r was a talisman to conjure with in all the business circles of
the world, and so Lennard found Mr Barlow himself waiting for him in his
private office.

He opened the matter in hand very quietly, so quietly indeed that the
keen-sighted, hard-headed man who was listening to him found that for
once in his life he was getting a little out of his depth.

Never before had he heard such a tremendous scheme so quietly and
calmly set forth. Bessemer furnaces were to be erected at once all round
the pit mouth, meanwhile the firm was to contract with a Liverpool firm
for an unlimited supply of concrete cement of the finest quality
procurable. The whole staff of Dobson & Barlow's works were to be
engaged at an advance of twenty-five per cent. on their present wages
for three months to carry out the work of converting the shaft of the
Great Lever pit into the gigantic cannon which was to hurl into Space
the projectile which might or might not save the human race from
destruction.

Even granted Lennard's unimpeachable credentials, it was only natural
that the great iron-master should exhibit a certain amount of
incredulity, and, being one of the best types of the Lancashire business
man, he said quite plainly:

"This is a pretty large order you've brought us, Mr Lennard, and
although, of course, we know Mr Parmenter to be good enough for any
amount of money, still, you see, contracts are contracts, and what are
we to do with those we've got in hand now if you propose to buy up for
three months?"

"Yes," replied Lennard, "I admit that that is an important point. The
question is, what would it cost you to throw up or transfer to other
firms the contracts that you now have in hand?"

There was a silence of two or three minutes between them, during which
Mr Barlow made a rapid but comprehensive calculation and Lennard took
out his cheque-book and began to write a cheque.

"Counting everything," said Mr Barlow, leaning back in his chair and
looking up at the ceiling, "the transfer of our existing contracts to
other firms of equal standing, so as to satisfy our customers, and the
loss to ourselves for the time that you want--well, honestly, I don't
think we could do it under twenty-five thousand pounds. You understand,
I am saying nothing about the scientific aspect of the matter, because
I don't understand it, but that's the business side of it; and that's
what it's going to cost you before we begin."

Lennard filled in the ch