_N.B.--Great care should be taken not to over-wind._
5. The Clockwork man should now sit up and take a little nourishment.
This should be supplied at once in the form of two green tabloids
(solids) and one blue capsule (liquids). Stop C should now be pressed,
and the pressure maintained until a red light appears within the bulb
X. 1. This registers that digestion has taken place.
On no account must any adjustment be made before the red light has
appeared. Any attempt to cause function on an empty stomach will result
in failure.
The Clockwork man is now ready for adjustment. The chart should be
studied with care, and a choice made from one of the types indicated.
Having made a selection, proceed to arrange indicators in accordance
with detailed instructions, taking the utmost care to follow the
directions with absolute accuracy, as the slightest error may lead to
serious confusion. A good plan is to hold the chart in the left hand,
and manipulate the regulators with the right, checking each adjustment
as it is made.
Now wind black central hand fourteen and a half times, press centre
knob until bell rings, close lid, replace wig and hat, and Clockwork
man is ready for action.
* * * * *
The expression on Gregg's face, as he read these amazing instructions,
changed slowly from avid curiosity to puzzled alarm. He was frankly
embarrassed by this sudden turn of events, and for a few moments
he could make nothing at all of the matter. Yet the wording was
intelligible enough, and its application to the Clockwork man only
too obvious. The little piece of thin metal must have slipped from
his pocket during the Doctor's examination, and its discovery was
undoubtedly of supreme importance.
But what could it mean? Gregg rather prided himself upon the resiliency
of his mind, but not all the elasticity of which he was capable could
enable him to overcome a sudden sense of uneasiness. Was the Clockwork
man, after all, no more than a very elaborate and highly complex
puppet? But how could that be, since he breathed and spoke and gave
every sign of the possession of an individual consciousness? Considered
in this new light he was even more difficult to explain.
But when Gregg looked up, rather sheepishly, wary of meeting the
Doctor's eye, he beheld a sight that sent an uncomfortable thrill down
his spine. For the latter lay at full length upon the couch, his chest
and stomach rising and falling in the convulsions of that excessive
laughter that at first sight raises a doubt of danger in the mind of
the beholder--for men have died of mirth. Gregg stared at his prostrate
friend, and his own countenance was transfixed with alarm. Many minutes
elapsed before any kind of definite sound brought a relief to the
strain; for the Doctor's laugh was primæval; it racked his vitals,
shook him from head to foot, began and stopped, proceeded in a series
of explosions, not unlike those of the Clockwork man himself, until at
last it reached the throat and found expression.
"Ha! ha! ha!" broke at last upon the silence of the night (and Mrs.
Masters in her top attic heard the noise and thought of the devil
climbing over the roofs). "Ha! ha! ha! ha!"
Gregg pulled himself together and crossed to the couch. He undid
the Doctor's collar, and forced him to sit up. He thumped his back
violently, at first remonstrated and then fell to the use of soothing
phrases. For there was still an element of hysteria in the Doctor's
manner; only now it was a symptom of release from unendurable strain.
It was the hilarity of a man who has just saved his reason.