out of the realm of the absolutely wanton. We may imagine that

Griffin had taken the rod as a weapon indeed, but without any

deliberate intention of using it in murder. Wicksteed may then have

come by and noticed this rod inexplicably moving through the air.

Without any thought of the Invisible Man--for Port Burdock is ten

miles away--he may have pursued it. It is quite conceivable that

he may not even have heard of the Invisible Man. One can then

imagine the Invisible Man making off--quietly in order to avoid

discovering his presence in the neighbourhood, and Wicksteed,

excited and curious, pursuing this unaccountably locomotive

object--finally striking at it.

No doubt the Invisible Man could easily have distanced his

middle-aged pursuer under ordinary circumstances, but the position

in which Wicksteed's body was found suggests that he had the

ill luck to drive his quarry into a corner between a drift of

stinging nettles and the gravel pit. To those who appreciate the

extraordinary irascibility of the Invisible Man, the rest of the

encounter will be easy to imagine.

But this is pure hypothesis. The only undeniable facts--for stories

of children are often unreliable--are the discovery of Wicksteed's

body, done to death, and of the blood-stained iron rod flung among

the nettles. The abandonment of the rod by Griffin, suggests that

in the emotional excitement of the affair, the purpose for which

he took it--if he had a purpose--was abandoned. He was certainly

213

The Invisible Man