He paused, as though to adjust the matter in his mind. "But suppose Time stopped. Or, rather, suppose man caught up with Time, raced the universal enemy, tracked him to his lair? That would account for the names being the same. Dunn still breathes and Clarkson endures, or their descendants. At any rate, the _idea_ of them persists. Perhaps this clock that they wear abolished death and successive generations. Of course, it seems like a joke to us, but we've got to drop our sense of humour for the time being." "But how could it be?" exclaimed Allingham, kicking a loose stone in his walk. "This clock, I mean. It's--" He fumbled hopelessly for words with which to express new doubts. "What _is_ this clock?" "It's an instrument," rejoined Gregg, leaning over the side of the car. "Evidently it has some sort of effect upon the fundamental processes of the human organism. That's clear, to me. Probably it replaces some of the ordinary functions and alters others. One gets a sort of glimmer--of an immense speeding up of the entire organism, and the brain of man developing new senses and powers of apprehension. They would have all sorts of second sights and subsidiary senses. They would feel their way about in a larger universe, creep into all sorts of niches and corners unknown to us, because of their different construction." "Yes, yes, I can follow all that," said Allingham, biting his moustache, "but let's talk sense." "In a matter like this," put in Gregg, "sense is at a premium. What we have to do is to consult our intuitions." Allingham frowned. His intuitions, nowadays, were few and far between. "When you get to my age, Gregg, you'll have something else to do besides consult your intuitions. The fact is, you _want_ all these wonderful things to happen. You have a flair for the unexpected, like all children and adolescents. But I tell you, the Clockwork man is a myth, and I think you ought to respect my opinion." "Even if he's a myth," interrupted Gregg, "he is still worth investigating. What annoys me is your positive antagonism to the idea that he might be possible. You seem to want to go out of your way to prove me in the wrong. I may add, that once a man has ceased to believe in the impossible he is damned." Allingham shot a look of veiled anger at the other, and prepared to re-enter the car. "Well, you prove yourself in the right," he muttered, "and then I'll apologise. I'm going to let the Clockwork man drop. I've got other things to think about. And I don't mind telling you that if the Clockwork man turns out to be all that you claim for him, I shall still wish him at the other end of the earth." "Which is probably where he is now," remarked Gregg, with a slight bantering note in his voice.