After dinner that evening I put out the light—the moon being now bright—placed the box on the table, washed my hands, opened it and, shutting my eyes, put my hand on one of the jars at random and took it out. As I had rather expected, I heard a little rattle as I did so, and feeling in the compartment, I found a little, a very little, spoon. All was well. Now to see which jar chance or the plant had chosen for my first experiment. I took it to the window: it was the one marked aures—ears—and the spoon had on the handle a letter A. I opened the jar. The lid fitted close but not over tightly. I put in the spoon as the old man had done, as near as I could remember. It brought out a very small drop of thick stuff with which I touched first my right ear and then my left. When I had done so I looked at the spoon. It was perfectly dry. I put it and the jar back, closed the box, locked it up, and, not knowing in the least what to expect, went to the open window and put my head out.
For some little time I heard nothing. That was to be expected, and I was not in the least inclined to distrust the jar. Then I was rewarded; a bat flew by, and I, who have not heard a bat even squeak these twenty years, now heard this one say in a whistling angry tone, “Would you, would you, I've got you—no, drat, drat.” It was not a very exciting remark, but it was enough to show me that a whole new world (as the books say) was open to me.
This, of course, was only a beginning. There were some plants and flowering shrubs under the window, and though I could see nothing, I began to hear voices—two voices—talking among them. They sounded young: of course they were anyhow very small, but they seemed to belong to young creatures of their kind.
“Hullo, I say, what have you got there? Do let's look; you might as well.”
Then a pause—another voice: “I believe it's a bad one.”
Number one: “Taste it.”
Number two, after another pause, with a slight sound (very diminutive) of spitting: “Heugh! bad! I should rather think it was. Maggot!”
Number one (after laughing rather longer than I thought kind): “Look here—don't chuck it away—let's give it to the old man. Here—shove the piece in again and rub it over—here he is!” (Very demurely): “O sir, we've got such a nice-looking——” (I could not catch what it was) “here; we thought you might perhaps like it, sir. Would you, sir?… Oh no, thank you, sir, we've had plenty, sir, but this was the biggest we found.”
A third voice said something; it was a deeper one and less easy to hear.
Number two: “Bitten, sir? Oh no, I don't think so. Do you ——?” (a name which I did not make out).