Utterly bewildered, he sat down in his room to think. Now for the first
time he _felt_ that he was asleep and dreaming. Presently he fell asleep
again, and slept for a long time. He awoke hungry and made a hearty
meal. Then towards evening, having locked himself in, he fell asleep
again. When he woke he was in darkness, and was quite at sea as to his
whereabouts. He began feeling about the dark room, and was recalled to
the consequences of his position by the breaking of a large piece of
glass. Having obtained a light, he discovered this to be a glass wheel,
part of an elaborate piece of mechanism which he must in his sleep have
taken from the chest, which was now opened. He had once again opened it
whilst asleep, but he had no recollection of the circumstances.

Caswall came to the conclusion that there had been some sort of dual
action of his mind, which might lead to some catastrophe or some
discovery of his secret plans; so he resolved to forgo for a while the
pleasure of making discoveries regarding the chest. To this end, he
applied himself to quite another matter--an investigation of the other
treasures and rare objects in his collections. He went amongst them in
simple, idle curiosity, his main object being to discover some strange
item which he might use for experiment with the kite. He had already
resolved to try some runners other than those made of paper. He had a
vague idea that with such a force as the great kite straining at its
leash, this might be used to lift to the altitude of the kite itself
heavier articles. His first experiment with articles of little but
increasing weight was eminently successful. So he added by degrees more
and more weight, until he found out that the lifting power of the kite
was considerable. He then determined to take a step further, and send to
the kite some of the articles which lay in the steel-hooped chest. The
last time he had opened it in sleep, it had not been shut again, and he