The Washington weekly post., 1899-07-18

try 10 keep that In your mina. WV
listen to this: / have discovered how 10
disunite that force and that particle. l
can with a touch fling loose upon TINS /
earth a giant whose strength is irres!sti-
bic and immeasurable.'
Then why object TO making your as
covery public?'
'In the FIRST place, because there are
s;iIl a thousand things and more 10 oe
learned along this line or investigation
The moment a man announces his diseoN-
cries he is first ridiculed: then When 'he
truth Of what he affirns is proved tners
rise in all parts OF the world other hieH
who say thew knew all about II ten years
ago. and will prove it. too-at least Tar
enough 10 delude a gulllble world; IN the
second place. because I am humane man
I hesitate to spread broadcast kno"l-
edge that would enable any fool TO blow
up the universe. Then there is a thiru
reason. There IL another who, beleNe.
has discovered how to make this force
loosen its grip on the psrtele-tna' Is;
KeeIy. Of Philadelphia, in the United
States"
What, You mean the keely motor
man. cried Jennie. laughing. "That ar
rant humbuc, Why, all the newspapers
In the world have exposed his ridlculous
pretensions. He has done nothing ouI
spend other peoples money.
Yes the newspapers have ridiculed nlm'
Human beings have. since the beginhlt-s
OF the world. stoned their prophets New
ertheIess. Re has liberated force tha1
no gauge made by man can measure. he
has been bcastful, II you like, and mas
said that with a teacupful OF water ne
rould drive a steamship over the "-edil.
I have been silent, working away with
my eve on him. and he has been WORKING
away with his eye on me, for each KNOWS
what the other is doing. II either Of as
discovers Row 10 control this force, theb
that mans name will 20 down to poster
ity forever. He has not yet been able 10
do il; neither have |. There Is stlll an
other difference between us-he appears
TO be able to loosen that force in his OWE
presence: l can only do it at a distance.
All my experiments lately have been IN
the direction of making notifications with
this machine, so as to liberate the force
within the compass, say, OF this room; but
the problem has baffied me. The invisible
rays which this machine sends out aCd
which will penetrate stone, iron, WOOD eF
any other substance must unite al focus,
and l have not been able TO bring that
focus nearer me than something over hai1
a mile.
Last summer went to an uninhaolled
part of Switzerland and there continued
my experiments. blew up at Will rocks
and powders on the mountain SIDES, the
distances varying from mile to halt
mile examined the results or the dlslh-
tegration, and when you came in anu
showed me the gold l recognized at once
that some one had discovered the secret
have been trying TO fathOm for the last
ten years. / thought that perhaps you
had come from Keely. l am now con-
vinced that the explosion you speak OF IN
the treasury was caused by myself. Ihls
machine, which you so recklessly threat
ened to throw out of the window, acct
dentally slipped from its support when
was working here some time after mid
night on the 11th. l placed 1t Immediately
as you see it now, where it throws Its
rays into middir and Is consequently
harmless, but 1 knew an explosion must
have taken place in Vienna somewhere
within the radius of half a mile. i drew
the pencil scmicircle that you saw on the
map of Vienna, for in my excitement IN
placing the machine upright / had not
noticed exactly where il had pointed, but
knew along the line L had drawn an ex-
plosion must have occurred and could
only hope that ii had not been a serious
one, which it seems it was. l waited and
waited, hardly daring TO leave my attic,
| but hearing no news of any disaster
was torn between the anxiety that would
naturally come to any humane man in
my position-who did not wish to destroy
| life-and the fear that. if nothing had Oc-
CURED, / had not actually made the dis
| cCvery / thought ! had made. You spoke
| of my actions being childish. but when
| realized that | had myself been the cause
OF the explosion fear of criminal prose
| cution came over me. Not that / should
! object to Imprisonment if they would al
| low me to continue my experiments, but
| that doubtless they would not do. for the
! authorities know nothing of science anc
| care less.
| In spite of her initial skepticism, Jennie
| found herself gradually coming to believe
| in the efficiency of the Misunderstanding
mechanism of glass and iron that she saw
on the table before her. and a sensation
| of horror held her spellbound as sht
| gaZed at it. Its awful possibilities begaI
slowly 10 develop in her mind, and sh,
| asked breathlessly:
| What would happen IL you were q
turn that machine and point it toward tht
| center of the earth?'
| II told you what would happen Vienna
would lie in ruins, and possibly the whole
| Austrian empire and perhaps some ad
joining countries would become a mass o.
| impaipahle dust. II may be that tht
| world itself would dissolve. | cannot tel
what the magnitude of the result nigh
| be. for / have not dared to risk the ex
| pertinent"
"Oh, this is TOO frightful to thnl
| aboutT' she cried. You must destro,
the machine, professor, and you mus
never make another
What! And give up the hope that m.
name Will descend to posterity?"
Prof. Seigfried. when once this ma
! chine becomes known to the world Their
will be no posterity for your name to de
scend to. With the present hatred OF ma
tion against nation, with different coun
tries full Of those unimprisoned maniac
whom We call jingoes-men preaching tn
hatred OF one people against another
how long do you think the world will las
when once such knowledge is abroad Il
it,"
The professor looked longingly at tn
machine he had so slowly and painful
constructed.
1T would be OF mucn use TO humanit
If it were but benevolently employed
With the coalhelds everywhere diminish
: ing, it would supply a motive force 10
the universe that would last throug
| the ages"
Prof Seigfried," exclaimed Jennie, eal
: nestly. when the Lord permits know
edge of that machine 10 become commo
property il is His will that the end OF tt
world shall come"
i The professor said nothing. but stoo
with deeply wrinkled brow, gazing ca
rcstly at the mechanism. IN his han
vas the hammeT-head which he had pr
yiously given 70 the girl, His arm weT
up and down as If he were estimating I
weight Then suddenly, without a woI
Of warning, he raised II and sent Il crasl
ins through the machine. whose splinte
ing glass fell with a musical tinkle G
the floor.
Jennie gave a startled cry, and with
low moan the professor struggled 10 h
1 chair and fell rather than sat down in