J. Archibald McKackney
logue of the McKackney Whisker Collection while I toiled behind locked doors.[1]
Never can I forget the moment when I rushed into the upper hall and shouted down the stairway to Wilkins:
"Come up here. I've done it, by the Lord Harry. Hurry up. The grandest discovery of modern times. You can hear it. Beautiful, wonderful, amazing."
I was dancing with impatience as the sailor fairly flew upstairs, his immense crimson beard streaming over his shoulders as if he had set studding-sails for a swift passage. Our strange adventures in search of rare types of whiskers had prepared him for the unexpected, but for once he was almost dismayed. I grasped his arm and led him into the work shop and pointed toward a row of rounded wooden blocks to which were attached arti
- ↑ Mr. Wilkins was also engaged in a scientific problem of his own at this time, with the solution of which he hoped to surprise his employer. His secret task was doomed to failure however, and it was withheld from Mr. McKackney's knowledge. Mr. Wilkins hoped to be able to compound a preparation which should make whiskers moth-proof in all climates. (Editor's Note.)
