The story follows Smith, a man on the run through New York City, whose identity as an anthropologist obsessed with radical scientific ideas places him under pursuit by police and curious crowds. Even while fleeing, Smith remains absorbed in reflections on art, science, and civilization, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art serving as a symbolic backdrop for his unraveling intellect. Figures such as William Jennings Bryan and the waitress Evelyn Grey blur the boundary between satire and reality as they become entangled in Smith’s improbable plans. The narrative hints at an expedition to Black Bayou in search of the mythical “three-eyed man,” framing the tale as a darkly comic meditation on how scientific ambition slips into absurdity and danger.
