"You shall see them plain enough in a moment." So saying, Elmer placed a long brass telescope upon a stand by the open window, and through it he examined the couple on the bridge. Meanwhile Alma gazed round the room and examined its strange contents with the greatest interest. The moment the focus of the glass was secured, Elmer hastily took the little camera, and adjusting a slide in it from a table drawer, he placed it before the telescope on the table and close to the eye hole. Then, by throwing a black cloth over his head, he looked into it, turned a screw or two, and in a moment had a negative of the distant couple. "Aren't you almost ready?" "In one moment, Alma. I must fix this first. I'll be right back." So saying he took the slide from the little camera, and went out of the room into a dark closet in the entry. Alma waited patiently for a few moments, and then she took up the field glass, and looked out of the window. Who could they be? They seemed to be having a cosy time together; but beyond the fact that one figure was a woman she could learn nothing. She wanted to take a look through the telescope, but did not dare to move the little camera that stood before it. "Here's the picture," said Elmer as he entered the room. Alma took the bit of glass he offered her, but declared she couldn't see anything but a dirty spot on the glass. "That's the negative. Let me copy it, and then I'll throw it up with the stereopticon." He selected another bit of glass from a box, and in a few minutes had it prepared and the two put together and laid in the sun on the window-seat. "What's in that iron box, Elmer?" "Nitrous oxide." "The same thing that the dentists use?" "Yes. Would you like to try a whiff? It's rather jolly, and will not hurt you in the least." Elmer caught up a bit of rubber pipe, secured one end to the iron chest and inserted the other in a mouthpiece having the proper inhalation and exhalation valves. "Put that in your mouth for a moment." Alma, with beautiful confidence, put the tube in her mouth, and in a moment her pretty head fell back against the back of the chair in deep sleep. With wonderful speed and skill Elmer rolled a larger camera that stood in a corner out into the centre of the room, ran in a slide, adjusted the focus, and before the brief slumber passed had a negative of the sleeping one. "Oh, how odd! What a queer sensation to feel yourself going and going, off and off, till you don't know where you are!" "It is rather queer. I've often taken the gas myself--just for fun. Now, Alma, if you will let down the curtains, and close the shutters, and make the room dark, I'll light the lantern and show you the picture." Alma shut the blinds, drew down the curtains, and closed all the shutters save one. "Won't it be too dark?" "No. It must be quite dark. You can stand here in the middle of the room and look at that bit of bare wall between the windows. I left that space clear for a screen."