“I shall not quarrel with your means,” the Wanderer said quietly, “provided that there is no unnecessary brutality. If I see anything of the kind I will take the matter into my own hands.”
“Certainly, certainly!” said the other, eyeing with curiosity the man who spoke so confidently of taking out of Keyork Arabian’s grasp whatever had once found its way into it.
“He shall be treated with every consideration,” the Wanderer continued. “Of course, if he is very violent, we shall have to use force.”
“We will take the Individual with us,” said Keyork. “He is very strong. He has a trick of breaking silver florins with his thumbs and fingers which is very pretty.”
“I fancy that you and I could manage him. It is a pity that neither of us has the faculty of hypnotising. This would be the proper time to use it.”
“A great pity. But there are other things that will do almost as well.”
“What, for instance?”
“A little ether in a sponge. He would only struggle a moment, and then he would be much more really unconscious than if he had been hypnotised.”
“Is it quite painless?”
“Quite, if you give it gradually. If you hurry the thing, the man feels as though he were being smothered. But the real difficulty is what to do with him, as I said before.”