on earth tucked away, among its big blades. It’s the greatest sort of knife in the world for an outdoor man to carry, in the country.” [49] Chase, with the curiosity of a monkey, was prying open blade after blade, then tool after tool, examining each in childlike admiration. “What’s this for?” he asked, presently, after closing a pair of folding scissors and a sailor’s needle; and laboriously picking open a long triangular-edged instrument at the back of the knife. “This blade, or whatever it is. It’s got a point like a needle. But it slopes back to a thick base. And its three edges are razor-sharp. What do you use it for?” “I don’t use it for anything,” replied Vail. “I don’t know just what it’s for. It’s some sort of punch, I suppose. To make graduated holes in girths or in puttee-straps or belts. Vicious looking blade, isn’t it? The knife’s a treasure, though. It—” “Say! About that magenta room, now! Blast you, can’t I—?” “Take it or get out! I hope you’ll get out. It—” A shadow, athwart the nearest long window,[50] made them turn around. Clive Creede was stepping across the sill, into the room. He was pale and hollow-eyed; and seemed very sick. [50] “Hello, old man!” Vail greeted him. “You came in, like a ghost. And you look like one, too. Was it a large night or—?” “It was,” answered Clive, hoarsely, as he turned from shaking hands with his host and with Chase. “A very large night. In fact it came close to being a size too large for me. I got to fooling with some new monoxide gas experiments in that laboratory of Oz’s and mine. No use going into details that’d bore you. But I struck a combination by accident that put me out.” “You look it. Why—?” “Oz happened to drop in. He found me on the lab floor; just about gone for good. He lugged me out of doors and worked over me for a couple of hours before he got me on my feet. The whole house,—the whole of Rackrent Farm, it seems to me,—smells of the rotten chemical stuff. I got out, this morning, before it could keel me over again. The smell will hang around there for days, I suppose. It—” “Why in blazes should a grown man waste time puttering around with silly messes of[51] chemicals?”
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