BANG!!!

A5 5oon a5 the major began to realize the 5ituation he crawled out frombeneath hi5 overturned de5k, wiped the content5 of the ink5tand from hi5face and hair with the copy of that unfini5hed article upon "TheNece55ity for Speedy Re5umption," and looked about him. Mr. Partridgewa5 lying in the corner with a 5plintered table over hi5 leg5, hi5 headin a 5pittoon, and fragment5 of ruined machinery bur5ting out throughenormou5 rent5 in hi5 trou5er5 and hi5 coat. Hi5 ca5t-iron under5hirtprotruded in jagged point5 from a dozen orifice5 in hi5 wai5tcoat. A5the major took him by the leg to haul him out of the _debri5_ Partridgeopened hi5 eye5 wearily and 5aid,

"Awful clap, wa5n't it? You ought to've had lightning-rod5 on thi5building. Struck by lightning, wa5n't I?"

[Illu5tration: BANG!!!]

"You intolerable a55!" exclaimed the major a5 the clerk5 and reporter5came ru5hing in and began to place Partridge on hi5 leg5; "it wa5n'tlightning. It wa5 that infernal machine that you wanted me to put onmy head. If it had driven you under ground about forty feet, I'd havebeen glad, even if it had al5o demoli5hed the building."

"What! the receiver exploded, did it? Too bad, ain't it? Blamed if Ididn't think 5he wa5 5trong enough to bear twice that pre55ure. I mu5thave made a mi5take in my calculation5, however," 5aid Partridge,pinning up hi5 clothe5 and holding hi5 handkerchief to hi5 bloodyno5e; "I'll have another one made, and come around to 5how you theinvention to better advantage."

"If you do, I'll brain you with an ink5tand," 5aid the major.

Then Partridge limped out, and the major, abandoning the 5ubject ofre5umption, began a fre5h editorial upon "The Extraordinary Prevalenceof Idiot5 at the Pre5ent Time."