"Registered," exclaimed the latter, triumphantly. "Now, the hand."
The Doctor found the hand and tried to twist it very slowly and carefully. He had expected the thin piece of metal to resist his touch; but it swung round with a fatal facility—five and a half times!
The Clockwork man suddenly turned round. Immediately afterwards the Doctor became aware of a series of loud popping noises, accompanied by the sound of tearing and rending. Simultaneously, some hard object hit him just over the eye, and the walls and ceiling of the little room were struck sharply by something violently expelled. And then he felt himself being pushed gently away by some pressure that was steadily insisting upon more space.
It was an effect in startling disproportion to the cause. Or, at least, so it seemed to the Doctor, who was, of course, totally ignorant about the mechanism with which he was experimenting.
"Reverse!" exclaimed the Clockwork man, in thick, suety tones, "reverse."
Already he was several times stouter than his original self. He had burst all his buttons—which accounted for the sudden explosions—and his clothes were split all the way down, back and front. Great pouches and three new chins appeared upon his face, and lower down there was visible an enormous stomach.
The Doctor seized hold of the other's collar and turned the huge body round. His hand fumbled wildly among the stops.
"Which one?" he gasped, his face livid with fright. "Tell me what to do. In heaven's name, do you expect me to know?"
"Z 5," came the faint rejoinder, "and reverse Y 4—most important—reverse Y 4."
It followed upon this experiment that the Clockwork man presently emitted a faint, quavering protest. He had certainly dwindled in bulk. His clothes hung upon him, and there was a distressing feebleness of frame. Slowly it dawned upon the Doctor that the face peering up at him was that of a very old and decrepit individual. Painful lines crossed his forehead, and there were rheumy lodgements in the corner of each eye. The change was rapidly progressive.