MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_01D08C16.CEB79010" This document is a Single File Web Page, also known as a Web Archive file. If you are seeing this message, your browser or editor doesn't support Web Archive files. Please download a browser that supports Web Archive, such as Windows® Internet Explorer®. ------=_NextPart_01D08C16.CEB79010 Content-Location: file:///C:/CF045C8C/TheMoonMetal.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1252"
The Moon Metal
By
Garrett P. Serviss
Contents
VIII
- MORE OF DR. SYX'S MAGIC
X -
THE TOP OF THE GRAND TETON
XIII
- THE LOOTING OF THE MOON
THE
MOON METAL
<=
span
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fa=
reast-font-family:
Calibri'>I - SOUTH POLAR GOLD<=
span
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fa=
reast-font-family:
Calibri'>
When the news came of the discovery of gold at=
the
south pole, nobody suspected that the beginning had been reached of a new e=
ra
in the world's history. The newsboys cried "Extra!" as they had d=
one
a thousand times for murders, battles, fires, and Wall Street panics, but n=
obody
was excited. In fact, the reports at first seemed so exaggerated and improb=
able
that hardly anybody believed a word of them. Who could have been expected to
credit a despatch, forwarded by cable from New Zealand, and signed by an
unknown name, which contained such a statement as this:
"A seam of gold which can be cut with a k=
nife
has been found within ten miles of the south pole."
The discovery of the pole itself had been
announced three years before, and several scientific parties were known to =
be exploring
the remarkable continent that surrounds it. But while they had sent home ma=
ny
highly interesting reports, there had been nothing to suggest the possibili=
ty
of such an amazing discovery as that which was now announced. Accordingly, most sensible people looke=
d upon
the New Zealand despatch as a hoax.
But within a week, and from a different source,
flashed another despatch which more than confirmed the first. It declared t=
hat
gold existed near the south pole in practically unlimited quantity. Some ge=
ologists
said this accounted for the greater depth of the Antarctic Ocean. It had al=
ways
been noticed that the southern hemisphere appeared to be a little overweigh=
ted.
People now began to prick up their ears, and many letters of inquiry appear=
ed
in the newspapers concerning the wonderful tidings from the south. Some ask=
ed
for information about the shortest route to the new goldfields.
In a little while several additional reports c=
ame,
some via New Zealand, others via South America, and all confirming in every
respect what had been sent before. Then a New York newspaper sent a swift s=
teamer
to the Antarctic, and when this enterprising journal published a four-page
cable describing the discoveries in detail, all doubt vanished and the rush
began.
Some time I may undertake a description of the
wild scenes that occurred when, at last, the inhabitants of the northern
hemisphere were convinced that boundless stores of gold existed in the
unclaimed and uninhabited wastes surrounding the south pole. But at present=
I have
something more wonderful to relate.
Let me briefly depict the situation.
For many years silver had been absent from the
coinage of the world. Its increasing abundance rendered it unsuitable for
money, especially when contrasted with gold. The "silver craze,"
which had raged in the closing decade of the nineteenth century, was alread=
y a forgotten
incident of financial history. The gold standard had become universal, and
business all over the earth had adjusted itself to that condition. The whee=
ls
of industry ran smoothly, and there seemed to be no possibility of any
disturbance or interruption. The common monetary system prevailing in every
land fostered trade and facilitated the exchange of products. Travellers ne=
ver
had to bother their heads about the currency of money; any coin that passed=
in
New York would pass for its face value in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madr=
id,
St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Cairo, Khartoum, Jerusalem, Peking, or Yedd=
o.
It was indeed the "Golden Age," and the world had never been so f=
ree
from financial storms.
Upon this peaceful scene the south polar gold
discoveries burst like an unheralded tempest.
I happened to be in the company of a famous ba=
nk
president when the confirmation of those discoveries suddenly filled the
streets with yelling newsboys. &qu=
ot;Get
me one of those 'extras'!" he said, and an office-boy ran out to obey =
him.
As he perused the sheet his face darkened.
"I'm afraid it's too true," he said,=
at
length. "Yes, there seems to be no getting around it. Gold is going to=
be
as plentiful as iron. If there were not such a flood of it, we might manage,
but when they begin to make trousers buttons out of the same metal that is =
now locked
and guarded in steel vaults, where will be our standard of worth? My dear f=
ellow,"
he continued, impulsively laying his hand on my arm, "I would as willi=
ngly
face the end of the world as this that's coming!"
"You think it so bad, then?" I asked.
"But most people will not agree with you. They will regard it as very =
good
news."
"How can it be good?" he burst out. "What have we got to take the place of gold? Can we go back to the age= of barter? Can we substitute cattle-pens and wheat-bins for the strong boxes of the Treasury? Can commerce exist with no common measure of exchange?"<= o:p>
"It does indeed look serious," I
assented.
"Serious! I tell you, it is the deluge!&q=
uot;
Thereat he clapped on his hat and hurried acro=
ss
the street to the office of another celebrated banker.
His premonitions of disaster turned out to be = but too well grounded. The deposits of gold at the south pole were richer than = the wildest reports had represented them. The shipments of the precious metal t= o America and Europe soon became enormous--so enormous that the metal was no longer precious. The price of gold dropped like a falling stone, with accelerated velocity, and within a year every money centre in the world had been swept = by a panic. Gold was more common than iron. Every government was compelled to demonetize it, for when once gold had fallen into contempt it was less valu= able in the eyes of the public than stamped paper. For once the world had thorou= ghly learned the lesson that too much of a good thing is worse than none of it.<= o:p>
Then somebody found a new use for gold by
inventing a process by which it could be hardened and tempered, assuming a
wonderful toughness and elasticity without losing its non-corrosive propert=
y,
and in this form it rapidly took the place of steel.
In the mean time every effort was made to bols=
ter
up credit. Endless were the attempts to find a substitute for gold. The
chemists sought it in their laboratories and the mineralogists in the mount=
ains
and deserts. Platinum might have served, but it, too, had become a drug in =
the
market through the discovery of immense deposits. Out of the twenty odd
elements which had been rarer and more valuable than gold, such as uranium,
gallium, etc., not one was found to answer the purpose. In short, it was
evident that since both gold and silver had become too abundant to serve any
longer for a money standard, the planet held no metal suitable to take their
place.
The entire monetary system of the world must be
readjusted, but in the readjustment it was certain to fall to pieces. In fa=
ct,
it had already fallen to pieces; the only recourse was to paper money, but
whether this was based upon agriculture or mining or manufacture, it gave v=
arying
standards, not only among the different nations, but in successive years in=
the
same country. Exports and imports practically ceased. Credit was discredite=
d,
commerce perished, and the world, at a bound, seemed to have gone back,
financially and industrially, to the dark ages.
One final effort was made. A great financial
congress was assembled at New York. Representatives of all the nations took
part in it. The ablest financiers of Europe and America united the efforts =
of
their genius and the results of their experience to solve the great problem.
The various governments all solemnly stipulated to abide by the decision of=
the
congress.
But, after spending months in hard but fruitle=
ss
labor, that body was no nearer the end of its undertaking than when it first
assembled. The entire world awaited its decision with bated breath, and yet=
the
decision was not formed.
At this paralyzing crisis a most unexpected ev=
ent
suddenly opened the way.
An attendant entered the room where the perple=
xed
financiers were in session and presented a peculiar-looking card to the
president, Mr. Boon. The president took the card in his hand and instantly =
fell
into a brown study. So complete was his absorption that Herr Finster, the
celebrated Berlin banker, who had been addressing the chair for the last two
hours from the opposite end of the long table, got confused, entirely lost
track of his verb, and suddenly dropped into his seat, very red in the face=
and
wearing a most injured expression.
But President Boon paid no attention except to=
the
singular card, which he continued to turn over and over, balancing it on his
fingers and holding it now at arm's-length and then near his nose, with one=
eye
squinted as if he were trying to look through a hole in the card.
At length this odd conduct of the presiding
officer drew all eyes upon the card, and then everybody shared the interest=
of
Mr. Boon. In shape and size the card was not extraordinary, but it was comp=
osed
of metal. What metal? That question had immediately arisen in Mr. Boon's mi=
nd
when the card came into his hand, and now it exercised the wits of all the
others. Plainly it was not tin, brass, copper, bronze, silver,
aluminum--although its lightness might have suggested that metal--nor even =
base
gold.
The president, although a skilled metallurgist,
confessed his inability to say what it was. So intent had he become in
examining the curious bit of metal that he forgot it was a visitor's card o=
f introduction,
and did not even look for the name which it presumably bore.
As he held the card up to get a better light u=
pon
it a stray sunbeam from the window fell across the metal and instantly it
bloomed with exquisite colors! The
president's chair being in the darker end of the room, the radiant card
suffused the atmosphere about him with a faint rose tint, playing with
surprising liveliness into alternate canary color and violet.
The effect upon the company of clear-headed
financiers was extremely remarkable. The unknown metal appeared to exercise=
a
kind of mesmeric influence, its soft hues blending together in a chromatic
harmony which captivated the sense of vision as the ears are charmed by a p=
erfectly
rendered song. Gradually all gathered in an eager group around the presiden=
t's
chair.
"What can it be?" was repeated from =
lip
to lip.
"Did you ever see anything like it?"
asked Mr. Boon for the twentieth time.
None of them had ever seen the like of it. A s=
pell
fell upon the assemblage. For five minutes no one spoke, while Mr. Boon
continued to chase the flickering sunbeam with the wonderful card. Suddenly=
the
silence was broken by a voice which had a touch of awe in it:
"It must be the metal!"
The speaker was an English financier, First Lo=
rd
of the Treasury, Hon. James Hampton-Jones, K.C.B. Immediately everybody ech=
oed
his remark, and the strain being thus relieved, the spell dropped from them=
and
several laughed loudly over their momentary aberration.
President Boon recollected himself, and, color=
ing
slightly, placed the card flat on the table, in order more clearly to see t=
he
name. In plain red letters it stood forth with such surprising distinctness=
that
Mr. Boon wondered why he had so long overlooked it.
&quo=
t;DR.
MAX SYX."
"Tell the gentleman to come in," said
the president, and thereupon the attendant threw open the door.
The owner of the mysterious card fixed every e=
ye
as he entered. He was several inches more than six feet in height. His
complexion was very dark, his eyes were intensely black, bright, and deep-s=
et,
his eyebrows were bushy and up-curled at the ends, his sable hair was close=
-trimmed,
and his ears were narrow, pointed at the top, and prominent. He wore black
mustaches, covering only half the width of his lip and drawn into projecting
needles on each side, while a spiked black beard adorned the middle of his
chin.
He smiled as he stepped confidently forward, w=
ith
a courtly bow, but it was a very disconcerting smile, because it more than =
half
resembled a sneer. This uncommon person did not wait to be addressed.
"I have come to solve your problem,"=
he
said, facing President Boon, who had swung round on his pivoted chair.
"The metal!" exclaimed everybody in a
breath, and with a unanimity and excitement which would have astonished the=
m if
they had been spectators instead of actors of the scene. The tall stranger
bowed and smiled again:
"Just so," he said. "What do you
think of it?"
"It is beautiful!"
Again the reply came from every mouth simultan=
eously,
and again if the speakers could have been listeners they would have wondered
not only at their earnestness, but at their words, for why should they inst=
antly
and unanimously pronounce that beautiful which they had not even seen? But
every man knew he had seen it, for instinctively their minds reverted to the
card and recognized in it the metal referred to. The mesmeric spell seemed =
once
more to fall upon the assemblage, for the financiers noticed nothing remark=
able
in the next act of the stranger, which was to take a chair, uninvited, at t=
he
table, and the moment he sat down he became the presiding officer as natura=
lly
as if he had just been elected to that post. They all waited for him to spe=
ak,
and when he opened his mouth they listened with breathless attention.
His words were of the best English, but there =
was
some peculiarity, which they had already noticed, either in his voice or his
manner of enunciation, which struck all of the listeners as denoting a fore=
igner.
But none of them could satisfactorily place him. Neither the Americans, the
Englishmen, the Germans, the Frenchmen, the Russians, the Austrians, the
Italians, the Spaniards, the Turks, the Japanese, or the Chinese at the boa=
rd
could decide to what race or nationality the stranger belonged.
"This metal," he began, taking the c=
ard
from Mr. Boon's hand, "I have discovered and named. I call it
'artemisium.' I can produce it, in the pure form, abundantly enough to repl=
ace
gold, giving it the same relative value that gold possessed when it was the
universal standard."
As Dr. Syx spoke he snapped the card with his
thumb-nail and it fluttered with quivering hues like a humming-bird hovering
over a flower. He seemed to await a reply, and President Boon asked:
"What guarantee can you give that the sup=
ply
would be adequate and continuous?"
"I will conduct a committee of this congr=
ess
to my mine in the Rocky Mountains, where, in anticipation of the event, I h=
ave
accumulated enough refined artemisium to provide every civilized land with =
an amount
of coin equivalent to that which it formerly held in gold. I can there sati=
sfy
you of my ability to maintain the production."
"But how do we know that this metal of yo=
urs
will answer the purpose?"
"Try it," was the laconic reply.
"There is another difficulty," pursu=
ed
the president. "People will not accept a new metal in place of gold un=
less
they are convinced that it possesses equal intrinsic value. They must first
become familiar with it, and it must be abundant enough and desirable enoug=
h to
be used sparingly in the arts, just as gold was."
"I have provided for all that," said=
the
stranger, with one of his disconcerting smiles. "I assure you that the=
re
will be no trouble with the people. They will be only too eager to get and =
to
use the metal. Let me show you."
He stepped to the door and immediately returned
with two black attendants bearing a large tray filled with articles shaped =
from
the same metal as that of which the card was composed. The financiers all j=
umped
to their feet with exclamations of surprise and admiration, and gathered ar=
ound
the tray, whose dazzling contents lighted up the corner of the room where it
had been placed as if the moon were shining there.
There were elegantly formed vases, adorned with
artistic figures, embossed and incised, and glowing with delicate colors wh=
ich
shimmered in tiny waves with the slightest motion of the tray. Cups, pins, =
finger-rings,
earrings, watch-chains, combs, studs, lockets, medals, tableware, models of
coins--in brief, almost every article in the fabrication of which precious
metals have been employed was to be seen there in profusion, and all compos=
ed
of the strange new metal which everybody on the spot declared was far more
splendid than gold.
"Do you think it will answer?" asked=
Dr.
Syx.
"We do," was the unanimous reply.
All then resumed their seats at the table, the
tray with its magnificent array having been placed in the centre of the boa=
rd.
This display had a remarkable influence. Confidence awoke in the breasts of=
the
financiers. The dark clouds that had oppressed them rolled off, and the
prospect grew decidedly brighter.
"What terms do you demand?" at length
asked Mr. Boon, cheerfully rubbing his hands.
"I must have military protection for my m=
ine
and reducing works," replied Dr. Syx. "Then I shall ask the retur=
n of
one per cent, on the circulating medium, together with the privilege of
disposing of a certain amount of the metal--to be limited by agreement--to =
the
public for use in the arts. Of the proceeds of this sale I will pay ten per=
cent.
to the government in consideration of its protection."
"But," exclaimed President Boon,
"that will make you the richest man who ever lived!"
"Undoubtedly," was the reply.
"Why," added Mr. Boon, opening his e=
yes
wider as the facts continued to dawn upon him, "you will become the
financial dictator of the whole earth!"
"Undoubtedly," again responded Dr. S=
yx,
unmoved. "That is what I purpose to become. My discovery entitles me t=
o no
less. But, remember, I place myself under government inspection and
restriction. I should not be allowed to flood the market, even if I were
disposed to do so. But my own interest would restrain me. It is to my advan=
tage
that artemisium, once adopted, shall remain stable in value."
A shadow of doubt suddenly crossed the preside=
nt's
face.
"Suppose your secret is discovered,"=
he
said. "Surely your mine will not remain the only one. If you, in so sh=
ort
a time, have been able to accumulate an immense quantity of the new metal, =
it
must be extremely abundant. Others will discover it, and then where shall we
be?"
While Mr. Boon uttered these words, those who =
were
watching Dr. Syx (as the president was not) resembled persons whose startled
eyes are fixed upon a wild beast preparing to spring. As Mr. Boon ceased sp=
eaking
he turned towards the visitor, and instantly his lips fell apart and his fa=
ce
paled.
Dr. Syx had drawn himself up to his full statu=
re,
and his features were distorted with that peculiar mocking smile which had =
now
returned with a concentrated expression of mingled self-confidence and disd=
ain.
"Will you have relief, or not?" he a=
sked
in a dry, hard voice. "What can you do? I alone possess the secret whi=
ch
can restore industry and commerce. If you reject my offer, do you think a
second one will come?"
President Boon found voice to reply, stammerin=
gly:
"I did not mean to suggest a rejection of=
the
offer. I only wished to inquire if you thought it probable that there would=
be
no repetition of what occurred after gold was found at the south pole?"=
;
"The earth may be full of my metal,"
returned Dr. Syx, almost fiercely, "but so long as I alone possess the
knowledge how to extract it, is it of any more worth than common dirt? But
come," he added, after a pause and softening his manner, "I have
other schemes. Will you, as representatives of the leading nations, underta=
ke
the introduction of artemisium as a substitute for gold, or will you not?&q=
uot;
"Can we not have time for deliberation?&q=
uot;
asked President Boon.
"Yes, one hour. Within that time I shall
return to learn your decision," replied Dr. Syx, rising and preparing =
to
depart. "I leave these things," pointing to the tray, "in yo=
ur
keeping, and," significantly, "I trust your decision will be a wi=
se
one."
His curious smile again curved his lips and sh=
ot
the ends of his mustache upward, and the influence of that smile remained in
the room when he had closed the door behind him. The financiers gazed at on=
e another
for several minutes in silence, then they turned towards the coruscating me=
tal
that filled the tray.
Away on the western border of Wyoming, in the =
all
but inaccessible heart of the Rocky Mountains, three mighty brothers, "=
;The
Big Tetons," look perpendicularly into the blue eye of Jenny's Lake, l=
ying
at the bottom of the profound depression among the mountains called Jackson=
's Hole. Bracing against one another for support,
these remarkable peaks lift their granite spires from 12,000 to nearly 14,0=
00
feet into the blue dome that arches the crest of the continent. Their sides,
and especially those of their chief, the Grand Teton, are streaked with gla=
ciers,
which shine like silver trappings when the morning sun comes up above the
wilderness of mountains stretching away eastward from the hole.
When the first white men penetrated this wonde=
rful
region, and one of them bestowed his wife's name upon Jenny's Lake, they we=
re
intimidated by the Grand Teton. It made their flesh creep, accustomed though
they were to rough scrambling among mountain gorges and on the brows of imm=
ense
precipices, when they glanced up the face of the peak, where the cliffs fal=
l,
one below another, in a series of breathless descents, and imagined themsel=
ves
clinging for dear life to those skyey battlements.
But when, in 1872, Messrs. Stevenson and Langf=
ord
finally reached the top of the Grand Teton--the only successful members of a
party of nine practised climbers who had started together from the bottom--=
they
found there a little rectangular enclosure, made by piling up rocks, six or
seven feet across and three feet in height, bearing evidences of great age,=
and
indicating that the red Indians had, for some unknown purpose, resorted to =
the
summit of this tremendous peak long before the white men invaded their
mountains. Yet neither the Indians nor the whites ever really conquered the
Teton, for above the highest point that they attained rises a granite buttr=
ess,
whose smooth vertical sides seemed to them to defy everything but wings.
Winding across the sage-covered floor of Jacks=
on's
Hole runs the Shoshone, or Snake River, which takes its rise from Jackson's
Lake at the northern end of the basin, and then, as if shrinking from the t=
hreatening
brows of the Tetons, whose fall would block its progress, makes a detour of=
one
hundred miles around the buttressed heights of the range before it finds a
clear way across Idaho, and so on to the Columbia River and the Pacific Oce=
an.
On a July morning, about a month after the vis=
it
of Dr. Max Syx to the assembled financiers in New York, a party of twenty
horsemen, following a mountain-trail, arrived on the eastern margin of
Jackson's Hole, and pausing upon a commanding eminence, with exclamations o=
f wonder,
glanced across the great depression, where lay the shining coils of the Sna=
ke
River, at the towering forms of the Tetons, whose ice-striped cliffs flashed
lightnings in the sunshine. Even the impassive broncos that the party rode
lifted their heads inquiringly, and snorted as if in equine astonishment at=
the
magnificent spectacle.
One familiar with the place would have noticed=
something,
which, to his mind, would have seemed more surprising than the pageantry of=
the
mountains in their morning sun-bath. Curling above one of the wild gorges t=
hat
cut the lower slopes of the Tetons was a thick black smoke, which, when lif=
ted
by a passing breeze, obscured the precipices half-way to the summit of the
peak.
Had the Grand Teton become a volcano? Certainl=
y no
hunting or exploring party could make a smoke like that. But a word from th=
e leader
of the party of horsemen explained the mystery.
"There is my mill, and the mine is undern=
eath
it."
The speaker was Dr. Syx, and his companions we=
re
members of the financial congress. When he quitted their presence in New Yo=
rk,
with the promise to return within an hour for their reply, he had no doubt =
in
his own mind what that reply would be. He knew they would accept his
proposition, and they did. No time was then lost in communicating with the
various governments, and arrangements were quickly perfected whereby, in ca=
se
the inspection of Dr. Syx's mine and its resources proved satisfactory, Ame=
rica
and Europe should unite in adopting the new metal as the basis of their
coinage. As soon as this stage in the negotiations was reached, it only
remained to send a committee of financiers and metallurgists, in company wi=
th
Dr. Syx, to the Rocky Mountains. They started under the doctor's guidance,
completing the last stage of their journey on horseback.
"An inspection of the records at
Washington," Dr. Syx continued, addressing the horsemen, "will sh=
ow
that I have filed a claim covering ten acres of ground around the mouth of =
my
mine. This was done as soon as I had discovered the metal. The filing of the
claim and the subsequent proceedings which perfected my ownership attracted=
no attention,
because everybody was thinking of the south pole and its gold-fields."=
The party gathered closer around Dr. Syx and
listened to his words with silent attention, while their horses rubbed noses
and jingled their gold-mounted trappings.
"As soon as I had legally protected mysel=
f,"
he continued, "I employed a force of men, transported my machinery and
material across the mountains, erected my furnaces, and opened the mine. I =
was
safe from intrusion, and even from idle curiosity, for the reason I have ju=
st mentioned.
In fact, so exclusive was the attraction of the new gold-fields that I had
difficulty in obtaining workmen, and finally I sent to Africa and engaged
negroes, whom I placed in charge of trustworthy foremen. Accordingly, with =
half
a dozen exceptions, you will see only black men at the mine."
"And with their aid you have mined enough
metal to supply the mints of the world?" asked President Boon.
"Exactly so," was the reply. "B=
ut I
no longer employ the large force which I needed at first."
"How much metal have you on hand? I am aw=
are
that you have already answered this question during our preliminary
negotiations, but I ask it again for the benefit of some members of our par=
ty
who were not present then."
"I shall show you to-day," said Dr. =
Syx,
with his curious smile, "2500 tons of refined artemisium, stacked in
rock-cut vaults under the Grand Teton."
"And you have dared to collect such
inconceivable wealth in one place?"
"You forget that it is not wealth until t=
he
people have learned to value it, and the governments have put their stamp u=
pon
it."
"True, but how did you arrive at the prop=
er
moment?"
"Easily. I first ascertained that before =
the
Antarctic discoveries the world contained altogether about 16,000 tons of g=
old,
valued at
450,000 per ton, or
7,200,000,000 worth all told. Now my metal wei=
ghs,
bulk for bulk, one-quarter as much as gold. It might be reckoned at the same
intrinsic value per ton, but I have considered it preferable to take advant=
age
of the smaller weight of the new metal, which permits us to make coins of t=
he
same size as the old ones, but only one-quarter as heavy, by giving to
artemisium four times the value per ton that gold had. Thus only 4000 tons =
of
the new metal are required to supply the place of the 16,000 tons of gold. =
The
2500 tons which I already have on hand are more than enough for coinage. Th=
e rest
I can supply as fast as needed."
The party did not wait for further explanation=
s.
They were eager to see the wonderful mine and the store of treasure. Spurs =
were
applied, and they galloped down the steep trail, forded the Snake River, an=
d, skirting
the shore of Jenny's Lake, soon found themselves gazing up the headlong slo=
pes
and dizzy parapets of the Grand Teton. Dr. Syx led them by a steep ascent to
the mouth of the canyon, above one of whose walls stood his mill, and where=
the
"Champ! Champ!" of a powerful engine saluted their ears.
An electric light shot its penetrating rays in=
to a
gallery cut through virgin rock and running straight towards the heart of t=
he
Teton. The centre of the gallery was occupied by a narrow railway, on which=
a
few flat cars, propelled by electric power, passed to and fro. Black-skinned
and silent workmen rode on the cars, both when they came laden with broken
masses of rock from the farther end of the tunnel and when they returned em=
pty.
Suddenly, to an eye situated a little way with=
in
the gallery, appeared at the entrance the dark face of Dr. Syx, wearing its
most discomposing smile, and a moment later the broader countenance of Pres=
ident
Boon loomed in the electric glare beside the doctor's black framework of
eyebrows and mustache. Behind them were grouped the other visiting financie=
rs.
"This tunnel," said Dr. Syx, "l=
eads
to the mine head, where the ore-bearing rock is blasted."
As he spoke a hollow roar issued from the dept=
hs
of the mountain, followed in a short time by a gust of foul air.
"You probably will not care to go in
there," said the doctor, "and, in fact, it is very uncomfortable.=
But
we shall follow the next car-load to the smelter, and you can witness the
reduction of the ore."
Accordingly when another car came rumbling out=
of
the tunnel, with its load of cracked rock, they all accompanied it into an
adjoining apartment, where it was cast into a metallic shute, through which=
, they
were informed, it reached the furnace.
"While it is melting," explained Dr.
Syx, "certain elements, the nature of which I must beg to keep secret,=
are
mixed with the ore, causing chemical action which results in the extraction=
of
the metal. Now let me show you pure artemisium issuing from the furnace.&qu=
ot;
He led the visitors through two apartments int=
o a
third, one side of which was walled by the front of a furnace. From this
projected two or three small spouts, and iridescent streams of molten metal
fell from the spouts into earthen receptacles from which the blazing liquid=
was
led, like flowing iron, into a system of molds, where it was allowed to cool
and harden.
The financiers looked on wondering, and their
astonishment grew when they were conducted into the rock-cut store-rooms
beneath, where they saw metallic ingots glowing like gigantic opals in the
light which Dr. Syx turned on. They were piled in rows along the walls as h=
igh
as a man could reach. A very brief inspection sufficed to convince the visi=
tors
that Dr. Syx was able to perform all that he promised. Although they had not
penetrated the secret of his process of reducing the ore, yet they had seen=
the
metal flowing from the furnace, and the piles of ingots proved conclusively
that he had uttered no vain boast when he said he could give the world a new
coinage.
But President Boon, being himself a metallurgi=
st,
desired to inspect the mysterious ore a little more closely. Possibly he was
thinking that if another mine was destined to be discovered he might as wel=
l be
the discoverer as anybody. Dr. Syx attempted no concealment, but his smile
became more than usually scornful as he stopped a laden car and invited the
visitors to help themselves.
"I think," he said, "that I hav=
e struck
the only lode of this ore in the Teton, or possibly in this part of the wor=
ld,
but I don't know for certain. There may be plenty of it only waiting to be
found. That, however, doesn't trouble me. The great point is that nobody ex=
cept
myself knows how to extract the metal."
Mr. Boon closely examined the chunk of rock wh=
ich
he had taken from the car. Then he pulled a lens from his pocket, with a
deprecatory glance at Dr. Syx.
"Oh, that's all right," said the lat=
ter,
with a laugh, the first that these gentlemen had ever heard from his lips, =
and
it almost made them shudder; "put it to every test, examine it with the
microscope, with fire, with electricity, with the spectroscope--in every way
you can think of! I assure you it is worth your while!"
Again Dr. Syx uttered his freezing laugh, pass=
ing
into the familiar smile, which had now become an undisguised mock.
"Upon my word," said Mr. Boon, taking
his eye from the lens, "I see no sign of any metal here!"
"Look at the green specks!" cried the
doctor, snatching the specimen from the president's hand. "That's it!
That's artemisium! But it's of no use unless you can get it out and purify =
it,
which is my secret!"
For the third time Dr. Syx laughed, and his
merriment affected the visitors so disagreeably that they showed impatience=
to
be gone. Immediately he changed his manner.
"Come into my office," he said, with=
a
return to the graciousness which had characterized him ever since the party
started from New York.
When they were all seated, and the doctor had
handed round a box of cigars, he resumed the conversation in his most amiab=
le
manner.
"You see, gentlemen," he said, turni=
ng a
piece of ore in his fingers, "artemisium is like aluminum. It can only=
be
obtained in the metallic form by a special process. While these greenish
particles, which you may perhaps mistake for chrysolite, or some similar
unisilicate, really contain the precious metal, they are not entirely compo=
sed
of it. The process by which I separate out the metallic element while the o=
re
is passing through the furnace is, in truth, quite simple, and its very
simplicity guards my secret. Make your minds easy as to over-production. A =
man
is as likely to jump over the moon as to find me out."
"But," he continued, again changing =
his
manner, "we have had business enough for one day; now for a little
recreation." While speaking the doctor pressed a button on his desk, a=
nd
the room, which was illuminated by electric lamps--for there were no window=
s in
the building--suddenly became dark, except part of one wall, where a broad =
area
of light appeared. Dr. Syx's voice had become very soothing when next he sp=
oke:
"I am fond of amusing myself with a peculiar form of the magic-lantern,
which I invented some years ago, and which I have never exhibited except for
the entertainment of my friends. The pictures will appear upon the wall, the
apparatus being concealed."
He had hardly ceased speaking when the illumin=
ated
space seemed to melt away, leaving a great opening, through which the
spectators looked as if into another world on the opposite side of the wall.
For a minute or two they could not clearly discern what was presented; then,
gradually, the flitting scenes and figures became more distinct until the
lifelikeness of the spectacle absorbed their whole attention.
Before them passed, in panoramic review, a sun=
ny
land, filled with brilliant-hued vegetation, and dotted with villages and
cities which were bright with light-colored buildings. People appeared movi=
ng through
the scenes, as in a cinematograph exhibition, but with infinitely more
semblance of reality. In fact, the pictures, blending one into another, see=
med
to be life itself. Yet it was not an earth-like scene. The colors of the
passing landscape were such as no man in the room had ever beheld; and the
people, tall, round-limbed, with florid complexion, golden hair, and brilli=
ant
eyes and lips, were indescribably beautiful and graceful in all their
movements.
From the land the view passed out to sea, and
bright blue waves, edged with creaming foam, ran swiftly under the spectato=
r's
eyes, and occasionally, driven before light winds, appeared fleets of daint=
ily shaped
vessels, which reminded the beholder, by their flashing wings, of the feign=
ed
"ship of pearl."
After the fairy ships and breezy sea views cam=
e a
long, curving line of coast, brilliant with coral sands, and indented by
frequent bays, along whose enchanting shores lay pleasant towns, the landsc=
apes
behind them splendid with groves, meadows, and streams.
Presently the shifting photographic tape, or
whatever the mechanism may have been, appeared to have settled upon a chosen
scene, and there it rested. A broad champaign reached away to distant sapph=
ire mountains,
while the foreground was occupied by a magnificent house, resembling a larg=
e country
villa, fronted with a garden, shaded by bowers and festoons of huge, brilli=
ant
flowers. Birds of radiant plumage flitted among the trees and blossoms, and
then appeared a company of gayly attired people, including many young girls,
who joined hands and danced in a ring, apparently with shouts of laughter, =
while
a group of musicians standing near thrummed and blew upon curiously shaped
instruments.
Suddenly the shadow of a dense cloud flitted
across the scene; whereupon the brilliant birds flew away with screams of
terror which almost seemed to reach the ears of the onlookers through the w=
all.
An expression of horror came over the faces of the people. The children bro=
ke
from their merry circle and ran for protection to their elders. The utmost
confusing and whelming terror were evidenced for a moment--then the ground
split asunder, and the house and the garden, with all their living occupants
were swallowed by an awful chasm which opened just where they had stood. The
great rent ran in a widening line across the sunlit landscape until it reac=
hed
the horizon, when the distant mountains crumbled, clouds poured in from all
sides at once, and billows of flame burst through them as they veiled the s=
cene.
But in another instant the commotion was over,=
and
the world whose curious spectacles had been enacted as if on the other side=
of
a window, seemed to retreat swiftly into space, until at last, emerging fro=
m a
fleecy cloud, it reappeared in the form of the full moon hanging in the sky,
but larger than is its wont, with its dry ocean-beds, its keen-spired peaks,
its ragged mountain ranges, its gaping chasms, its immense crater rings, and
Tycho, the chief of them all, shooting raylike streaks across the scarred f=
ace
of the abandoned lunar globe. The =
show
was ended, and Dr. Syx, turning on only a partial illumination in the room,
rose slowly to his feet, his tall form appearing strangely magnified in the
gloom, and invited his bewildered guests to accompany him to his house, out=
side
the mill, where he said dinner awaited them. As they emerged into daylight =
they
acted like persons just aroused from an opiate dream.
Within a twelvemonth after the visit of Presid=
ent
Boon and his fellow financiers to the mine in the Grand Teton a railway had
been constructed from Jackson's Hole, connecting with one of the Pacific li=
nes,
and the distribution of the new metal was begun. All of Dr. Syx's terms had
been accepted. United States troops occupied a permanent encampment on the
upper waters of the Snake River, to afford protection, and as the consignme=
nts
of precious ingots were hurried east and west on guarded trains, the mints =
all
over the world resumed their activity. Once more a common monetary standard
prevailed, and commerce revived as if touched by a magic wand.
Artemisium quickly won its way in popular favo=
r.
Its matchless beauty alone was enough. Not only was it gladly accepted in t=
he
form of money, but its success was instantaneous in the arts. Dr. Syx and t=
he inspectors
representing the various nations found it difficult to limit the output to =
the
agreed upon amount. The demand was incessant.
Goldsmiths and jewellers continually discovered
new excellences in the wonderful metal. Its properties of translucence and
refraction enabled skilful artists to perform marvels. By suitable manageme=
nt a
chain of artemisium could be made to resemble a string of vari-colored gems=
, each
separate link having a tint of its own, while, as the wearer moved, delicate
complementary colors chased one another, in rapid undulation, from end to e=
nd.
A fresh charm was added by the new metal to the
personal adornment of women, and an enhanced splendor to the pageants of
society. Gold in its palmiest days had never enjoyed such a vogue. A crowded
reception room or a dinner party where artemisium abounded possessed an ind=
escribable
atmosphere of luxury and richness, refined in quality, yet captivating to e=
very
sense. Imaginative persons went so far as to aver that the sight and presen=
ce
of the metal exercised a strangely soothing and dreamy power over the mind,
like the influence of moonlight streaming through the tree-tops on a still,
balmy night.
The public curiosity in regard to the origin of
artemisium was boundless. The various nations published official bulletins =
in
which the general facts--omitting, of course, such incidents as the singula=
r exhibition
seen by the visiting financiers on the wall of Dr. Syx's office--were detai=
led
to gratify the universal desire for information.
President Boon not only submitted the specimen=
s of
ore-bearing rock which he had brought from the mine to careful analysis, but
also appealed to several of the greatest living chemists and mineralogists =
to
aid him; but they were all equally mystified. The green substance contained=
in
the ore, although differing slightly from ordinary chrysolite, answered all=
the
known tests of that mineral. It was remembered, however, that Dr. Syx had s=
aid
that they would be likely to mistake the substance for chrysolite, and the
result of their experiments justified his prediction. Evidently the doctor =
had
gone a stone's-cast beyond the chemistry of the day, and, just as evidently=
, he
did not mean to reveal his discovery for the benefit of science, nor for the
benefit of any pockets except his own.
Notwithstanding the failure of the chemists to
extract anything from Dr. Syx's ore, the public at large never doubted that=
the
secret would be discovered in good time, and thousands of prospectors flock=
ed
to the Teton Mountains in search of the ore. And without much difficulty th=
ey
found it. Evidently the doctor had been mistaken in thinking that his mine
might be the only one. The new miners hurried specimens of the green-speckl=
ed
rock to the chemical laboratories for experimentation, and meanwhile began =
to
lay up stores of the ore in anticipation of the time when the proper way to
extract the metal should be discovered.
But, alas! that time did not come. The fresh o=
re
proved to be as refractory as that which had been obtained from Dr. Syx. Bu=
t in
the midst of the universal disappointment there came a new sensation.
One morning the newspapers glared with a despa=
tch
from Grand Teton station announcing that the metal itself had been discover=
ed
by prospectors on the eastern slope of the main peak.
"It outcrops in many places," ran the
despatch, "and many small nuggets have been picked out of crevices in =
the
rocks."
The excitement produced by this news was even
greater than when gold was discovered at the south pole. Again a mad rush w=
as
made for the Tetons. The heights around Jackson's Hole and the shores of
Jackson's and Jenny's lakes were quickly dotted with camps, and the militar=
y force
had to be doubled to keep off the curious, and occasionally menacing, crowds
which gathered in the vicinity and seemed bent on unearthing the great secr=
et
locked behind the windowless walls of the mill, where the column of black s=
moke
and the roar of the engine served as reminders of the incredible wealth whi=
ch
the sole possessor of that secret was rolling up.
This time no mistake had been made. It was a f=
act
that the metal, in virgin purity, had been discovered scattered in various
places on the ledges of the Grand Teton. In a little while thousands had
obtained specimens with their own hands. The quantity was distressingly sma=
ll, considering
the number and the eagerness of the seekers, but that it was genuine artemi=
sium
not even Dr. Syx could have denied. He, however, made no attempt to deny it=
.
"Yes," he said, when questioned, &qu=
ot;I
find that I have been deceived. At first I thought the metal existed only in
the form of the green ore, but of late I have come upon veins of pure
artemisium in my mine. I am glad for your sakes, but sorry for my own. Stil=
l,
it may turn out that there is no great amount of free artemisium after
all."
While the doctor talked in this manner close
observers detected a lurking sneer which his acquaintances had not noticed
since artemisium was first adopted as the money basis of the world.
The crowd that swarmed upon the mountain quick=
ly
exhausted all of the visible supply of the metal. Sometimes they found it i=
n a
thin stratum at the bottom of crevices, where it could be detached in
opalescent plates and leaves of the thickness of paper. These superficial d=
eposits
evidently might have been formed from water holding the metal in solution.
Occasionally, deep cracks contained nuggets and wiry masses which looked as=
if
they had run together when molten.
The most promising spots were soon staked out =
in
miners' claims, machinery was procured, stock companies were formed, and
borings were begun. The enthusiasm arising from the earlier finds and the f=
lattering
surface indications caused everybody to work with feverish haste and energy,
and within two months one hundred tunnels were piercing the mountain.
For a long time nobody was willing to admit the
truth which gradually forced itself upon the attention of the miners. The
deeper they went the scarcer became the indications of artemisium! In fact,
such deposits as were found were confined to fissures near the surface. But=
Dr.
Syx continued to report a surprising increase in the amount of free metal in
his mine, and this encouraged all who had not exhausted their capital to pu=
sh
on their tunnels in the hope of finally striking a vein. At length, however,
the smaller operators gave up in despair, until only one heavily capitalized
company remained at work.
"It is my belief that Dr. Max Syx is a
deceiver."
The person who uttered this opinion was a young
engineer, Andrew Hall, who had charge of the operations of one of the mining
companies which were driving tunnels into the Grand Teton.
"What do you mean by that?" asked
President Boon, who was the principal backer of the enterprise.
"I mean," replied Hall, "that t=
here
is no free metal in this mountain, and Dr. Syx knows there is none."
"But he is getting it himself from his
mine," retorted President Boon.
"So he says, but who has seen it? No one =
is
admitted into the Syx mine, his foremen are forbidden to talk, and his work=
men
are specially imported negroes who do not understand the English
language."
"But," persisted Mr. Boon, "how,
then, do you account for the nuggets scattered over the mountain? And, besi=
de,
what object could Dr. Syx have in pretending that there is free metal to be=
had
for the digging?"
"He may have salted the mountain, for all=
I
know," said Hall. "As for his object, I confess I am entirely in =
the
dark; but, for all that, I am convinced that we shall find no more metal if=
we
dig ten miles for it."
"Nonsense," said the president; &quo=
t;if
we keep on we shall strike it. Did not Dr. Syx himself admit that he found =
no
free artemisium until his tunnel had reached the core of the peak? We must =
go
as deep as he has gone before we give up."
"I fear the depths he attains are beyond =
most
people's reach," was Hall's answer, while a thoughtful look crossed his
clear-cut brow, "but since you desire it, of course the work shall go =
on.
I should like, however, to change the direction of the tunnel."
"Certainly," replied Mr. Boon;
"bore in whatever direction you think proper, only don't despair."=
;
About a month after this conversation Andrew H=
all,
with whom a community of tastes in many things had made me intimately
acquainted, asked me one morning to accompany him into his tunnel.
"I want to have a trusty friend at my
elbow," he said, "for, unless I am a dreamer, something remarkable
will happen within the next hour, and two witnesses are better than one.&qu=
ot;
I knew Hall was not the person to make such a
remark carelessly, and my curiosity was intensely excited, but, knowing his
peculiarities, I did not press him for an explanation. When we arrived at t=
he
head of the tunnel I was surprised at finding no workmen there.
"I stopped blasting some time ago," =
said
Hall, in explanation, "for a reason which, I hope, will become evident=
to
you very soon. Lately I have been boring very slowly, and yesterday I paid =
off
the men and dismissed them with the announcement, which, I am confident,
President Boon will sanction after he hears my report of this morning's wor=
k, that
the tunnel is abandoned. You see, I am now using a drill which I can manage
without assistance. I believe the work is almost completed, and I want you =
to
witness the end of it."
He then carefully applied the drill, which
noiselessly screwed its nose into the rock. When it had sunk to a depth of a
few inches he withdrew it, and, taking a hand-drill capable of making a hole
not more than an eighth of an inch in diameter, cautiously began boring in =
the
centre of the larger cavity. He had made hardly a hundred turns of the hand=
le
when the drill shot through the rock! A gratified smile illuminated his
features, and he said in a suppressed voice:
"Don't be alarmed; I'm going to put out t=
he
light."
Instantly we were in complete darkness, but be= ing close at Hall's side I could detect his movements. He pulled out the drill,= and for half a minute remained motionless as if listening. There was no sound.<= o:p>
"I must enlarge the opening," he
whispered, and immediately the faint grating of a sharp tool cutting through
the rock informed me of his progress.
"There," at last he said, "I th=
ink
that will do; now for a look."
I could tell that he had placed his eye at the
hole and was gazing with breathless attention. Presently he pulled my sleev=
e.
"Put your eye here," he whispered,
pushing me into the proper position for looking through the hole.
At first I could discern nothing except a smoky
blue glow. But soon my vision cleared a little, and then I perceived that I=
was
gazing into a narrow tunnel which met ours directly end to end. Glancing al=
ong
the axis of this gallery I saw, some two hundred yards away, a faint light =
which
evidently indicated the mouth of the tunnel.
At the end where we had met it the mysterious
tunnel was considerably widened at one side, as if the excavators had start=
ed
to change direction and then abandoned the work, and in this elbow I could =
just
see the outlines of two or three flat cars loaded with broken stone, while a
heap of the same material lay near them. Through the centre of the tunnel r=
an a
railway track.
"Do you know what you are looking at?&quo=
t;
asked Hall in my ear.
"I begin to suspect," I replied,
"that you have accidentally run into Dr. Syx's mine."
"If Dr. Syx had been on his guard this
accident wouldn't have happened," replied Hall, with an almost inaudib=
le
chuckle.
"I heard you remark a month ago," I
said, "that you were changing the direction of your tunnel. Has this b=
een
the aim of your labors ever since?"
"You have hit it," he replied.
"Long ago I became convinced that my company was throwing away its mon=
ey
in a vain attempt to strike a lode of pure artemisium. But President Boon h=
as
great faith in Dr. Syx, and would not give up the work. So I adopted what I
regarded as the only practicable method of proving the truth of my opinion =
and
saving the company's funds. An electric indicator, of my invention, enabled=
me
to locate the Syx tunnel when I got near it, and I have met it end on, and
opened this peep-hole in order to observe the doctor's operations. I feel t=
hat
such spying is entirely justified in the circumstances. Although I cannot y=
et
explain just how or why I feel sure that Dr. Syx was the cause of the sudden
discovery of the surface nuggets, and that he has encouraged the miners for=
his
own ends, until he has brought ruin to thousands who have spent their last =
cent
in driving useless tunnels into this mountain. It is a righteous thing to e=
xpose
him."
"But," I interposed, "I do not =
see
that you have exposed anything yet except the interior of a tunnel."
"You will see more clearly after a
while," was the reply.
Hall now placed his eye again at the aperture,=
and
was unable entirely to repress the exclamation that rose to his lips. He
remained staring through the hole for several minutes without uttering a wo=
rd.
Presently I noticed that the lenses of his eye were illuminated by a ray of
light coming through the hole, but he did not stir.
After a long inspection he suddenly applied his
ear to the hole and listened intently for at least five minutes. Not a sound
was audible to me, but, by an occasional pressure of the hand, Hall signifi=
ed
that some important disclosure was reaching his sense of hearing. At length=
he
removed his ear.
"Pardon me," he whispered, "for
keeping you so long in waiting, but what I have just seen and overheard was=
of
a nature to admit of no interruption. He is still talking, and by pressing =
your
ear against the hole you may be able to catch what he says."
"Who is 'he'?"
"Look for yourself."
I placed my eye at the aperture, and almost re=
coiled
with the violence of my surprise. The tunnel before me was brilliantly
illuminated, and within three feet of the wall of rock behind which we crou=
ched
stood Dr. Syx, his dark profile looking almost satanic in the sharp contras=
t of
light and shadow. He was talking to one of his foremen, and the two were the
only visible occupants of the tunnel. Putting my ear to the little opening,=
I
heard his words distinctly:
--"end of their rope. Well, they've spent=
a
pretty lot of money for their experience, and I rather think we shall not be
troubled again by artemisium-seekers for some time to come."
The doctor's voice ceased, and instantly I cla=
pped
my eye to the hole. He had changed his position so that his black eyes now
looked straight at the aperture. My heart was in my mouth, for at first I b=
elieved
from his expression that he had detected the gleam of my eyeball. But if so=
, he
probably mistook it for a bit of mica in the rock, and paid no further
attention. Then his lips moved, and I put my ear again to the hole. He seem=
ed
to be replying to a question that the foreman had asked.
"If they do," he said, "they wi=
ll
never guess the real secret."
Thereupon he turned on his heel, kicked a bit =
of
rock off the track, and strode away towards the entrance. The foreman paused
long enough to turn out the electric lamp, and then followed the doctor.
"Well," asked Hall, "what have =
you
heard?"
I told him everything.
"It fully corroborates the evidence of my=
own
eyes and ears," he remarked, "and we may count ourselves extremely
lucky. It is not likely that Dr. Syx will be heard a second time proclaiming
his deception with his own lips. It is plain that he was led to talk as he =
did
to the foreman on account of the latter's having informed him of the sudden
discharge of my men this morning. Their presence within ear-shot of our
hiding-place during their conversation was, of course, pure accident, and so
you can see how kind fortune has been to us. I expected to have to watch and
listen and form deductions for a week, at least, before getting the informa=
tion
which five lucky minutes have placed in our hands."
While he was speaking my companion busied hims=
elf
in carefully plugging up the hole in the rock. When it was closed to his sa=
tisfaction
he turned on the light in our tunnel.
"Did you observe," he asked, "t=
hat
there was a second tunnel?"
"What do you say?"
"When the light was on in there I saw the
mouth of a smaller tunnel entering the main one behind the cars on the righ=
t.
Did you notice it?"
"Oh yes," I replied. "I did obs=
erve
some kind of a dark hole there, but I paid no attention to it because I was=
so
absorbed in the doctor."
"Well," rejoined Hall, smiling, &quo=
t;it
was worth considerably more than a glance. As a subject of thought I find it
even more absorbing than Dr. Syx. Did you see the track in it?"
"No," I had to acknowledge, "I =
did
not notice that. But," I continued, a little piqued by his manner,
"being a branch of the main tunnel, I don't see anything remarkable in=
its
having a track also."
"It was rather dim in that hole," sa=
id
Hall, still smiling in a somewhat provoking way, "but the railroad tra=
ck
was there plain enough. And, whether you think it remarkable or not, I shou=
ld
like to lay you a wager that that track leads to a secret worth a dozen of =
the one
we have just overheard."
"My good friend," I retorted, still
smarting a little, "I shall not presume to match my stupidity against =
your
perspicacity. I haven't cat's eyes in the dark."
Hall immediately broke out laughing, and, slap=
ping
me good-naturedly on the shoulder, exclaimed:
"Come, come now! If you go to kicking bac=
k at
a fellow like that, I shall be sorry I ever undertook this adventure."=
When President Boon had heard our story he
promptly approved Hall's dismissal of the men. He expressed great surprise =
that
Dr. Syx should have resorted to a deception which had been so disastrous to
innocent people, and at first he talked of legal proceedings. But, after th=
inking
the matter over, he concluded that Syx was too powerful to be attacked with
success, especially when the only evidence against him was that he had clai=
med
to find artemisium in his mine at a time when, as everybody knew, artemisium
actually was found outside the mine. There was no apparent motive for the d=
eception,
and no proof of malicious intent. In short, Mr. Boon decided that the best
thing for him and his stockholders to do was to keep silent about their los=
ses and
await events. And, at Hall's suggestion, he also determined to say nothing =
to
anybody about the discovery we had made.
"It could do no good," said Hall, in
making the suggestion, "and it might spoil a plan I have in mind."=
;
"What plan?" asked the president.
"I prefer not to tell just yet," was=
the
reply.
I observed that, in our interview with Mr. Boo=
n,
Hall made no reference to the side tunnel to which he had appeared to attac=
h so
much importance, and I concluded that he now regarded it as lacking signifi=
cance.
In this I was mistaken.
A few days afterwards I received an invitation
from Hall to accompany him once more into the abandoned tunnel.
"I have found out what that sidetrack
means," he said, "and it has plunged me into another mystery so d=
ark
and profound that I cannot see my way through it. I must beg you to say no =
word
to any one concerning the things I am about to show you."
I gave the required promise, and we entered the
tunnel, which nobody had visited since our former adventure. Having
extinguished our lamp, my companion opened the peep-hole, and a thin ray of
light streamed through from the tunnel on the opposite side of the wall. He
applied his eye to the hole.
"Yes," he said, quickly stepping back
and pushing me into his place, "they are still at it. Look, and tell me
what you see."
"I see," I replied, after placing my=
eye
at the aperture, "a gang of men unloading a car which has just come ou=
t of
the side tunnel, and putting its contents upon another car standing on the
track of the main tunnel."
"Yes, and what are they handling?"
"Why, ore, of course."
"And do you see nothing significant in
that?"
"To be sure!" I exclaimed. "Why,
that ore--"
"Hush! hush!" admonished Hall, putti=
ng
his hand over my mouth; "don't talk so loud. Now go on, in a
whisper."
"The ore," I resumed, "may have
come back from the furnace-room, because the side tunnel turns off so as to=
run
parallel with the other."
"It not only may have come back, it actua=
lly
has come back," said Hall.
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I have been over the track, and =
know
that it leads to a secret apartment directly under the furnace in which Dr.=
Syx
pretends to melt the ore!"
For a minute after hearing this avowal I was
speechless.
"Are you serious?" I asked at length=
.
"Perfectly serious. Run your finger along=
the
rock here. Do you perceive a seam? Two days ago, after seeing what you have
just witnessed in the Syx tunnel, I carefully cut out a section of the wall,
making an aperture large enough to crawl through, and, when I knew the work=
men
were asleep, I crept in there and examined both tunnels from end to end. Bu=
t in
solving one mystery I have run myself into another infinitely more
perplexing."
"How is that?"
"Why does Dr. Syx take such elaborate pai=
ns
to deceive his visitors, and also the government officers? It is now plain =
that
he conducts no mining operations whatever. This mine of his is a gigantic b=
lind.
Whenever inspectors or scientific curiosity seekers visit his mill his mute
workmen assume the air of being very busy, the cars laden with his so-called
'ore' rumble out of the tunnel, and their contents are ostentatiously poured
into the furnace, or appear to be poured into it, really dropping into a
receptacle beneath, to be carried back into the mine again. And then the do=
ctor
leads his gulled visitors around to the other side of the furnace and shows
them the molten metal coming out in streams. Now what does it all mean? Tha=
t's what
I'd like to find out. What's his game? For, mark you, if he doesn't get
artemisium from this pretended ore, he gets it from some other source, and
right on this spot, too. There is no doubt about that. The whole world is
supplied by Syx's furnace, and Syx feeds his furnace with something that co=
mes
from his ten acres of Grand Teton rock. What is that something? How does he=
get
it, and where does he hide it? These are the things I should like to find
out."
"Well," I replied, "I fear I ca=
n't
help you."
"But the difference between you and me,&q=
uot;
he retorted, "is that you can go to sleep over it, while I shall never=
get
another good night's rest so long as this black mystery remains unsolved.&q=
uot;
"What will you do?"
"I don't know exactly what. But I've got a
dim idea which may take shape after a while."
Hall was silent for some time; then he suddenly
asked:
"Did you ever hear of that queer
magic-lantern show with which Dr. Syx entertained Mr. Boon and the members =
of
the financial commission in the early days of the artemisium business?"=
;
"Yes, I've heard the story, but I don't t=
hink
it was ever made public. The newspapers never got hold of it."
"No, I believe not. Odd thing, wasn't it?=
"
"Why, yes, very odd, but just like the
doctor's eccentric ways, though. He's always doing something to astonish
somebody, without any apparent earthly reason. But what put you in mind of
that?"
"Free artemisium put me in mind of it,&qu=
ot;
replied Hall, quizzically.
"I don't see the connection."
"I'm not sure that I do either, but when = you are dealing with Dr. Syx nothing is too improbable to be thought of."<= o:p>
Hall thereupon fell to musing again, while we
returned to the entrance of the tunnel. After he had made everything secure,
and slipped the key into his pocket, my companion remarked:
"Don't you think it would be best to keep
this latest discovery to ourselves?"
"Certainly."
"Because," he continued, "nobody
would be benefited just now by knowing what we know, and to expose the
worthlessness of the 'ore' might cause a panic. The public is a queer anima=
l,
and never gets scared at just the thing you expect will alarm it, but alway=
s at
something else."
We had shaken hands and were separating when H=
all
stopped me.
"Do you believe in alchemy?" he aske=
d.
"That's an odd question from you," I
replied. "I thought alchemy was exploded long ago."
"Well," he said, slowly, "I sup=
pose
it has been exploded, but then, you know, an explosion may sometimes be a k=
ind
of instantaneous education, breaking up old things but revealing new
ones."
Important business called me East soon after t=
he
meeting with Hall described in the foregoing chapter, and before I again saw
the Grand Teton very stirring events had taken place.
As the reader is aware, Dr. Syx's agreement wi=
th
the various governments limited the output of his mine. An international co=
mmission,
continually in session in New York, adjusted the differences arising among =
the
nations concerning financial affairs, and allotted to each the proper amoun=
t of
artemisium for coinage. Of course, this amount varied from time to time, bu=
t a
fair average could easily be maintained. The gradual increase of wealth, in
houses, machinery, manufactured and artistic products called for a correspo=
nding
increase in the circulating medium; but this, too, was easily provided for.=
An
equally painstaking supervision was exercised over the amount of the precio=
us
metal which Dr. Syx was permitted to supply to the markets for use in the a=
rts.
On this side, also, the demand gradually increased; but the wonderful Teton
mine seemed equal to all calls upon its resources.
After the failure of the mining operations the=
re
was a moderate revival of the efforts to reduce the Teton ore, but no succe=
ss
cheered the experimenters. Prospectors also wandered all over the earth loo=
king
for pure artemisium, but in vain. The general public, knowing nothing of wh=
at
Hall had discovered, and still believing Syx's story that he also had found
pure artemisium in his mine, accounted for the failure of the tunnelling
operations on the supposition that the metal, in a free state, was excessiv=
ely
rare, and that Dr. Syx had had the luck to strike the only vein of it that =
the
Grand Teton contained. As if to give countenance to this opinion, Dr. Syx n=
ow announced,
in the most public manner, that he had been deceived again, and that the ve=
in
of free metal he had struck being exhausted, no other had appeared.
Accordingly, he said, he must henceforth rely exclusively, as in the beginn=
ing,
upon reduction of the ore.
Artemisium had proved itself an immense boon to
mankind, and the new era of commercial prosperity which it had ushered in
already exceeded everything that the world had known in the past.
School-children learned that human civilization had taken five great stride=
s,
known respectively, beginning at the bottom, as the "age of stone,&quo=
t;
the "age of bronze," the "age of iron," the "age of
gold," and the "age of artemisium."
Nevertheless, sources of dissatisfaction final=
ly
began to appear, and, after the nature of such things, they developed with
marvellous rapidity. People began to grumble about "contraction of the
currency." In every country there arose a party which demanded "f=
ree
money." Demagogues pointed to the brief reign of paper money after the=
demonetization
of gold as a happy period, when the people had enjoyed their rights, and the
"money barons"--borrowing a term from nineteenth-century
history--were kept at bay.
Then came denunciations of the international
commission for restricting the coinage. Dr. Syx was described as "a
devil-fish sucking the veins of the planet and holding it helpless in the g=
rasp
of his tentacular billions." In the United States meetings of agitators
passed furious resolutions, denouncing the government, assailing the rich,
cursing Dr. Syx, and calling upon "the oppressed" to rise and
"take their own." The final outcome was, of course, violence. Mobs
had to be suppressed by military force. But the most dramatic scene in the
tragedy occurred at the Grand Teton. Excited by inflammatory speeches and
printed documents, several thousand armed men assembled in the neighborhood=
of
Jenny's Lake and prepared to attack the Syx mine. For some reason the milit=
ary
guard had been depleted, and the mob, under the leadership of a man named
Bings, who showed no little talent as a commander and strategist, surprised=
the
small force of soldiers and locked them up in their own guard-house.
Telegraphic communication having been cut off =
by
the astute Bings, a fierce attack was made on the mine. The assailants swar=
med
up the sides of the canyon, and attempted to break in through the foundatio=
n of
the buildings. But the masonry was stronger than they had anticipated, and =
the
attack failed. Sharp-shooters then climbed the neighboring heights, and kep=
t up
an incessant peppering of the walls with conical bullets driven at four
thousand feet per second.
No reply came from the gloomy structure. The h=
uge
column of black smoke rose uninterruptedly into the sky, and the noise of t=
he
great engine never ceased for an instant. The mob gathered closer on all si=
des
and redoubled the fire of the rifles, to which was now added the belching of
several machine-guns. Ragged holes began to appear in the walls, and at the
sight of these the assailants yelled with delight. It was evident that, the
mill could not long withstand so destructive a bombardment. If the besiegers
had possessed artillery they would have knocked the buildings into splinters
within twenty minutes. As it was, they would need a whole day to win their
victory.
Suddenly it became evident that the besieged w=
ere
about to take a hand in the fight. Thus far they had not shown themselves or
fired a shot, but now a movement was perceived on the roof, and the project=
ing
arms of some kind of machinery became visible. Many marksmen concentrated t=
heir
fire upon the mysterious objects, but apparently with little effect. Bings,
mounted on a rock, so as to command a clear view of the field, was on the
point, of ordering a party to rush forward with axes and beat down the
formidable doors, when there came a blinding flash from the roof, something
swished through the air, and a gust of heat met the assailants in the face.
Bings dropped dead from his perch, and then, as if the scythe of the Destro=
yer
had swung downward, and to right and left in quick succession, the close-pa=
cked
mob was levelled, rank after rank, until the few survivors crept behind roc=
ks
for refuge.
Instantly the atmospheric broom swept up and d=
own
the canyon and across the mountain's flanks, and the marksmen fell in bunch=
es
like shaken grapes. Nine-tenths of the besiegers were destroyed within ten =
minutes
after the first movement had been noticed on the roof. Those who survived o=
wed
their escape to the rocks which concealed them, and they lost no time in
crawling off into neighboring chasms, and, as soon as they were beyond eye-=
shot
from the mill, they fled with panic speed.
Then the towering form of Dr. Syx appeared at =
the
door. Emerging without sign of fear or excitement, he picked his way among =
his
fallen enemies, and, approaching the military guard-house, undid the fasten=
ing
and set the imprisoned soldiers free.
"I think I am paying rather dear for my
whistle," he said, with a characteristic sneer, to Captain Carter, the
commander of the troop. "It seems that I must not only defend my own
people and property when attacked by mob force, but must also come to the
rescue of the soldiers whose pay-rolls are met from my pocket."
The captain made no reply, and Dr. Syx strode =
back
to the works. When the released soldiers saw what had occurred their amazem=
ent
had no bounds. It was necessary at once to dispose of the dead, and this wa=
s no
easy undertaking for their small force. However, they accomplished it, and =
at
the beginning of their work made a most surprising discovery.
"How's this, Jim?" said one of the m=
en
to his comrade, as they stooped to lift the nearest victim of Dr. Syx's
withering fire. "What's this fellow got all over him?"
"Artemisium! 'pon my soul!" responded
"Jim," staring at the body. "He's all coated over with it.&q=
uot;
Immediately from all sides came similar
exclamations. Every man who had fallen was covered with a film of the preci=
ous
metal, as if he had been dipped into an electrolytic bath. Clothing seemed =
to
have been charred, and the metallic atoms had penetrated the flesh of the v=
ictims.
The rocks all round the battle-field were similarly veneered. "It look=
s to
me," said Captain Carter, "as if old Syx had turned one of his sp=
outs
of artemisium into a hose-pipe and soaked 'em with it."
"That's it," chimed in a lieutenant,
"that's exactly what he's done."
"Well," returned the captain, "=
if
he can do that, I don't see what use he's got for us here."
"Probably he don't want to waste the
stuff," said the lieutenant. "What do you suppose it cost him to
plate this crowd?"
"I guess a month's pay for the whole troop
wouldn't cover the expense. It's costly, but then--gracious! Wouldn't I have
given something for the doctor's hose when I was a youngster campaigning in=
the
Philippines in '99?"
The story of the marvellous way in which Dr. S=
yx
defended his mill became the sensation of the world for many days. The
hose-pipe theory, struck off on the spot by Captain Carter, seized the popu=
lar
fancy, and was generally accepted without further question. There was an el=
ement
of the ludicrous which robbed the tragedy of some of its horror. Moreover, =
no
one could deny that Dr. Syx was well within his rights in defending himself=
by
any means when so savagely attacked, and his triumphant success, no less th=
an
the ingenuity which was supposed to underlie it, placed him in an heroic li=
ght
which he had not hitherto enjoyed.
As to the demagogues who were responsible for =
the
outbreak and its terrible consequences, they slunk out of the public eye, a=
nd
the result of the battle at the mine seemed to have been a clearing up of t=
he
atmosphere, such as a thunderstorm effects at the close of a season of foul
weather.
But now, little as men guessed it, the beginni=
ng
of the end was close at hand.
The morning of my arrival at Grand Teton stati=
on,
on my return from the East, Andrew Hall met me with a warm greeting.
"I have been anxiously expecting you,&quo=
t;
he said, "for I have made some progress towards solving the great myst=
ery.
I have not yet reached a conclusion, but I hope soon to let you into the en=
tire
secret. In the meantime you can aid me with your companionship, if in no ot=
her
way, for, since the defeat of the mob, this place has been mighty lonesome.=
The
Grand Teton is a spot that people who have no particular business out here
carefully avoid. I am on speaking terms with Dr. Syx, and occasionally, when
there is a party to be shown around, I visit his works, and make the best
possible use of my eyes. Captain Carter of the military is a capital fellow,
and I like to hear his stories of the war in Luzon forty years ago, but I w=
ant
somebody to whom I can occasionally confide things, and so you are as welco=
me
as moonlight in harvest-time."
"Tell me something about that wonderful f=
ight
with the mob. Did you see it?"
"I did. I had got wind of what Bings inte=
nded
to do while I was down at Pocotello, and I hurried up here to warn the
soldiers, but unfortunately I came too late. Finding the military cooped up=
in
the guard-house and the mob masters of the situation, I kept out of sight on
the side of the Teton, and watched the siege with my binocular. I think the=
re
was very little of the spectacle that I missed."
"What of the mysterious force that the do=
ctor
employed to sweep off the assailants?"
"Of course, Captain Carter's suggestion t=
hat
Syx turned molten artemisium from his furnace into a hose-pipe and sprayed =
the
enemy with it is ridiculous. But it is much easier to dismiss Carter's theo=
ry
than to substitute a better one. I saw the doctor on the roof with a gang of
black workmen, and I noticed the flash of polished metal turned rapidly this
way and that, but there was some intervening obstacle which prevented me fr=
om
getting a good view of the mechanism employed. It certainly bore no resembl=
ance
to a hose-pipe, or anything of that kind. No emanation was visible from the
machine, but it was stupefying to see the mob melt down."
"How about the coating of the bodies with
artemisium?"
"There you are back on the hose-pipe
again," laughed Hall. "But, to tell you the truth, I'd rather be
excused from expressing an opinion on that operation in wholesale
electro-plating just at present. I've the ghost of an idea what it means, b=
ut
let me test my theory a little before I formulate it. In the meanwhile, won=
't
you take a stroll with me?"
"Certainly; nothing could please me
better," I replied. "Which way shall we go?"
"To the top of the Grand Teton."
"=
;What!
are you seized with the mountain-climbing fever?"
"Not exactly, but I have a particular rea=
son
for wishing to take a look from that pinnacle."
"I suppose you know the real apex of the =
peak
has never been trodden by man?"
"I do know it, but it is just that apex t=
hat
I am determined to have under my feet for ten minutes. The failure of other=
s is
no argument for us."
"Just as you say," I rejoined. "=
;But
I suppose there is no indiscretion in asking whether this little climb has =
any
relation to the mystery?"
"If it didn't have an important relation =
to
the clearing up of that dark thing I wouldn't risk my neck in such an
undertaking," was the reply.
Accordingly, the next morning we set out for t=
he
peak. All previous climbers, as we were aware, had attacked it from the wes=
t.
That seemed the obvious thing to do, because the westward slopes of the
mountain, while very steep, are less abrupt than those which face the risin=
g sun.
In fact, the eastern side of the Grand Teton appears to be absolutely
unclimbable. But both Hall and I had had experience with rock climbing in t=
he
Alps and the Dolomites, and we knew that what looked like the hardest places
sometimes turn out to be next to the easiest. Accordingly we decided--the m=
ore
particularly because it would save time, but also because we yielded to the
common desire to outdo our predecessors--to try to scale the giant right up=
his
face.
We carried a very light but exceedingly strong
rope, about five hundred feet long, wore nail-shod shoes, and had each a
metal-pointed staff and a small hatchet in lieu of the regular mountaineer'=
s axe.
Advancing at first along the broken ridge between two gorges we gradually
approached the steeper part of the Teton, where the cliffs looked so sheer =
and
smooth that it seemed no wonder that nobody had ever tried to scale them. T=
he
air was deliciously clear and the sky wonderfully blue above the mountains,=
and
the moon, a few days past its last quarter, was visible in the southwest, i=
ts
pale crescent face slightly blued by the atmosphere, as it always appears w=
hen
seen in daylight.
&quo=
t;Slow
westering, a phantom sail-- The =
lonely
soul of yesterday."
Behind us, somewhat north of east, lay the Syx
works, with their black smoke rising almost vertically in the still air.
Suddenly, as we stumbled along on the rough surface, something whizzed past=
my
face and fell on the rock at my feet. I looked at the strange missile, that=
had
come like a meteor out of open space, with astonishment.
It was a bird, a beautiful specimen of the sca=
rlet
tanagers, which I remembered the early explorers had found inhabiting the T=
eton
canyons, their brilliant plumage borrowing splendor from contrast with the =
gloomy
surroundings. It lay motionless, its outstretched wings having a curious
shrivelled aspect, while the flaming color of the breast was half obliterat=
ed
with smutty patches. Stooping to pick it up, I noticed a slight bronzing, w=
hich
instantly recalled to my mind the peculiar appearance of the victims of the
attack on the mine.
"Look here!" I called to Hall, who w=
as
several yards in advance. He turned, and I held up the bird by a wing.
"Where did you get that?" he asked.<= o:p>
"It fell at my feet a moment ago."
Hall glanced in a startled manner at the sky, =
and
then down the slope of the mountain.
"Did you notice in what direction it was =
flying?"
he asked.
"No, it dropped so close that it almost
grazed my nose. I saw nothing of it until it made me blink."
"I have been heedless," muttered Hall
under his breath. At the time I did not notice the singularity of his remar=
k,
my attention being absorbed in contemplating the unfortunate tanager.
"Look how its feathers are scorched,"=
; I
said.
"I know it," Hall replied, without
glancing at the bird.
"And it is covered with a film of
artemisium," I added, a little piqued by his abstraction.
"I know that, too."
"See here, Hall," I exclaimed, "=
;are
you trying to make game of me?"
"Not at all, my dear fellow," he
replied, dropping his cogitation. "Pray forgive me. But this is no new
phenomenon to me. I have picked up birds in that condition on this mountain
before. There is a terrible mystery here, but I am slowly letting light into
it, and if we succeed in reaching the top of the peak I have good hope that=
the
illumination will increase."
"Here now," he added a moment later,
sitting down upon a rock and thrusting the blade of his penknife into a
crevice, "what do you think of this?"
He held up a little nugget of pure artemisium,=
and
then went on:
"You know that all this slope was swept as
clean as a Dutch housewife's kitchen floor by the thousands of miners and
prospectors who swarmed over it a year or two ago, and do you suppose they
would have missed such a tidbit if it had been here then?"
"Dr. Syx must have been salting the mount=
ain
again," I suggested.
"Well," replied Hall, with a signifi=
cant
smile, "if the doctor hasn't salted it somebody else has, that's plain
enough. But perhaps you would like to know precisely what I expect to find =
out
when we get on the topknot of the Teton."
"I should certainly be delighted to learn=
the
object of our journey," I said. "Of course, I'm only going along =
for
company and for the fun of the thing; but you know you can count on me for
substantial aid whenever you need it."
"It is because you are so willing to let =
me
keep my own counsel," he rejoined, "and to wait for things to rip=
en
before compelling me to disclose them, that I like to have you with me at
critical times. Now, as to the object of this break-neck expedition, whose
risks you understand as fully as I do, I need not assure you that it is of =
supreme
importance to the success of my plans. In a word, I hope to be able to look
down into a part of Dr. Syx's mill which, if I am not mistaken, no human eye
except his and those of his most trustworthy helpers has ever been permitte=
d to
see. And if I see there what I fully expect to see, I shall have got a long
step nearer to a great fortune."
"Good!" I cried. "En avant, the=
n!
We are losing time."
The climbing soon became difficult, until at
length we were going up hand over hand, taking advantage of crevices and kn=
obs
which an inexperienced eye would have regarded as incapable of affording a =
grip
for the fingers or a support for the toes. Presently we arrived at the foot=
of
a stupendous precipice, which was absolutely insurmountable by any ordinary
method of ascent. Parts of it overhung, and everywhere the face of the rock=
was
too free from irregularities to afford any footing, except to a fly.
"Now, to borrow the expression of old Bun=
yan,
we are hard put to it," I remarked. "If you will go to the left I
will take the right and see if there is any chance of getting up."
"I don't believe we could find any place
easier than this," Hall replied, "and so up we go where we are.&q=
uot;
"Have you a pair of wings concealed about
you?" I asked, laughing at his folly.
"Well, something nearly as good," he
responded, unstrapping his knapsack. He produced a silken bag, which he
unfolded on the rock.
"A balloon!" I exclaimed. "But =
how
are you going to inflate it?"
For reply Hall showed me a receptacle which, he
said, contained liquid hydrogen, and which was furnished with a device for
retarding the volatilization of the liquid so that it could be carried with
little loss.
"You remember I have a small laboratory in
the abandoned mine," he explained, "where we used to manufacture
liquid air for blasting. This balloon I made for our present purpose. It wi=
ll
just suffice to carry up our rope, and a small but practically unbreakable
grapple of hardened gold. I calculate to send the grapple to the top of the=
precipice
with the balloon, and when it has obtained a firm hold in the riven rock th=
ere
we can ascend, sailor fashion. You see the rope has knots, and I know your
muscles are as trustworthy in such work as my own."
There was a slight breeze from the eastward, a=
nd
the current of air slanting up the face of the peak assisted the balloon in
mounting with its burden, and favored us by promptly swinging the little
airship, with the grapple swaying beneath it, over the brow of the cliff in=
to the
atmospheric eddy above. As soon as we saw that the grapple was well over the
edge we pulled upon the rope. The balloon instantly shot into view with the
anchor dancing, but, under the influence of the wind, quickly returned to i=
ts
former position behind the projecting brink. The grapple had failed to take
hold.
"'Try, try again' must be our motto
now," muttered Hall.
We tried several times with the same result,
although each time we slightly shifted our position. At last the grapple
caught.
"Now, all together!" cried my compan=
ion,
and simultaneously we threw our weight upon the slender rope. The anchor
apparently did not give an inch.
"Let me go first," said Hall, pushin=
g me
aside as I caught the first knot above my head. "It's my device, and i=
t's
only fair that I should have the first try."
In a minute he was many feet up the wall, clim=
bing
swiftly hand over hand, but occasionally stopping and twisting his leg arou=
nd
the rope while he took breath.
"It's easier than I expected," he ca=
lled
down, when he had ascended about one hundred feet. "Here and there the
rock offers a little hold for the knees."
I watched him, breathless with anxiety, and, a=
s he
got higher, my imagination pictured the little gold grapple, invisible above
the brow of the precipice, with perhaps a single thin prong wedged into a c=
revice,
and slowly ploughing its way towards the edge with each impulse of the clim=
ber,
until but another pull was needed to set it flying! So vivid was my fancy t=
hat
I tried to banish it by noticing that a certain knot in the rope remained j=
ust
at the level of my eyes, where it had been from the start. Hall was now ful=
ly
two hundred feet above the ledge on which I stood, and was rapidly nearing =
the
top of the precipice. In a minute more he would be safe.
Suddenly he shouted, and, glancing up with a l=
eap
of the heart, I saw that he was falling! He kept his face to the rock, and =
came
down feet foremost. It would be useless to attempt any description of my fe=
elings;
I would not go through that experience again for the price of a battleship.=
Yet
it lasted less than a second. He had dropped not more than ten feet when the
fall was arrested.
"All right!" he called, cheerily.
"No harm done! It was only a slip."
But what a slip! If the balloon had not carried
the anchor several yards back from the edge it would have had no opportunit=
y to
catch another hold as it shot forward. And how could we know that the secon=
d hold
would prove more secure than the first? Hall did not hesitate, however, for=
one
instant. Up he went again. But, in fact, his best chance was in going up, f=
or
he was within four yards of the top when the mishap occurred. With a sigh of
relief I saw him at last throw his arm over the verge and then wriggle his =
body
upon the ledge. A few seconds later he was lying on his stomach, with his f=
ace
over the edge, looking down at me.
"Come on!" he shouted. "It's all
right."
When I had pulled myself over the brink at his
side I grasped his hand and pressed it without a word. We understood one
another.
"It was pretty close to a miracle," =
he
remarked at last. "Look at this."
The rock over which the grapple had slipped was
deeply scored by the unyielding point of the metal, and exactly at the verg=
e of
the precipice the prong had wedged itself into a narrow crack, so firmly th=
at
we had to chip away the stone in order to release it. If it had slipped a
single inch farther before taking hold it would have been all over with my
friend.
Such experiences shake the strongest nerves, a=
nd
we sat on the shelf we had attained for fully a quarter of an hour before we
ventured to attack the next precipice which hung beetling directly above us=
. It
was not as lofty as the one we had just ascended, but it impended to such a
degree that we saw we should have to climb our rope while it swung free in =
the
air!
Luckily we had little difficulty in getting a =
grip
for the prongs, and we took every precaution to test the security of the
anchorage, not only putting our combined weight repeatedly upon the rope, b=
ut flipping
and jerking it with all our strength. The grapple resisted every effort to
dislodge it, and finally I started up, insisting on my turn as leader.
The height I had to ascend did not exceed one
hundred feet, but that is a very great distance to climb on a swinging rope,
without a wall within reach to assist by its friction and occasional friend=
ly projections.
In a little while my movements, together with the effect of the slight wind,
had imparted a most distressing oscillation to the rope. This sometimes car=
ried
me with a nerve-shaking bang against a prominent point of the precipice, wh=
ere
I would dislodge loose fragments that kept Hall dodging for his life, and t=
hen
I would swing out, apparently beyond the brow of the cliff below, so that, =
as I
involuntarily glanced downward, I seemed to be hanging in free space, while=
the
steep mountain-side, looking ten times steeper than it really was, resembled
the vertical wall of an absolutely bottomless abyss, as if I were suspended
over the edge of the world.
I avoided thinking of what the grapple might be
about, and in my haste to get through with the awful experience I worked my=
self
fairly out of breath, so that, when at last I reached the rounded brow of t=
he
cliff, I had to stop and cling there for fully a minute before I could summ=
on strength
enough to lift myself over it.
When I was assured that the grapple was still
securely fastened I signalled to Hall, and he soon stood at my side,
exclaiming, as he wiped the perspiration from his face:
"I think I'll try wings next time!"<= o:p>
But our difficulties had only begun. As we had
foreseen, it was a case of Alp above Alp, to the very limit of human streng=
th
and patience. However, it would have been impossible to go back. In order to
descend the two precipices we had surmounted it would have been necessary to
leave our life-lines clinging to the rocks, and we had not rope enough to do
that. If we could not reach the top we were lost.
Having refreshed ourselves with a bite to eat =
and
a little stimulant, we resumed the climb. After several hours of the most
exhausting work I have ever performed we pulled our weary limbs upon the na=
rrow
ridge, but a few square yards in area, which constitutes the apex of the Gr=
and
Teton. A little below, on the opposite side of a steep-walled gap which div=
ides
the top of the mountain into two parts, we saw the singular enclosure of st=
ones
which the early white explorers found there, and which they ascribed to the
Indians, although nobody has ever known who built it or what purpose it ser=
ved.
The view was, of course, superb, but while I w=
as
admiring it in all its wonderful extent and variety, Hall, who had immediat=
ely
pulled out his binocular, was busy inspecting the Syx works, the top of who=
se great
tufted smoke column was thousands of feet beneath our level. Jackson's Lake,
Jenny's Lake, Leigh's Lake, and several lakelets glittered in the sunlight =
amid
the pale grays and greens of Jackson's Hole, while many a bending reach of =
the
Snake River shone amid the wastes of sage-brush and rock.
"There!" suddenly exclaimed Hall,
"I thought I should find it."
"What?"
"Take a look through my glass at the roof=
of
Syx's mill. Look just in the centre."
"Why, it's open in the middle!" I cr=
ied
as soon as I had put the glass to my eyes. "There's a big circular hol=
e in
the centre of the roof,"
"Look inside! Look inside!" repeated
Hall, impatiently.
"I see nothing there except something
bright."
"Do you call it nothing because it is
bright?"
"Well, no," I replied, laughing.
"What I mean is that I see nothing that I can make anything of except a
shining object, and all I can make of that is that it is bright."
"You've been in the Syx works many times,
haven't you?"
"Yes."
"Did you ever see the opening in the
roof?"
"Never."
"Did you ever hear of it?"
"Never."
"Then Dr. Syx doesn't show his visitors
everything that is to be seen."
"Evidently not since, as we know, he
concealed the double tunnel and the room under the furnace."
"Dr. Syx has concealed a bigger secret th=
an
that," Hall responded, "and the Grand Teton has helped me to a
glimpse of it."
For several minutes my friend was absorbed in
thought. Then he broke out:
"I tell you he's the most wonderful man in
the world!"
"Who, Dr. Syx? Well, I've long thought
that."
"Yes, but I mean in a different way from =
what
you are thinking of. Do you remember my asking you once if you believed in
alchemy?"
"I remember being greatly surprised by yo=
ur
question to that effect."
"Well, now," said Hall, rubbing his
hands with a satisfied air, while his eyes glanced keen and bright with the
reflection of some passing thought, "Max Syx is greater than any alche=
mist
that ever lived. If those old fellows in the dark ages had accomplished
everything they set out to do, they would have been of no more consequence =
in comparison
with our black-browed friend down yonder than--than my head is of consequen=
ce
in comparison with the moon."
"I fear you flatter the man in the
moon," was my laughing reply.
"No, I don't," returned Hall, "=
and
some day you'll admit it."
"Well, what about that something that shi=
nes
down there? You seem to see more in it than I can."
But my companion had fallen into a reverie and didn't hear my question. He was gazing abstractedly at the faint image of t= he waning moon, now nearing the distant mountain-top over in Idaho. Presently = his mind seemed to return to the old magnet, and he whirled about and glanced d= own at the Syx mill. The column of smoke was diminishing in volume, an indicati= on that the engine was about to enjoy one of its periodical rests. The irregularity of these stoppages had always been a subject of remark among practical engineers. The hours of labor were exceedingly erratic, but the engine had never been known to work at night, except on one occasion, and t= hen only for a few minutes, when it was suddenly stopped on account of a fire.<= o:p>
Just as Hall resumed his inspection two huge
quarter spheres, which had been resting wide apart on the roof, moved towar=
ds
one another until their arched sections met over the circular aperture which
they covered like the dome of an observatory.
"I expected it," Hall remarked.
"But come, it is mid-afternoon, and we shall need all of our time to g=
et
safely down before the light fades."
As I have already explained, it would not have
been possible for us to return the way we came. We determined to descend the
comparatively easy western slopes of the peak, and pass the night on that s=
ide
of the mountain. Letting ourselves down with the rope into the hollow way t=
hat
divides the summit of the Teton into two pinnacles, we had no difficulty in
descending by the route followed by all previous climbers. The weather was
fine, and, having found good shelter among the rocks, we passed the night in
comfort. The next day we succeeded in swinging round upon the eastern flank=
of
the Teton, below the more formidable cliffs, and, just at nightfall, we arr=
ived
at the station. As we passed the Syx mine the doctor himself confronted us.
There was a very displeasing look on his dark countenance, and his sneer was
strongly marked.
"So you have been on top of the Teton?&qu=
ot;
he said.
"Yes," replied Hall, very blandly,
"and if you have a taste for that sort of thing I should advise you to=
go
up. The view is immense, as fine as the best in the Alps."
"Pretty ingenious plan, that balloon of
yours," continued the doctor, still looking black.
"Thank you," Hall replied, more suav=
ely
than ever. "I've been planning that a long time. You probably don't kn=
ow
that mountaineering used to be my chief amusement."
The doctor turned away without pursuing the
conversation.
"I could kick myself," Hall muttered=
as
soon as Dr. Syx was out of earshot. "If my absurd wish to outdo others=
had
not blinded me, I should have known that he would see us going up this side=
of
the peak, particularly with the balloon to give us away. However, what's do=
ne can't
be undone. He may not really suspect the truth, and if he does he can't help
himself, even though he is the richest man in the world."
"Are you ready for another tramp?" w=
as
Andrew Hall's greeting when we met early on the morning following our return
from the peak.
"Certainly I am. What is your programme f=
or
to-day?"
"I wish to test the flying qualities of a
kite which I have constructed since our return last night."
"You don't allow the calls of sleep to
interfere very much with your activity."
"I haven't much time for sleep just
now," replied Hall, without smiling. "The kite test will carry us=
up
the flanks of the Teton, but I am not going to try for the top this time. If
you will come along I'll ask you to help me by carrying and operating a lig=
ht
transit I shall carry another myself. I am desirous to get the elevation th=
at the
kite attains and certain other data that will be of use to me. We will make=
a
detour towards the south, for I don't want old Syx's suspicions to be prodd=
ed
any more."
"What interest can he have in your
kite-flying?"
"The same interest that a burglar has in =
the
rap of a policeman's night-stick."
"Then your experiment to-day has some
connection with the solution of the great mystery?"
"My dear fellow," said Hall, laying =
his
hand on my shoulder, "until I see the end of that mystery I shall thin=
k of
nothing else."
In a few hours we were clambering over the bro=
ken
rocks on the south-eastern flank of the Teton at an elevation of about thre=
e thousand
feet above the level of Jackson's Hole. Finally Hall paused and began to put
his kite together. It was a small box-shaped affair, very light in
construction, with paper sides.
"In order to diminish the chances of Dr. =
Syx
noticing what we are about," he said, as he worked away, "I have
covered the kite with sky-blue paper. This, together with distance, will
probably insure us against his notice."
In a few minutes the kite was ready. Having
ascertained the direction of the wind with much attention, he stationed me =
with
my transit on a commanding rock, and sought another post for himself at a
distance of two hundred yards, which he carefully measured with a gold tape=
. My
instructions were to keep the telescope on the kite as soon as it had attai=
ned
a considerable height, and to note the angle of elevation and the horizontal
angle with the base line joining our points of observation.
"Be particularly careful," was Hall's
injunction, "and if anything happens to the kite by all means note the
angles at that instant."
As soon as we had fixed our stations Hall bega=
n to
pay out the string, and the kite rose very swiftly. As it sped away into the
blue it was soon practically invisible to the naked eye, although the teles=
cope
of the transit enabled me to follow it with ease.
Glancing across now and then at my companion, I
noticed that he was having considerable difficulty in, at the same time,
managing the kite and manipulating his transit. But as the kite continued to
rise and steadied in position his task became easier, until at length he ce=
ased
to remove his eye from the telescope while holding the string with outstret=
ched
hand.
"Don't lose sight of it now for an
instant!" he shouted.
For at least half an hour he continued to
manipulate the string, sending the kite now high towards the zenith with a
sudden pull, and then letting it drift off. It seemed at last to become alm=
ost
a fixed point. Very slowly the angles changed, when, suddenly, there was a =
flash,
and to my amazement I saw the paper of the kite shrivel and disappear in a
momentary flame, and then the bare sticks came tumbling out of the sky.
"Did you get the angles?" yelled Hal=
l,
excitedly.
"Yes; the telescope is yet pointed on the
spot where the kite disappeared."
"Read them off," he called, "and
then get your angle with the Syx works."
"All right," I replied, doing as he =
had
requested, and noticing at the same time that he was in the act of putting =
his
watch in his pocket. "Is there anything else?" I asked.
"No, that will do, thank you."
Hall came running over, his face beaming, and =
with
the air of a man who has just hooked a particularly cunning old trout.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, "this has b=
een
a great success! I could almost dispense with the calculation, but it is be=
st
to be sure."
"What are you about, anyhow?" I aske=
d,
"and what was it that happened to the kite?"
"Don't interrupt me just now, please,&quo=
t;
was the only reply I received.
Thereupon my friend sat down on a rock, pulled=
out
a pad of paper, noted the angles which I had read on the transit, and fell =
to
figuring with feverish haste. In the course of his work he consulted a pock=
et almanac,
then glanced up at the sky, muttered approvingly, and finally leaped to his
feet with a half-suppressed "Hurrah!" If I had not known him so w=
ell
I should have thought that he had gone daft.
"Will you kindly tell me," I asked,
"how you managed to set the kite afire?"
Hall laughed heartily. "You though it was=
a
trick, did you?" said he. "Well, it was no trick, but a very
beautiful demonstration. You surely haven't forgotten the scarlet tanager t=
hat
gave you such a surprise the day before yesterday."
"Do you mean" I exclaimed, startled =
at
the suggestion, "that the fate of the bird had any connection with the
accident to your kite?"
"Accident isn't precisely the right
word," replied Hall. "The two things are as intimately related as=
own
brothers. If you should care to hunt up the kite sticks, you would find that
they, too, are now artemisium plated."
"This is getting too deep for me," w=
as
all that I could say.
"I am not absolutely confident that I have
touched bottom myself," said Hall, "but I'm going to make another
dive, and if I don't bring up treasures greater than Vanderdecken found at =
the
bottom of the sea, then Dr. Syx is even a more wonderful human mystery than=
I
have thought him to be."
"What do you propose to do next?"
"To shake the dust of the Grand Teton fro= m my shoes and go to San Francisco, where I have an extensive laboratory."<= o:p>
"So you are going to try a little alchemy=
yourself,
are you?"
"Perhaps; who knows? At any rate, my good
friend, I am forever indebted to you for your assistance, and even more for
your discretion, and if I succeed you shall be the first person in the worl=
d to
hear the news."
I come now to a part of my narrative which wou=
ld
have been deemed altogether incredible in those closing years of the ninete=
enth
century that witnessed the first steps towards the solution of the deepest =
mysteries
of the ether, although men even then held in their hands, without knowing i=
t,
powers which, after they had been mastered and before use had made them
familiar, seemed no less than godlike.
For six months after Hall's departure for San
Francisco I heard nothing from him. Notwithstanding my intense desire to kn=
ow
what he was doing, I did not seek to disturb him in his retirement. In the =
meantime
things ran on as usual in the world, only a ripple being caused by renewed
discoveries of small nuggets of artemisium on the Tetons, a fact which reca=
lled
to my mind the remark of my friend when he dislodged a flake of the metal f=
rom
a crevice during our ascent of the peak. At last one day I received this
telegram at my office in New York:
"SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 1940.
"Come at once. The mystery is solved.
"(Signed) HALL."
As soon as I could pack a grip I was flying
westward one hundred miles an hour. On reaching San Francisco, which had ma=
de
enormous strides since the opening of the twentieth century, owing to the
extension of our Oriental possessions, and which already ranked with New Yo=
rk
and Chicago among the financial capitals of the world, I hastened to Hall's
laboratory. He was there expecting me, and, after a hearty greeting, during
which his elation over his success was manifest, he said:
"I am compelled to ask you to make a litt=
le
journey. I found it impossible to secure the necessary privacy here, and,
before opening my experiments, I selected a site for a new laboratory in an=
unfrequented
spot among the mountains this side of Lake Tahoe. You will be the first man,
with the exception of my two devoted assistants, to see my apparatus, and y=
ou
shall share the sensation of the critical experiment."
"Then you have not yet completed your
solution of the secret?"
"Yes, I have; for I am as certain of the
result as if I had seen it, but I thought you were entitled to be in with m=
e at
the death."
From the nearest railway station we took horse=
s to
the laboratory, which occupied a secluded but most beautiful site at an
elevation of about six thousand feet above sea-level. With considerable
surprise I noticed a building surmounted with a dome, recalling what we had
seen from the Grand Teton on the roof of Dr. Syx's mill. Hall, observing my=
look,
smiled significantly, but said nothing. The laboratory proper occupied a
smaller building adjoining the domed structure. Hall led the way into an
apartment having but a single door and illuminated by a skylight.
"This is my sanctum sanctorum," he s= aid, "and you are the first outsider to enter it. Seat yourself comfortably while I proceed to unveil a little corner of the artemisium mystery."<= o:p>
Near one end of the room, which was about thir=
ty
feet in length, was a table, on which lay a glass tube about two inches in
diameter and thirty inches long. In the farther end of the tube gleamed a l=
ump
of yellow metal, which I took to be gold. Hall and I were seated near anoth=
er
table about twenty-five feet distant from the tube, and on this table was an
apparatus furnished with a concave mirror, whose optical axis was directed
towards the tube. It occurred to me at once that this apparatus would be
suitable for experimenting with electric waves. Wires ran from it to the fl=
oor,
and in the cellar beneath was audible the beating of an engine. My companion
made an adjustment or two, and then remarked:
"Now, keep your eyes on the lump of gold =
in
the farther end of the tube yonder. The
tube is exhausted of air, and I am about to concentrate upon the gold an
intense electric influence, which will have the effect of making it a kind =
of
kathode pole. I only use this term for the sake of illustration. You will
recall that as long ago as the days of Crookes it was known that a kathode =
in
an exhausted tube would project particles, or atoms, of its substance away =
in
straight lines. Now watch!"
I fixed my attention upon the gold, and presen=
tly
saw it enveloped in a most beautiful violet light. This grew more intense,
until, at times, it was blinding, while, at the same moment, the interior of
the tube seemed to have become charged with a luminous vapor of a delicate =
pinkish
hue.
"Watch! Watch!" said Hall. "Loo=
k at
the nearer end of the tube!"
"Why, it is becoming coated with gold!&qu=
ot;
I exclaimed.
He smiled, but made no reply. Still the strange
process continued. The pink vapor became so dense that the lump of gold was=
no
longer visible, although the eye of violet light glared piercingly through =
the
colored fog. Every second the deposit of metal, shining like a mirror,
increased, until suddenly there came a curious whistling sound. Hall, who h=
ad
been adjusting the mirror, jerked away his hand and gave it a flip, as if h=
ot
water had spattered it, and then the light in the tube quickly died away, t=
he
vapor escaped, filling the room with a peculiar stimulating odor, and I
perceived that the end of the glass tube had been melted through, and the
molten gold was slowly dripping from it.
"I carried it a little too far," said
Hall, ruefully rubbing the back of his hand, "and when the glass gave =
way
under the atomic bombardment a few atoms of gold visited my bones. But ther=
e is
no harm done. You observed that the instant the air reached the kathode, as=
I
for convenience call the electrified mass of gold, the action ceased."=
"But your anode, to continue your
simile," I said, "is constantly exposed to the air."
"True," he replied, "but in the
first place, of course, this is not really an anode, just as the other is n=
ot
actually a kathode. As science advances we are compelled, for a time, to use
old terms in a new sense until a fresh nomenclature can be invented. But we=
are
now dealing with a form of electric action more subtile in its effects than=
any
at present described in the text-books and the transactions of learned
societies. I have not yet even attempted to work out the theory of it. I am
only concerned with its facts."
"But wonderful as the exhibition you have
given is, I do not see," I said, "how it concerns Dr. Syx and his
artemisium."
"Listen," replied Hall, settling bac=
k in
his chair after disconnecting his apparatus. "You no doubt have been t=
old
how one night the Syx engine was heard working for a few minutes, the first=
and
only night work it was ever known to have done, and how, hardly had it star=
ted
up when a fire broke out in the mill, and the engine was instantly stopped.=
Now
there is a very remarkable story connected with that, and it will show you =
how
I got my first clew to the mystery, although it was rather a mere suspicion
than a clew, for at first I could make nothing out of it. The alleged fire
occurred about a fortnight after our discovery of the double tunnel. My mind
was then full of suspicions concerning Syx, because I thought that a man who
would fool people with one hand was not likely to deal fairly with the othe=
r.
"It was a glorious night, with a full moo=
n,
whose face was so clear in the limpid air that, having found a snug place at
the foot of a yellow-pine-tree, where the ground was carpeted with odorifer=
ous needles,
I lay on my back and renewed my early acquaintance with the romantically na=
med
mountains and 'seas' of the Lunar globe. With my binocular I could trace th=
ose
long white streaks which radiate from the crater ring, called 'Tycho,' and =
run
hundreds of miles in all directions over the moon. As I gazed at these sing=
ular
objects I recalled the various theories which astronomers, puzzled by their=
enigmatical
aspect, have offered to a more or less confiding public concerning them.
"In the midst of my meditation and moon
gazing I was startled by hearing the engine in the Syx works suddenly begin=
to
run. Immediately a queer light, shaped like the beam of a ship's searchligh=
t,
but reddish in color, rose high in the moonlit heavens above the mill. It d=
id
not last more than a minute or two, for almost instantly the engine was
stopped, and with its stoppage the light faded and soon disappeared. The ne=
xt
day Dr. Syx gave it out that on starting up his engine in the night somethi=
ng
had caught fire, which compelled him immediately to shut down again. The few
who had seen the light, with the exception of your humble servant, accepted=
the
doctor's explanation without a question. But I knew there had been no fire,=
and
Syx's anxiety to spread the lie led me to believe that he had narrowly esca=
ped
giving away a vital secret. I said nothing about my suspicions, but upon
inquiry I found out that an extra and pressing order for metal had arrived =
from
the Austrian government the very day of the pretended fire, and I drew the
inference that Syx, in his haste to fill the order--his supply having been
drawn low--had started to work, contrary to his custom, at night, and had
immediately found reason to repent his rashness. Of course, I connected the
strange light with this sudden change of mind.
"My suspicion having been thus stimulated,
and having been directed in a certain way, I began, from that moment to not=
ice
closely the hours during which the engine labored. At night it was always
quiet, except on that one brief occasion. Sometimes it began early in the
morning and stopped about noon. At other times the work was done entirely i=
n the
afternoon, beginning sometimes as late as three or four o'clock, and ceasing
invariably at sundown. Then again it would start at sunrise and continue the
whole day through.
"For a long time I was unable to account =
for
these eccentricities, and the problem was not rendered much clearer, althou=
gh a
startling suggestiveness was added to it, when, at length, I noticed that t=
he periods
of activity of the engine had a definite relation to the age of the moon. T=
hen
I discovered, with the aid of an almanac, that I could predict the hours wh=
en
the engine would be busy. At the time of new moon it worked all day; at full
moon, it was idle; between full moon and last quarter, it labored in the
forenoon, the length of its working hours increasing as the quarter was app=
roached;
between last quarter and new moon, the hours of work lengthened, until, as I
have said, at new moon they lasted all day; between new moon and first quar=
ter,
work began later and later in the forenoon as the quarter was approached, a=
nd
between first quarter and full moon the laboring hours rapidly shortened, b=
eing
confined to the latter part of the afternoon, until at full moon complete
silence reigned in the mill."
"Well! well!" I broke in, greatly
astonished by Hall's singular recital, "you must have thought Dr. Syx =
was
a cross between an alchemist and an astrologer."
"Note this," said Hall, disregarding=
my
interruption, "the hours when the engine worked were invariably the ho=
urs
during which the moon was above the horizon!"
"What did you infer from that?" &quo=
t;Of
course, I inferred that the moon was directly concerned in the mystery; but
how? That bothered me for a long time, but a little light broke into my mind
when I picked up, on the mountain-side, a dead bird, whose scorched feathers
were bronzed with artemisium, and sometime later another similar victim of =
a mysterious
form of death. Then came the attack on the mine and its tragic finish. I ha=
ve
already told you what I observed on that occasion. But, instead of helping =
to
clear up the mystery, it rather complicated it for a time. At length, howev=
er,
I reasoned my way partly out of the difficulty. Certain things which I had
noticed in the Syx mill convinced me that there was a part of the building
whose existence no visitor suspected, and, putting one thing with another, =
I inferred
that the roof must be open above that secret part of the structure, and tha=
t if
I could get upon a sufficiently elevated place I could see something of what
was hidden there.
"At this point in the investigation I
proposed to you the trip to the top of the Teton, the result of which you
remember. I had calculated the angles with great care, and I felt certain t=
hat
from the apex of the mountain I should be able to get a view into the conce=
aled
chamber, and into just that side of it which I wished particularly to inspe=
ct.
You remember that I called your attention to a shining object underneath the
circular opening in the roof. You could not make out what it was, but I saw
enough to convince me that it was a gigantic parabolic mirror. I'll show yo=
u a
smaller one of the same kind presently.
"Now, at last, I began to perceive the re=
al
truth, but it was so wildly incredible, so infinitely remote from all human
experience, that I hardly ventured to formulate it, even in my own secret m=
ind.
But I was bound to see the thing through to the end. It occurred to me that=
I
could prove the accuracy of my theory with the aid of a kite. You were kind
enough to lend your assistance in that experiment, and it gave me irrefraga=
ble
evidence of the existence of a shaft of flying atoms extending in a direct =
line
between Dr. Syx's pretended mine and the moon!"
"Hall!" I exclaimed, "you are
mad!" My friend smiled good-naturedly, and went on with his story.
"The instant the kite shrivelled and disa=
ppeared
I understood why the works were idle when the moon was not above the horizo=
n,
why birds flying across that fatal beam fell dead upon the rocks, and whence
the terrible master of that mysterious mill derived the power of destruction
that could wither an army as the Assyrian host in Byron's poem
"Melted like snow in the glance of the Lord."
"But how did Dr. Syx turn the flying atoms
against his enemies?" I asked.
"In a very simple manner. He had a mirror
mounted so that it could be turned in any direction, and would shunt the st=
ream
of metallic atoms, heated by their friction with the air, towards any desir=
ed
point. When the attack came he raised this machine above the level of the r=
oof
and swept the mob to a lustrous, if expensive, death."
"And the light at night--"
"Was the shining of the heated atoms, not
luminous enough to be visible in broad day, for which reason the engine nev=
er
worked at night, and the stream of volatilized artemisium was never set flo=
wing
at full moon, when the lunar globe is above the horizon only during the hou=
rs
of darkness."
"I see," I said, "whence came t=
he
nuggets on the mountain. Some of the atoms, owing to the resistance of the =
air,
fell short and settled in the form of impalpable dust until the winds and r=
ains
collected and compacted them in the cracks and crevices of the rocks."=
"That was it, of course."
"And now," I added, my amazement at =
the
success of Hall's experiments and the accuracy of his deductions increasing
every moment, "do you say that you have also discovered the means empl=
oyed
by Dr. Syx to obtain artemisium from the moon?"
"Not only that," replied my friend,
"but within the next few minutes I shall have the pleasure of presenti=
ng
to you a button of moon metal, fresh from the veins of Artemis herself.&quo=
t;
I shall spare the reader a recital of the tire=
less
efforts, continuing through many almost sleepless weeks, whereby Andrew Hall
obtained his clew to Dr. Syx's method. It was manifest from the beginning t=
hat
the agent concerned must be some form of etheric, or so-called electric, en=
ergy;
but how to set it in operation was the problem. Finally he hit upon the
apparatus for his initial experiments which I have already described.
"Recurring to what had been done more than
half a century ago by Hertz, when he concentrated electric waves upon a foc=
al
point by means of a concave mirror," said Hall, "I saw that the k=
ey I
wanted lay in an extension of these experiments. At last I found that I cou=
ld transform
the energy of an engine into undulations of the ether, which, when they had
been concentrated upon a metallic object, like a chunk of gold, imparted to=
it
an intense charge of an apparently electric nature. Upon thus charging a
metallic body enclosed in a vacuum, I observed that the energy imparted to =
it
possessed the remarkable power of disrupting its atoms and projecting them =
off
in straight lines, very much as occurs with a kathode in a Crookes's tube.
But--and this was of supreme importance--I found that the line of projection
was directly towards the apparatus from which the impulse producing the cha=
rge
had come. In other words, I could produce two poles between which a marvell=
ous
interaction occurred. My transform=
er,
with its concentrating mirror, acted as one pole, from which energy was
transferred to the other pole, and that other pole immediately flung off at=
oms
of its own substance in the direction of the transformer. But these atoms were stopped by the gla=
ss
wall of the vacuum tube; and when I tried the experiment with the metal rem=
oved
from the vacuum, and surrounded with air, it failed utterly.
"This at first completely discouraged me,
until I suddenly remembered that the moon is in a vacuum, the great vacuum =
of
interplanetary space, and that it possesses no perceptible atmosphere of its
own. At this a great light broke around me, and I shouted 'Eureka!' Without=
hesitation
I constructed a transformer of great power, furnished with a large parabolic
mirror to transmit the waves in parallel lines, erected the machinery and
buildings here, and when all was ready for the final experiment I telegraph=
ed
for you." Prepared by these e=
xplanations
I was all on fire to see the thing tried. Hall was no less eager, and, call=
ing
in his two faithful assistants to make the final adjustments, he led the way
into what he facetiously named "the lunar chamber."
"If we fail," he remarked with a smi=
le
that had an element of worriment in it, "it will become the 'lunatic
chamber'--but no danger of that. You observe this polished silver knob,
supported by a metallic rod curved over at the top like a crane. That
constitutes the pole from which I propose to transmit the energy to the moo=
n,
and upon which I expect the storm of atoms to be centred by reflection from=
the
mirror at whose focus it is placed."
"One moment," I said. "Am I to
understand that you think that the moon is a solid mass of artemisium, and =
that
no matter where your radiant force strikes it a 'kathodic pole' will be for=
med
there from which atoms will be projected to the earth?"
"No," said Hall, "I must carefu=
lly
choose the point on the lunar surface where to operate. But that will prese=
nt
no difficulty. I made up my mind as soon as I had penetrated Syx's secret t=
hat
he obtained the metal from those mystic white streaks which radiate from Ty=
cho,
and which have puzzled the astronomers ever since the invention of telescop=
es.
I now believe those streaks to be composed of immense veins of the metal th=
at
Syx has most appropriately named artemisium, which you, of course, recogniz=
e as
being derived from the name of the Greek goddess of the moon, Artemis, whom=
the
Romans called Diana. But now to work!"
It was less than a day past the time of new mo=
on,
and the earth's satellite was too near the sun to be visible in broad dayli=
ght.
Accordingly, the mirror had to be directed by means of knowledge of the moo=
n's
place in the sky. Driven by accurate clockwork, it could be depended upon to
retain the proper direction when once set.
With breathless interest I watched the proceed=
ings
of my friend and his assistants. The strain upon the nerves of all of us was
such as could not have been borne for many hours at a stretch. When everyth=
ing had
been adjusted to his satisfaction, Hall stepped back, not without betraying=
his
excitement in flushed cheeks and flashing eyes, and pressed a lever. The
powerful engine underneath the floor instantly responded. The experiment was
begun.
"I have set it upon a point about a hundr=
ed
miles north of Tycho, where the Yerkes photographs show a great abundance o=
f the
white substance," said Hall.
Then we waited. A minute elapsed. A bird,
fluttering in the opening above, for a second or two, wrenched our strained
nerves. Hall's face turned pale.
"They had better keep away from here,&quo=
t;
he whispered, with a ghastly smile.
Two minutes! I could hear the beating of my he=
art.
The engine shook the floor.
Three minutes! Hall's face was wet with
perspiration. The bird blundered in and startled us again.
Four minutes! We were like statues, with all e=
yes
fixed on the polished ball of silver, which shone in the brilliant light co=
ncentrated
upon it by the mirror.
Five minutes! The shining ball had become a
confused blue, and I violently winked to clear my vision.
"At last! Thank God! Look! There it is!&q=
uot;
It was Hall who spoke, trembling like an aspen.
The silver knob had changed color. What seemed a miniature rainbow surround=
ed
it, with concentric circles of blinding brilliance.
Then something dropped flashing into an earthen
dish set beneath the ball! Another glittering drop followed, and, at a shor=
ter
interval, another!
Almost before a word could be uttered the drops
had coalesced and become a tiny stream, which, as it fell, twisted itself i=
nto
a bright spiral, gleaming with a hundred shifting hues, and forming on the =
bottom
of the dish a glowing, interlacing maze of viscid rings and circlets, which
turned and twined about and over one another, until they had blended and
settled into a button-shaped mass of hot metallic jelly. Hall snatched the =
dish
away, and placed another in its stead.
"This will be about right for a watch cha=
rm
when it cools," he said, with a return of his customary self-command.
"I promised you the first specimen. I'll catch another for myself.&quo=
t;
"But can it be possible that we are not
dreaming?" I exclaimed. "Do you really believe that this comes fr=
om
the moon?"
"Just as surely as rain comes from the
clouds," cried Hall, with all his old impatience. "Haven't I just
showed you the whole process?"
"Then I congratulate you. You will be as =
rich
as Dr. Syx."
"Perhaps," was the unperturbed reply,
"but not until I have enlarged my apparatus. At present I shall hardly=
do
more than supply mementoes to my friends. But since the principle is
established, the rest is mere detail."
Six weeks later the financial centres of the e=
arth
were shaken by the news that a new supply of artemisium was being marketed =
from
a mill which had been secretly opened in the Sierras of California. For a t=
ime
there was almost a panic. If Hall had chosen to do so, he might have precip=
itated
serious trouble. But he immediately entered into negotiations with governme=
nt
representatives, and the inevitable result was that, to preserve the moneta=
ry
system of the world from upheaval, Dr. Syx had to consent that Hall's mill
should share equally with his in the production of artemisium. During the
negotiations the doctor paid a visit to Hall's establishment. The meeting
between them was most dramatic. Syx tried to blast his rival with a glance,=
but
knowledge is power, and my friend faced his mysterious antagonist, whose
deepest secrets he had penetrated, with an unflinching eye. It was remarked
that Dr. Syx became a changed man from that moment. His masterful air seeme=
d to
have deserted him, and it was with something resembling humility that he as=
sented
to the arrangement which required him to share his enormous gains with his
conqueror.
Of course, Hall's success led to an immediate
recrudescence of the efforts to extract artemisium from the Syx ore, and,
equally of course, every such attempt failed. Hall, while keeping his own
secret, did all he could to discourage the experiments, but they naturally =
believed
that he must have made the very discovery which was the subject of their
dreams, and he could not, without betraying himself, and upsetting the fina=
nces
of the planet, directly undeceive them. The consequence was that fortunes w=
ere
wasted in hopeless experimentation, and, with Hall's achievement dazzling t=
heir
eyes, the deluded fortune-seekers kept on in the face of endless
disappointments and disaster.
And presently there came another tragedy. The =
Syx
mill was blown up! The accident--although many people refused to regard it =
as
an accident, and asserted that the doctor himself, in his chagrin, had appl=
ied
the match--the explosion, then, occurred about sundown, and its effects were
awful. The great works, with everything pertaining to them, and every rail =
that
they contained, were blown to atoms. They disappeared as if they had never
existed. Even the twin tunnels were involved in the ruin, a vast cavity bei=
ng
left in the mountain-side where Syx's ten acres had been. The force of the
explosion was so great that the shattered rock was reduced to dust. To this
fact was owing the escape of the troops camped near. While the mountain was=
shaken
to its core, and enormous parapets of living rock were hurled down the
precipices of the Teton, no missiles of appreciable size traversed the air,=
and
not a man at the camp was injured. But Jackson's Hole, filled with red dust,
looked for days afterwards like the mouth of a tremendous volcano just afte=
r an
eruption. Dr. Syx had been seen entering the mill a few minutes before the
catastrophe by a sentinel who was stationed about a quarter of a mile away,=
and
who, although he was felled like an ox by the shock, and had his eyes, ears,
and nostrils filled with flying dust, miraculously escaped with his life.
After this a new arrangement was made whereby
Andrew Hall became the sole producer of artemisium, and his wealth began to
mount by leaps of millions towards the starry heights of the billions.
About a year after the explosion of the Syx mi=
ll a
strange rumor got about. It came first from Budapest, in Hungary, where it =
was
averred several persons of credibility had seen Dr. Max Syx. Millions had b=
een familiar
with his face and his personal peculiarities, through actually meeting him,=
as
well as through photographs and descriptions, and, unless there was an
intention to deceive, it did not seem possible that a mistake could be made=
in
identification. There surely never was another man who looked just like Dr.
Syx. And, besides, was it not demonstrable that he must have perished in the
awful destruction of his mill?
Soon after came a report that Dr. Syx had been
seen again; this time at Ekaterinburg, in the Urals. Next he was said to ha=
ve
paid a visit to Batang, in the mountainous district of southwestern China, =
and finally,
according to rumor, he was seen in Sicily, at Nicolosi, among the volcanic
pimples on the southern slope of Mount Etna.
Next followed something of more curious and ev= en startling interest. A chemist at Budapest, where the first rumors of Syx's reappearance had placed the mysterious doctor, announced that he could prod= uce artemisium, and proved it, although he kept his process secret. Hardly had the sensation caused by this news partially subsided when a similar report arrived from Ekaterinburg; then another from Batang; after that a fourth from Nicolosi!<= o:p>
Nobody could fail to notice the coincidence;
wherever the doctor--or was it his ghost?--appeared, there, shortly afterwa=
rds,
somebody discovered the much-sought secret.
After this Syx's apparitions rapidly increased=
in
frequency, followed in each instance by the announcement of another product=
ive
artemisium mill. He appeared in Germany, Italy, France, England, and finall=
y at
many places in the United States.
"It is the old doctor's revenge," sa=
id
Hall to me one day, trying to smile, although the matter was too serious to=
be
taken humorously. "Yes, it is his revenge, and I must admit that it is=
complete.
The price of artemisium has fallen one-half within six months. All the effo=
rts
we have made to hold back the flood have proved useless. The secret itself =
is
becoming public property. We shall inevitably be overwhelmed with artemisiu=
m,
just as we were with gold, and the last condition of the financial world wi=
ll
be worse than the first."
My friend's gloomy prognostications came near
being fulfilled to the letter. Ten thousand artemisium mills shot their eth=
eric
rays upon the moon, and our unfortunate satellite's metal ribs were strippe=
d by
atomic force. Some of the great white rays that had been one of the telesco=
pic
wonders of the lunar landscapes disappeared, and the face of the moon, which
had remained unchanged before the eyes of the children of Adam from the
beginning of their race, now looked as if the blast of a furnace had swept =
it.
At night, on the moonward side, the earth was studded with brilliant spikes,
all pointed at the heart of its child in the sky.
But the looting of the moon brought disaster to
the robber planet. So mad were the efforts to get the precious metal that t=
he
surface of our globe was fairly showered with it, productive fields were, in
some cases, almost smothered under a metallic coating, the air was filled w=
ith
shining dust, until finally famine and pestilence joined hands with financi=
al
disaster to punish the grasping world.
Then, at last, the various governments took
effective measures to protect themselves and their people. Another combined
effort resulted in an international agreement whereby the production of the
precious moon metal was once more rigidly controlled. But the existence of =
a monopoly,
such as Dr. Syx had so long enjoyed, and in the enjoyment of which Andrew H=
all
had for a brief period succeeded him, was henceforth rendered impossible.
Many years after the events last recorded I sa=
t,
at the close of a brilliant autumn day, side by side with my old friend And=
rew
Hall, on a broad, vine-shaded piazza which faced the east, where the full m=
oon was
just rising above the rim of the Sierra, and replacing the rosy counter-glo=
w of
sunset with its silvery radiance. The sight was calculated to carry the min=
ds
of both back to the events of former years. But I noticed that Hall quickly
changed the position of his chair, and sat down again with his back to the
rising moon. He had managed to save some millions from the wreck of his vast
fortune when artemisium started to go to the dogs, and I was now paying him=
one
of my annual visits at his palatial home in California.
"Did I ever tell you of my last trip to t=
he
Teton?" he asked, as I continued to gaze contemplatively at the broad
lunar disk which slowly detached itself from the horizon and began to swim =
in
the clear evening sky.
"No," I replied, "but I should =
like
to hear about it."
"Or of my last sight of Dr. Syx?"
"Indeed! I did not suppose that you ever =
saw
him after that conference in your mill, when he had to surrender half of the
world to you."
"Once only I saw him again," said Ha=
ll,
with a peculiar intonation.
"Pray go ahead, and tell me the whole
story."
My friend lighted a fresh cigar, tipped his ch=
air
into a more comfortable position, and began:
"It was about seven years ago. I had long
felt an unconquerable desire to have another look at the Teton and the scen=
es
amid which so many strange events in my life had occurred. I thought of sen=
ding
for you to go with me, but I knew you were abroad much of your time, and I =
could
not be certain of catching you. Finally I decided to go alone. I travelled =
on
horseback by way of the Snake River canyon, and arrived early one morning in
Jackson's Hole. I can tell you it was a gloomy place, as barren and deserte=
d as
some of those Arabian wadies that you have been describing to me. The railr=
oad had
long ago been abandoned, and the site of the military camp could scarcely be
recognized. An immense cavity with ragged walls showed where Dr. Syx's mill
used to send up its plume of black smoke.
"As I stared up the gaunt form of the Tet=
on,
whose beetling precipices had been smashed and split by the great explosion=
, I
was seized with a resistless impulse to climb it. I thought I should like to
peer off again from that pinnacle which had once formed so fateful a watch-=
tower
for me. Turning my horse loose to graze in the grassy river bottom, and
carrying my rope tether along as a possible aid in climbing, I set out for =
the
ascent. I knew I could not get up the precipices on the eastern side, which=
we
were able to master with the aid of our balloon, and so I bore round, when I
reached the steepest cliffs, until I was on the southwestern side of the pe=
ak,
where the climbing was easier.
"But it took me a long time, and I did not
reach the rift in the summit until just before sundown. Knowing that it wou=
ld
be impossible for me to descend at night, I bethought me of the enclosure of
rocks, supposed to have been made by Indians, on the western pinnacle, and =
decided
that I could pass the night there.
"The perpendicular buttress forming the
easternmost and highest point of the Teton's head would have baffled me but=
for
the fact that I found a long crack, probably an effect of the tremendous
explosion, extending from bottom to top of the rock. Driving my toes and
fingers into this rift, I managed, with a good deal of trouble, and no litt=
le peril,
to reach the top. As I lifted myself over the edge and rose to my feet, ima=
gine
my amazement at seeing Dr. Syx standing within arm's-length of me!
"My breath seemed pent in my lungs, and I
could not even utter the exclamation that rose to my lips. It was like meet=
ing
a ghost. Notwithstanding the many reports of his having been seen in various
parts of the world, it had always been my conviction that he had perished in
the explosion.
"Yet there he stood in the twilight, for =
the
sun was hidden by the time I reached the summit, his tall form erect, and h=
is
black eyes gleaming under the heavy brows as he fixed them sternly upon my =
face.
You know I never was given to losing my nerve, but I am afraid I lost it on
that occasion. Again and again I strove to speak, but it was impossible to =
move
my tongue. So powerless seemed my lungs that I wondered how I could continue
breathing.
"The doctor remained silent, but his curi=
ous
smile, which, as you know, was a thing of terror to most people, overspread=
his
black-rimmed face and was broad enough to reveal the gleam of his teeth. I =
felt
that he was looking me through and through. The sensation was as if he had
transfixed me with an ice-cold blade. There was a gleam of devilish pleasur=
e in
his eyes, as though my evident suffering was a delight to him and a
gratification of his vengeance. At length I succeeded in overcoming the fee=
ling
which oppressed me, and, making a step forward, I shouted in a strained voi=
ce,
"'You black Satan!'
"I cannot clearly explain the psychologic=
al
process which led me to utter those words. I had never entertained any enmi=
ty
towards Dr. Syx, although I had always regarded him as a heartless person, =
who
had purposely led thousands to their ruin for his selfish gain, but I knew =
that
he could not help hating me, and I felt now that, in some inexplicable mann=
er,
a struggle, not physical, but spiritual, was taking place between us, and my
exclamation, uttered with surprising intensity, produced upon me, and
apparently upon him, the effect of a desperate sword thrust which attains i=
ts
mark.
"Immediately the doctor's form seemed to
recede, as if he had passed the verge of the precipice behind him. At the s=
ame
time it became dim, and then dimmer, until only the dark outlines, and
particularly the jet-black eyes, glaring fiercely, remained visible. And st=
ill
he receded, as though floating in the air, which was now silvered with the
evening light, until he appeared to cross the immense atmospheric gulf over
Jackson's Hole and paused on the rim of the horizon in the east.
"Then, suddenly, I became aware that the =
full
moon had risen at the very place on the distant mountain-brow where the spe=
ctre
rested, and as I continued to gaze, as if entranced, the face and figure of=
the
doctor seemed slowly to frame themselves within the lunar disk, until at la=
st
he appeared to have quitted the air and the earth and to be frowning at me =
from
the circle of the moon."
While Hall was pronouncing his closing words I=
had
begun to stare at the moon with swiftly increasing interest, until, as his
voice stopped, I exclaimed,
"Why, there he is now! Funny I never noti=
ced
it before. There's Dr. Syx's face in the moon, as plain as day."
"Yes," replied Hall, without turning
round, "and I never like to look at it."