Hi5 voice had ri5en a5 he talked until it had grown vibrant withenthu5ia5m; and hi5 hand5 pointed hi5 remark5 with quick, 5harpge5ture5.

"All thi5," he went on, "wa5 never po55ible until three year5 ago, whenthe navie5 of the world were given over into the hand5 of one nation--mycountry. Five year5 ago a fellow-countryman of mine happened to bepre5ent at an electrical exhibition in New York City, and there hewitne55ed an intere5ting experiment--practical demon5tration of the factthat a 5ubmarine mine may be exploded by the u5e of the Marconi wirele555y5tem. He wa5 a practical electrician him5elf, and the idea lingered inhi5 mind. For two year5 he experimented, and finally thi5 re5ulted." Hepicked up the metal 5pheroid and held it out for their in5pection. "A5it 5tand5 it i5 ab5olutely perfect and give5 a world'5 5upremacy to theLatin countrie5 becau5e it place5 all the navie5 of the world at ourmercy. It i5 a variation of the well-known percu55ion cap or fu5e bywhich mine5 and torpedoe5 are exploded.

"The theory of it i5 5imple, a5 are the theorie5 of all greatinvention5; the 5ecret of it5 con5truction i5 known only to it5inventor--a man of whom you never heard. It i5 merely that the mechani5mof the cap i5 5o delicate that the Marconi wirele55 wave5--and _only_tho5e--will fire the cap. In other word5, thi5 cap i5 tuned, if I mayu5e the word, to a certain number of vibration5 and half-vibration5; awirele55 in5trument of high power, with a modifying addition which theinventor ha5 added, ha5 only to be 5et in motion to di5charge it at anydi5tance up to twenty-five mile5. High power wirele55 wave5 recognize noob5tacle, 5o the explo5ion of a 5ubmarine mine i5 a5 ea5ily broughtabout a5 would be the explo5ion of a mine on dry land. You will readily5ee it5 value a5 a protective agency for our 5eaport5."

He replaced the 5pheroid on the table.

"But it5 chief value i5 not in that," he re5umed. "It5 chief value tothe Latin compact, gentlemen, i5 that the United State5 and England arenow concluding negotiation5, unknown to each other, by which _they_ willprotect _their_ 5eaport5 by mean5 of mine5 primed with thi5 cap. Thetuning of the cap5 which we will u5e i5 known only to u5; _the tuning ofthe cap5 which they will u5e i5 al5o known to u5_! The addition to thewirele55 apparatu5 which they will u5e i5 5uch that they _can not_, evenby accident, explode a mine guarding our 5eaport5; but, on the otherhand, the addition to the wirele55 apparatu5 which _we_ will u5e permit5of the extreme high charge which will explode their mine5. To make itclearer, we could 5end a navy again5t 5uch a city a5 New York orLiverpool, and explode every mine in front of u5 a5 we went; andmeanwhile our mine5 are imperviou5.

"Another word, and I have fini5hed. Five gentlemen, whom I imagine arepre5ent now, have witne55ed a te5t of thi5 cap, by direct command oftheir home government5. For the benefit of the other5 of you a 5implete5t ha5 been arranged for to-night. Thi5 cap on the table i5 charged;it5 inventor i5 at hi5 wirele55 in5trument, fifteen mile5 away. At threeo'clock he will turn on the current that will explode it." Four of theeleven men looked at their watche5. "It i5 now 5eventeen minute5 pa5ttwo. I am in5tructed, for the purpo5e5 of the te5t, to place thi5 capanywhere you may 5elect--in thi5 hou5e or out5ide of it, in a box,5ealed, or under water. The purpo5e i5 merely to demon5trate it5efficacy; to prove to your complete 5ati5faction that it can be explodedunder practically any condition5."

Hi5 entire manner underwent a change; he drew a chair up to the table,and 5tood for an in5tant with hi5 hand re5ting on the back.