XIII
THE LOOTING OF THE MOON
I shall spare the reader a recital of the tireless efforts, continuingthrough many almost sleepless weeks, whereby Andrew Hall obtained hisclew to Dr. Syx's method. It was manifest from the beginning that theagent concerned must be some form of etheric, or so-called electric,energy; but how to set it in operation was the problem. Finally he hitupon the apparatus for his initial experiments which I have alreadydescribed.
"Recurring to what had been done more than half a century ago byHertz, when he concentrated electric waves upon a focal point by meansof a concave mirror," said Hall, "I saw that the key I wanted lay inan extension of these experiments. At last I found that I couldtransform the energy of an engine into undulations of the ether,which, when they had been concentrated upon a metallic object, like achunk of gold, imparted to it an intense charge of an apparentlyelectric nature. Upon thus charging a metallic body enclosed in avacuum, I observed that the energy imparted to it possessed theremarkable power of disrupting its atoms and projecting them off instraight lines, very much as occurs with a kathode in a Crookes'stube. But--and this was of supreme importance--I found that the lineof projection was directly towards the apparatus from which theimpulse producing the charge had come. In other words, I could producetwo poles between which a marvellous interaction occurred. Mytransformer, with its concentrating mirror, acted as one pole, fromwhich energy was transferred to the other pole, and that other poleimmediately flung off atoms of its own substance in the direction ofthe transformer. But these atoms were stopped by the glass wall ofthe vacuum tube; and when I tried the experiment with the metalremoved from the vacuum, and surrounded with air, it failed utterly.
"This at first completely discouraged me, until I suddenly rememberedthat the moon is in a vacuum, the great vacuum of interplanetaryspace, and that it possesses no perceptible atmosphere of its own. Atthis a great light broke around me, and I shouted 'Eureka!' Withouthesitation I constructed a transformer of great power, furnished witha large parabolic mirror to transmit the waves in parallel lines,erected the machinery and buildings here, and when all was ready forthe final experiment I telegraphed for you." Prepared by theseexplanations I was all on fire to see the thing tried. Hall was noless eager, and, calling in his two faithful assistants to make thefinal adjustments, he led the way into what he facetiously named "thelunar chamber."
"If we fail," he remarked with a smile that had an element ofworriment in it, "it will become the 'lunatic chamber'--but no dangerof that. You observe this polished silver knob, supported by ametallic rod curved over at the top like a crane. That constitutes thepole from which I propose to transmit the energy to the moon, and uponwhich I expect the storm of atoms to be centred by reflection from themirror at whose focus it is placed."
"One moment," I said. "Am I to understand that you think that the moonis a solid mass of artemisium, and that no matter where your radiantforce strikes it a 'kathodic pole' will be formed there from whichatoms will be projected to the earth?"
"No," said Hall, "I must carefully choose the point on the lunarsurface where to operate. But that will present no difficulty. I madeup my mind as soon as I had penetrated Syx's secret that he obtainedthe metal from those mystic white streaks which radiate from Tycho,and which have puzzled the astronomers ever since the invention oftelescopes. I now believe those streaks to be composed of immenseveins of the metal that Syx has most appropriately named artemisium,which you, of course, recognize as being derived from the name of theGreek goddess of the moon, Artemis, whom the Romans called Diana. Butnow to work!"
It was less than a day past the time of new moon, and the earth'ssatellite was too near the sun to be visible in broad daylight.Accordingly, the mirror had to be directed by means of knowledge ofthe moon's place in the sky. Driven by accurate clockwork, it could bedepended upon to retain the proper direction when once set.
With breathless interest I watched the proceedings of my friend andhis assistants. The strain upon the nerves of all of us was such ascould not have been borne for many hours at a stretch. When everythinghad been adjusted to his satisfaction, Hall stepped back, not withoutbetraying his excitement in flushed cheeks and flashing eyes, andpressed a lever. The powerful engine underneath the floor instantlyresponded. The experiment was begun.
"I have set it upon a point about a hundred miles north of Tycho,where the Yerkes photographs show a great abundance of the whitesubstance," said Hall.
Then we waited. A minute elapsed. A bird, fluttering in the openingabove, for a second or two, wrenched our strained nerves. Hall's faceturned pale.
"They had better keep away from here," he whispered, with a ghastlysmile.
Two minutes! I could hear the beating of my heart. The engine shookthe floor.
Three minutes! Hall's face was wet with perspiration. The birdblundered in and startled us again.
Four minutes! We were like statues, with all eyes fixed on thepolished ball of silver, which shone in the brilliant lightconcentrated upon it by the mirror.
Five minutes! The shining ball had become a confused blue, and Iviolently winked to clear my vision.
"At last! Thank God! Look! There it is!"
It was Hall who spoke, trembling like an aspen. The silver knob hadchanged color. What seemed a miniature rainbow surrounded it, withconcentric circles of blinding brilliance.
Then something dropped flashing into an earthen dish set beneath theball! Another glittering drop followed, and, at a shorter interval,another!
Almost before a word could be uttered the drops had coalesced andbecome a tiny stream, which, as it fell, twisted itself into a brightspiral, gleaming with a hundred shifting hues, and forming on thebottom of the dish a glowing, interlacing maze of viscid rings andcirclets, which turned and twined about and over one another, untilthey had blended and settled into a button-shaped mass of hot metallicjelly. Hall snatched the dish away, and placed another in its stead.
"This will be about right for a watch charm when it cools," he said,with a return of his customary self-command. "I promised you the firstspecimen. I'll catch another for myself."
"But can it be possible that we are not dreaming?" I exclaimed. "Doyou really believe that this comes from the moon?"
"Just as surely as rain comes from the clouds," cried Hall, with allhis 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 enlargedmy apparatus. At present I shall hardly do more than supply mementoesto my friends. But since the principle is established, the rest ismere detail."
Six weeks later the financial centres of the earth were shaken by thenews that a new supply of artemisium was being marketed from a millwhich had been secretly opened in the Sierras of California. For atime there was almost a panic. If Hall had chosen to do so, he mighthave precipitated serious trouble. But he immediately entered intonegotiations with government representatives, and the inevitableresult was that, to preserve the monetary system of the world fromupheaval, Dr. Syx had to consent that Hall's mill should share equallywith his in the production of artemisium. During the negotiations thedoctor paid a visit to Hall's establishment. The meeting between themwas most dramatic. Syx tried to blast his rival with a glance, butknowledge is power, and my friend faced his mysterious antagonist,whose deepest secrets he had penetrated, with an unflinching eye. Itwas remarked that Dr. Syx became a changed man from that moment. Hismasterful air seemed to have deserted him, and it was with somethingresembling humility that he assented to the arrangement which requiredhim to share his enormous gains with his conqueror.
Of course, Hall's success led to an immediate recrudescence of theefforts to extract artemisium from the Syx ore, and, equally ofcourse, every such attempt failed. Hall, while keeping his own secret,did all he could to discourage the experiments, but they naturallybelieved that he must have made the very discovery which was
thesubject of their dreams, and he could not, without betraying himself,and upsetting the finances of the planet, directly undeceive them. Theconsequence was that fortunes were wasted in hopeless experimentation,and, with Hall's achievement dazzling their eyes, the deludedfortune-seekers kept on in the face of endless disappointments anddisaster.
And presently there came another tragedy. The Syx mill was blown up!The accident--although many people refused to regard it as anaccident, and asserted that the doctor himself, in his chagrin, hadapplied the match--the explosion, then, occurred about sundown, andits effects were awful. The great works, with everything pertaining tothem, and every rail that they contained, were blown to atoms. Theydisappeared as if they had never existed. Even the twin tunnels wereinvolved in the ruin, a vast cavity being left in the mountain-sidewhere Syx's ten acres had been. The force of the explosion was sogreat that the shattered rock was reduced to dust. To this fact wasowing the escape of the troops camped near. While the mountain wasshaken to its core, and enormous parapets of living rock were hurleddown the precipices of the Teton, no missiles of appreciable sizetraversed the air, and not a man at the camp was injured. ButJackson's Hole, filled with red dust, looked for days afterwards likethe mouth of a tremendous volcano just after an eruption. Dr. Syx hadbeen seen entering the mill a few minutes before the catastrophe by asentinel 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 withhis life.
After this a new arrangement was made whereby Andrew Hall became thesole producer of artemisium, and his wealth began to mount by leaps ofmillions towards the starry heights of the billions.
About a year after the explosion of the Syx mill a strange rumor gotabout. It came first from Budapest, in Hungary, where it was averredseveral persons of credibility had seen Dr. Max Syx. Millions had beenfamiliar with his face and his personal peculiarities, throughactually meeting him, as well as through photographs and descriptions,and, unless there was an intention to deceive, it did not seempossible that a mistake could be made in identification. There surelynever was another man who looked just like Dr. Syx. And, besides, wasit not demonstrable that he must have perished in the awfuldestruction of his mill?
Soon after came a report that Dr. Syx had been seen again; this timeat Ekaterinburg, in the Urals. Next he was said to have paid a visitto Batang, in the mountainous district of southwestern China, andfinally, according to rumor, he was seen in Sicily, at Nicolosi, amongthe volcanic pimples on the southern slope of Mount Etna.
Next followed something of more curious and even startling interest. Achemist at Budapest, where the first rumors of Syx's reappearance hadplaced the mysterious doctor, announced that he could produceartemisium, and proved it, although he kept his process secret. Hardlyhad the sensation caused by this news partially subsided when asimilar report arrived from Ekaterinburg; then another from Batang;after that a fourth from Nicolosi!
Nobody could fail to notice the coincidence; wherever the doctor--orwas it his ghost?--appeared, there, shortly afterwards, somebodydiscovered the much-sought secret.
After this Syx's apparitions rapidly increased in frequency, followedin each instance by the announcement of another productive artemisiummill. He appeared in Germany, Italy, France, England, and finally atmany places in the United States.
"It is the old doctor's revenge," said Hall to me one day, trying tosmile, although the matter was too serious to be taken humorously."Yes, it is his revenge, and I must admit that it is complete. Theprice of artemisium has fallen one-half within six months. All theefforts we have made to hold back the flood have proved useless. Thesecret itself is becoming public property. We shall inevitably beoverwhelmed with artemisium, just as we were with gold, and the lastcondition of the financial world will be worse than the first."
My friend's gloomy prognostications came near being fulfilled to theletter. Ten thousand artemisium mills shot their etheric rays upon themoon, and our unfortunate satellite's metal ribs were stripped byatomic force. Some of the great white rays that had been one of thetelescopic wonders of the lunar landscapes disappeared, and the faceof the moon, which had remained unchanged before the eyes of thechildren of Adam from the beginning of their race, now looked as ifthe blast of a furnace had swept it. At night, on the moonward side,the earth was studded with brilliant spikes, all pointed at the heartof its child in the sky.
But the looting of the moon brought disaster to the robber planet. Somad were the efforts to get the precious metal that the surface of ourglobe was fairly showered with it, productive fields were, in somecases, almost smothered under a metallic coating, the air was filledwith shining dust, until finally famine and pestilence joined handswith financial disaster to punish the grasping world.
Then, at last, the various governments took effective measures toprotect themselves and their people. Another combined effort resultedin an international agreement whereby the production of the preciousmoon metal was once more rigidly controlled. But the existence of amonopoly, such as Dr. Syx had so long enjoyed, and in the enjoyment ofwhich Andrew Hall had for a brief period succeeded him, was henceforthrendered impossible.
XIV
THE LAST OF DR. SYX
Many years after the events last recorded I sat, at the close of abrilliant autumn day, side by side with my old friend Andrew Hall, ona broad, vine-shaded piazza which faced the east, where the full moonwas just rising above the rim of the Sierra, and replacing the rosycounter-glow of sunset with its silvery radiance. The sight wascalculated to carry the minds of both back to the events of formeryears. But I noticed that Hall quickly changed the position of hischair, and sat down again with his back to the rising moon. He hadmanaged to save some millions from the wreck of his vast fortune whenartemisium started to go to the dogs, and I was now paying him one ofmy annual visits at his palatial home in California.
"Did I ever tell you of my last trip to the Teton?" he asked, as Icontinued to gaze contemplatively at the broad lunar disk which slowlydetached itself from the horizon and began to swim in the clearevening 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 conferencein your mill, when he had to surrender half of the world to you."
"Once only I saw him again," said Hall, with a peculiar intonation.
"Pray go ahead, and tell me the whole story."
My friend lighted a fresh cigar, tipped his chair into a morecomfortable position, and began:
"It was about seven years ago. I had long felt an unconquerable desireto have another look at the Teton and the scenes amid which so manystrange events in my life had occurred. I thought of sending for youto go with me, but I knew you were abroad much of your time, and Icould not be certain of catching you. Finally I decided to go alone. Itravelled on horseback by way of the Snake River canyon, and arrivedearly one morning in Jackson's Hole. I can tell you it was a gloomyplace, as barren and deserted as some of those Arabian wadies that youhave been describing to me. The railroad had long ago been abandoned,and the site of the military camp could scarcely be recognized. Animmense cavity with ragged walls showed where Dr. Syx's mill used tosend up its plume of black smoke.
"As I stared up the gaunt form of the Teton, whose beetling precipiceshad been smashed and split by the great explosion, I was seized with aresistless impulse to climb it. I thought I should like to peer offagain from that pinnacle which had once formed so fateful awatch-tower for me. Turning my horse loose to graze in the grassyriver bottom, and carrying my rope tether along as a possible aid inclimbing, I set out for the ascent. I knew I could not get up theprecipices on the eastern side, which we were able to master with theaid of our balloon, and so I bore round, when I reached the steepestcliffs, until I was on the southwestern side of the peak, where theclimbing was easier.
"But it took me
a long time, and I did not reach the rift in thesummit until just before sundown. Knowing that it would be impossiblefor me to descend at night, I bethought me of the enclosure of rocks,supposed to have been made by Indians, on the western pinnacle, anddecided that I could pass the night there.
"The perpendicular buttress forming the easternmost and highest pointof the Teton's head would have baffled me but for the fact that Ifound a long crack, probably an effect of the tremendous explosion,extending from bottom to top of the rock. Driving my toes and fingersinto this rift, I managed, with a good deal of trouble, and no littleperil, to reach the top. As I lifted myself over the edge and rose tomy feet, imagine my amazement at seeing Dr. Syx standing withinarm's-length of me!
"My breath seemed pent in my lungs, and I could not even utter theexclamation that rose to my lips. It was like meeting aghost. Notwithstanding the many reports of his having been seen invarious parts of the world, it had always been my conviction that hehad perished in the explosion.
"Yet there he stood in the twilight, for the sun was hidden by thetime I reached the summit, his tall form erect, and his black eyesgleaming under the heavy brows as he fixed them sternly upon myface. You know I never was given to losing my nerve, but I am afraid Ilost it on that occasion. Again and again I strove to speak, but itwas impossible to move my tongue. So powerless seemed my lungs that Iwondered how I could continue breathing.
"The doctor remained silent, but his curious smile, which, as youknow, was a thing of terror to most people, overspread hisblack-rimmed face and was broad enough to reveal the gleam of histeeth. I felt that he was looking me through and through. Thesensation was as if he had transfixed me with an ice-cold blade. Therewas a gleam of devilish pleasure in his eyes, as though my evidentsuffering was a delight to him and a gratification of hisvengeance. At length I succeeded in overcoming the feeling whichoppressed me, and, making a step forward, I shouted in a strainedvoice,
"'You black Satan!'
"I cannot clearly explain the psychological process which led me toutter those words. I had never entertained any enmity towards Dr. Syx,although I had always regarded him as a heartless person, who hadpurposely led thousands to their ruin for his selfish gain, but I knewthat he could not help hating me, and I felt now that, in someinexplicable manner, a struggle, not physical, but spiritual, wastaking place between us, and my exclamation, uttered with surprisingintensity, produced upon me, and apparently upon him, the effect of adesperate sword thrust which attains its mark.
"Immediately the doctor's form seemed to recede, as if he had passedthe verge of the precipice behind him. At the same time it became dim,and then dimmer, until only the dark outlines, and particularly thejet-black eyes, glaring fiercely, remained visible. And still hereceded, as though floating in the air, which was now silvered withthe evening light, until he appeared to cross the immense atmosphericgulf over Jackson's Hole and paused on the rim of the horizon in theeast.
"Then, suddenly, I became aware that the full moon had risen at thevery place on the distant mountain-brow where the spectre rested, andas I continued to gaze, as if entranced, the face and figure of thedoctor seemed slowly to frame themselves within the lunar disk, untilat last he appeared to have quitted the air and the earth and to befrowning at me from the circle of the moon."
While Hall was pronouncing his closing words I had begun to stare atthe moon with swiftly increasing interest, until, as his voicestopped, I exclaimed,
"Why, there he is now! Funny I never noticed it before. There'sDr. Syx's face in the moon, as plain as day."
"Yes," replied Hall, without turning round, "and I never like to lookat it."
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends