The chemist looked about the laboratory and gazed at the crystal sphere. Then his thoughts changed and he arose suddenly to step toward a door at the far corner of the room. He had remembered that two truckmen were coming to remove a huge box that they had left that afternoon. They had called up immediately afterward to state that there had been a mistake.
Another box should have been brought instead. It would be delivered later; in the meantime, the men would come to take away the original box.
Murdock wondered why the men had not yet arrived. He reached a small room outside his laboratory. On one side was a flight of stairs leading to the ground floor. Straight ahead was the elevator which had been installed for the lifting of heavy apparatus. The box was pushed in a corner near the elevator. The chemist shouted down the stairway. There was no response.
Evidently the expected men were still on their way.
Murdock started back toward the laboratory. Then, suddenly curious, he stopped to look at the box. It was a large, oblong contrivance. It was set on end, and the front of the box was hinged, like a door. Murdock studied the box. He could see no address upon it. He wondered if the truckmen had actually made a mistake. This box was twice as large as the one he had expected, nevertheless, it might contain the apparatus that was coming.
The chemist saw a heavy hammer hanging on the wall. His curiosity increased. He suddenly decided to open the box and view its contents.
Prying the front of the box with the hammer, Murdock gradually loosened the side which was securely nailed. He gained an opening for his fingers and tried to pull open the front. It was not an easy task, for the nails were still partly in position. But Murdock kept on at the work, resolved to complete it.
The box tilted forward as the chemist pulled at it. Then, at an unexpected moment, the door-like front yielded. Clark Murdock staggered backward and caught himself before he fell Then, leaning against the wall, he stared in utter bewilderment at an object that tumbled from the box and flattened upon the floor.
It was the form of a man — a lifeless, inert shape, that lay in a twisted, huddled pose. It was a man clad in white — a man with gray hair — whose shoulders were hunched up against his neck. Clark Murdock plucked his own coat with his hands. His garb and that of the dead man were identical. More than that, the size and shape of that body were the same as the chemist's own form!
Stepping slowly forward, Murdock bent down and-lifted the body back toward the box.