II
THE MAGICIAN OF SCIENCE
An attendant entered the room where the perplexed financiers were insession and presented a peculiar-looking card to the president,Mr. Boon. The president took the card in his hand and instantly fellinto a brown study. So complete was his absorption that Herr Finster,the celebrated Berlin banker, who had been addressing the chair forthe last two hours from the opposite end of the long table, gotconfused, entirely lost track of his verb, and suddenly dropped intohis seat, very red in the face and wearing a most injured expression.
But President Boon paid no attention except to the singular card,which he continued to turn over and over, balancing it on his fingersand holding it now at arm's-length and then near his nose, with oneeye squinted as if he were trying to look through a hole in the card.
At length this odd conduct of the presiding officer drew all eyes uponthe card, and then everybody shared the interest of Mr. Boon. In shapeand size the card was not extraordinary, but it was composed ofmetal. What metal? That question had immediately arisen in Mr. Boon'smind when the card came into his hand, and now it exercised the witsof all the others. Plainly it was not tin, brass, copper, bronze,silver, aluminum--although its lightness might have suggested thatmetal--nor even base gold.
The president, although a skilled metallurgist, confessed hisinability to say what it was. So intent had he become in examining thecurious bit of metal that he forgot it was a visitor's card ofintroduction, and did not even look for the name which it presumablybore.
As he held the card up to get a better light upon it a stray sunbeamfrom the window fell across the metal and instantly it bloomed withexquisite colors! The president's chair being in the darker end ofthe room, the radiant card suffused the atmosphere about him with afaint rose tint, playing with surprising liveliness into alternatecanary color and violet.
The effect upon the company of clear-headed financiers was extremelyremarkable. The unknown metal appeared to exercise a kind of mesmericinfluence, its soft hues blending together in a chromatic harmonywhich captivated the sense of vision as the ears are charmed by aperfectly rendered song. Gradually all gathered in an eager grouparound the president's chair.
"What can it be?" was repeated from lip to lip.
"Did you ever see anything like it?" asked Mr. Boon for the twentiethtime.
None of them had ever seen the like of it. A spell fell upon theassemblage. For five minutes no one spoke, while Mr. Boon continued tochase the flickering sunbeam with the wonderful card. Suddenly thesilence was broken by a voice which had a touch of awe in it:
"It must be the metal!"
The speaker was an English financier, First Lord of the Treasury,Hon. James Hampton-Jones, K.C.B. Immediately everybody echoed hisremark, and the strain being thus relieved, the spell dropped fromthem and several laughed loudly over their momentary aberration.
President Boon recollected himself, and, coloring slightly, placed thecard flat on the table, in order more clearly to see the name. Inplain red letters it stood forth with such surprising distinctnessthat Mr. Boon wondered why he had so long overlooked it.
"DR. MAX SYX."
"Tell the gentleman to come in," said the president, and thereupon theattendant threw open the door.
The owner of the mysterious card fixed every eye as he entered. He wasseveral inches more than six feet in height. His complexion was verydark, his eyes were intensely black, bright, and deep-set, hiseyebrows were bushy and up-curled at the ends, his sable hair wasclose-trimmed, and his ears were narrow, pointed at the top, andprominent. He wore black mustaches, covering only half the width ofhis lip and drawn into projecting needles on each side, while a spikedblack beard adorned the middle of his chin.
He smiled as he stepped confidently forward, with a courtly bow, butit was a very disconcerting smile, because it more than half resembleda sneer. This uncommon person did not wait to be addressed.
"I have come to solve your problem," he said, facing President Boon,who had swung round on his pivoted chair.
"The metal!" exclaimed everybody in a breath, and with a unanimity andexcitement which would have astonished them if they had beenspectators instead of actors of the scene. The tall stranger bowed andsmiled again:
"Just so," he said. "What do you think of it?"
"It is beautiful!"
Again the reply came from every mouth simultaneously, and again if thespeakers could have been listeners they would have wondered not onlyat their earnestness, but at their words, for why should theyinstantly and unanimously pronounce that beautiful which they had noteven seen? But every man knew he had seen it, for instinctively theirminds reverted to the card and recognized in it the metal referredto. The mesmeric spell seemed once more to fall upon the assemblage,for the financiers noticed nothing remarkable in the next act of thestranger, which was to take a chair, uninvited, at the table, and themoment he sat down he became the presiding officer as naturally as ifhe had just been elected to that post. They all waited for him tospeak, and when he opened his mouth they listened with breathlessattention.
His words were of the best English, but there was some peculiarity,which they had already noticed, either in his voice or his manner ofenunciation, which struck all of the listeners as denoting aforeigner. But none of them could satisfactorily place him. Neitherthe Americans, the Englishmen, the Germans, the Frenchmen, theRussians, the Austrians, the Italians, the Spaniards, the Turks, theJapanese, or the Chinese at the board could decide to what race ornationality the stranger belonged.
"This metal," he began, taking the card from Mr. Boon's hand, "I havediscovered and named. I call it 'artemisium.' I can produce it, in thepure form, abundantly enough to replace gold, giving it the samerelative value that gold possessed when it was the universalstandard."
As Dr. Syx spoke he snapped the card with his thumb-nail and itfluttered with quivering hues like a humming-bird hovering over aflower. He seemed to await a reply, and President Boon asked:
"What guarantee can you give that the supply would be adequate andcontinuous?"
"I will conduct a committee of this congress to my mine in the RockyMountains, where, in anticipation of the event, I have accumulatedenough refined artemisium to provide every civilized land with anamount of coin equivalent to that which it formerly held in gold. Ican there satisfy you of my ability to maintain the production."
"But how do we know that this metal of yours will answer the purpose?"
"Try it," was the laconic reply.
"There is another difficulty," pursued the president. "People will notaccept a new metal in place of gold unless they are convinced that itpossesses equal intrinsic value. They must first become familiar withit, and it must be abundant enough and desirable enough to be usedsparingly in the arts, just as gold was."
"I have provided for all that," said the stranger, with one of hisdisconcerting smiles. "I assure you that there will be no trouble withthe people. They will be only too eager to get and to use themetal. Let me show you."
He stepped to the door and immediately returned with two blackattendants bearing a large tray filled with articles shaped from thesame metal as that of which the card was composed. The financiers alljumped to their feet with exclamations of surprise and admiration, andgathered around the tray, whose dazzling contents lighted up thecorner of the room where it had been placed as if the moon wereshining there.
There were elegantly formed vases, adorned with artistic figures,embossed and incised, and glowing with delicate colors which shimmeredin tiny waves with the slightest motion of the tray. Cups, pins,finger-rings, earrings, watch-chains, combs, studs, lockets, medals,tableware, models of coins--in brief, almost every article in thefabrication of which precious metals have been employed was to be seenthere in profusion, and all composed of the strange new metal whicheverybody on the spot declared was far more splendid than gold.
"Do you think it will answer?" asked Dr. Syx.
"We do," was the unanimous reply.
All then resumed their seats at the table, the tray with itsmagnificent array having been placed in the centre of the board. Thisdisplay had a remarkable influence. Confidence awoke in the breasts ofthe financiers. The dark clouds that had oppressed them rolled off,and the prospect grew decidedly brighter.
"What terms do you demand?" at length asked Mr. Boon, cheerfullyrubbing his hands.
"I must have military protection for my mine and reducing works,"replied Dr. Syx. "Then I shall ask the return of one per cent, on thecirculating medium, together with the privilege of disposing of acertain amount of the metal--to be limited by agreement--to the publicfor use in the arts. Of the proceeds of this sale I will pay ten percent. to the government in consideration of its protection."
"But," exclaimed President Boon, "that will make you the richest manwho ever lived!"
"Undoubtedly," was the reply.
"Why," added Mr. Boon, opening his eyes wider as the facts continuedto dawn upon him, "you will become the financial dictator of the wholeearth!"
"Undoubtedly," again responded Dr. Syx, unmoved. "That is what Ipurpose to become. My discovery entitles me to no less. But, remember,I place myself under government inspection and restriction. I shouldnot be allowed to flood the market, even if I were disposed to doso. But my own interest would restrain me. It is to my advantage thatartemisium, once adopted, shall remain stable in value."
A shadow of doubt suddenly crossed the president's face.
"Suppose your secret is discovered," he said. "Surely your mine willnot remain the only one. If you, in so short a time, have been able toaccumulate an immense quantity of the new metal, it must be extremelyabundant. Others will discover it, and then where shall we be?"
While Mr. Boon uttered these words, those who were watching Dr. Syx(as the president was not) resembled persons whose startled eyes arefixed upon a wild beast preparing to spring. As Mr. Boon ceasedspeaking he turned towards the visitor, and instantly his lips fellapart and his face paled.
Dr. Syx had drawn himself up to his full stature, and his featureswere distorted with that peculiar mocking smile which had now returnedwith a concentrated expression of mingled self-confidence and disdain.
"Will you have relief, or not?" he asked in a dry, hard voice. "Whatcan you do? I alone possess the secret which can restore industry andcommerce. If you reject my offer, do you think a second one willcome?"
President Boon found voice to reply, stammeringly:
"I did not mean to suggest a rejection of the offer. I only wished toinquire if you thought it probable that there would be no repetitionof what occurred after gold was found at the south pole?"
"The earth may be full of my metal," returned Dr. Syx, almostfiercely, "but so long as I alone possess the knowledge how to extractit, is it of any more worth than common dirt? But come," he added,after a pause and softening his manner, "I have other schemes. Willyou, as representatives of the leading nations, undertake theintroduction of artemisium as a substitute for gold, or will you not?"
"Can we not have time for deliberation?" asked President Boon.
"Yes, one hour. Within that time I shall return to learn yourdecision," replied Dr. Syx, rising and preparing to depart. "I leavethese things," pointing to the tray, "in your keeping, and,"significantly, "I trust your decision will be a wise one."
His curious smile again curved his lips and shot the ends of hismustache upward, and the influence of that smile remained in the roomwhen he had closed the door behind him. The financiers gazed at oneanother for several minutes in silence, then they turned towards thecoruscating metal that filled the tray.