ff.

Jud had named the stuff "tellepan" before he showed it to me that noon,
but I pointed out that tellepan sounded too much like Japanese for
turtle, so he renamed it "tellecarbon." Mallory had been wracking his
brains trying to figure the chemical composition of the stuff, but all
he had found out was that the stuff could not absorb any heat whatever,
nor emit any, it had any weight you wanted to give it, and when left
alone assumed any weight it seemed to fancy at the moment. Moreover, no
reagent could touch it. Even aqua regia and hydrofluoric acid couldn't
touch it. It could be manipulated like putty and molded into any shape
with a little persuasion; it always remained the same bright silver
color, and it seemed to be the connecting link between gravity and
thought.

Mallory even got some more bottles of the chemicals he had spilled and
spilled them over again, cleaning them up and putting some alcohol in
the mess like he had done the first time, but no more tellecarbon
appeared. We finally had to face the facts. Tellecarbon was some complex
hydro-carbon because all of its basic constituents were hydro-carbons.
We had the only bit of it in existence and no more could be made.

* * * * *

After we had driven for a couple of hours, Jud changed his thought to
something else and we came to a halt on the highway. No one was in sight
so we decided to try our second experiment. For that I had to do the
thinking because none of Jud's thoughts seemed to work in the attempts
we had made in the laboratory. I brought to my mind's eye the image of a
chicken with its neck being wrung. Then made it two of them. The car
rose slowly off the ground. Then Jud thought his thoughts that made it
move forward. By regulating the number of dying chickens in my thoughts
I could cause the car to rise or sink at will.

Soon we were quite high, or at least Mallory said we were. I looked out
of the window to see and the car started to hurtle to the ground. It
scared me so much that I almost couldn't calm my mind enough to think of
chickens, but finally made it just in time. By a supreme effort of will
I managed to get the car down safely on the highway again. Then I gave
in to my emotions and shook like a leaf.

We had had enough for the day, so we covered up the tellecarbon and
started the motor, getting back to the U at dusk.

When we alighted from the car in front of the boarding house in which
Mallor