including a second king-cobra-killer, which he generally carried with him
in its box whenever he walked out.

Mr. Caswall's experiments with the kite went on successfully. Each day
he tried the lifting of greater weight, and it seemed almost as if the
machine had a sentience of its own, which was increasing with the
obstacles placed before it. All this time the kite hung in the sky at an
enormous height. The wind was steadily from the north, so the trend of
the kite was to the south. All day long, runners of increasing magnitude
were sent up. These were only of paper or thin cardboard, or leather, or
other flexible materials. The great height at which the kite hung made a
great concave curve in the string, so that as the runners went up they
made a flapping sound. If one laid a finger on the string, the sound
answered to the flapping of the runner in a sort of hollow intermittent
murmur. Edgar Caswall, who was now wholly obsessed by the kite and all
belonging to it, found a distinct resemblance between that intermittent
rumble and the snake-charming music produced by the pigeons flying
through the dry reeds.

One day he made a discovery in Mesmer's chest which he thought he would
utilise with regard to the runners. This was a great length of wire,
"fine as human hair," coiled round a finely made wheel, which ran to a
wondrous distance freely, and as lightly. He tried this on runners, and
found it work admirably. Whether the runner was alone, or carried
something much more weighty than itself, it worked equally well. Also it
was strong enough and light enough to draw back the runner without undue
strain. He tried this a good many times successfully, but it was now
growing dusk and he found some difficulty in keeping the runner in sight.
So he looked for something heavy enough to keep it still. He placed the
Egyptian image of Bes on the fine wire, which crossed the wooden ledge