“Darn it!” said Jaffers, “I can’t use them as I can see.”
“Why!” said Huxter, suddenly, “that’s not a man at all. It’s just empty clothes. Look! You can see down his collar. I could put my arm-”
He extended his hand, and he drew it back with a sharp exclamation.
“I wish you’d keep your fingers out of my eye,” said the aerial voice. “The fact is, I’m all here-head, hands, legs, and all the rest of it, but I’m invisible.”
The suit of clothes, now all unbuttoned and hanging loosely upon its unseen supports, stood up.
Several men had entered the room, so that it was crowded.
“Invisible, eh?” said Huxter. “Who ever heard of that?”
“It’s strange, perhaps, but it’s not a crime. Why is the policeman here?”
“Ah! that’s a different matter,” said Jaffers. “I got an order and it’s all correct. Invisibility is not a crime, but the burglary is. A house was broken into and money was taken.”
“Well?”
“And circumstances certainly point-”
“Nonsense!” said the Invisible Man.
“I hope so, sir; but I’ve got my instructions.”
“Well,” said the stranger, “I’ll come. I’ll come. But no handcuffs.”
“It’s the regular thing,” said Jaffers.
“No handcuffs,” stipulated the stranger.
“Pardon me,” said Jaffers.
Abruptly the figure sat down, and before any one could realise what was happening, the slippers, socks, and trousers had been kicked off under the table. Then he sprang up again and flung off his coat.
“Stop that!” said Jaffers, suddenly realising what was happening. He gripped at the waistcoat; it struggled, and the shirt slipped out of it.
“Hold him!” said Jaffers, loudly. “Once he gets the things off-”
“Hold him!” cried everyone. A white shirt was now all that was visible of the stranger.
The shirt-sleeve sent Hall backward, and in another moment the garment was lifted up and the shirt hit the man’s head.
“Hold him!” said everybody. “Shut the door! Don’t let him get out! I got something! Here he is!”
Sandy Wadgers got a frightful blow in the nose. He opened the door. The hitting continued. Jaffers was struck under the jaw, and, turning, caught at something that intervened between him and Huxter.
“I got him!” shouted Jaffers, wrestling with purple face and swelling veins against his unseen enemy.
Then Jaffers cried in a strangled voice, and his fingers relaxed.
There were excited cries of “Hold him!” “Invisible!” and so forth, and a young fellow caught something and fell over the constable’s prostrate body. Across the road a woman screamed as something pushed her; a dog, kicked apparently, yelped and ran howling. The Invisible Man ran away. People stood amazed and gesticulating, and then came panic. But Jaffers lay quite still, face upward and knees bent.
