“I won’t!” I said. “I’ve multiplied them by 25—2109375—and done it in my head, and that should be good enough for Enver Pasha or anyone else. Test my answer if you like!”
Just to humour me he did, and found to his amazement I was correct; (every English schoolboy knows the trick of adding two noughts and dividing by four). Before he had time to recover from his surprise I went on.
“I’m clever enough for anybody! I know all about figures. See here! Here’s a question for you; supposing the head of a fish weighs nine okkas and the tail weighs as much as the head and half the body, and the body weighs as much as the head and tail put together, what is the weight of the fish? Or would you prefer a puzzle about monkeys? I know about monkeys too, for I’ve been in India and——”
“Never mind about monkeys and fish,” Ihsan interrupted. “Tell me, do you ever see visions?”
“Oh yes!” I said. “That’s spiritualism. I’ve got the spook-board downstairs in the depot.”
Moïse corroborated my statement, and referred the doctor to some passages in the file, which he read with interest. For some time the two men talked together in Turkish.
“Tell me about these spirits,” Ihsan said at last.
“No fear!” I replied. “Hill and I were caught out that way in Yozgad. I’m not going to be imprisoned for telepathy again. Two months on bread and water is quite enough, thank you!”
I refused to say a word about spirits or visions, knowing that Moïse would supply the doctors with the information required. He did, and told all about the telepathy trial.
“Well,” Ihsan went on, “do you ever smell smells that are not there?”