WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:05.200 The puzzle. Anonymous Pooh came into my room holding something 2 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:08.359 wrapped in a piece of brown paper. Tress, I have 3 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:11.359 brought you something on which you may exercise your ingenuity. 4 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:16.879 He began with exasperating deliberation to untie the string which 5 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:20.039 bound his parcel. He is one of those persons who 6 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:23.079 would not cut a knot to save their lives. The 7 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:25.960 process occupied him the better part of a quarter of 8 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.039 an hour. Then he held out the contents of the paper. 9 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.159 What do you think of that, he asked. I thought 10 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.799 nothing of it, and I told him so. I was 11 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:38.759 prepared for that confession. I have noticed, Tress, that you 12 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.840 generally do think nothing of an article which really deserves 13 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:45.600 the attention of a truly thoughtful mind. Possibly, as you 14 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.880 think so little of it, you will be able to 15 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:50.359 solve the puzzle. I took what he held out to me. 16 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:54.799 It was an oblong box, perhaps seven inches long by 17 00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:58.200 three inches broad. Where's the puzzle, I asked. If you 18 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:00.679 will examine the lid of the box, you will see. 19 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:03.520 I turned it over and over. It was difficult to 20 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:06.400 see which was the lid. Then I perceived that on 21 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.840 one side were printed these words puzzle to open the box. 22 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:13.799 These words were so faintly printed that it was not 23 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:17.359 surprising that I had not noticed them at first. Pew explained, 24 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:20.400 I observed that box on a tray outside a second 25 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.719 hand furniture shop. It struck my eye. I took it up. 26 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:27.040 I examined it. I inquired of the proprietor of the 27 00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:30.840 shops in what the puzzle lay. He replied that that 28 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:34.159 was more than he could tell me. He himself had 29 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:36.519 made several attempts to open the box, and all of 30 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:39.439 them had failed. I purchased it. I took it home. 31 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.319 I have tried, and I have failed. I am aware, 32 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.000 Tress of how you pride yourself upon your ingenuity. I 33 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.959 cannot doubt that if you try, you will not fail. 34 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.239 While Pugh was proposing, I was examining the box. It 35 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:56.760 was at least well made. It weighed certainly under two ounces. 36 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:00.200 I struck it with my knuckles. It sounded hollow. There 37 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:02.760 was no hinge, nothing of any kind to show that 38 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:04.959 it had ever been opened, or, for that matter, of 39 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.919 that that it could be opened. The more I examined 40 00:02:08.919 --> 00:02:11.919 the thing, the more it whetted my curiosity that it 41 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:14.599 could be opened, and in some ingenious manner. I made 42 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.879 no doubt, but how the box was not a new 43 00:02:17.879 --> 00:02:21.120 one at a rough gas, I should say that it 44 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.919 had been a box for a good half century. There 45 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.159 were certain signs of age about it which could not 46 00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:29.960 escape the practiced eye. Had it remained unopened all that time. 47 00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:33.960 When opened, what would be found inside? It sounded hollow, 48 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:37.199 probably nothing at all? Who could tell? It was formed 49 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.919 of small pieces of inlaid wood. Several woods had been used. 50 00:02:41.319 --> 00:02:44.080 Some of them were strange to me. They were of 51 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:46.879 different colors. It was pretty obvious they all must have 52 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:54.400 been hardwood. The pieces were of various shapes hexagonal, octagonal, triangular, square, oblong, 53 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:57.759 and even circular. The process of inlaying them had been 54 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:01.520 beautifully done. So nicely had the parts been joined, that 55 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:03.960 the lines of meeting were difficult to discover with the 56 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:07.039 naked eye. They had been joined solid, so to speak. 57 00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:11.039 It was an excellent example of marquity. I had been 58 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.439 over hasty in my deprecation. I owed as much to Pew. 59 00:03:15.319 --> 00:03:18.159 This box of yours is better worth looking at than 60 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:21.639 I first supposed. Is it to be sold? No, it 61 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:23.879 is not to be sold, Nor he fixed me with 62 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:27.360 his spectacles. Is it to be given? Away. I have 63 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:30.039 brought it to you for the simple purpose of ascertaining 64 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:32.680 if you have the ingenuity enough to open it, I 65 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.400 will engage to open it in two seconds with a hammer. 66 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:38.840 I dare say I will open it with a hammer. 67 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:42.919 The thing is to open without it. Let me see. 68 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:46.280 I began with the aid of a microscope to examine 69 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.719 the box more closely. I will give you one piece 70 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:53.599 of information. Pew. Unless I am mistaken, the secret lies 71 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:56.479 in one of these little pieces of inlaid wood. You 72 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:58.800 push it, or you press it, or something, and the 73 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:03.000 whole affair flies over. Such was my own first conviction. 74 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:05.919 I am not so sure of it. Now I have 75 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:09.280 pressed every separate piece of wood. I have tried to 76 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:12.719 move each piece in every direction. No result has followed. 77 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:15.919 My theory was a hidden spring. But there must be 78 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:18.519 a hidden spring of some sort unless you are to 79 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:22.519 open it by mere exercise of force. I suppose the 80 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:25.759 box is empty. I thought it was at first, but 81 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.519 now I'm not so sure of that either. It all 82 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:31.680 depends on the position in which you hold it. Hold 83 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:34.399 it in this position like this, close to your ear. 84 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.839 Have you a small hammer. I took a small hammer. 85 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:41.360 Tap it softly, with the hammer. Don't you notice a 86 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:45.519 sort of reverberation within? Pew was right. There certainly was 87 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:49.120 something within, something which seemed to echo back my tapping, 88 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:51.879 almost as if it were a living thing. I mentioned 89 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:54.079 this to Pew, But you don't think that there is 90 00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:57.519 something alive inside the box. There can't be. The box 91 00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:59.879 must be airtight, probably as much as air tight a 92 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.079 an exhausted receiver. How do we know that? How can 93 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:07.519 we tell that? No minute intercise must have been left 94 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:11.680 for the express purposes of ventilation. I continued tapping with 95 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:16.360 a hammer. I noticed one peculiarity that it was only 96 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:19.160 when I held the box in a particular position and 97 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:22.879 tapped at a certain spot there came the answering taps 98 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.160 from within. I tell you what it is, Pew. What 99 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:29.360 I hear is the reverberation of some machinery. Do you 100 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.639 think so? I'm sure of it. Give the box to me. 101 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:36.199 Pew put the box to his ear. He tapped. Sounds 102 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:39.240 to me like an echoing tick tick of some great beetle, 103 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:42.240 like the noise which a death watch makes. You know, 104 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:46.759 trust Pew to find a remarkable explanation for a simple fact. 105 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:50.519 If the explanation leans towards a supernatural, so much the 106 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:54.079 more satisfactory. To Pew, I knew better. A sound which 107 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:57.040 you hear is merely the throbbing or the trembling of 108 00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:59.639 the mechanism with which it is intended that the box 109 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.959 should open. The mechanism is placed just where you are 110 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.240 tapping it with the hammer. Every tap causes it to jar. 111 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:10.240 Sounds to me like the ticking of a death watch. However, 112 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:14.199 on such subjects trust, I know what you are, my 113 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:16.639 dear Pew. Give it an extra hard tap and you 114 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:20.160 will see. He gave it an extra hard tap. The 115 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:22.959 moment he had done so, he started, I've done it. Now, 116 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:27.160 what have you done? Broken something? I fancy? He listened 117 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:29.439 intensely with his ear to the box. No, it seems 118 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:32.439 all right. And yet I could have sworn I'd damaged something. 119 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:36.120 I heard it smash. Give me the box. He gave 120 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:38.879 it to me. In my turn. I listened. I shook 121 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:42.000 the box. Pew must have been mistaken. Nothing rattled. There 122 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:44.519 was not a sound. The box was as empty as before. 123 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:47.319 I gave a smart tap with the hammer, as Pew 124 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:51.279 had done. Then there certainly was a curious sound. To 125 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:54.959 my ear. It sounded like the smashing of glass. I 126 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.199 wonder if there's anything fragile inside your precious puzzle, pew, 127 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:01.519 and if so, if we are shivering it by degrees? 128 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:06.040 What is that noise? I lay in bed in a 129 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:09.399 curious condition, which is in between sleep and waking, when 130 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:12.600 at last I knew I was awake. I asked myself 131 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.839 what it was that it woke me. Suddenly I became 132 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:19.079 conscious that something was making itself audible in the silence 133 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:22.000 of the night. For some seconds, I lay and listened. 134 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:25.199 Then I sat up in bed. What is that noise? 135 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:28.920 It was like the tick tick of some large and 136 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:32.879 unusually clear toned clock. It might have been a clock, 137 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.040 had it not been that the sound was varied every 138 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:39.759 half dozen ticks or so by a sort of stifled screech, 139 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.319 such as might have been uttered by a small creature. 140 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:47.360 In an extremity of an anguish, I got out of bed. 141 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:50.240 It was ridiculous to think of sleep. During the continuation 142 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:54.120 of that uncanny shrieking. I struck a light. The sound 143 00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:56.759 seemed to come from the neighborhood of my dressing table. 144 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.079 I went to the dressing table, the lighted match in 145 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:01.439 my hand, and as I did so, my eyes fell 146 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:05.839 on Pew's mysterious box. The same instant there issued from 147 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.040 the bowels of the box a more uncomfortable shriek than 148 00:08:09.079 --> 00:08:12.560 I had heard previously. It took me so completely by 149 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:14.680 surprise that I let the match fall from my hand 150 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.040 to the floor. The room was in darkness. I stood, 151 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:21.920 I will not say, trembling, listening, considering their volume to 152 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.920 the eeriest shrieks I had ever heard. All at once, 153 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:30.319 they ceased. Then came the tick tick again. I struck 154 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.320 another match and lit the gas. Pugh had left his 155 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:36.399 puzzle box behind him. We had done all we could 156 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:39.519 together to solve the puzzle. He had left it behind 157 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.840 to see what I could do with it alone. So 158 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:44.480 much had it engrossed my attention that I even brought 159 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.080 it into my bedroom in order that I might, before 160 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:50.279 retiring to rest, make a final attempt at the solution 161 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.080 of the mystery? Now what possessed the thing? As I 162 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:56.679 stood and looked and listened, one thing began to be 163 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:59.399 clear to me that some sort of machinery had been 164 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.600 set to motion inside the box. How had it been 165 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:05.720 set in motion was another matter, But the box had 166 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.279 been subjected to so much handling, to such pressing and 167 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:12.799 such hammering, that it was not strange if, after all, 168 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.200 pure eye had unconsciously hit upon the spring which set 169 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.759 the whole thing going. Possibly the mechanism had gotten so 170 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:23.399 rusty that it refuses to act all at once, It 171 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.399 had hung fire, and only after some hours had something 172 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:30.279 or other set the imprisoned motive power free. But what 173 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:34.240 about the screeching? Could there be some living creature concealed 174 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:37.000 within the box? Was I listening to the cries of 175 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:41.360 some small animal in agony? Momentary reflection suggested that the 176 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:43.960 explanation of the one thing was the explanation of the 177 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:48.879 other rust. There was the mystery. The same rust which 178 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:52.279 had prevented the mechanism from acting at once, was causing 179 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:56.279 the screeching. Now, the uncanny sounds were caused by nothing 180 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:58.360 more nor less than the want of a drop or 181 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:02.240 to of oil, which an explanation would not have satisfied Pew, 182 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:05.919 it satisfied me. Picking up the box, I placed it 183 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:08.720 to my ear. I wonder how long this little performance 184 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:11.399 is going to continue, and what is going to happen 185 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.320 when it is good enough to cease? I hope. An 186 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.639 uncomfortable thought occurred to me, I hope Pew hasn't picked 187 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:19.919 up some pleasant little novelty in the way of an 188 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:23.240 infernal machine. It would be a first rate joke if 189 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.399 he and I had been endeavoring to solve the puzzle 190 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:28.159 of how to set it going. I don't mind owning that. 191 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:32.440 As this reflection crossed my mind, I placed Pew's puzzle 192 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.879 on the dressing table. The idea did not commend itself 193 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:40.200 to me at all. The box evidently contained some curious mechanism. 194 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:44.519 It might be more curious than comfortable, possibly some agreeable 195 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:48.960 little device in clockwork. The tick tick suggested clockwork which 196 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.759 had been planned to go a certain time, and then, then, 197 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:54.919 for all I knew, ignite an explosive and blow up. 198 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:57.679 It would be a charming solution to the puzzle if 199 00:10:57.720 --> 00:10:59.639 it were to explode while I stood there in my 200 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:03.360 night looking on. It is true the box weighed very little. 201 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:06.080 Probably if I had said the whole affair would not 202 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:08.759 have turned the scale at a couple of ounces. But 203 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:11.440 then its very lightness might have been part of the 204 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:16.240 ingenious inventor's game. There are explosives with which one can 205 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:19.600 work very satisfactorily. Amount of damage with considerably less than 206 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:23.559 a couple of ounces. While I was hesitating, I own 207 00:11:23.639 --> 00:11:26.679 it whether I had not better immerse Pew's puzzle in 208 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:28.759 a can of water, or throw it out the window, 209 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:31.759 or call down Bob with a request to at once 210 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:34.799 remove it to his apartment. Both the tick tick tick 211 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:38.679 and the screeching ceased, and all within the box was still. 212 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:43.759 If it was going to explode, it was now or never. Instinctively, 213 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:46.360 I moved in the direction of the door. I waited 214 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:49.360 with a certain sense of anxiety. I waited in vain. 215 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:54.360 Nothing happened, not even a renewal of sound. I wish 216 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:57.320 Pugh had kept his precious puzzle at home. This sort 217 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:00.480 of thing tries one's nerves. When I I thought that, 218 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:03.879 I perceived that nothing seemed likely to happen. I returned 219 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:06.720 to the neighborhood of the table. I looked at the 220 00:12:06.759 --> 00:12:10.639 box askance. I tucked it up gingerly. Something might go 221 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:13.320 off at any moment, For all I knew, it would 222 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:15.600 be too much of a joke. If Peugh's precious puzzle 223 00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:19.279 exploded in my hand. I shook it doubtfully. Nothing rattled. 224 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.840 I held it to my ear. There was not a 225 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:25.519 sound what had taken place. Had the clockwork run down, 226 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.919 and was the machine arranged with such a diabolical ingenuity 227 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:32.360 that a certain interval was required after the clockwork had 228 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:35.919 run down before an explosion would occur, Or had Russ 229 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:40.200 cause the mechanism again to hang fire. After making all 230 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.320 that commotion, the thing might at least come open. I 231 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.320 banged the box viciously against the corner of the table. 232 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:49.159 I felt that I would almost rather that an explosion 233 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:52.480 should take place than that nothing should occur. One does 234 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.000 not care to be disturbed from one's sound slumber in 235 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:58.679 the small hours of the morning for a trifle. I've 236 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:01.440 half a mind to get a hammer and try, as 237 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:05.600 they say in the cookery books, another way. Unfortunately, I'd 238 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.840 promised Pew to abstain from using force. I might have 239 00:13:08.919 --> 00:13:11.360 shivered the box open with my hammer and then explained 240 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:14.159 that it had fallen or got trod upon, or sat 241 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:17.399 upon or something or so got shattered. Only I was 242 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.960 afraid that Pew would not believe me. The man is 243 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.279 himself such an untruthful man that he is in a 244 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.240 chronic state of suspicion about the truthfulness of others. Well, 245 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.879 if you're not going to blow up or open or something. 246 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:33.039 I'll say good night. I gave the box a final 247 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:36.120 rap with my knuckles and a final shake, replaced it 248 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:38.360 on the table, put out the gas, and returned to bed. 249 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.519 I was just sinking again into slumber when that box 250 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:46.120 began again. It was true that Pew had purchased the puzzle, 251 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:48.120 but it was evident that the whole enjoyment of the 252 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:51.360 purchase was destined to be mine. It was useless to 253 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.000 think of sleep while that performance was going on. I 254 00:13:54.039 --> 00:13:56.960 sat up in bed once more. It strikes me that 255 00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:59.639 the puzzle consists in finding out how it is possible 256 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:01.840 to go to sleep with Pew's purchase in your bedroom. 257 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:05.240 This is far better than the old fashioned prescription of 258 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:08.480 cats on the tiles. It struck me that the noise 259 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:12.000 was distinctly louder than before. This applied both to the 260 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:16.159 tick tick and the screeching. Possibly, I told myself as 261 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.759 I relighted the gas, the explosion is going to come 262 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.639 off this time. I turned to look at the box. 263 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:24.799 There could be no doubt about it. The noise was louder, 264 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:28.039 and if I could trust my eyes, the box was moving, 265 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:31.960 giving a series of little jumps. This might have been 266 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:35.159 an optical delusion, but it seemed to me that each 267 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:39.399 tick gave the box a bound. During the screeches, which 268 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:42.039 sounded more like the cries of an animal in agony 269 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:45.080 of pain even than before. If it did not tilt 270 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.679 itself first on one end and then on the other, 271 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:50.519 I shall never be willing to trust the evidence of 272 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:53.720 my own eyes again. And surely the box had increased 273 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:57.360 in size. I could have sworn not only had it increased, 274 00:14:57.799 --> 00:15:00.200 but that it was increasing even as I stood. They're 275 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:04.000 looking on. It had grown, and was still growing, both 276 00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:07.519 broader and longer and deeper. Pew, of course, would have 277 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:11.320 attributed it to a supernatural agency. There never was a 278 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:14.159 man with such a nose for a ghost. I could 279 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:17.639 picture him occupying my position, shivering in his night shirt 280 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:20.879 as he beheld that miracle taking place before his eyes. 281 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:25.120 The solution, which at once suggested itself to me, and 282 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:28.600 which would never have suggested itself to Pew, was that 283 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:32.159 the box was fashioned as if it were in layers, 284 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:35.559 and that the ingenious mechanism it contained was forcing the 285 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:38.519 sides at once, both upward and outward. I took it 286 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:41.440 in my hand. I could feel something striking against the 287 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:44.240 bottom of the box like a tap tap tapping of 288 00:15:44.279 --> 00:15:48.320 a tiny hammer. This is a pretty puzzle of pews. 289 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.120 He would say that this is the tapping of a 290 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:54.639 death watch. For my part, I have not much faith 291 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:59.159 in deathwatches at hot genus omnae. But it is certainly 292 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:03.120 a curious task. I wonder what is going to happen next. 293 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:09.279 Apparently nothing except a continuation of those mysterious sounds. That 294 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:12.240 the box had increased in size, I had and have 295 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:16.279 no doubt whatsoever. I should say that it had increased 296 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:19.360 a good inch in every direction, at least half an 297 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.840 inch while I had been looking on. But while I 298 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:26.440 stood looking, its growths was suddenly and perceptibly stayed. It 299 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:30.480 ceased to move, only the noise continued. I wonder how 300 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.879 long it'll be before anything worth happening does happen. I 301 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:37.039 suppose something is going to happen. This can't be all 302 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:39.960 this to do for nothing. If it is anything in 303 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.840 the infernal machine line, and there is going to be 304 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:45.600 an explosion, I might as well be here to see it. 305 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.279 I think I'll have a pipe. I put on my 306 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.279 dressing gown, I lit my pipe, I sat and stared 307 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:54.080 at the box. I dare say, I sat there for 308 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.480 quite twenty minutes, when, as before, without any sort of warning, 309 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:01.320 the sound was stilled. Its sudden sustaine rather startled me. 310 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:05.240 Has the mechanism again hung fire? Or this time is 311 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:08.720 the explosion coming off? It did not come off. Nothing 312 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.880 came off. Isn't the box even going to open? It 313 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:16.519 did not open. There was simply silence all at once, 314 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.839 and that was all. I sat there in expectation for 315 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:23.240 some moments longer, but I sat for nothing. I rose, 316 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.440 I took the box in my hand, and I shook it. 317 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:29.759 This puzzle is a puzzle. I held the box first 318 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.279 to one ear, then the other. I gave it several 319 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:35.640 sharp raps with my knuckles. There was not an answering sound, 320 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:38.039 not even the sort of reverberation with pew and I 321 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.039 had noticed at first it seemed hollower than ever. It 322 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.119 was as though the soul of the box was dead. 323 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:47.440 I suppose if I put you down and extinguished the 324 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:49.880 gas and returned to bed in about half an hour 325 00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:52.440 or so, just as I'm dropping off to sleep, the 326 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:56.920 performance will be recommenced. Perhaps the third time will be lucky. 327 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:00.759 But I was mistaken There was no third time when 328 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.319 I returned to bed. That time, I returned to sleep, 329 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.720 and I was allowed to sleep. There was no continuation 330 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.519 of the performance, at least so far as I know, 331 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:13.480 For no sooner was I once more between the sheets 332 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:18.519 than I was seized with an irresistible drowsiness, a drowsinessch 333 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:21.359 so mastered me that I, I imagine it must have 334 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:25.160 been instantly sank into a slumber which lasted till long 335 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:28.400 after the day had dawned. Whether or not any more 336 00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:31.720 mysterious sounds issued from the bowels of Pew's puzzle is 337 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:34.440 more than I can tell. If they did, they did 338 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:37.960 not succeed in rousing me. And yet when at last 339 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:40.680 I did awake, I had a sort of consciousness that 340 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:44.079 my waking had been caused by something strange. What it was, 341 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.279 I could not surmise. My own impression was that I 342 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:49.640 had been awakened by the touch of a person's hand. 343 00:18:50.359 --> 00:18:53.480 But that impression must have been a mistaken one, because, 344 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:55.920 as I could easily see by looking round the room, 345 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:58.119 there was no one in the room to touch me. 346 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:02.400 It was broad daylight. I looked at my watch. It 347 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.599 was nearly eleven o'clock. I am a pretty late sleeper 348 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:07.599 as a rule, but I do not usually sleep as 349 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.559 late as that. That scoundrel Bob would let me sleep 350 00:19:10.599 --> 00:19:13.799 all day without thinking it necessary to call me. I 351 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:15.640 was just about to spring out of bed with the 352 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:17.680 intention of ringing the bell so that I might give 353 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:20.119 Bob a piece of my mind for allowing me to 354 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:23.319 sleep so late, when my glance fell on the dressing 355 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.119 table on which the night before I had placed Pew's puzzle. 356 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:29.799 It had gone. Its absence so took me by surprise 357 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:32.799 that I ran to the table it had gone, But 358 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:35.680 it had not gone far. It had gone to pieces. 359 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:38.880 There were pieces lying where the box had been. The 360 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:42.640 puzzle had solved itself. The box was open, open with 361 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:46.640 a vengeance, one might say, like that unfortunate Humpty Dumpty, who, 362 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:49.799 so the chroniclers tell us, sat on a wall. Surely 363 00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:52.359 all the King's horses and all the king's men never 364 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:56.119 could put Pew's puzzle together again. The market tee had 365 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:59.880 resolved itself into its component's parts. How those parts had 366 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:04.000 ever joined was a mystery. They had laid upon no foundation, 367 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:07.640 as is the case with ordinary inlaid work. The several 368 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:10.839 pieces of wood were not only of different shapes and sizes, 369 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:13.960 but they were as thin as the thinnest veneer. Yet 370 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.599 the box had been formed by simply joining them together. 371 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:19.519 The man who made that box must have been possessed 372 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:23.240 of ingenuity worthy of a better cause. I perceived how 373 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:26.200 the puzzle had been worked. The box had contained an 374 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:30.400 arrangement of springs, which, on being released, had expanded themselves 375 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:33.920 in different directions, until their mere expansion had rent the 376 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:37.640 box to pieces. There were the springs lying amid the 377 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.119 ruin they had caused. There was something else amid the ruin. 378 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.519 Besides those springs. There was a small piece of writing paper. 379 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.400 I took it up. On the reverse side of it 380 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:51.799 was written in a minute crabbed hand, A present for you. 381 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:55.880 What was a present for me? I looked, and not 382 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.799 for the first time since I had caught sight of 383 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:02.920 Pew's precious puzzle, could scarcely believe my eyes. There, poised 384 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:06.319 between two upright wires, the bent ends of which held 385 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:09.079 it aloft in the air, was either a piece of 386 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:13.039 glass or a crystal. A scrap of writing paper had 387 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:16.440 exactly covered it. I understood what it was when Pew 388 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:19.160 and I had tapped with a hammer had caused the 389 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.920 answering taps to proceed from within. Our tap caused the 390 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:26.960 wires to oscillate, and in these oscillations, the crystal which 391 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.640 they had held suspended had touched the side of the box. 392 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:33.680 I looked again at the piece of paper a present 393 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:37.880 for you? Was this the present? This crystal? I regarded 394 00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:42.759 it intently. It can't be a diamond. The idea was ridiculous, absurd. 395 00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:46.000 No man in his senses would place a diamond inside 396 00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:49.839 a halfpenny puzzle box. The thing was as big as 397 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:53.119 a walnut. And yet I am a pretty good judge 398 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:56.200 of precious stones. If it was not an uncut diamond, 399 00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:58.960 it was the best imitation I had seen. I took 400 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:02.079 it up, I examined it closely. The more closely I 401 00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:05.519