umph! Unfastened!" he said as he took it up; and Miss Morrison,
closing the door, went below and left them. "Our wonderful wizard does
not seem to have mastered the simple matter of making a man vanish out
of the thing without first unfastening the buckle, it appears. I should
have thought he could have managed that, shouldn't you, Mr. Narkom, if
he could have managed the business of making him melt into thin air?
Hur-r-r!" reflectively, as he turned the belt over and examined it. "Not
seen much use, apparently; the leather's quite new, and the inside quite
unsoiled. British manufactured brass, too, in the buckle. Shouldn't have
expected that in a Persian-made article. Inscription scratched on with
the point of a knife, or some other implement not employed in metal
engraving. May I trouble you for a pin? Thank you. Hum-m-m! Thought so.
Some dirty, clayey stuff rubbed in to make the letters appear old and of
long standing. Look here, Mr. Narkom: metal quite bright underneath when
you pick the stuff out. Inscription very recently added; leather,
American tanned; brass, Birmingham; stitching, by the Blake shoe and
harness machine; wizard--probably born in Tottenham Court Road, and his
knowledge of Persia confined to Persian powder in four-penny tins."

He laid the belt aside, and walked slowly round the room, inspecting
its contents before turning his attention to the portmanteau.

"Evidently the vanishing qualities of the belt did not assert themselves
very rapidly, Mr. Narkom," he said, "for Mr. Carboys not only prepared
to go to bed, but had time to get himself ready to hurry off to business
in the morning with as little delay as possible. Look here; here are his
pyjamas on the top of this chest of drawers, neatly folded, just as he
lifted them out of his portmanteau; and as a razor has been wiped on
this towel (see this slim line of dust-like particles of hair), he
shaved before going to bed in order to save himself the trouble of doing
so in the morning. But as there is no shaving-mug visible, and he
couldn't get hot water at that hour of the night, we shall probably
discover a spirit-lamp and its equipment when we look into the
portmanteau. Now, as he had time to put these shaving articles away
after using, and as no man shaves with his collar and necktie on, if we
do not find those, too, in the portmanteau, we may conclude that he put
them on again; and, as he wouldn't put them on again if he were going to
bed, the