"What's that" I asked, eyeing the sinister looking little box
suspiciously. "An infernal machine? You're not going to blow the
culprit into eternity, I hope."

"Never mind what it is, Walter. You'll find that out in due time.
It may or it may not be an infernal machine of a different sort
than any you have probably ever heard of. The less you know now
the less likely you are to give anything away by a look or an
act. Come now, make yourself useful as well as ornamental. Take
these wires and lay them in the cracks of the floor, and be
careful not to let them show. A little dust over them will
conceal them beautifully."

Craig now placed the black box back of one of the chairs well
down toward the floor, where it could hardly have been perceived
unless one were suspecting something of the sort. While he was
doing so I ran the wires across the floor, and around the edge of
the room to the door.

"There," he said, taking the wires from me. "Now I'll complete
the job by carrying them into the next room. And while I'm doing
it, go over the wires again and make sure they are absolutely
concealed."

That night six men gathered in Kennedy's laboratory. In my utter
ignorance of what was about to happen I was perfectly calm, and
so were all the rest, except Gregory. He was easily the most
nervous of us all, though his lawyer Asche tried repeatedly to
reassure him.