Part 11 (1/2)
And that powder is the base of all things; it is the mother of all the elements; it is, in short, the substance whose existence has been recently surmised by a leading chemist, and which has been christened protyle by him. I am the discoverer of the great law of the electrical transposition of the metals, and I am the first to demonstrate protyle, so that, I think, Robert, if all my schemes in other directions come to nothing, my name is at least likely to live in the chemical world.
”There is not very much more for me to tell you. I had my nugget back from my friend the jeweller, confirming my opinion as to its nature and its quality. I soon found several methods by which the process might be simplified, and especially a modification of the ordinary electric current, which was very much more effective. Having made a certain amount of gold, I disposed of it for a sum which enabled me to buy improved materials and stronger batteries. In this way I enlarged my operations until at last I was in a position to build this house and to have a laboratory where I could carry out my work on a much larger scale. As I said before, I can now state with all truth that the amount of my income is only limited by my desires.”
”It is wonderful!” gasped Robert. ”It is like a fairy tale. But with this great discovery in your mind you must have been sorely tempted to confide it to others.”
”I thought well over it. I gave it every consideration. It was obvious to me that if my invention were made public, its immediate result would be to deprive the present precious metals of all their special value.
Some other substance--amber, we will say, or ivory--would be chosen as a medium for barter, and gold would be inferior to bra.s.s, as being heavier and yet not so hard. No one would be the better for such a consummation as that. Now, if I retained my secret, and used it with wisdom, I might make myself the greatest benefactor to mankind that has ever lived. Those were the chief reasons, and I trust that they are not dishonourable ones, which led me to form the resolution, which I have today for the first time broken.”
”But your secret is safe with me,” cried Robert. ”My lips shall be sealed until I have your permission to speak.”
”If I had not known that I could trust you I should have withheld it from your knowledge. And now, my dear Robert, theory is very weak work, and practice is infinitely more interesting. I have given you more than enough of the first. If you will be good enough to accompany me to the laboratory I shall give you a little of the latter.”
CHAPTER XI. A CHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION.
Raffles Haw led the way through the front door, and crossing over the gravelled drive pushed open the outer door of the laboratory--the same through which the McIntyres had seen the packages conveyed from the waggon. On pa.s.sing through it Robert found that they were not really within the building, but merely in a large bare ante-chamber, around the walls of which were stacked the very objects which had aroused his curiosity and his father's speculations. All mystery had gone from them now, however, for while some were still wrapped in their sackcloth coverings, others had been undone, and revealed themselves as great pigs of lead.
”There is my raw material,” said Raffles Haw carelessly, nodding at the heap. ”Every Sat.u.r.day I have a waggon-load sent up, which serves me for a week, but we shall need to work double tides when Laura and I are married, and we get our great schemes under way. I have to be very careful about the quality of the lead, for, of course, every impurity is reproduced in the gold.”
A heavy iron door led into the inner chamber. Haw unlocked it, but only to disclose a second one about five feet further on.
”This flooring is all disconnected at night,” he remarked. ”I have no doubt that there is a good deal of gossip in the servants'-hall about this sealed chamber, so I have to guard myself against some inquisitive ostler or too adventurous butler.”
The inner door admitted them into the laboratory, a high, bare, whitewashed room with a gla.s.s roof. At one end was the furnace and boiler, the iron mouth of which was closed, though the fierce red light beat through the cracks, and a dull roar sounded through the building.
On either side innumerable huge Leyden jars stood ranged in rows, tier topping tier, while above them were columns of Voltaic cells. Robert's eyes, as he glanced around, lit on vast wheels, complicated networks of wire, stands, test-tubes, coloured bottles, graduated gla.s.ses, Bunsen burners, porcelain insulators, and all the varied _debris_ of a chemical and electrical workshop.
”Come across here,” said Raffles Haw, picking his way among the heaps of metal, the c.o.ke, the packing-cases, and the carboys of acid. ”Yours is the first foot except my own which has ever penetrated to this room since the workmen left it. My servants carry the lead into the ante-room, but come no further. The furnace can be cleaned and stoked from without. I employ a fellow to do nothing else. Now take a look in here.”
He threw open a door on the further side, and motioned to the young artist to enter. The latter stood silent with one foot over the threshold, staring in amazement around him. The room, which may have been some thirty feet square, was paved and walled with gold. Great brick-shaped ingots, closely packed, covered the whole floor, while on every side they were reared up in compact barriers to the very ceiling.
The single electric lamp which lighted the windowless chamber struck a dull, murky, yellow light from the vast piles of precious metal, and gleamed ruddily upon the golden floor.
”This is my treasure house,” remarked the owner. ”You see that I have rather an acc.u.mulation just now. My imports have been exceeding my exports. You can understand that I have other and more important duties even than the making of gold, just now. This is where I store my output until I am ready to send it off. Every night almost I am in the habit of sending a case of it to London. I employ seventeen brokers in its sale.
Each thinks that he is the only one, and each is dying to know where I can get such large quant.i.ties of virgin gold. They say that it is the purest which comes into the market. The popular theory is, I believe, that I am a middleman acting on behalf of some new South African mine, which wishes to keep its whereabouts a secret. What value would you put upon the gold in this chamber? It ought to be worth something, for it represents nearly a week's work.”
”Something fabulous, I have no doubt,” said Robert, glancing round at the yellow barriers. ”Shall I say a hundred and fifty thousand pounds?”
”Oh dear me, it is surely worth very much more than that,” cried Raffles Haw, laughing. ”Let me see. Suppose that we put it at three ten an ounce, which is nearly ten s.h.i.+llings under the mark. That makes, roughly, fifty-six pounds for a pound in weight. Now each of these ingots weighs thirty-six pounds, which brings their value to two thousand and a few odd pounds. There are five hundred ingots on each of these three sides of the room, but on the fourth there are only three hundred, on account of the door, but there cannot be less than two hundred on the floor, which gives us a rough total of two thousand ingots. So you see, my dear boy, that any broker who could get the contents of this chamber for four million pounds would be doing a nice little stroke of business.”
”And a week's work!” gasped Robert. ”It makes my head swim.”
”You will follow me now when I repeat that none of the great schemes which I intend to simultaneously set in motion are at all likely to languish for want of funds. Now come into the laboratory with me and see how it is done.”
In the centre of the workroom was an instrument like a huge vice, with two large bra.s.s-coloured plates, and a great steel screw for bringing them together. Numerous wires ran into these metal plates, and were attached at the other end to the rows of dynamic machines. Beneath was a gla.s.s stand, which was hollowed out in the centre into a succession of troughs.
”You will soon understand all about it,” said Raffles Haw, throwing off his coat, and pulling on a smoke-stained and dirty linen jacket. ”We must first stoke up a little.” He put his weight on a pair of great bellows, and an answering roar came from the furnace. ”That will do. The more heat the more electric force, and the quicker our task. Now for the lead! Just give me a hand in carrying it.”
They lifted a dozen of the pigs of lead from the floor on to the gla.s.s stand, and having adjusted the plates on either side, Haw screwed up the handle so as to hold them in position.
”It used in the early days to be a slow process,” he remarked; ”but now that I have immense facilities for my work it takes a very short time. I have now only to complete the connection in order to begin.”