MD3PAD 424-426

[Toby G Levy]

        Mason is amazed by Dixon's ability to move the cast iron
bathtub.  He and Dixon exchange jokes.  Mason asks Dixon if magnetism is
part of his magic but Dixon doesn't answer.

        Dixon glides the tub over to the door and then asks Mason to
hold it while Dixon checks to see if anyone is on the stairs. Mason is
skeptical as to his ability to keep the tub upright, but Dixon promises
he will be right back.

        Soon he smells Dixon's pipe tobacco and then he hears what he
thinks is Lady Lepton. He hears music coming from a musical bodice that
plays when it is ripped.

        Mason hears someone tapping on the tub and a man appears with a
compass saying that the tub is gigantic magnet. He introduces himself
as Professor Voam, who is hiding from authorities due to an
electrocution incident in Philadelphia. Voam appeared a hundred pages
back as the "camp naturalist" that Dixon consulted about Emerson's
watch. That incident must have been a "flash forward."

        Voam suggests they go for coffee, but Mason says he cannot leave
the tub. When Mason mentions Dixon's name, Voam appears to be meeting
them for the first time.

        Voam examines the tub and figures how to gently set it down. He
decides it would be a good place to keep his electric eel, named Felipe.
Mason is very grateful to get out from under the tub and offers the
professor refuge as a member of his surveying party.

Toby