Having obtained a light, he discovered this to be a glass wheel, part of an elaborate piece of mechanism which he must in his sleep have taken from the chest, which was now opened.

He had once again opened it whilst asleep, but he had no recollection of the circumstances.
Caswall came to the conclusion that there had been some sort of dual action of his mind, which might lead to some catastrophe or some discovery of his secret plans; so he resolved to forgo for a while the pleasure of making discoveries regarding the chest.

To this end, he applied himself to quite another matter--an investigation of the other treasures and rare objects in his collections.

He went amongst them in simple, idle curiosity, his main object being to discover some strange item which he might use for experiment with the kite.

He had already resolved to try some runners other than those made of paper.