on the stomach. “A great wag! You'll come and see us this evening, eh?”
“I won’t go anywhere! Where’s Thomas?”
“What? aha! your Thomas. Well, at the moment a long way away. Here's the key of your laboratory. Nobody will disturb you. I’m sorry I’ve no time.”
“Carson!” Prokop wished to stop him, but he drew back before a gesture so commanding that he did not venture to come nearer; and Mr. Carson slid out of the room whistling like a trained starling.
Prokop made his way with his pass to the main entrance. The old man studied it and shook his head; the pass, he said, was only valid for exit C, the exit leading to the laboratories. Prokop went to exit C; the man out of the film with a flat cap examined the pass and pointed: straight ahead, then the third cross-road to the north. Prokop of course took the first road to the south; but after five steps he was stopped by a soldier: back and the third road to the left. Prokop ignored the third road to the left and went straight ahead across a meadow; in a moment three people appeared in front of him. He was not allowed to go this way. Then he obediently went along the third road to the north, and when he thought that there was no one watching him again turned off the road between some munition sheds. Here he encountered a soldier with a fixed bayonet who told him to go to cross-roads No. B11 Road N.6. Prokop tried his luck at each cross-road; he was always stopped and sent back to road B11 N.6; finally he learned reason and realized that a pass on which were the letters “C3n.wF.H.A.V11.
