CHAPTER XXIII.
A JACKIE AGAINST WOLVES.
Ned, gliding softly as a cat stalking a mouse, among thetrees--choosing the shady spots to conceal his movements--soon camewithin earshot of the three men in whose conversation he was so deeplyinterested.
The moonlight, as intense as it usually is in the tropics, flooded thebeautiful grounds of the hotel, making checker-work patterns of blackand white beneath the tropical growth.
The Pulsifers and Mr. Varian were standing full in the center of amoonlight flooded opening as the Dreadnought Boy approached them.
"Now, see here, Varian," the elder of the two Pulsifers was saying,"it's sheer madness for a man in your position to refuse our offer."
"I confess that your knowledge of my 'position,' as you call it,puzzles me," rejoined the inventor of the most powerful explosiveknown, quizzically.
Ned, crouching low in the dark shadow of a poinsettia bush, saw theinventor's face in the flood of silver light, and noted that a smile ofdisdain had curled his lips.
"Come, come, Varian," urged the other Pulsifer, "let's talk as men toa man. You are not wealthy. You have spent most of what little fortuneyou had in perfecting Chaosite, until it has become, as it is to-day,the most terrible destructive agent known. As if this were not enough,you have invented a gun-breech of sufficient strength and elasticity towithstand the terrific pressure exerted by the gases liberated when acharge of your explosive is fired."
The inventor nodded, still in the same mocking manner, at theflattering tone. He blew a big cloud of smoke from his cigar, butsaid nothing. Obviously he was waiting for the other to go on; whilePulsifer, for his part, appeared to be expecting speech of some sortfrom the inventor. Disappointed in this, he continued.
"You have, as I said, done all these things--crowned your life, Imight say--if I wished to be florid--with a magnificent flower ofachievement, and what are you going to do with it?"
Pulsifer paused impressively, and came closer to the unmoved inventor,who stood like a figure of stone.
"I say, what are you going to do with your achievement? Fling it awayon a notoriously ungrateful government. Waste it on a navy which willnot repay you a thousandth part of the sum we are prepared to offer?The power we represent is apt to become involved in war at any moment.The situation in Europe is, as you know, an extremely ticklish one. Aspark in the powder-barrel, and 'Woof!' there is an explosion!"
"What you say may be, and undoubtedly is, true," remarked Variancoolly, "but was that what you brought me out here to tell me? You toldme you had important business matters to discuss--a proposition tomake."
Ned's heart sank. Could it be possible that the inventor wascontemplating the dastardly act of selling out his country? He listenedwith eager attention as the conversation went on.
"Ah, now we are getting down to business," smiled the elder Pulsiferamiably; "we did bring you out here to make a proposition to you, andone that we flatter ourselves will interest you deeply."
Varian bowed gravely, and seemed to wait for the other to continue.
"If you sell out Uncle Sam, I'll knock you down if it's the last thingI do," muttered Ned to himself, clenching his capable fist menacingly.
"You are interested, above all things, in the success of the Variantype of gun--handling the Varian explosive, are you not?"
The elder Pulsifer was doing the talking now. From his earnest mannerthings were evidently coming to a climax.
"Why, of course, that is obvious. It has been, as you said, my lifework. Naturally, I wish to see its full fruition."
"Exactly; and Pulsifer Brothers are going to help you. You have heardof Baron Von----"
To Ned's disappointment, the elder Pulsifer's oily voice sank to a merewhisper, and the lad could not catch the name the gun manufacturerbreathed.
"Of course, he----"
"Is at the present time in Washington. Ah, Mr. Varian, there is agenius. He is actually engaged, or reported to be--it serves hispurpose just as well--to one of our wealthiest women, and yet allthe time his wonderful mind is plotting, planning, scheming for hiscountry. Of course, I tell you this under the pledge of secrecy weexacted from you before leaving the banquet hall?"
"That goes without saying; but you were going to remark?"
"That the baron," again the name was omitted, "came armed with lettersto us, and we have consented to transact this business for him. I needscarcely tell you, after having promised this much--that the baron'smission to this country is to acquire the formula of Chaosite; and notonly that, but to take back with him the blueprints and specificationsof the Varian breech-block and explosion-absorbing machinery, withoutwhich the other would be useless."
"The baron is here for that purpose?"
The inventor seemed deeply interested. He thoughtfully inhaled longpuffs of his cigar and expelled the smoke slowly.
The Pulsifers were watching him narrowly, without seeming to do so. Hisattitude, it appeared, puzzled them as much as it did Ned, watchingfrom his leafy bower. In the case of the Dreadnought Boy, however, hismind was practically made up. Varian was prepared to sell his secret toa foreign power--possibly for use against his own country. He was, orso Ned judged the situation, only awaiting the naming of a price.
"Yes, Mr. Varian, I will not conceal anything from you. We will beperfectly frank," went on Pulsifer. "The baron is here solely for thatpurpose, cleverly as he has masked the object of his visit. He hasdeclared through the papers that he is here to study our society andwrite a book about it. I need scarcely add that the humorous interviewswith him printed in the New York dailies--which have made him appear ina clownish light--have aided his plans tremendously."
"How long has this--this--baron been here?"
"Oh, but a short time. But, as you will have gathered, he has not letthe grass grow under his feet."
"So it would seem," agreed Varian, with a curious, dry intonation.
"As I was about to say, Mr. Varian, the government he represents is apower of the first class. It has unlimited money at its control. Thefinancial resources at its command are unquestioned. The war into whichit may shortly be plunged will undermine its credit, its home prestigeand its colonial power if it is not brought to a successful conclusion.To win that war, which will be largely an affair of naval engagements,it will spare no expense to acquire the tools of victory. The baron,and we also, regard the Varian gun and Chaosite as an unbeatablecombination. At the trials at the Sandy Hook proving grounds, thegun----"
"But the trials were secret," protested the inventor.
"Money will open any door," suavely rejoined the elder Pulsifer; "it isto our interest to keep abreast of the times; therefore, we made it ourbusiness to acquire--I need not insult your intelligence by saying bywhat means--a complete record of the three-day tests."
"Your enterprise is only equalled by your resourcefulness," remarkedthe inventor. Again Ned noted in his voice that queer, dry intonation,as if he were trying to mask some other feeling.
"Oh, yes," smiled the elder Pulsifer greasily, "we are veryenterprising, Mr. Varian."
He fumbled in his pocket and drew out a paper.
"Let me read you some of the gun's performances, and you can judge ifI am speaking the truth or not. On Monday, April the 25th, target attwo miles, wind thirty miles, weather clear: The first shot at nineforty-five scored a bulls-eye; but, the charge being light, threehundred pounds only, the projectile did not----"
"Enough," snapped the inventor. "I see that you had some one there. Itis getting late, gentlemen, and if you will come to the point, I shallfeel vastly obliged."
"Ah," exclaimed the elder Pulsifer, rubbing his bediamonded hands tillthey flashed and sparkled in the moonlight, "you are as anxious as weto conclude the negotiations. Well, to put the matter in a nutshell,Mr. Varian, we are authorized by the baron to offer you----"
Ned's heart beat so loud and fast that he half-unconsciously placed hishand over it, as if he could in that way dull its sound.
&n
bsp; "Five hundred thousand dollars for the plans, specifications andformula."
"Five hundred thousand, why, gentlemen, I----"
"And a royalty which can be arranged later to suit your own terms," theyounger Pulsifer hastened to add.
"Look out, Hank Varian," Ned muttered to himself, as the inventorhesitated, or seemed to, "you are nearer getting a punch on your noseright now than you ever were before, you double-dyed traitor."
"It is a very generous offer," rejoined the inventor, "but----"
Again the Pulsifers interrupted him.
"We are authorized, I may say," added the elder one, "to make the sumeight hundred thousand----"
"Or more," put in his younger brother.
"Eight hundred thousand dollars," mused the inventor in a quiet tone;"why, the government you act for must be made of money."
"They are generous when they have determined to get a thing," smiledthe elder Pulsifer, "and they have determined to get the Varianinventions. After all, you see, you can withdraw gracefully fromnegotiations with Washington. Nothing has been actually accomplishedyet, and as matters have only reached an experimental stage nobody iscompromised."
"See here, gentlemen," asked Varian suddenly, as if his mind had beenfixed on this question all the time Pulsifer had been speaking, "howmuch money has this government got to spend in cold cash?"
"Why, my dear sir, what a question----"
"Answer me!"
"Well, if you must know--though it is wholly foreign to ourdiscussion--I suppose they could raise a war fund to-morrow of seventymillion dollars, to be raised by loans to a billion dollars and a half."
"They could do all this in two days?"
"Undoubtedly."
"Well, you go back to your baron and tell him that if his governmentworked for ninety days and raised ninety times ninety millions _theywould still be a million miles away from buying Henry Varian to betrayhis government_!"
"You are insane!"
The elder Pulsifer's fat face quivered, while his brother's already redvisage deepened in color to an angry crimson.
"No; not insane, gentlemen," quietly replied the inventor. "It is youwho must be that for imagining for a moment that I would set a pricefor selling out Uncle Sam."
"Hurray!" breathed Ned from behind his bush; "it's the Pulsifers I'maching, twitching, dying to get a slam at now."
"So, then, you have been trying to draw us out!" shouted the elderPulsifer, beside himself with fury at the unexpected turn of affairs."You have led us on, you cur, you sneak, you hound, you----"
Smack!
The inventor's palm shot out and struck Pulsifer's fat face a stingingblow. In the moonlight Ned could see a dark, angry patch appear whereit had struck.
The younger Pulsifer made a leap for the inventor as the blowresounded. The Dreadnought Boy saw something glitter in his hand as heleaped forward.
It was a revolver that the would-be briber had drawn.
At the same instant, and just as Ned was about to spring forward, theelder man drew from his coat-tail pocket a silver whistle. He placed itto his lips and blew a shrill blast.
Simultaneously four dark forms leaped from behind a sort ofsummer-house shrouded in creepers, and flung themselves on the inventor.
They bore him to the ground, as the Dreadnought Boy, with a loud shoutof:
"Stand clear!" dashed from his place of concealment.
The Dreadnought Boys on Battle Practice Page 23
