who would "get washed up anyhow," and as regards _the_ devouring element
was "fit to put a fire out." He considered that Skinner would be as safe
on a raft as anywhere. The retired seafaring man added that he wished to
say nothing whatever against Skinner; facts were facts. And rather than
have his clothes made by Skinner, the retired seafaring man remarked he
would take his chance of being locked up. These observations certainly
do not present Skinner in the light of an appetising object.

To be perfectly frank with the reader, I do not believe he ever went
back to the Experimental Farm. I believe he hovered through long
hesitations about the fields of the Hickleybrow glebe, and finally,
when that squealing began, took the line of least resistance out of his
perplexities into the Incognito.

And in the Incognito, whether of this or of some other world unknown to
us, he obstinately and quite indisputably has remained to this day....





CHAPTER THE THIRD.

THE GIANT RATS.


I.

It was two nights after the disappearance of Mr. Skinner that the
Podbourne doctor was out late near Hankey, driving in his buggy. He had