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Will he be able to resist the temptation if they offer him the exorbitant price that he demands? Has he any idea of the value of money? These wretches may dazzle him with the gold that they have accumulated by years of rapine. In the present state of his mind may he not be induced to disclose the composition of his fulgurator?
Therefore, ere we can quit Back Cup and carry away our plunder, we shall have to defend ourselves by means of Roch's fulgurator." In my opinion the rascals must have gone on to reason still further in this wise: "Is there any connection between the disclosure of our secret if it was, and however it may have been made and the double abduction from Healthful House?
"Providing," I said, "that Thomas Roch has sold you the composition of his deflagrator as he has sold you that of his fulgurator." "That he has done, Mr. Hart, and it behooves me to set your mind at rest upon that point."
But might not the inventor be exaggerating, notwithstanding that the tests of other engines he had conceived had proved incontestably that they were all he had claimed them to be? This, experiment could alone show, and it was precisely here where the rub came in. Roch would not agree to experiment until the millions at which he valued his fulgurator had first been paid to him.
Then, abruptly, I go on: "If I am not mistaken, you have succeeded in inducing Thomas Roch to disclose the secret of his fulgurator?" "Yes, Mr. Hart. We paid millions for it. But millions, you know, are nothing to us. We have only the trouble of taking them! Therefore we filled all his pockets covered him with millions!"
The above is the text of the statement I have just drawn up. It says all that is necessary about the island, whose exact situation is marked on all modern charts and maps, and points out the expediency of acting without delay, and what to do in case Ker Karraje is in the position to employ Roch's fulgurator.
The effect is that of the Zalinski shell, but centupled by the infinite power of Roch's fulgurator. What shouts the bandits raise as they rush towards the extremity of the point! Ker Karraje, Engineer Serko, and Captain Spade remain rooted to the spot, hardly able to credit the evidence of their own eyes.
My explosive has destroyed everything at one blow!" he shouted, the light of triumph flashing in his eyes. "You see," said the director, addressing the Count d'Artigas. "The idea of his invention never leaves him." "And it will die with him," affirmed the attendant. "Couldn't you, Gaydon, get him to talk about his fulgurator?" asked his chief. "I will try, if you order me to do so, sir."
Really, Mr. Hart, your governments of Europe and America committed a stupendous blunder in refusing to pay Roch the price his fulgurator is worth!" And Engineer Serko describes enthusiastically the various advantages of the new explosive which, he says, is incontestably superior to any yet invented. "And what a destructive effect it has," he adds.
He firmly believed in the power of the latter's fulgurator, and had no doubt whatever that the inventor had conceived an engine that was capable of revolutionizing the condition of both offensive and defensive warfare on land and sea. He was aware that the demon of insanity had respected the man of science, and that in Roch's partially diseased brain the flame of genius still burned brightly.
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