Before describing the interaction, the narrator reflects on how his conversation with MacCruiskeen reminded him of de Selby’s theory that a man’s appearance in a mirror reflects him not as he is, but as a younger man, because of the time it takes for light to travel. De Selby claimed to have devised a system of mirrors that repeated the reflection in the right direction and showed himself as a 12-year-old.

MacCruiskeen and the narrator talk, and the former is also appalled that the narrator says he doesn’t have a bicycle. MacCruiskeen takes a small spear and tells the narrator to put his hand out; the weapon draws a small spot of blood on his palm when it is about six inches away, not touching him. MacCruiskeen explains the weapon, which is of his own invention, as having a point “so thin that maybe it does not exist at all and you could spend half an hour trying to think about it and you could put no thought around it in the end” (71). 

MacCruiskeen shows the narrator a beautiful box he made. He describes the difficulty of deciding what was appropriate to store in it, before deciding on another, smaller box.