Time Tunnel by Murray Leinster Read Free Book Online

when I thought I was only casting pearls, and picked one up? You did,” he nodded at Harrison, “and somebody else must have done the same. I may have played hell with the state of things in general!”
    There were footsteps. The door to the inner room opened violently. A short, stout Frenchwoman with a red face entered with the stride of destiny. Her eyes were furious. Her speech, which began instantly, was a frenzied denunciation of Carroll, uttered with such speed and vehemence that individual words could not be distinguished. She waved her plump arms, glaring at him. She shook her fist in his face. She stamped her feet. Her denunciation reached a crescendo.
    “ Les flics ,” said Carroll sternly. “ Les flics —”
    She seemed to strangle. She subsided fiercely. She stood formidably still, her arms folded defiantly, her face crimson, her eyes snapping, breathing fast and furiously.
    “The police,” repeated Carroll firmly, switching to French to include her with Harrison and Pepe in the conversation, “would be interested to hear what you have just said of me. But these are my friends, former students from les Êtats Unis . It appears that our enterprise has come to their attention, doubtless through some blunder M. Dubois has made. It is an emergency of importance. But perhaps it may aid in the solution of our previous trouble.” To Harrison and Pepe he said, “I present you to my wife, Madame Carroll.”
    Harrison tried to bow politely. Pepe was more successful.
    “And now,” said Carroll firmly, “you will join your brother in watching over our other problem!”
    He turned her around and guided her irresistibly back to the door. She squirmed. She resisted. He thrust her bodily into the other room and pulled the door shut. She made yelping outcries of fury. She went away, scolding shrilly. There was the apologetic murmur of the plump man’s voice.
    “I’ve made several mistakes in my life,” said Carroll, “and I thought she was the worst. I seem to have been delirious when I married her. But this news you bring is really the very devil! We’ll have to do something about it!”
    He sat down, scowling. Pepe asked:
    “Are we to understand, sir, that someone, somewhere, has made what one might call a time machine and is using it?”
    “Of course not!” snapped Carroll. “A time machine is out of the question! But—dammit, I must have said something that was more intelligent than I realized, and somebody must have used it to upset a sorry scheme of things and now is working busily to make it sorrier! But who the devil is it, and how did he get back there?”
    “Where?” asked Pope.
    “To 1804!” snapped Carroll. He waved his bands. “Getting there is possible enough. We supply our shop with goods by doing it! But who else? And why the same period? Dammit, that’s too much of a coincidence!” He stopped. “Oh. You think of a time machine. It’s quite unnecessary. You don’t have to build an elevator to get to the second floor of a building. You simply have to find the stairs. Then you walk up. That’s all. But this—”
    He swept his hand through bis hair, leaving it standing on end. It had been a notable habit of his, at Brevard.
    “There are so damned few of them!” he said in exasperation. “Damned few! You don’t think I live in a hole like this because I like it, do you? I’d say the odds were ten to the ninth against anybody finding a second possibility to the same period! There are more than that, no doubt, but find them! There’s the rub!”
    Harrison drew a deep breath. Somehow the garments worn by the plump man had helped him to believe that Carroll, who had ignored them, was eccentric rather than an authority about anything. But…
    “Professor,” he said painfully. “I started out not believing this stuff. Then I did. Then I roped Pepe into the business, and I managed to stop, but he came to believe it and again I thought it was likely. You seem to understand it. I’m