“Yes, sir. As I understand it, sir, if one were motoring and saw a pretty girl about to step on a banana peel, sir, and if one wished to tip her off, so to speak, but didn’t quite realize for—say, two minutes, until one had gone on half a mile—”
“The pretty girl would have stepped on the banana peel and nature would have taken its course,” said Pete.
“Except for this demonstrator, sir. You see, to tip off the young lady one would have to retrace the half mile and the time too, sir, or one would be too late. That is, one would have to go back not only the half mile but the two minutes. And so your uncle, sir, built this demonstrator—”
“So he could cope with such a situation when it arose,” finished Pete. “I see! But I’m afraid it won’t settle our financial troubles.”
The refrigeration unit ceased to purr. Thomas solemnly struck a safety match.
“If I may finish the demonstration, sir,” he said hopefully. “I blow out this match, and put it on the glass plate between the ends of the horseshoe. The temperature’s right, so it should work.”
There were self-satisfied clucking sounds from the base of the machine. They went on for seconds. The huge glass plate suddenly revolved perhaps the eighth of a revolution. A humming noise began. It stopped. Suddenly there was another burnt safety match on the glass plate. The machine began to cluck triumphantly.
“You see, sir?” said Thomas. “It’s produced another burnt match. Dragged it forward out of the past, sir. There was a burnt match at that spot, until the glass plate moved a few seconds ago. Like the girl and the banana peel, sir. The machine went back to the place where the match had been, and then it went back in time to where the match was, and then it brought it forward.”
The plate turned another eighth of a revolution. The machine clucked and hummed. The humming stopped. There was a third burnt match on the glass plate. The clucking clatter began once more.
“It will keep that up indefinitely, sir,” said Thomas hopefully.