The next morning, the two men discuss the previous day's events. The first is drunk, and the second is obsessed with the romance novels he has been reading. He misreads the measurements twice, and doesn't submit a report on the experiment. The men decide to conduct the experiment again, but this time, he washes the dishes three times instead of twice as he did the day before. The two men decide that the experiment must have something to do with his uncle's visit. They decide to write the paper in their room later, but the first refuses to explain why he is not working on it. He says that he does not want to return home to meet his second eldest brother, who will kidnap him to conduct experiments. He tells the men that his brother has broken his leg in an accident, and that he cannot bear to leave them behind. He also wants to finish the paper, but he is worried about his brother's condition. He has booked a train for the night, and he will discuss this with the men when he is back. He asks the men why they were so anxious for him to return, and they tell him that he is the one who insisted that he search for the map.