There was a stir in the assembly, and the iron-grey head of the great
inventor was seen moving through the crowd. In his hand he carried one
of his marvelous disintegrators. He was requested to explain and
illustrate its operation. Mr. Edison smiled.

"I can explain its details," he said, "to Lord Kelvin, for instance, but
if Their Majesties will excuse me, I doubt whether I can make it plain
to the Crown Heads."

The Emperor William smiled superciliously. Apparently he thought that
another assault had been committed upon the divine right of kings. But
the Czar Nicholas appeared to be amused, and the Emperor of China, who
had been studying English, laughed in his sleeve, as if he suspected
that a joke had been perpetrated.

"I think," said one of the deputies, "that a simple exhibition of the
powers of the instrument, without a technical explanation of its method
of working, will suffice for our purpose."

This suggestion was immediately approved. In response to it, Mr. Edison,
by a few simple experiments, showed how he could quickly and certainly
shatter into its constituent atoms any object upon which the vibratory
force of the disintegrator should be directed. In this manner he caused
an inkstand to disappear under the very nose of the Emperor William
without a spot of ink being scattered upon his sacred person, but
evidently the odor of the disunited atoms was not agreeable to the
nostrils of the Kaiser.

Mr. Edison also explained in general terms the principle on which the
instrument worked. He was greeted with round after round of applause,
and the spirit of the assembly rose high.

Next the workings of the electrical ship were explained, and it was
announced that after the meeting had adjourned an exhibition of the
flying powers of the ship would be given in the open air.

These experiments, together with the accompanying explanations, added to
what had already been disseminated through the public press, were quite
sufficient to convince all the representatives who had assembled in
Washington that the problem of how to conquer the Martians had been
solved. The means were plainly at hand. It only remained to apply them.
For this purpose, as the President had pointed out, it would be
necessary to raise a very large sum of money.

"How much will be needed?" asked one of the English representatives.

"At least ten thousand millions of dollars," replied the President.

"It would be safer," said a Senator f