"Don't be a fool," Merlin told him sternly. "Wouldn't you rather be a one-eyed hero than a two-eyed coward?"
"No," Wilbur said.
Merlin glared at him balefully and Wilbur quailed and cringed. What sort of nightmare had he wandered into? He would gladly have given everything he owned to be back in the office. Even Pete Bellows was better than this maniac!
"Could I please go, Mr. Merlin?" Wilbur begged. "I'll be late if I don't. Pete will be sore."
"Tell you what I'll do," Merlin said, in a manner of one offering an added incentive. "You let me have your right eye and I'll see to it that Bellows falls down the stairs and breaks his neck."
He picked up the glass ball again and Wilbur felt himself grow faint. Now he was certain that this old man was not only a maniac but a homicidal maniac!
"Wouldn't anything but my right eye do?" he asked plaintively.
"I don't think so, but I'll look it up," Merlin said. Out of the folds of his white-starred gown he drew a book. Wetting his index finger, Merlin turned pages until he came to the one he wanted.
"Elixir of Caution," Merlin read aloud. "One part Fawn's Breath, one part Dove's Heart-Dried, one part Tears of Despair, and Right Eye of Complete Coward. Simmer for one hour with proper incantations."
"But I'm cautious enough already!" Wilbur protested. He got to his feet hopefully. "Well, I guess this has been a mistake. I'd better be running along."