to send all you big fellows, clear
down to Perkins, away for life. I also know that that knowledge will not
shorten my days, as I am too valuable a man for you to kill, as you
did...."

"Please, Doctor, don't use such language...."

"Why not?" interrupted DuQuesne, in his cold, level voice. "It's all
true. What do a few lives amount to, as long as they're not yours and
mine? As I said, I can trust you, more or less. You can trust me,
because you know that I can't send you up without going with you.
Therefore, I am going to let you go ahead without me as far as you
can--it won't be far. Do you want me to come in now or later?"

"I'm afraid we can't do business on any such terms as that," said
Brookings, shaking his head. "We can undoubtedly buy the power rights
from Seaton for what you ask."

"You don't fool me for a second, Brookings. Go ahead and steal the
solution, but take my advice and give your chemist only a little of it.
A very little of that stuff will go a long way, and you will want to
have some left when you have to call me in. Make him experiment with
extremely small quantities. I would suggest that he work in the woods at
least a hundred miles from his nearest neighbor, though it matters
nothing to me how many people you kill. That's the only pointer I will
give you--I'm giving it merely to keep you from blowing up the whole
country," he concluded with a grim smile. "Good-bye."

* * * * *

As the door closed behind the cynical scientist, Brookings took a small
gold instrument, very like a watch, from his pocket. He touched a button
and held the machine close to his lips.

"Perkins," he said softly, "M. Reynolds Crane has in his house a bottle
of solution."

"Yes, sir. Can you describe it?"

"Not exactly. It is greenish yellow in color, and I gather that it is in
a small bottle, as there isn't much of the stuff in the world. I don't
know what it smells or tastes like, and I wouldn't advise experimenting
with it, as it seems to be a violent explosive and is probably
poisonous. Any bottle of solution of that color kept in a particularly
safe place would probably be the one. Let me caution you that this is
the biggest thing you have ever been in, and _it must not fail_. Any
effort to purchase it would be useless, however large a figure were
named. But if the bottle were only partly emptied and filled up with
water, I don't believe anyone would notice the difference, at