five miles away."

"Sit right here by the window, where I can have a good light."

Mr. Belford, a physical coward, could not bear pain; and though he was
unwilling to be under obligations to one whom he considered a mere boy,
he sat down in the proffered chair, and opened his mouth dutifully.

"Ah, yes--_dentes sapentia_. It's quite gone. Shall I take it out for
you?"

"Will it be painful?"

"No. I'll give you nitrous oxide. Without it it might be very painful,
for the tooth is much broken down."

Mr. Belford hesitated. Had he better place himself so utterly at the
mercy of this young man?

"It will pass off in a moment, and leave no ill effects behind. You had
better take it."

"Well, I will; but make it very mild, for I am afraid of these
new-fangled notions."

"You need have no fear," said Elmer, bringing up his iron box of nitrous
oxide, and selecting a pair of forceps from the mass of instruments in
one of his trunks.

"It's very odd. It's the merest chance that I happened to have a pair of
forceps. Are you ready now? Put this tube in your mouth, and breathe
easily and naturally."

The patient leaned back in the chair, and the amateur stood silently
watching him.

"It's a fearful risk, but I'm going to try it. I succeeded with Alma,
and I fancy I can with this fool. He was a fool to run right into my
arms in this fashion. No wonder his wisdom tooth was rotten. I'll have
it out in a moment."

All this to himself. The patient closed his eyes, and fell into a deep
sleep.

"Take it strong. It will not hurt you, and I must keep you quiet till
the deed is done."

High science was to be brought to bear upon rascality, and he must move
cautiously and quickly. The instant the patient was unconscious, Elmer
bent over him and turned back his coat, and from the inside pocket he
drew forth a folded paper. He had caught a glimpse of it when he looked
in the man's mouth, and on the spur of the moment he had conceived and
put into practice this bold stroke of applied science. Making the man
comfortable, and giving him a little air with the gas, he opened the
paper and spread it wide open before a pile of books in the full
sunlight. The patient stirred uneasily. With a breathless motion Elmer
plied him with more gas, and he sighed softly and slumbered deeper than
ever. With a spring he reached the camera, rolled it up before the
paper, and set in a new slide. It copied the paper with terrible
certainty, and th