Ellsworth American., 1915-12-08

tory to turn out as much work as pos
pible. New hands were introduced, and
large quantities Of stock from which
the product was evolved were brought
in. With the order came the news
that Germany had declared war
against Russia.
Peter, who by this time was in ex
elusive charge Of the explosive sub
stance for shells and could use any
process he chose, manufactured a lot
Of shell explosive by his newly discov-
cred process. This went into shells
which were sent to the front Peter,
who could not make any tests without
giving away his secret, waited for
report of how his explosive worked,
or. rather, to hear If there was any
complaint. None came. Then he sent
out some powder manufactured by the
old process. Very soon report came
that proportion Of these shells would
not explode.
Then Peter went to the governor Of
the works and told him that he had
invented powder for shells that had
worked perfectly. The governor at
tempted to get the secret, but Peter
kept it. This he could easily do since
there was one ingredient the nature Of
which no one knew but himself. He
offered to sell the formula. to the gov
ernment provided that In addition to
the price paid he should be free to
leave the factory.
Graft predominates in Russia. and
the governor determined to force Pc
ter's secret from him to use 1t for his
own benefit. He put Peter in irons In
a dungeon and on bread and water.
1t is quite likely that Peter would
have given way under this treatment
had 1t not been that by holding out he
might secure his terms. If he did he
could marry Marya, who had assured
him that she would never be the wife
Of any one else. If he did not succeed
death might relieve him of his impris-
onment.
Complaints came SO thick and fast
OF the shells sent out from the fac
tory that one day the governor ordered
Peter to be brought to his Office.
When he arrived all others were or
dered out, and when the two were
alone together the governor said:
81 have concluded to recommend to
the government to buy your formula.
How much do you ask for it?"
"Ten thousand rubles."
Every well; it will be paid. My COM
mission will be one-half."
II will pay no commission. A man
who bribes a government official is as
culpable as that official"
You will think better of this" said
the governor go back to your dun
geon."
Peter returned to his dungeon. He
was full Of expedients and endeavored
to find one by which he could COM
municate with Marya. He could write
to her, Abut all letters from those in
side the factory were examined by
censor. Peter induced the man who
brought him his food to bring also writ
ing material and bottle on the shelves
in the laboratory, giving him the name
on the label. Upon receiving them Pc
ter wrote letter to Marya in ordinary
ink and across its face with the chem
vented a new explosive, but was pre-
vented from using it. What was writ
ten in plain ink contained this sentence:
I'VE are suffering with the heat" This
was to convey an instruction to Marya
to heat his letter.
Now, the message that Peter had
written across the face of his letter in
the chemical that had been brought
him was invisible, but by being heated
it came out plainly in visible letters.
The censor who read the letters that
went out, reading Peters letter, noticed
the words 1--WE are suffering with the
heat" but could not understand them
because it is seldom warm in Russia.
He sent for Peter and asked him what
he meant by writing that it was warm.
Peter said he had made d mistake, and,
drawing a pen over the word heat, he
wrote ''cold," but the word heat was
not erased.
Marya did not need the hint, for she
read the letter by the light of blazing
lOkS, anu uuuCA thC WalbtA thC AhCo-
sage came out in dark brown letters.
She thought long while about this
communication, but, not realizing its
full import, took it to her father. He
saw in it more than she did, but could
suggest nothing.
One morning Marya was missing.
She had saved little money, which
was missing also. She had started to
Petrograd, using the money to pay her
way so far as it would go. When she
reached the capital she saw no way to
give Peters letter to the czar. Learn
ing the hour that he reached the pal
ace, she tied the letter to stone and.
standing on the sidewalk behind the
line Of soldiers, tossed it into his car
riage. The czar, thinking it was Pc
tition, handed it to an attendant to ex-
anime.
One day Peter was taken from his
dungeon and led up to the governors