gave up
the experiment for that night.

As Garnesk and I bathed together in the morning we were both brighter
and more cheerful than we had been since his arrival.

"I shall catch the train from Mallaig," he declared. "Can you take me
in and meet your friend without having long to wait?"

"If you insist on going," I replied, "I can get you there in time to
meet him and you will have an hour or more to wait for your train."

"Oh, so much the better! We can tell him everything and give him all
the news in the interval."

"Are you still determined to go?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, "I _must_ go. It will be necessary for me to make one
or two inquiries and get a pair of glasses made for Miss McLeod."

"I shall be very sorry to lose you, Garnesk," I said earnestly. "Don't
you think you could write or wire for the glasses? You see, if we have
come to the conclusion that this green ray is some chemical production
of Nature unassisted there isn't the same reason for you to leave us."

"No, that's true," he agreed, "but we were both a bit scared
yesterday, old chap, and the more I think of this dog business the
less I like it. It was mere conceit on my part that made me say it was
bound to be some natural phenomenon merely because I couldn't
understand how the effect could have been humanly produced."

"Perhaps," I suggested, "our best course would be to keep an open mind
about the whole thing."

"Yes," he replied, "I'm with you entirely. And in that case my going
away is not going to aggravate the effects of a natural phenomenon,
while it may restrain the human agency by removing the necessity for
further activity."

"Well, that's sound enough," I acquiesced; "but I shall hear from you,
I hope?"

"Of course, my dear fellow," he laughed, "we're in this thing
together. You'll hear from me as often as you want, and who knows what
else besides. I have no intention of dropping this for a minute,
Ewart. But I think I can do more if I am not on the spot. We're agreed
that my presence here may be a source of danger to you all."

"Yes," I said, "I think yours is the best plan. What do you propose to
do?"

"Well, to begin with, I shall devote an hour or two to knocking our
panic theory on the head."

"You mean the natural phenomenon idea?"

"Precisely," said he. "I don't think that it will be able to exist
very long in the light of physical knowledge--not that that is a very
powerful light, but it should be strong en