by Jules Verne
mutually, and which would in a few days destroy thegreatest armies?"
"True," answered the Russian; "but can we do all that we wish? As for usRussians, pressed on our eastern frontier by the Chinese, we must at anycost put forth our strength for an effort toward the west."
"O, is that all? In that case," said Mr. Smith, "the thing can bearranged. I will speak to the Secretary of State about it. The attentionof the Chinese government shall be called to the matter. This is not thefirst time that the Chinese have bothered us."
"Under these conditions, of course--" And the Russian ambassadordeclared himself satisfied.
"Ah, Sir John, what can I do for you?" asked Mr. Smith as he turned tothe representative of the people of Great Britain, who till now hadremained silent.
"A great deal," was the reply. "If the Earth Chronicle would but open acampaign on our behalf--"
"And for what object?"
"Simply for the annulment of the Act of Congress annexing to the UnitedStates the British islands."
Though, by a just turn-about of things here below, Great Britain hasbecome a colony of the United States, the English are not yet reconciledto the situation. At regular intervals they are ever addressing to theAmerican government vain complaints.
"A campaign against the annexation that has been an accomplished factfor 150 years!" exclaimed Mr. Smith. "How can your people suppose thatI would do anything so unpatriotic?"
"We at home think that your people must now be sated. The Monroedoctrine is fully applied; the whole of America belongs to theAmericans. What more do you want? Besides, we will pay for what we ask."
"Indeed!" answered Mr. Smith, without manifesting the slightestirritation. "Well, you English will ever be the same. No, no, Sir John,do not count on me for help. Give up our fairest province, Britain? Whynot ask France generously to renounce possession of Africa, thatmagnificent colony the complete conquest of which cost her the labor of800 years? You will be well received!"
"You decline! All is over then!" murmured the British agent sadly. "TheUnited Kingdom falls to the share of the Americans; the Indies to thatof--"
"The Russians," said Mr. Smith, completing the sentence.
"Australia--"
"Has an independent government."
"Then nothing at all remains for us!" sighed Sir John, downcast.
"Nothing?" asked Mr. Smith, laughing. "Well, now, there's Gibraltar!"
With this sally, the audience ended. The clock was striking twelve, thehour of breakfast. Mr. Smith returns to his chamber. Where the bed stoodin the morning a table all spread comes up through the floor. For Mr.Smith, being above all a practical man; has reduced the problem ofexistence to its simplest terms. For him, instead of the endless suitesof apartments of the olden time, one room fitted with ingeniousmechanical contrivances is enough. Here he sleeps, takes his meals, inshort, lives.
He seats himself. In the mirror of the phonotelephote is seen the samechamber at Paris which appeared in it this morning. A table furnishedforth is likewise in readiness here, for notwithstanding the differenceof hours, Mr. Smith and his wife have arranged to take their mealssimultaneously. It is delightful thus to take breakfast _tete-a-tete_with one who is 3000 miles or so away. Just now, Mrs. Smith's chamberhas no occupant.
"She is late! Woman's punctuality! Progress everywhere except there!"muttered Mr. Smith as he turned the tap for the first dish. For like allwealthy folk in our day, Mr. Smith has done away with the domestickitchen and is a subscriber to the Grand Alimentation Company, whichsends through a great network of tubes to subscribers' residences allsorts of dishes, as a varied assortment is always in readiness. Asubscription costs money, to be sure, but the _cuisine_ is of the best,and the system has this advantage, that it, does away with the pesteringrace of the _cordons-bleus_. Mr. Smith received and ate, all alone, the_hors-d'oeuvre, entrees, roti_ and _legumes_ that constituted therepast. He was just finishing the dessert when Mrs. Smith appeared inthe mirror of the telephote.
"Why, where have you been?" asked Mr. Smith through the telephone.
"What! You are already at the dessert? Then I am late," she exclaimed,with a winsome _naivete_. "Where have I been, you ask? Why, at mydress-maker's. The hats are just lovely this season! I suppose I forgotto note the time, and so am a little late."
"Yes, a little," growled Mr. Smith; "so little that I have alreadyquite finished breakfast. Excuse me if I leave you now, but I must begoing."
"O certainly, my dear; good-by till evening."
Smith stepped into his air-coach, which was in waiting for him at awindow. "Where do you wish to go, sir?" inquired the coachman.
"Let me see; I have three hours," Mr. Smith mused. "Jack, take me to myaccumulator works at Niagara."
For Mr. Smith has obtained a lease of the great falls of Niagara. Forages the energy developed by the falls went unutilized. Smith, applyingJackson's invention, now collects this energy, and lets or sells it. Hisvisit to the works took more time than he had anticipated. It was fouro'clock when he returned home, just in time for the daily audience whichhe grants to callers.
One readily understands how a man situated as Smith is must be besetwith requests of all kinds. Now it is an inventor needing capital; againit is some visionary who comes to advocate a brilliant scheme which mustsurely yield millions of profit. A choice has to be made between theseprojects, rejecting the worthless, examining the questionable ones,accepting the meritorious. To this work Mr. Smith devotes every day twofull hours.
The callers were fewer to-day than usual--only twelve of them. Of these,eight had only impracticable schemes to propose. In fact, one of themwanted to revive painting, an art fallen into desuetude owing to theprogress made in color-photography. Another, a physician, boasted thathe had discovered a cure for nasal catarrh! These impracticables weredismissed in short order. Of the four projects favorably received, thefirst was that of a young man whose broad forehead betokened hisintellectual power.
"Sir, I am a chemist," he began, "and as such I come to you."
"Well!"
"Once the elementary bodies," said the young chemist, "were held to besixty-two in number; a hundred years ago they were reduced to ten; nowonly three remain irresolvable, as you are aware."
"Yes, yes."
"Well, sir, these also I will show to be composite. In a few months, afew weeks, I shall have succeeded in solving the problem. Indeed, it maytake only a few days."
"And then?"
"Then, sir, I shall simply have determined the absolute. All I want ismoney enough to carry my research to a successful issue."
"Very well," said Mr. Smith. "And what will be the practical outcome ofyour discovery?"
"The practical outcome? Why, that we shall be able to produce easily allbodies whatever--stone, wood, metal, fibers--"
"And flesh and blood?" queried Mr. Smith, interrupting him. "Do youpretend that you expect to manufacture a human being out and out?"
"Why not?"
Mr. Smith advanced $100,000 to the young chemist, and engaged hisservices for the Earth Chronicle laboratory.
The second of the four successful applicants, starting from experimentsmade so long ago as the nineteenth century and again and again repeated,had conceived the idea of removing an entire city all at once from oneplace to another. His special project had to do with the city ofGranton, situated, as everybody knows, some fifteen miles inland. Heproposes to transport the city on rails and to change it into awatering-place. The profit, of course, would be enormous. Mr. Smith,captivated by the scheme, bought a half-interest in it.
"As you are aware, sir," began applicant No. 3, "by the aid of our solarand terrestrial accumulators and transformers, we are able to make allthe seasons the same. I propose to do something better still. Transforminto heat a portion of the surplus energy at our disposal; send thisheat to the poles; then the polar regions, relieved of their snow-cap,will become a vast territory available for man's use. What think you ofthe scheme?"
"Leave your pl
ans with me, and come back in a week. I will have themexamined in the meantime."
Finally, the fourth announced the early solution of a weighty scientificproblem. Every one will remember the bold experiment made a hundredyears ago by Dr. Nathaniel Faithburn. The doctor, being a firm believerin human hibernation--in other words, in the possibility of oursuspending our vital functions and of calling them into action againafter a time--resolved to subject the theory to a practical test. Tothis end, having first made his last will and pointed out the propermethod of awakening him; having also directed that his sleep was tocontinue a hundred years to a day from the date of his apparent
