Hatch explained, repeating the conversation as he remembered it.
"And he said 'sell,'" mused The Thinking Machine. "In other words, he thinks--or imagines he knows--that copper is to drop. I believe the first remark he heard was that copper had gone to smash--down, I presume that means?"
"Yes," the reporter replied.
Half an hour later John Doane sat up on the couch and looked about the room.
"Ah, Professor," he remarked. "I fainted, didn't I?"
The Thinking Machine was disappointed because his patient had not recovered memory with consciousness. The remark showed that he was still in the same mental condition--the man who was lost.
"Sell copper, sell, sell, sell," repeated The Thinking Machine, commandingly.
"Yes, yes, sell," was the reply.
The reflection of some great mental struggle was on Doane's face; he was seeking to recall something which persistently eluded him.
"Copper, copper," the scientist repeated, and he exhibited a penny.