They
all seem so down on him, he'll have to watch out. It will keep him
busy, too, and that means a chance for us to work."
He had finished setting up the machine, and now went over to
another drawer, from which he took the envelope of stubs which we
had taken down at Whitney's office first. Then from the pocket of
his street coat he drew both the second envelope of ashes and
stubs, the whole cigarette from Lockwood's case, and the stubs
which both of us had saved from the cigarettes that had once
belonged to Mendoza.
Carefully he separated and labelled them all, so that there would
be no chance for them to get mixed up. Then he picked up one of
the stubs and lighted it. The smoke curled up in wreaths between a
powerful light and the peculiar instrument, while Craig peered
through a lens, manipulating the thing with exhaustless patience
and skill. I watched him curiously, but said nothing, for he was
studying something carefully, and I did not want to interrupt his
train of thought.
Finally he beckoned me over. "Can you make anything out of that?"
he asked.
I looked through the eye-piece, also. On a sort of fine grating
all I could see was a number of strange lines.
"If you want an opinion from me," I said, with a laugh, "you'll
have to tell me first what I am looking at.
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