been, in a way, a victim of delirium that I
tried the second smoke. Suspecting that the thing was drugged I swallowed
what I believed would prove a powerful antidote. It enabled me to resist
the influence of the narcotic much longer than before, and while I still
retained my senses I saw the creature crawl along under the stem and over
the bowl. It was that sight, I believe, as much as anything else, which
sent me silly. When I came to I then and there decided to present the pipe
to Pugh. There is one more thing I would remark. When the pipe left me the
creature's legs were twined about the bowl. Now they are withdrawn.
Possibly you, Pugh, are able to cap my story with a little one which is
all your own."
"I certainly did imagine that I saw the creature move. But I supposed that
while I was under the influence of the drug imagination had played me a
trick.
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