improvise the bathroom as a dark-room and get everything ready so
that we can start in bright and early."

We were, indeed, up early. One never has difficulty in getting up
early in the country: it is so noisy, at least to a city-bred
man. City noise at five A.M. is sepulchral silence compared with
bucolic activity at that hour.

There were a dozen negatives which I set about developing after
Craig had used up all our films. Meanwhile, he busied himself
adjusting his microscope and test-tubes and getting the agar
slides ready for examination.

Shirt-sleeves rolled up, I was deeply immersed in my work when I
heard a shout in the next room, and the bathroom door flew open.

"Confound you, Kennedy, do you want to ruin these films!" I cried.

He shut the door with a bang. "Hurrah, Walter!" he exclaimed. "I
think I have it, at last. I have just found some most promising
colonies of the bacilli on one of my slides."

I almost dropped the pan of acid I was holding, in my excitement.
"Well," I said, concealing my own surprise, "I've found out
something, too. Every one of these finger-prints so far is from
the same pair of hands."

We scarcely ate any breakfast, and were soon on our way up to the
hall. Craig had provided himself at the local stationer's with an
inking-pad, such as is used for rubber stamps. At the hall he