Part 1 (2/2)

Edestone laughed good-naturedly. ”It is lucky that my photographs were able to speak for me.”

”Yes,” the Secretary a.s.sented. ”As you probably have recognized, I am not a scientist, and all your formulae and explanations were about as so much Greek to me, but those photographs of yours were most convincing, and prove to me how simple are the greatest of discoveries. I fancy,” he added slyly, ”that they will penetrate even the intelligence of a monarch.”

”Ah!” He rubbed his hands together. ”I can imagine the chagrin and fury of those war lords when they find themselves so unexpectedly called to time, while your device is held over the nations like a policeman's club, with America as its custodian. What a thought!

Universal dominion for our country; Universal Peace!”

Some sense of opposition on the part of his companion aroused him, and he levelled a quick and searching glance at the other.

”That is your intention, is it not, Mr. Edestone?” he demanded. ”That, upon the completion of your present mission, the Government shall take over this discovery of yours?”

Edestone moved uneasily in his seat. He had naturally antic.i.p.ated this question, and yet he was unprepared to meet it.

The Secretary frowned and repeated his question. ”That is your intention, is it not?”

Hesitating no longer the inventor answered quietly:

”Mr. Secretary, I yield to no man in my devotion to my country, but I am one of those who believe that the highest form of patriotism is to seek the best interest of mankind, and standing on that I tell you frankly that I cannot at this time answer your question. Just now I look no farther than the end of this brutal war. After that is accomplished it will be time enough for me to decide the ultimate disposition of my invention. Its secret is now known to no living soul but myself, and is so simple that it requires no written record to preserve it, and would die with me. It is the result, it is true, of many years of hard work, but the finished product I can and often do carry in my waistcoat pocket.

”Do not misunderstand me,” he lifted his hand as the Secretary endeavoured to break in. ”I thoroughly realize the responsibility of my position and that my great wealth is a sacred trust. Upon the answer to the question you have just put to me depends the destiny of the world, whether it is answered by myself at this time or by others in the future. Exactly what I will do when the time comes I cannot say, but I will tell you this much, that in reaching a decision I will call to my a.s.sistance men like yourself and abide by whatever course the majority of them may dictate.”

”But, my dear young fellow, that will not do.” The Secretary shook his head. ”You are called upon to answer my question right here and now.”

He dropped his bland and diplomatic manner as he spoke, and with his jaw thrust forward showed himself the unyielding autocrat, who, in the rough and tumble of politics, had ruled his party with a rod of iron.

This man whose wonderful talents and personality had fitted him for his chosen position of champion of the plain people, and whose great motive power, against all odds, that had forced him into the first place in their hearts, was his sincere and honest love of office.

He had now a.s.sumed a rather boisterous and bullying tone, showing that perhaps his great love for the rougher elements of society was due to the fact that in the process of evolution he himself was not far removed from the very plain people.

”You have been talking pretty loud about using the 'big stick' over on the other side,” he went on sternly, ”but that big-stick business you will find is a thing that works two ways. Suppose then I should tell you, 'No answer to my question, no credentials.' What would you have to say?”

”I should say,” Edestone's face was set, ”simply this, Mr. Secretary, if I must speak in the language of the people in order that you may understand me: 'I should like very much to have your backing in the game, but if you are going to sit on the opposite side of the table, I hold three kings and two emperors in my hand, and I challenge you to a show-down.' I should further say that, credentials or no credentials, I am leaving tomorrow on the _Ivernia_, and that inasmuch as I have a taxi at the door, and a special train held for me at the Union Station, I must bid you good-day, and leave you to your watchful waiting, while I work alone.”

He rose from his seat, and with a bow started for the door.

”Hold on there, young fellow, keep your coat on!” the Secretary shouted, throwing his head back and laughing loud enough to be heard over on the Virginia sh.o.r.es. ”You remind me of one of those gentle breezes out home, which after it has dropped the cow-shed into the front parlour and changed your Post-Office address, seems always to sort of clear up the atmosphere. When one of them comes along we generally allow it to have its own way. It doesn't matter much whether we do or not, it will take it anyhow. I never play cards, but what you say about having a few kings in your pants' pocket seems to be pretty nearly true. You are made of the real stuff, and if you can do all the things that you say you can do, and I believe you can, nothing will stop you.”

”In that case,” said Edestone, resuming his seat, ”I suppose I may as well wait for my credentials.”

And in due time he got them, the presentation being made by the Secretary to the edification of the Baptist School children and the Methodist Soldiers of Temperance and a score of adoring admirers. Then with a hasty farewell to the officials of the State Department, this emissary of peace started on his hurried rush to New York.

His taxi, which he had held since seven o'clock that morning, broke all speed regulations in getting to the station, and the man was well paid for his pains.

Edestone found his Special coupled up and waiting for him. He always travelled in specials, and they always waited for him. In fact, everything waited for him, and he waited for no one. When he engaged a taxi he never discharged it until he went to bed or left the town. It was related of him that on one occasion he had directed the taxi to wait for him at Charing Cross Station, and returning from Paris three days later had allowed his old friend, the cabby, who knew him well, a s.h.i.+lling an hour as a _pourboire_. He claimed that his mind worked smoothly as long as it could run ahead without waits, but that as soon as it had to halt for anything--a cab, a train, or a slower mind to catch up--it got from under his control and it took hours to get it back again.

To him money was only to be spent. He would say: ”I spend money because that calls for no mental effort, and saving is not worth the trouble that it requires.”

A big husky chap, thirty-four years old, with the const.i.tution of an ox, the mind of a superman, the simplicity of a child: that was John Fulton Edestone. He insisted that his discovery was an accident that might have befallen anyone, and counted as nothing the years of endless experiments and the millions of dollars he had spent in bringing it to perfection. He was a dreamer, and had used his colossal income and at times his princ.i.p.al in putting his dreams into iron and steel.

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