Chapter V Summary

De Selby claims to be able to use a series of mirrors to see back in time by virtue of the time it takes for light to be reflected in a mirror and then back at the viewer. The narrator is reminded of this by his first conversation with MacCruiskeen. MacCruiskeen is awed by the narrator's claim that he did not come on a bicycle, and to match the narrator's startling information, MacCruiskeen shows him a spear he made. Its point is so thin as to be invisible, stretching six inches in front of the visible point.

Then, MacCruiskeen shows the narrator an intricately carved miniature box that he made, about a foot tall. Once MacCruiskeen finished the box, he could not think of something appropriate to put in it, so he made a smaller version of the same box to...