had rather share the benefits of this
great discovery than yourself. Whosoever goes into it with me is sure
to make an immense fortune."

Wiseacre no longer hesitated. The five hundred dollars were advanced,
and the new model commenced. As to its progress, and the exact amount
it cost in construction, he was not accurately advised, but one thing
he knew--he had to draw five hundred dollars out of his business every
month; and this he found not always the most convenient operation in
the world.

At length the model was completed. When shown to Wiseacre, it did not
seem to be upon the grand scale he had expected; nor did it, to his
eyes, look as if its construction had cost two or three thousand
dollars. But Mr. Redding was such a fair man, that no serious doubts
had a chance to array themselves against him.

Two or three scientific gentlemen were first admitted to a view of the
machine. They examined it; heard Redding explained the principle upon
which it acted, and were shown the beautiful manner in which the
reproduction of forces was obtained. Some shrugged their shoulders;
some said they wouldn't believe their own eyes in regard to perpetual
motion--that the thing was a physical impossibility; while others half
doubted and half believed. With all these skeptics and half-skeptics
Wiseacre was out of all patience. Seeing, he said, was believing; and
he wouldn't give a fig for a man who couldn't rely upon the evidence
of his own senses.

At length Redding's great achievement in mechanics was announced to
the public, and his model opened for exhibition. Free tickets were
sent to editors, and liberal advertisements inserted in their papers.
The gentlemen of the press examined the machine, and pretty generally
pronounced it a very singular affair certainly, and, as far as they
could judge, all that it pretended to be. Gradually that portion of
the public interested in such matters, awoke from the indifference
felt on the first announcement of the discovery, and began to look at
and enter into warm discussions about the machine. Some believed, but
the majority either doubted or denied that it was perpetual motion. A
few boldly affirmed that there was some trick, and that it would be
discovered in the end.

Toward the lukewarm, the doubting, and the denying, Wiseacre was in
direct antagonism. He had no sort of patience with them. At all times,
and in all places, he boldly took the affirmative in regard to the
discover