I went over and shook it; some one at the other end was holding it firm.

And then, a curious whispering sound began to come from the end of the stick.

I put my ear down, and caught the voice of one of the men from our village.

He had taken a long bamboo pole, pierced the joints, and crept up behind a broken old wall close beneath my window.

By means of this primitive telephone we talked as long as we dared.