And it was not until one of
the detectives threatened to rap him over the head, that he sullenly
gave in and sat still. The taxi drew up in front of the Gerald Road Police Station, and Hamar
was conducted to an ante-room, prior to being taken before the
inspector. Just as a policeman was about to search him, he made one
last desperate effort. "Look here," he said, "if I pledge you my word I'll not attempt to do
anything, will you let me have my hands--or at least one of my
hands--free a moment. Some grit has got in my eye and I cannot stand
the irritation." "That game won't work here," one of the detectives said, "you should
keep your eyes shut when there's dust about, or else not have such
protruding ones." Hamar threatened to report him to the Home Secretary for brutal
conduct, but the detective only laughed, and Hamar had to submit to
the mortification of being searched. "What are these?" a detective said, fingering the seaweed pills
gingerly. "Stomachic pills!" Hamar said bitterly, "they are taken as a digestive
after meals. You look dyspeptic--have one." "Now, none of your sauce!" the detective said, "you come along with
me,"--and Hamar was hauled before the inspector. "Can I go out on bail?" Hamar asked. "Certainly not," the inspector replied. "Then I shan't give you my name and address," Hamar said. "I shan't
tell you anything." The inspector merely shrugged his shoulders, and after the charge
sheet was read over, Hamar was conducted to a cell. "This is awful," he said, "what the deuce am I to do! To send for
Curtis and Kelson will be fatal, and it will be equally fatal to leave
them in ignorance of what has happened to me. I am, indeed, in the
horns of a dilemma. I must get at those pills." Up and down the floor of the tiny cell he paced, his mind tortured
with a thousand conflicting emotions. And then, an idea struck him. He
would ask to be allowed to see his lawyer. "Cotton's the man," he said to himself, "he will get the pills for
me!" The inspector, after satisfying himself that Cotton was on the
register, rang him up, and after an hour of terrible suspense to
Hamar, the lawyer briskly entered his cell. They conferred together for some minutes, and having arranged the
method of defence, Cotton was preparing to depart, when Hamar
whispered to him--

"I want you to do me a particular favour. In the top right hand drawer
of the chest of drawers in my bedroom, in Cockspur Street, I have left
a red pill-box. These pills are for indigestion. I simply can't do
without them. Will you get them for me?" "What, to-night?" the lawyer asked dubiously. "Yes, to-night," Hamar pleaded. "I'll make it a matter of business
between us--get me the pills before eight o'clock, and you have £1000
down. My cheque book is in the same drawer." The lawyer said nothing, but gave Hamar a look that meant much! Again there was a dreadful wait, and Hamar had abandoned himself to
the deepest despair when Cotton reappeared. He shook hands with his
client, slipping the pills into the latter's palm. Whilst the lawyer
was pocketing his cheque, Hamar gleefully swallowed a pill, and crying
out "Bakra--naka--takso--mana,"--vanished! "Heaven preserve us! What's become of you?" Cotton exclaimed, putting
his hand to his forehead and leaning against the wall for support. "Am
I ill or dreaming?" "Anything wrong, sir?" a policeman inquired, opening the cell door and
looking in. "Why, what have you done with the prisoner--where is he?" "I have no more idea than you," the lawyer gasped. "He was talking to
me quite naturally, when he suddenly left off--said something
idiotic--and disappeared." Hamar did not dally. He quietly slipped through the open door, and
darting swiftly along a stone passage, found his way to the entrance,
which was blocked by two constables with their backs to him. "I'll give the brutes something to remember me by," Hamar chuckled,
and, taking a run, he kicked first one, and then the other with all
his might, precipitating them both into the street. He then sped past
them--home. Hamar, by astute inquiries, learned that the police had decided to
hush up the affair, not being quite sure how they had figured, or,
indeed, what had actually occurred. As to Cotton, the shock he had
undergone, at seeing Hamar suddenly melt away before his eyes, was so
great that he went off his head, and had to be confined in an asylum. After this adventure Hamar shunned restaurants, and manipulating his
new property sparingly, and with the utmost caution, warned Kelson and
Curtis to do the same. "I'll bet anything," he said to them, "it was a put-up job on the part
of the Unknown--a cunning device to make us break the compact." "Oh, we'll be careful enough as far as that goes," Curtis growled. "It's this vegetarian diet that I can't stick. Fancy living on beans
and potatoes, and only milk and aerated water to wash them down. It
was bad enough in San Francisco, when we hadn't the means even to
smell meat cooking--but with the money literally burning a hole in
one's pocket, it's ten times worse! Whatever the Unknown has in store
for us it can't be a worse Hell than what I've got now. What say you,
Matt?" "The same! Precisely the same!" Kelson said. "Only it's love--not
potatoes and beans that worries me. In the old days when I was
penniless, I did get some consolation from knowing it was all
hopeless--but now--now, when, as Ed says, 'the money's literally
burning a hole in one's pocket,' and everything might go
swimmingly--not to be allowed even to buy a bracelet--is more than
human nature can endure. I certainly can't conceive a Hell to beat
it." "Don't be too sure," Hamar said, "and for goodness' sake don't let the
Unknown give you an opportunity of comparing." The night succeeding this conversation, Hamar, Curtis and Kelson
introduced their new properties into the programme of their
entertainment in Cockspur Street, and London got another big thrill. Hamar exhibited such startling proofs of his power of invisibility,
that not only was the whole audience convinced, but from amongst
certain prominent members of the Council of the Psychical Research
Society, who were attending with the express purpose of unmasking
Hamar, two had epileptic fits on the spot, and several, before they
could get home, became raving lunatics. At the commencement of the second part of the programme--the audience
was still too flabbergasted to fully grasp what was happening. They
saw on the stage a huge tank of water--with which they were told Mr.
Curtis would experiment. "What I am about to do," Mr. Curtis--who now walked on to the
stage--informed his audience, "is quite simple. All you want is faith. Those of you who are Christian Scientists should be able to do it as
easily as I. Say 'I will! I will walk on the water!' and your
faith--your colossal faith--faith in your ability to do it will
actually enable you to do it."