A struggle for life. 
 
 Page 140. 
 
THE 
 
 BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 BY 
 
 JULES VERNE. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY W. H. G. KINGSTON. 
 
 [ WITH AN ACCOUNT OK 
 
 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT AND CO., 
 MARKET STREET. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, 
 
 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ENTER MR. SHARP . i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 A PAIR OF CHUMS 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Two CLAIMANTS 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 STAHLSTADT 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE ALBRECHT PIT 80 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE CENTRAL BLOCK 95 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE DRAGON'S DEN . 108 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 P. P. C 128 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 AN ARTICLE FROM ' UNSERE CENTURIE,' A GERMAN REVIEW 142 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 AT DINNER WITH DOCTOR SARRASIN 157 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE COUNCIL 165 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 NEWS FOR THE PROFESSOR 178 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 CLEARING FOR ACTION 182 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO 189 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN . . .202 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 PARLEY BEFORE THE CITADEL 214 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE KERNEL OF THE NUT 224 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 A FAMILY AFFAIR 233 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 CONCLUSION 238 
 
 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 - CHAPTER I. 
 TURNED ADRIFT 241 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT 251 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE MUTINEERS 262 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Doctor Sarrasin at breakfast i 
 
 The newly-found Rajah 9 
 
 Astounding news 22 
 
 He read his father's letter again 2 ^ 
 
 Otto tells his news 28 
 
 " For my part, I always believe what Max says" . . . . 31 
 
 Chairing the Doctor 40 
 
 Professor Schultz and his man 43 
 
 The LangeVol business 47 
 
 " We've got the best of it this time !" 59 
 
 Stahlstadt 65 
 
 The new workman 68 
 
 Puddlers at work 72 
 
 A monster hammer 72 
 
 The casting-hall 74 
 
 The little miner's life 83 
 
 Max offers his help 86 
 
 Poor little Carl 93 
 
 An unexpected sight 105 
 
 The King of Steel in his palace 107 
 
 The masterpiece of Herr Schultz 116 
 
 Terrible projectiles 118 
 
 Formidable guards 125 
 
 Max's ruse 134 
 
 A destructive fire 137 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Vli 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A struggle for life 140 
 
 Frankville 142 
 
 The Frankville railway 147 
 
 The dinner at Doctor Sarrasin's 163 
 
 An important meeting to be held 169 
 
 No time to be lost 172 
 
 Plans for the defence . . . 182 
 
 Coolies at work 184 
 
 Great excitement among business men 192 
 
 Entering Stahlstadt 207 
 
 Forcing an entrance . . . . 210 
 
 Danger around 218 
 
 Max and Otto fighting the giants 219 
 
 The mysterious entrance 222 
 
 Herr Schultz discovered 225 
 
 THE MUTINEERS OF THE " BOUNTY." 
 
 Captain Bligh in the power of the mutineers 244 
 
 Christian watching the departing boat 250 
 
 The English and the natives 252 
 
 Bligh's perilous voyage 256 
 
 The Bounty approaching the shore 262 
 
Doctor Sarrasin at breakfast. 
 
 Page i. 
 
THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ENTER MR. SHARP. 
 
 " REALLY these English newspapers are very well written," 
 said the worthy doctor to himself, as he leant back in a 
 great leathern easy-chair. 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin had all his life been given to soliloquising, 
 one of the many results of absence of mind. 
 
 He was a man of fifty, or thereabouts ; his features were 
 refined ; clear lively eyes shone through his steel spectacles, 
 and the expression of his countenance, although grave, was 
 genial. He was one of those people, looking at whom one 
 says at the first glance, " There is an honest man ! " 
 
 Notwithstanding the early hour, and the easy style of 
 his dress, the doctor had already shaved and put on a 
 white cravat. 
 
 Scattered near him on the carpet and on sundry chairs, 
 in the sitting-room of his hotel at Brighton, lay copies of 
 the Times, the Daily Telegraph, and the Daily News. It 
 
 B 
 
 n 
 
THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 was not much more than ten o'clock, yet the doctor had 
 been out walking in the town, had visited an hospital, 
 returned to his hotel, and read in the principal London 
 journals the full report of a paper communicated by him 
 two evenings previously at a meeting of the great Inter 
 national Hygienic Conference on the " Compte globules du 
 sang," or " blood-corpuscle computator," an instrument he 
 had invented, and which even in England keeps its French 
 name. Before him stood a breakfast-tray covered with a 
 snowy napkin, on which were placed a well dressed cutlet, 
 a cup of hot and fragrant tea, and a plate of that buttered 
 toast which English cooks, thanks to English bakers, can 
 make to perfection. 
 
 "Yes," he repeated, "these journals are really admirably 
 well written, there is no denying the fact. Here is the 
 speech of the president, the reply by Doctor Cicogna of 
 Naples, my own paper in full, all as it were caught in the 
 air, seized and photographed at once ! 
 
 " Dr. Sarrasin of Douai rose and addressed the meeting. 
 The honourable member spoke in French, and said, ' My 
 auditors will permit me to express myself in my own 
 language, which I am sure they understand far better than 
 I can speak theirs.' 
 
 " Five columns in small print ! 
 
 " I cannot decide which reports it best, the Times or the 
 Telegraph, each seems so exact and so precise." 
 
ENTER MR. SHARP. 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin had reached this point in his meditations, 
 when one of the waiters of the establishment, a gentleman 
 most correctly dressed in black, entered, and presenting a 
 card, inquired whether " Monsiou " was " at home " to 
 a visitor. 
 
 This appellation of " Monsiou " the English consider it 
 necessary to bestow indiscriminately on every Frenchman 
 in the same way they would think it a breach of all the 
 rules of civility did they fail to address an Italian as 
 "Signor," and a German as "Herr." Perhaps on the 
 whole the custom is a good one it certainly has the ad 
 vantage of at once indicating nationalities. 
 
 Considerably surprised to hear of a visitor in a country 
 where he was acquainted with no one, the doctor took the 
 card, and read with increased perplexity the following 
 .address : 
 
 Mr. Sharp, 
 
 Solicitor, 
 
 93, Southampton Row, London. 
 
 He knew that a " solicitor " meant what he should call 
 an "avoueY' and signified a lawyer of the compound 
 nature of attorney, procurator, and notary. 
 
 " What possible business can Mr. Sharp have with me ? " 
 thought the doctor. " Can I have got into some scrape or 
 other without knowing it ? Are you sure this card is 
 intended for me ? " he asked. 
 
 B 2 
 
THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " Oh yes, Monsiou." 
 
 " Well, let the gentleman come in." 
 
 A youngish man entered the room, whom the doctor at 
 once classed in the great family of " death's heads." Thin 
 dry lips, drawn back from long white teeth, hollow temple- 
 bones, displayed beneath skin like parchment, the com 
 plexion of a mummy, and small grey eyes as sharp as 
 needles, quite justified the title. The rest of the skeleton, 
 from the heels to the occiput, was hidden from view 
 beneath an ulster, of a large chequer pattern ; his hand 
 grasped a patent-leather bag. 
 
 This personage entered, bowing in a hasty manner, 
 placed bag and hat on the ground, took a chair without 
 waiting to have one offered, and opened his business by 
 saying 
 
 "William Henry Sharp, Junior, of the firm of Billows, 
 Green, Sharp and Co. Have I the honour of speaking to 
 Doctor Sarrasin ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 "Francois Sarrasin?'* 
 
 "That certainly is my name." 
 
 "OfDouai?" 
 
 " I reside at Douai." 
 
 "Your father's name was Isidore Sarrasin ?" 
 
 " It was so." 
 
 " Let us conclude him to have been Isidore Sarrasin." 
 
ENTER MR. SHARP. 5 
 
 Mr. Sharp drew a note-book from his pocket, consulted 
 it, and resumed 
 
 " Isidore Sarrasin died at Paris in 1857, 6th Arrondisse- 
 ment, Rue Taranne, Number 54 the Hdtel des Ecoles, 
 now demolished." 
 
 ''Perfectly correct, 5 * said the doctor, more and more 
 astonished. "But will you have the kindness to ex 
 plain ?" 
 
 "His mother's name," pursued the imperturbable Mr. 
 Sharp, "was Julie Langevol, originally of Bar-le-Duc, 
 daughter of Benedict Langevol, who lived in the alley 
 Loriol, and died in 1812, as is shown by the municipal 
 registers of the said town these registers are a valuable 
 institution, sir highly valuable hem hem and sister 
 of Jean Jacques Langevol, drum-major in the 36th 
 Light- -" 
 
 " I assure you," interrupted Doctor Sarrasin, confounded 
 by this intimate acquaintance with his genealogy, "that 
 you are better informed on these points than I am myself. 
 It is true that my grandmother's family name was 
 Langevol, and that is all I know about her." 
 
 "About the year 1807 she left the town of Bar-le-Duc 
 with your grandfather, Jean Sarrasin, whom she had 
 married in 1799. They settled at Melun, where he 
 worked as a tinsmith, and where, in 1811, Julie Langevol, 
 Sarrasin's wife, died, leaving only one child, Isidore 
 
THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Sarrasin, your father. From that time, up to the date 
 of his death, discovered at Paris, the thread is lost." 
 
 "I can supply it," said the doctor, interested in spite 
 of himself by this wonderful precision. "My grand 
 father settled in Paris for the sake of the education of 
 his son, whom he destined to the medical profession. 
 He died in 1832, at Palaiseau, near Versailles, where 
 my father practised as a physician, and where I was born 
 in 1822." 
 
 " You are my man/' resumed Mr. Sharp. " No brothers 
 or sisters ?" 
 
 " None. I was the only son ; my mother died two 
 years after my birth. Now, sir, will you tell me ? " 
 
 Mr. Sharp stood up. 
 
 " Rajah Bryah Jowahir Mothooranath," said he, pro 
 nouncing the names with the respect shown by every 
 Englishman to a title, " I am happy to have discovered 
 you, and to be the first to congratulate you." 
 
 " The man is deranged," thought the doctor ; " it is not 
 at all uncommon among these death's heads." 
 
 The solicitor read this opinion in his eyes. 
 
 " I am not mad in the slightest degree," said he calmly. 
 " You are at the present moment the sole known heir to 
 the title of Rajah, which Jean Jacques Langevol who 
 became a naturalised British subject in 1819, succeeded to 
 the property of his wife the Begum Gokool, and died in 
 
ENTER MR. SHARP. 
 
 1841, leaving only one son, an idiot, who died without 
 issue in 1869 was allowed to assume by the Governor- 
 General of the province of Bengal. 
 
 " The value of the estate has risen during the last thirty 
 years to about five millions of pounds sterling. It 
 remained sequestered and under guardianship, almost 
 the whole of the interest going to increase the capital 
 during the life of the imbecile son of Jean Jacques 
 Langevol. 
 
 "In 1870 the value of the inheritance was given in 
 round numbers to be twenty-one millions of pounds 
 sterling, or five hundred and twenty-five millions of francs. 
 In fulfilment of an order of the law court of Agra, counter 
 signed by that of Delhi, and confirmed by the Privy 
 Council, the whole of the landed and personal property 
 has been sold, and the sum realised has been placed in the 
 Bank of England. 
 
 "The actual sum is five hundred and twenty-seven 
 millions of francs, which you can withdraw by a cheque as 
 soon as you have proved your genealogical identity in the 
 Court of Chancery. And in the meantime I am authorised 
 by Messrs. Trollop, Smith and Co., Bankers, to offer you 
 advances to any amount." 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin sat petrified for some minutes he could not 
 utter a word ; then, impressed by a conviction that this fine 
 story was without any foundation in fact, he quietly said 
 
8 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 u After all, sir, where are the proofs of this, and in 
 what way have you been led to find me out ? " 
 
 "The proofs are here, sir," replied Mr. Sharp, tapping 
 on his shiny leather bag. " As to how I discovered you, it 
 has been in a very simple way : I have been searching for 
 you for five years. It is the speciality of our firm to find 
 heirs for the numerous fortunes which year by year are 
 left in escheat in the British dominions. . 
 
 "For five years the question of the inheritance of the 
 Begum Gokool has exercised all our ingenuity and activity. 
 We have made investigations in every direction, passed in 
 review hundreds of families of your name without finding 
 that of Isidore Sarrasin. I was almost convinced that 
 there was not another of the name in all France, when 
 yesterday morning I read in the Daily News a report of 
 the meeting of the Hygienic Conference, and observed 
 that among the members was a Doctor Sarrasin, of 
 whom I had never before heard. 
 
 '* Referring instantly to my notes, and to hundreds of 
 papers on the subject of this estate, I ascertained with 
 surprise that the town of Douai had entirely escaped 
 our notice. 
 
 u With the conviction that I had got on the right scent, 
 I took the train for Brighton, saw you leave the meeting, 
 and all doubt vanished. You are the living image of 
 your great-uncle Langevol, of whom we possess a photo- 
 
The newly -found Rajah. 
 
 Page 9. 
 
ENTER MR.. SHARP. 
 
 graph taken from a portrait by the Indian painter 
 Saranoni." 
 
 Mr. Sharp took a photograph from his pocket-book and 
 handed it to Dr. Sarrasin. 
 
 It represented a tall man with a magnificent beard, a 
 crested turban, and a richly brocaded robe. 
 
 He was seated after the manner of conventional portraits 
 of generals in the army, appearing to be drawing up a plan 
 of attack, while attentively regarding the spectator. 
 
 In the background could be dimly discerned the smoke 
 of battle and a charge of cavalry. 
 
 "A glance at these papers will inform you on this 
 matter better than I can do," continued Mr. Sharp ; " I 
 will leave, them with you, and return in a couple of hours, 
 if you will then permit me to take your orders." 
 
 So saying, Mr. Sharp drew from the depths of his 
 glazed bag seven or eight bundles of documents, some 
 printed, some manuscript, placed them on the table, and 
 backed out of the room, murmuring 
 
 "I have the honour to wish the Rajah Bryah Jowahir 
 Mothooranath a very good morning." 
 
 Partly convinced, partly ridiculing the idea, the doctor 
 took the papers and began to peruse them. 
 
 A rapid examination sufficed to show him the truth 
 of Mr. Sharp's statements, and to remove his doubts. 
 Among the printed documents he read the following : 
 
io THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Evidence placed before the Right Honourable Lords 
 of Her Majesty's Privy Council on the 5th of January 
 1870, touching the vacant succession of the Begum Gokool 
 of Ragginahra, in Bengal. Points of the case. The 
 question concerns the rights of possession to certain 
 landed estates, together with a fc variety of edifices, palaces, 
 mercantile establishments, villages, personal properties, 
 treasure, arms, &c., &c., forming the inheritance of the 
 Begum Gokool of Ragginahra. 
 
 From evidence submitted to the civil tribunal of Agra, 
 and to the Superior Court at Delhi, it appears that in 
 1819, the Begum Gokool, widow of Rajah Luckmissur, 
 and possessed in her own right of considerable wealth, 
 married a foreigner, of French origin, by name Jean 
 Jacques Langevol. 
 
 This foreigner, after serving until 1815 in the French 
 army as drum-major in the 36th Light Cavalry, embarked 
 at Nantes, upon the disbandment of the army of the 
 Loire, as supercargo of a merchant ship. 
 
 He reached Calcutta, passed into the interior, and 
 speedily obtained the appointment of military instructor in 
 the small native army which the Rajah Luckmissur was 
 authorised to maintain. In this army he rose to be com- 
 mander-in-chief, and shortly after the Rajah's death he 
 obtained the hand of his widow. 
 
 In consideration of various important services rendered 
 
ENTER MR. SHARP. II 
 
 to the English residents at Agra by Jean Jacques Langevol, 
 he was constituted a British subject, and the Governor- 
 General of Bengal obtained for the husband of the Begum 
 the title of Rajah of Bryah Jowahir Mothooranath, which 
 was the name of one of the most considerable of her estates. 
 The Begum died in 1839, leaving the whole of her wealth 
 and property to Langevol, who survived her only two years. 
 
 Their only child was imbecile from his infancy, and was 
 placed at once under guardians. The inheritance was 
 carefully managed by trustees until his death, which 
 occurred in 1869. 
 
 To this immense heritage there is no known heir. The 
 courts of Agra and Delhi having ordered its sale by auction, 
 on the application of the local government acting for the 
 state, we have the honour to request from the Lords of the 
 Privy Council a confirmation of their decision, &c. Here 
 followed the signatures. 
 
 Copies of legal documents from Agra and Delhi, deeds 
 of sale, an account of the efforts made in France to discover 
 the next of kin to Langevol's family, and a whole mass of 
 imposing evidence of the like nature, left Dr. Sarrasin no 
 room for doubt or hesitation. 
 
 Between him and the five hundred and twenty-seven 
 millions of francs deposited in the strong rooms of the 
 Bank of England there was but a step, the production of 
 authentic certificates of certain births and deaths. 
 
12 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Such a stroke of fortune being enough to dazzle the 
 imagination of the most sober-minded man, the good 
 doctor could not contemplate it without some emotion. 
 Yet it was of short duration, and exhibited simply by a 
 rapid walk for a few minutes up and down his apartment. 
 
 Quickly recovering his self-possession, he accused him 
 self of weakness for yielding to this feverish agitation, 
 threw himself into his chair, and remained for a time lost 
 in profound reflection. 
 
 Then suddenly rising, he resumed his walk backwards 
 and forwards, while his eyes shone with a pure light as 
 though a noble and generous project burned within his 
 breast. He seemed to welcome, to caress, to encourage, 
 and finally to adopt it. 
 
 A knock at the door. Mr. Sharp returned. 
 
 " I ask pardon a thousand times for my doubts as to 
 the correctness of your information," said the doctor in a 
 cordial tone. " You see me now perfectly convinced, and 
 extremely obliged to you for the trouble you have taken." 
 
 " Not at all mere matter of business in the way of my 
 profession nothing more," replied Mr. Sharp. "May I 
 venture to hope that the Rajah will remain our client ? " 
 
 " That is understood. I place the whole affair in your 
 hands. I only beg you to desist from giving me that 
 absurd title." 
 
 " Absurd ! a title worth twenty millions ! " were the 
 
ENTER MR. SHARP. 13 
 
 words Mr. Sharp would have uttered had he known no 
 better ; but he said, " Certainly, sir, if you wish it. As 
 you please, sir. I am now going to return by train to- 
 London, where I shall await your orders." 
 
 " May I keep these documents ? " inquired the doctor. 
 
 " Most assuredly we retain copies." 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin was left alone. He seated himself at his 
 desk, took out a sheet of paper, and wrote as follows : 
 
 "Brighton, 28th October, 1871. 
 
 "MY DEAR CHILD, 
 
 " We have become possessed of an enormous fortune, 
 a fortune absurdly colossal. Do not fancy that I have 
 lost my senses, but read the printed papers enclosed in 
 my letter. You will there plainly see that I am proved 
 to be the heir to a native title in India, and a sum 
 equivalent to many millions of francs, actually deposited 
 in the Bank of England. 
 
 " I can feel sure of the sentiments with which you, my 
 dear Otto, will receive this news. You will perceive, as I 
 do myself, the new duties which such wealth will impose 
 upon us, and the danger we are in of being tempted to use 
 it unwisely. 
 
 " It is but an hour since I was made aware of the fact, 
 and already the overpowering sense of responsibility seems 
 to lessen the pleasure it first gave me as I thought of you. 
 This change may be fatal instead of fortunate to our 
 
14 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 destiny. In the modest position of pioneers of science we 
 were content and happy in obscurity. Shall we continue 
 to be so ? I doubt it, unless perhaps (could I venture 
 to mention an idea which has flashed across my brain,) 
 unless this same fortune were to become in our hands a 
 new and powerful engine of science, a mighty tool in the 
 great work of civilisation and progress ! We will talk about 
 this. Write to me let me know very soon what impression 
 this wonderful news makes on your mind and let your 
 mother hear of it from you. Sensible woman as she is, I 
 am convinced she will receive it calmly. As to your sister, 
 she is too young to have her head turned by anything of 
 the sort. Besides, that little head of hers is a very sober 
 one, and even if she could comprehend all that this change 
 in our position implies, I believe she would take it more 
 quietly than any of us. 
 
 " Remember me cordially to Max ; I connect him with 
 all my schemes for the future. 
 
 " Your affectionate father, 
 
 " FRANCOIS SARRASIN." 
 
 This letter, with the more important papers, was 
 addressed to 
 Monsieur Octave Sarrasin, 
 
 Student at the Upper School of Arts and Manufactures, 
 
 32, Rue du Roi de Sicile, 
 Paris. 
 
ENTER MR. SHARP. 
 
 Then the doctor put on his overcoat, took his hat, and 
 went to the Conference. 
 
 In a quarter of an hour, the worthy man had forgotten 
 all about his millions. 
 
16 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A PAIR OF CHUMS. 
 
 DR. SARRASIN'S son Octavius was not exactly what one 
 would call a dunce. He was neither a blockhead nor a 
 genius, neither plain nor handsome, neither tall nor short, 
 neither dark nor fair. His complexion was nut-brown, and 
 he was altogether an average specimen of the middle 
 class. 
 
 At school he had never taken a very high place, although 
 occasionally gaining a prize. He had failed in his first 
 examination for passing into the College of Engineers, 
 but a second attempt admitted him, although with no great 
 credit. 
 
 There was a want of decision in his character his mind 
 was content with inaccuracies ; he was one of those people 
 who are satisfied to have a general idea of a subject, and 
 who walk through life by moonlight. 
 
 Such men float at the mercy of fate, as corks do on the 
 
A PAIR OF CHUMS. I/ 
 
 crests of waves. They are driven to the equator or to the 
 pole, according to whether the wind blows north or south. 
 Chance decides their career. 
 
 Had Dr. Sarrasin altogether understood his son's 
 character, he might have hesitated to write the letter he 
 did ; but the wisest man may be a blind father. 
 
 Fortunately for Octavius, he had during his school life 
 come under the influence of an energetic nature, which by 
 its vigorous strength ruled him for his good, albeit some 
 what tyrannically. He formed a close friendship with one 
 of his companions, Max Bruckmann, a native of Alsace, a 
 year younger than himself, but far his superior in physical, 
 intellectual and moral vigour. 
 
 Max Bruckmann, left an orphan at the age of twelve, 
 inherited a small income, just sufficient to defray the 
 expense of his education. His life at college would have 
 been monotonous had he not passed the holidays with 
 Octavius, or Otto, as he called his friend, at his home. 
 
 The young Alsacien very soon felt himself one of Dr. 
 Sarrasin's family. Beneath a cold exterior lay a warm 
 and sensitive nature, and he considered that he was bound 
 for life to those who acted like father and mother to him. 
 
 He positively adored Dr. Sarrasin, his wife, and their 
 pretty thoughtful little daughter; his heart expanded 
 under the influence of their kindness, and he greatly 
 wished to be useful to them by helping Jeannette, who 
 
 C 
 
1 8 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 loved her studies, to advance in them, and thoroughly to 
 cultivate her excellent abilities and firm, sensible mind, 
 while he longed to lead Otto to become as good a man as 
 his father. This latter task he well knew to be by no 
 means so easy as the former, yet Max was resolved to 
 attain his double purpose. 
 
 Max Bruckmann was one of those trusty and gallant 
 champions whom year by year Alsace sends forth to do 
 battle on the great arena of life in Paris. 
 
 As a mere child he distinguished himself by the strength 
 and flexibility of his muscles, as much as by the vivacity 
 and intelligence of his mind. Inwardly full of life and 
 courage, his outward form exhibited strong muscular 
 development rather than graceful proportions. At college 
 he excelled in everything he attempted, whether sport or 
 study. Reaping an annual harvest of prizes, he thought 
 the year wasted if he failed to gain all within his reach. 
 
 At twenty his form was large, robust, and in splendid 
 condition ; his movements were animated, and his well- 
 shaped head betokened unusual intelligence. When he 
 entered college, the same year with Octavius, he stood 
 second, and was resolved to be first when the time came 
 for leaving it. 
 
 Without his persistent energy to urge him forward, 
 Octavius would never have got in at all. For the space of 
 a whole year Max had driven and goaded him to work, 
 
A PAIR OF CHUMS. 19 
 
 had regularly compelled him to succeed. He entertained 
 for this friend of weak and vacillating nature a sentiment 
 of kindly compassion such as one might suppose a lion to 
 exhibit towards a little puppy. He liked to feel that he 
 could nourish this parasitical plant from the superabund 
 ance of his own sap, and cause it to flourish and blossom 
 beside him. 
 
 The war of 1870 broke out at the close of one of their 
 terms. Max, full of patriotic grief at the fate which 
 threatened Strasburg and Alsace, hastened to enlist in the 
 3 1st Regiment of Light Infantry. Otto, as Max called 
 him, and as we will for the future, at once followed his 
 example. 
 
 Side by side the two friends, stationed in the outposts 
 of Paris, went through the severe campaign of the siege. 
 At Champigny Max received a ball in his right arm, at 
 Buzenval an epaulet on his left shoulder. Otto received 
 neither wound nor decoration. It could not have been his 
 fault, for he followed his friend everywhere, scarcely half a 
 dozen yards in his rear. But those half-dozen yards made 
 all the difference. 
 
 After the peace, the two friends resumed their studies, 
 occupying modest apartments together near the college. 
 
 The recent misfortunes of France,- the loss to her of 
 Lorraine and Alsace, had matured the character of Max 
 he felt and spoke like a man. 
 
 C 2 
 
so THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " It is the vocation of the youth of France," said he ; 
 "to repair the errors of their fathers. By genuine hard 
 work alone can this be done." 
 
 Max rose every morning at five o'clock, and made Otto 
 do the same. He obliged him to be punctual at his 
 classes, and never lost sight of him during the hours of 
 recreation. 
 
 The evening was devoted to study, with occasional 
 pauses for a pipe or a cup of coffee. At ten they retired 
 to rest, their hearts content, their brains well filled. 
 
 A game at billiards now and then, a well-chosen play or 
 concert, a ride to the forest of Verrieres, a country walk, 
 and twice a week a lesson in fencing and boxing these 
 were their amusements. 
 
 From time to time Otto, casting curious eyes at the 
 very questionable enjoyments of other students, would 
 make feeble attempts at revolt, and talk of going to see 
 Caesar Leroux, who was " studying law," and passed most 
 of his time at the beer-shop of St. Michel ; but Max 
 treated these fancies with such utter contempt and derision 
 that they usually passed off quietly. 
 
 On the 29th of October, 1871, about seven o'clock in 
 the evening, the two friends were seated, as was their wont, 
 side by side at the same table, with a shaded lamp 
 between them. 
 
 Max was working a problem in applied mathematics, 
 
A PAIR OF CHUMS. 21 
 
 relative to the stability of blocks, and had thrown himself 
 heart and soul into his subject. 
 
 Otto was devoting himself sedulously to something 
 which he thought of much greater consequence, the brewing 
 of a pint of coffee. It was one of the few things in which 
 he flattered himself he really excelled, perhaps because he 
 had daily practice in it, thereby escaping for a few minutes 
 the troublesome business of squaring equations, which he 
 considered that Max really did carry too far. 
 
 Drop by drop he let his boiling water pass through a 
 thick layer of powdered mocha, and he ought to have been 
 contented with such tranquil happiness ; but he was annoyed 
 at the devoted industry of Max, and felt an unconquerable 
 desire to interrupt him. 
 
 " It would be a good plan to buy a percolator," said he, 
 suddenly. " This ancient and solemn method of filtering 
 is a disgrace to our modern civilisation," 
 
 "Do buy a percolator; it will perhaps prevent your 
 wasting an hour every evening with this cookery," replied 
 Max, and he returned to his problem. 
 
 " The intrados of a vault is an ellipsoid ; let A B 
 C D be that principal ellipse which contains the two 
 axes, O A equal to a O B equal to b, while the least 
 axis O O 1 C is vertical, and equal to c ; then that which 
 supports the elliptic vault " 
 
 At this moment came a rap at the door. 
 
22 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 "A letter for Monsieur Octave Sarrasin." It may be 
 imagined that this interruption was heartily welcomed by 
 that young gentleman ! 
 
 " Ah ! from my father it is his hand I see. Come, 
 this is something like a letter ! " he exclaimed, as he 
 weighed the packet of papers in his hand. 
 
 Max knew that the doctor was in England. He had 
 been in Paris a week before on his way there, and had 
 treated the two lads to a dinner fit for an emperor, at the 
 Palais Royal ; for although that once famous place was 
 quite out of fashion, Dr. Sarrasin continued to regard it 
 as the centre of Parisian taste and refinement. 
 
 " Let me know what your father says about his Hygienic 
 Conference," said Max. " It was a good idea of his to 
 attend that ; French ' savants ' are inclined to be too 
 exclusive." 
 
 And Max returned to his problem. 
 
 "The extrados will be formed by another similar 
 ellipsoid, having its centre at the point O on the vertical 
 
 OC." 
 
 " Let F F F be the foci of the three principal ellipses, 
 then we find the auxiliary ellipse and hyperbola, of which 
 the common axes are " 
 
 A shout from Otto made him look up. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " he asked with some alarm, 
 seeing his friend turn pale. 
 
Astounding news. 
 
A PAIR OF CHUMS. 23 
 
 " Read this ! " cried Otto, completely astonished by the 
 news he had received. 
 
 Max took the letter, read it all through, read it a second 
 time, glanced over the documents enclosed, and said 
 
 " This is curious ! " 
 
 Then he filled his pipe, and lighted it methodically. 
 
 Otto watched him all anxiety for his opinion. 
 
 "Do you think it can be true?" he exclaimed with a 
 choking voice. 
 
 " True ? to be sure it is. Your father has too much 
 common sense, his judgment is too good to let him 
 accept rashly so well-authenticated a statement as this. 
 Besides, the proofs are there it is in fact perfectly 
 plain." 
 
 The pipe was now thoroughly lighted. 
 
 Max resumed his work. 
 
 Otto sat with his arms hanging down, unable even to 
 finish his coffee, far less to bring two ideas together. 
 
 He could not help speaking, just to convince himself 
 that he was not asleep. 
 
 "But, I say, Max, if this is true it is downright over 
 whelming ! All these millions ! why it is an enormous 
 fortune, mind you ! " 
 
 Max looked up and nodded, "Yes, enormous is the 
 word for it. Most likely there is not one such in 
 France, a few in the United States, five or six in 
 
24 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 England not above fifteen or twenty in the world 
 altogether." 
 
 "And a title into the bargain!" resumed Otto. "A 
 foreign title what is it? let's see 'Rajah!' Not that I 
 ever was ambitious of having a title, but if it comes in one's 
 way, why it certainly sounds more imposing than plain 
 Sarrasin." 
 
 Max shot forth a puff of smoke, and uttered not a word. 
 That puff of smoke distinctly said " Pooh 1 Pooh ! " 
 
 " Certainly," continued Otto, " I should never have stuck 
 a ' de ' before my name, or assumed anything high-sounding 
 as some people do ; but to inherit a real genuine title, 
 and to take rank among the great princes of India, without 
 any possible chance of doubt or confusion ! " 
 
 The pipe kept puffing " Pooh ! Pooh ! " 
 
 " My dear fellow," said Otto decidedly, " you may say 
 what you like, but I can tell you there is ' a good deal in 
 blood ' as the English express it." 
 
 He stopped short as he caught the mocking smile in 
 Max's eyes, and returned to the contemplation of his 
 millions. 
 
 "Do you recollect, Max, howBin6me, our old arithmetic 
 master, used to impress upon us every year in his opening 
 lesson, that five hundred millions was a number beyond the 
 grasp of one human mind unaided by the resources of 
 written figures ? One has to consider that a man spending 
 
A PAIR OF CHUMS. 25 
 
 a franc every minute would take more than a thousand 
 years to pay away such a sum. Well, it really is strange 
 to think one has inherited five hundred millions of 
 francs ! " 
 
 " Five hundred million francs is it ? " cried Max with 
 more interest than he had yet shown. " Shall I tell you 
 the best thing you can do ? Give it to France for payment 
 of her ransom, she only requires ten times as much!" 
 
 " For mercy's sake, don't suggest such an idea to my 
 father ! " cried Otto, looking quite scared. " He really 
 might adopt it. I can tell you that he already has some 
 notion of the kind in his head. Some investment he 
 might certainly make, but at least let us have the interest." 
 
 " Come, we shall have you turn out a financier after 
 all!" said Max. "Something tells me, my poor Otto, 
 that it would have been better for your father, with his 
 upright, intelligent mind, if this great fortune had been of 
 a more reasonable size. I would rather see you with an 
 income of five-and-twenty thousand to share with your 
 good little sister than with this great mountain of gold ! " 
 
 And Max went back to his work. 
 
 As to Otto, he could not settle to anything, and fidgeted 
 about the room till his friend got rather impatient and 
 said 
 
 " You had better go out and take a walk, Otto ; it is 
 clear you are fit for nothing this evening ! " 
 
26 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " You are quite right ! I really am not," replied Otto, 
 who joyfully caught at this excuse for leaving off work, 
 and seizing his hat, he clattered downstairs, and was soon 
 in the street. 
 
 He presently stopped beneath a bright gaslight, and 
 read his father's letter again. He wanted to make sure he 
 was not dreaming. 
 
 " Five hundred millions of francs ! " he kept repeating. 
 " That would be at least five-and-twenty millions a year. 
 Why, if my father will only give me one million a year 
 say quarterly or half-yearly as my allowance, how happy 
 I should be ! Money can do so much. I am sure I should 
 make an excellent use of it. I'm not a fool not a bit of 
 it. Didn't I get into the upper school ? And then that 
 title ! I'm sure I could easily support the dignity of a title." 
 
 As he passed along he looked into all the shops. 
 
 " I shall have a fine house, horses, one for Max of course. 
 I becoming rich myself, he will become so likewise. 
 Only think ! Five hundred millions ! But somehow, now 
 a fortune comes, it seems to me as though I had expected 
 it. Something whispered that I should not be poring over 
 books and plans all my life." 
 
 As Otto revolved these thoughts, he was passing along 
 beneath the arcades of the Rue de Rivoli. Reaching the 
 Champs Elysees, he turned up the Rue Royal, and 
 reached the Boulevards. 
 
He read his father's letter again. 
 
 Page 26. 
 
A PAIR OF CHUMS. 2/ 
 
 The splendid shop-fronts, which formerly he regarded 
 with indifference as exhibiting things utterly useless to 
 him, now attracted lively attention, as he considered, with 
 a thrill of delight, that he could at any moment possess 
 any or all of these treasures. 
 
 " For me," said he to himself, " for me, all this fine linen, 
 all these exquisite soft cloths are manufactured ; for me 
 watchmakers construct timepieces and chronometers ; for 
 my pleasure the brilliant lustres of theatre and opera shed 
 their dazzling light, violins scrape, prima-donnas sing their 
 enchanting strains. For me horse dealers train thorough 
 breds, and the Cafe Anglaise is lighted up. All Paris is 
 mine ! Everything is at my disposal ! Travel ! to be 
 sure I shall travel. I shall go and visit my Indian 
 possessions. As likely as not I shall buy a pagoda some 
 day, priests and all, and the ivory idols into the bargain. 
 I shall have elephants of my own ! I shall have splendid 
 guns and rifles go tiger-shooting. And I must have a 
 beautiful boat. A boat, what am I thinking about ? a fine 
 steam yacht, that's what I shall have go where I choose, 
 stop as often as I like. Talking of steam, I have to give 
 this news to my mother. Suppose I start for Douai ? 
 There is college to be considered. But then, what's the 
 use of college to me now ? " 
 
 " But Max, I must let him know. I should send him a 
 message ; of course he will understand that under present 
 
28 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 circumstances I am in haste to see my mother and 
 sister." 
 
 Otto entered an office, and sent a telegram to inform his 
 friend that he was gone, and would return in a couple of 
 days. Then, hailing a cab, he was driven to the terminus 
 of the Northern Railway. 
 
 Settling himself in the corner of a carriage, he continued 
 to follow out his dreaming fancies, until, at two o'clock in 
 the morning, he arrived at Douai ; hurried to his father's 
 house, and rang the night bell so noisily, that not only the 
 family, but all the neighbours were aroused by the peal. 
 Night-capped heads popped out at various windows. 
 
 " Somebody is very ill ! who can it be ? " inquired one 
 and another. 
 
 "The doctor is not at home!" screamed the old 
 servant from her attic window. 
 
 " It is I ! it is Otto ! Come down and let me in, 
 Fanchon ! " 
 
 After a delay of ten minutes, Otto was admitted into 
 the house. His mother and sister hastily robed in dress 
 ing-gowns, came downstairs, all anxiety to learn the cause 
 of this visit. 
 
 The doctor's letter on being read aloud explained the 
 mystery. 
 
 Madame Sarrasin was at first completely dazzled. She 
 embraced her son and daughter, with tears of joy ; it 
 
Otto tells his news. 
 
 Page ?8. 
 
30 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 the side of the enthusiastic man of science, and conse 
 quently centred all her hopes and aspirations in her chil 
 dren. She pictured for them a brilliant and happy future. 
 
 Otto, she felt certain, was destined to do great things. 
 From the time he took a place in the upper school she 
 mentally regarded that modest and useful college for 
 young engineers as the nursery of illustrious men. Her 
 only trouble was that their limited means might possibly 
 prove an obstacle, or at least a difficulty in the w r ay of her 
 son's brilliant career, and might ultimately also affect her 
 daughter's establishment in life. But now, she so far 
 understood the news conveyed in her husband's letter, as 
 to perceive that these fears were needless, and her satisfac 
 tion was entire. 
 
 The mother and son spent most of the night in talking 
 and making plans, while Jeannette, happy in the present, 
 heedless of the future, was fast asleep in an arm-chair. 
 
 " You have not mentioned Max," said Madame Sarrasin 
 to her son. " Have you not shown him your father's 
 letter ? What does he say about it ?" 
 
 " Oh, you know what Max is ! " answered Otto. " He is 
 worse than a philosopher, he is a stoic. I believe he fears 
 the effect so enormous a fortune will have upon us ! I say 
 upon us, but he is not afraid for my father himself, whose 
 good sense and judgment, he says, he can rely upon. But 
 for you, mother, and Jeannette, and more especially for me, 
 
For my part, I always believe what Max says.' 
 
 Page 31. 
 
A PAIR OF CHUMS. 31 
 
 he plainly said he should have preferred an income of a 
 few thousands a year." 
 
 "Perhaps Max is not far wrong," replied Madame 
 Sarrasin, looking at her son. " The sudden possession of 
 great wealth is fraught with danger to some natures." 
 
 Jeannette awoke, and heard her mother's last words. 
 
 " Do not you remember, mother," said she, as, rubbing 
 her eyes, she rose and turned towards her little bedroom, 
 " Do not you remember you told me one day that Max 
 was always in the right. I for my part believe what our 
 friend Max says." And, kissing her mother, Jeannette 
 withdrew. 
 
32 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 
 
 ON entering the hall, where the fourth meeting of the 
 Hygienic Conference was being held, Dr. Sarrasin was 
 conscious that he was received with unusual tokens of 
 respect. The Right Honourable Lord Glandover, the 
 president and chairman of the assembly, had not hitherto 
 condescended to appear conscious of the existence of the 
 French doctor. 
 
 This nobleman was an august personage, whose part it 
 was to declare the Conference' open or closed, and, from a 
 list placed before him, to call upon the various speakers 
 who were to address the meeting. 
 
 He habitually carried his right hand in the breast of his 
 buttoned coat, not that it had received an injury and 
 needed support, but only because it was usual among 
 English sculptors to represent statesmen in this inconve 
 nient attitude. 
 
EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 33 
 
 His pale smooth face, marked with red blotches, and 
 surmounted by a wig of light hair, brushed high on a fore 
 head which clearly belonged to an empty pate, possessed 
 an aspect of ludicrous stiffness and foolish gravity. Lord 
 Glandover might have been made of wood or paste-board, 
 so stiff and unnatural were all his movements. His very 
 eyes appeared to turn beneath their brows by intermittent 
 jerks, like those of a doll or puppet. 
 
 The notice hitherto bestowed on Dr. Sarrasin by Lord 
 Glandover had amounted to no more than a slight and 
 patronising bow ; it seemed to say " Good morning, poor 
 man ; you are one of those who support your insignificant 
 existence by making insignificant experiments with insig 
 nificant machines. How condescending I am to notice a 
 being so far beneath me in the scale of creation ! You 
 may sit down, poor man, beneath the shadow of my 
 nobility." 
 
 But on the present occasion Lord Glandover smiled 
 most graciously upon Dr. Sarrasin as he entered, and even 
 carried his courtesy so far as to invite him by a sign to be 
 seated at his right hand. The other members of the 
 Conference all rose when he appeared on the platform. 
 
 Considerably astonished by a reception so flattering, 
 Dr. Sarrasin took the chair offered to him, concluding that, 
 on further consideration, his invention had been found of 
 much greater importance than his scientific brethren had 
 
 D 
 
34 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 at first supposed. But this illusion vanished when Lord 
 Glandover, leaning towards him with a spinal contortion of 
 his body, whispered in his ear 
 
 " I understand that you are a man of very considerable 
 property. They tell me you are worth twenty-one million 
 pounds sterling." 
 
 This was said almost in a tone of reproach, as though his 
 lordship felt aggrieved at having lightly treated the equiva 
 lent in flesh and blood of a sum of money so vast. 
 
 His look and tone seemed to say 
 
 " Why was I not made aware of this ? It really is very 
 unfair to expose one to the awkwardness of making such 
 mistakes ! " 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin, who could not in conscience have said he 
 " was worth " a penny more than he had been at the last 
 meeting, was wondering how the news should have already 
 become known, when Dr. Ovidius of Berlin, who sat next 
 him, said with a false and faint smile 
 
 " Why, Sarrasin, you are as great a man as any of the 
 Rothschilds ! so the Daily Telegraph makes out. Let me 
 congratulate you." 
 
 He handed the doctor a copy of the paper of Thursday. 
 Among the items of news was to be seen the following 
 paragraph, the composition of which plainly revealed its 
 authorship. 
 
 "A MONSTER HERITAGE. The legitimate heir to the 
 
EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 35 
 
 fortune of the late Begum Gokool has at length been dis 
 covered, thanks to the indefatigable researches of Messrs. 
 Billows, Green and Sharp, solicitors, 94, Southampton 
 Row, London. 
 
 " The fortunate possessor of twenty-one million pounds 
 sterling, now deposited in the Bank of England, is a 
 Frenchman, Dr. Sarrasin, whose able paper, communicated 
 at the Brighton Scientific Conference, was reported in this 
 journal three days ago. 
 
 "By dint of a course of strenuous efforts, and amid 
 difficulties and adventures forming in themselves a perfect 
 romance, Mr. Sharp has succeeded in proving indisputably 
 that Dr. Sarrasin is the sole living descendant of Jean 
 Jacques Langevol, the second husband of the Begum 
 Gokool. 
 
 " This soldier of fortune was, it appears, a native of the 
 town of Bar-le-Duc in France. 
 
 " A few matters of form only required to be gone through 
 in order to place Dr. Sarrasin in full possession of his for 
 tune. A petition to that effect has been filed in Chancery. 
 
 "Very remarkable is the chain of circumstance by which 
 the treasure accumulated by a long line of Indian Rajahs 
 is laid at the feet of a French physician. The fickle 
 goddess might have exhibited the indiscretion she so 
 frequently displays in the disposal of her gifts ; but on 
 this occasion she has, we are glad to say, bestowed this 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 prodigious fortune on one who will not fail to make a good 
 use of his wealth." 
 
 Oddly enough, as many might think, Dr. Sarrasin was 
 vexed to see his news made public. He not only 
 foresaw the many annoyances it would entail upon him, he 
 also felt humbled by the importance people seemed to 
 attach to the event. He, himself personally, appeared to 
 dwindle into insignificance before the imposing figures 
 which denoted his capital. He was inly conscious that his 
 own personal merits, and all he had ever accomplished, 
 were already, even in the eyes of those who knew him best, 
 sunk in this ocean of gold and silver. 
 
 His friends no longer saw in him the enthusiastic 
 experimentalist, the ingenious inventor, the acute philoso 
 pher ; they saw only the great millionaire. 
 
 Had he been a hump-backed dwarf, an ignorant 
 Hottentot, the lowest specimen of humanity, instead of 
 one of its most intelligent representatives, his value would 
 have been the same as Lord Glandover had expressed it, 
 he "was worth " henceforth just twenty-one million pounds, 
 no more and no less. 
 
 This idea sickened him, and the crowd of members, staring 
 with a searching if not a scientific curiosity to see how a 
 millionaire looked, remarked with surprise that a shade of 
 melancholy gathered on the countenance under examination. 
 
 This, however, was only a passing weakness. 
 
EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 37 
 
 The magnitude of the object to which he had resolved 
 to dedicate his unexpected fortune rose suddenly before 
 him, and his serenity was restored. 
 
 He waited until Dr. Stevenson, of Glasgow, had finished 
 reading a paper on the education of young idiots, and 
 then requested leave to make a communication. 
 
 It was instantly granted by Lord Glandover, although 
 the name of Dr. Ovidius stood next on the list. By the 
 marked tone of his voice, he indicated that he would have 
 done so had the whole Conference objected, or had all the 
 learned men in Europe protested with one accord against 
 such a piece of favouritism. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Dr. Sarrasin, " it was my intention to 
 wait for a few days before informing you of the singular 
 chance which has befallen me, and of the happy con 
 sequences which may result to science from this event. 
 But, the fact having become public, it would seem mere 
 affectation were I now to delay speaking of it, and placing 
 it in its proper light. 
 
 " Yes, gentlemen, it is true that a large sum of money, a 
 sum amounting to many millions, now deposited in the 
 Bank of England, appears to be legally my property. 
 
 " Need I tell you, that such being the case, I consider 
 myself simply as a steward, entrusted with this wealth for 
 the use and benefit of science ? (Immense sensation.) 
 This treasure belongs, not to me but to humanity to 
 
38 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 progress! (Great commotion exclamations applause. 
 The whole assembly, electrified by this announcement, 
 rise en massed) 
 
 " Do not applaud me, gentlemen ; I know not one man of 
 science worthy of the name who, in my place, would not 
 do what it is my desire to do. 
 
 " It is possible that some may attribute to me motives of 
 vanity and self-love in this matter, rather than of genuine 
 devotedness. (No ! No !) It matters little. Let us look 
 to the results. 
 
 "I declare, then, definitively, and without reservation, 
 that the twenty-one million pounds placed in my hands 
 belongs not to me, but to science ! Will you, gentlemen, 
 undertake the management and distribution of it ? 
 
 "I have not sufficient confidence in my own knowledge to 
 undertake the sole disposal of such a sum. I appoint you 
 as trustees ; you yourselves shall decide on the best means 
 of employing all the treasure." (Tumultuous applause- 
 great excitement general enthusiasm.) 
 
 The whole assembly stood up, some members, in the 
 fever of excitement, mounted on the table. Professor 
 Turnbull, of Glasgow, appeared on the verge of apoplexy. 
 Dr. Cicogna, of Naples, was ready to choke. 
 
 Lord Glandover alone maintained the serene and dig 
 nified composure befitting his rank. He was perfectly 
 convinced that Dr. Sarrasin intended the whole thing as a 
 
EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 39 
 
 pleasant jest, without the smallest intention of actually 
 carrying out so extravagant a scheme. 
 
 When quiet was in some measure restored, the speaker 
 continued 
 
 " If I may be permitted to suggest what it would be 
 easy to develop and bring to perfection, I would beg 
 to propose the following plan." 
 
 The assembly, recovering its composure, listened with 
 reverential attention. 
 
 "Gentlemen, among the many causes of the sickness, 
 misery and death which surround us, is one to which I 
 think it reasonable to attach great importance ; and that 
 is the deplorable sanitary conditions under which the 
 greater part of mankind exists. 
 
 " Multitudes are massed together in towns, and in dwell 
 ings where they are often deprived of light and air, the 
 two elements most necessary to life. 
 
 "These agglomerations of humanity become the hot 
 beds of fever and infection, and even those who escape 
 death are tainted with disease ; they are feeble and useless 
 members of society, which thereby suffers great and serious 
 loss, instead of deriving priceless advantage from their 
 healthful and vigorous labour. 
 
 "Why, gentlemen, should we not, in an effort to remedy 
 this sore evil, try the most powerful of all means of persua 
 sion that of example ? 
 
40 TPIE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " Why should we not, by uniting the powers of our 
 minds, produce the plan of a model city, based upon 
 strictly scientific principles ? (Cries of Hear, Hear.) 
 Why should we not afterwards devote our capital to 
 the erection of such a city, and then present it to 
 the world as a practical illustration of what all cities 
 ought to be ? " (Hear, Hear ! and thunders of ap 
 plause.) 
 
 The members, in transports of admiration, shook hands, 
 and congratulated each other ; then, surrounding Dr. 
 Sarrasin, they seized upon his chair, raised him up, and 
 bore him triumphantly round the hall. 
 
 " Gentlemen," continued the doctor, on being permitted 
 to resume his place ; " to this city, which every one of us 
 can already picture in imagination, and which may shortly 
 become a reality to this city of health and happiness 
 we will call universal attention by descriptions, translated 
 into all the languages of the earth ; we will invite visitors 
 from every nation ; we will offer it as a home and refuge 
 for honest families forced to emigrate from over-populated 
 countries. 
 
 "Those unfortunate people, also, who are driven into exile 
 by foreign conquest (can you wonder, gentlemen, that I 
 think of them ?) will find with us employment for their 
 activity, and scope for their intelligence, while they will 
 enrich our colony by their moral virtue and intellectual 
 

 Chairing the Doctor. 
 
 Page 40. 
 
EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 41 
 
 strength possessions of far higher value than gold or 
 precious stones. 
 
 " We will found great colleges where youth will be trained 
 and educated in principles based on the truest wisdom, so 
 as to develop and justly balance their moral, physical, 
 and intellectual faculties, thus preparing future generations 
 of strong and virtuous men." 
 
 No language can describe the tumult of enthusiasm 
 which followed this communication. For at least a 
 quarter of an hour the hall resounded with a storm of 
 cheering and hurrahs. 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin sat down, and Lord Glandover, once more 
 leaning towards him, murmured in his ear with a knowing 
 wink 
 
 " Not a bad speculation that ! what a revenue you 
 would draw from the tolls eh ? The thing would be sure 
 to succeed, provided it were well started and backed up by 
 influential names. Why, all our convalescents and valetu 
 dinarians would be for settling there at once ! Be sure 
 you put down my name for a good building lot, doctor ! " 
 
 Poor Dr. Sarrasin was quite mortified by this determina 
 tion to attribute his actions to a covetous motive, and was 
 about to reply to his lordship, when he heard the vice- 
 president move a vote of thanks to the author of the 
 philanthropic proposal just submitted to the assembly. 
 
 " It would," he said, " be to the eternal honour of the 
 
42 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Brighton Conference, that an idea so sublime had been 
 originated there. It was an idea which nothing short of 
 the most exalted benevolence and the rarest generosity 
 could have conceived. And yet, now that the idea had 
 been suggested, it seemed almost a wonder that it had 
 never before occurred to any one. 
 
 "Millions had been lavished on senseless wars, vast 
 capitals squandered in foolish speculations ; how infinitely 
 better spent they might have been in the furtherance of 
 such a scheme as this ! " 
 
 The speaker, in conclusion, proposed " That, in honour 
 of its founder, the new city should receive the name of 
 Sarrasina." 
 
 This motion would have been carried by acclamation, 
 but Dr. Sarrasin interposed 
 
 " No," said he, " my name has nothing whatever to do 
 with this scheme. Neither let us bestow on the future 
 city a fancy name derived from Greek or Latin, such as 
 is often invented, and gives an air of affectation and 
 peculiarity to whatever bears it. It will be the city of 
 welfare and comfort, let it be named after my country. 
 Let us call it Frankville ! " 
 
 Every one agreed to gratify Dr. Sarrasin in this by 
 acceding to his choice, and the first step was thus taken 
 towards the founding of the city. 
 
 The meeting then proceeded to the discussion of other 
 
Professor Schultz and his man. 
 
EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 43 
 
 points, and to this practical occupation, so unlike those to 
 which it was usually devoted, we will leave it, while we 
 follow the wandering fortunes of the paragraph published 
 in the Daily Telegraph. 
 
 Copied word for word by all the newspapers, the 
 information contained in this little paragraph was soon 
 blazed abroad, over every county in England. In the 
 Hull Gazette it figured at the top of the second page in 
 a copy of that modest journal which, on the first of 
 November, arrived at Rotterdam on board the three- 
 masted collier Queen Mary. 
 
 The active scissors of the editor of the Belgian Echo 
 pounced upon it at once, it was speedily translated into 
 Flemish (the language of Cuyp and Potter), and on the 
 wings of steam it reached the Bremen Chronicle on the 
 2nd of November. In that paper our bit of news next 
 appeared, the same in substance, but clothed in a garb of 
 German, the artful editor adding in parenthesis " from our 
 Brighton correspondent." 
 
 The anecdote, now thoroughly Germanised, reached the 
 office of the editor of the Northern Gazette, and that great 
 man gave it a place in the second column of his third page. 
 
 On the evening of the 3rd of November, after passing 
 through these various transformations, it made its entrance, 
 between the fat hands of a stout serving man, into the 
 study of Professor Schultz of the University of Jena. 
 
44 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 High as this personage stood in the scale of humanity, 
 he presented nothing remarkable to the eye of a 
 stranger. 
 
 He was a man of five or six and forty, strongly built, 
 his square shoulders denoting a" robust constitution ; his 
 forehead was bald, the little hair remaining on his temples 
 and behind his head suggested the idea that they consisted 
 of threads of tow. His eyes were blue, that vague blue 
 which never betrays a thought. Professor Schultz had a 
 largo mouth, garnished with a double row of formidable 
 teeth which would never drop their prey ; thin lips closed 
 over them, whose principal employment was to keep note 
 of the words which passed between them. 
 
 The general appearance of the professor was decidedly 
 unpleasant to others, but he himself was evidently perfectly 
 satisfied with it. , 
 
 On hearing his servant enter, he raised his eyes to a very 
 pretty clock over the mantel-piece which looked out of 
 place among a number of vulgar articles around it, and 
 said in a quick, rough voice 
 
 "6.55! The post comes in at 6.30. You bring my 
 letters too late by twenty-five minutes. The next time 
 they are not on my table at 6 . 30 you quit my service." 
 
 " Will you please to dine now, sir ? " asked the man as 
 he withdrew. 
 
 "It is now 6.55, and I dine at seven. You have been 
 
EFFECT OF AN ITEM OF NEWS. 45, 
 
 here for three weeks, and you know that. Recollect that I 
 never change an hour, and never repeat an order." 
 
 The professor laid his newspaper on the table, and went 
 on writing a treatise which was to appear next day in 
 * Physiological Records,' a periodical to which he contributed. 
 We may be permitted to state that this treatise was en 
 titled " Why are all Frenchmen affected by different degrees 
 of hereditary degeneracy ? " 
 
 As the professor pursued his task, his dinner, consisting 
 of a large dish of sausages and cabbage, flanked by a huge 
 flagon of beer, was carefully placed on a round table near 
 the fire. 
 
 He laid aside his pen in order to partake of this repast, 
 which he did with greater appearance of enjoyment than 
 might have been expected from so grave an individual. 
 Then he rang for coffee, lighted his pipe, and resumed his 
 labours. 
 
 It was after midnight when he signed his name on the 
 last page, and retired at once to his bedroom to enjoy a 
 well-earned repose. 
 
 Not till he was in bed did he take his paper from its 
 cover, and begin to read before going to sleep. Just as 
 the professor was becoming drowsy, his eye was caught by 
 a foreign name, that of "Langevol," in the paragraph 
 relating to the " Monster Heritage." He tried to call to 
 mind clearly the vague recollections to which this name 
 
46 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 gave rise. After a few minutes vainly devoted to efforts 
 of memory, he threw away the journal, blew out his candle, 
 and loud snores quickly gave notice that he slept. 
 
 By a physiological phenomenon, which he himself had 
 studied and explained at great length, this name of 
 Langevol followed Professor Schultz even in his dreams. 
 The consequence was that on awaking next morning, he 
 found himself mechanically repeating it. 
 
 All at once, just as he was going to look at his watch, a 
 sudden light broke upon him. 
 
 Snatching up the newspaper at the foot of his bed, he 
 read again and again, with his hand pressed on his forehead, 
 the paragraph which he had all but missed seeing the night 
 before. The light was evidently spreading to his brain, 
 for without waiting to put on his flowered dressing-gown, 
 he hurried to the fireplace, took a small miniature portrait 
 from the wall by the mirror, and turning it round, passed 
 his sleeve across the dusty pasteboard at the back. 
 
 The professor was right. Behind the picture he read 
 the following German words, traced in faded ink : 
 
 " Therese Schultz, eine geborene Langevol," which means, 
 " Theresa Schultz, whose maiden name was Langevol." 
 
 That evening the professor was in the express train on 
 his way to London, 
 
The Langevol business. 
 
 Page 47- 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TWO CLAIMANTS. 
 
 ON the 6th November, at 7 A.M., Professor Schultz 
 arrived at the Charing Cross Station. At noon he presented 
 himself at No 94, Southampton Row, entering a large room 
 divided by a wooden barrier, one side being for the clerks, 
 the other for the public. In it there were six chairs, a table, 
 numberless green tin boxes, and a London Directory. Two 
 young men, seated at the table, were quietly eating the tradi 
 tional luncheon of bread and cheese usual with their class. 
 
 " Messrs. Billows, Green, and Sharp ?" said the professor, 
 in the tone of a man calling for his dinner. 
 
 "Mr. Sharp is in his private room what name? On 
 what business ?" 
 
 " Professor Schultz, of Jena. On the Langevol business." 
 
 This information was murmured into the speaking-tube 
 by the young clerk ; a reply being returned into his ear 
 which he did not choose to repeat 
 
48 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 . " Hang the Langevol business ! Another fool come to 
 put in a claim !" 
 
 Clerk's answer 
 
 "This man seems respectable enough. Does not look 
 exactly agreeable though." 
 
 Another mysterious whisper conveyed the words 
 
 " And he comes from Germany." 
 
 " So he says." 
 
 With a sigh came the order 
 
 " Send him upstairs." 
 
 "Second story, door facing you," said the clerk aloud, 
 pointing to an inner entrance. 
 
 The professor plunged into the passage, mounted the stairs, 
 and found himself opposite a green baize door, on which the 
 name of Mr. Sharp stood out in black letters on a brass plate. 
 
 That personage was seated at a large mahogany writing- 
 table, in a common-looking room, with a felt carpet, leather 
 chairs, and many open boxes. 
 
 He half rose from his seat, and then, according to the 
 polite fashion of business men, began to rummage amongst 
 his papers for several minutes to show how busy he was. 
 At last, turning to Professor Schultz who remained standing 
 near him, he said 
 
 " Have the goodness, sir, to tell me your business here in 
 as few words as possible. My time is limited ; I can give 
 you but a very few minutes." 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 49 
 
 The professor smiled slightly, evidently not at all put 
 out by the way he was received. 
 
 " Perhaps," he said, " when you know what brings me 
 here, you will think it advisable to grant me a few minutes 
 more." 
 
 " Proceed, sir." 
 
 "My business relates to the inheritance left by Jean 
 Jacques Langevol, of Bar-le-Duc. I am the grandson of 
 the elder sister, Theresa Langevol, who married in 1792 
 rny grandfather, Martin Schultz, a surgeon in the army of 
 Brunswick; he died in 1814. I have in my possession three 
 letters from my great-uncle, written to his sister, and many 
 .accounts of his return home after the battle of Jena, besides 
 the legal documents which prove my birth." 
 
 We need not follow Professor Schultz through the prolix 
 explanations which he gave to Mr. Sharp. On this point 
 he seemed, contrary to his nature, quite inexhaustible. 
 His aim was to demonstrate to this Englishman, this Mr. 
 .Sharp, that by rights the German race should, in all things, 
 predominate over all others. His object in putting forward 
 a claim to this inheritance was chiefly that it might be 
 snatched from French hands, which could not fail to make 
 a silly use of it. What he hated in his rival was his 
 nationality. Had he been a German he certainly should 
 not have interfered, &c., &c. 
 
 But that a Frenchman a would-be " savant ;) should 
 
 E 
 
So THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 have this enormous wealth to spend upon French fancies, 
 was distracting to his feelings, and he considered it his 
 duty to contest his right to it at all costs. 
 
 At first sight, the connection between these political 
 opinions and the opulent inheritance in question was not 
 very clear. But the experienced eye of the man of business 
 plainly detected the relation which patriotic ambition for 
 the advantage of the German nation generally, bore to the 
 private interests of Professor Schultz individually. He 
 saw that this apparently double aim had in reality but one 
 motive. 
 
 There was no doubt about it. However humiliating it 
 might be for a professor of the University of Jena to be 
 connected with beings of an inferior race, it was evident 
 that a French ancestress had had a share in the responsi 
 bility of giving to the world this matchless human being. 
 
 But this relationship being in a secondary degree to that 
 of Doctor Sarrasin, would only give secondary rights to the 
 said inheritance. The solicitor perceived, however, the 
 possibility of lawfully sustaining them, and in this possibility 
 he foresaw another which would be much to the advantage 
 of Billows, Green, and Sharp, something which would 
 change the Langevol affair, already productive, into a very 
 good thing, indeed, a second case of the " Jarndyce versus 
 Jarndyce" of Dickens. An extensive horizon of stamped 
 paper, deeds, documents of all sorts, rose before the eyes of 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 51 
 
 the man of law ; and, what was worth more, he saw a 
 compromise conducted by himself, Sharp, to the interest of 
 both his clients, which would bring to himself equal parts 
 of honour and profit. 
 
 In the meanwhile he made known to Professor Schultz 
 the claims of Doctor Sarrasin, gave him proofs in corrobo- 
 ration, and insinuated that if Billows, Green, and Sharp 
 undertook to make something advantageous for the professor 
 out of the claims, "shadowy though they are, my dear sir, 
 it would, I fear, not hold water in a lawsuit," which his 
 relationship to the doctor gave him he hoped that the 
 remarkable sense of justice, possessed by all Germans, 
 would admit that to Messrs. Billows, Green, and Sharp, he, 
 the professor, owed a large debt of gratitude. 
 
 The latter was practical enough to understand the drift 
 of this argument, and soon put the mind of the business 
 man at rest on this point, though without committing 
 himself in any way. Mr. Sharp politely begged permission 
 to examine into the affair at his leisure, showed him out 
 with marked respect, nothing more having been said as 
 to the very limited time of which before he had been 
 so sparing. 
 
 Professor Schultz retired convinced that he had no 
 sufficient claim to put forward for the Begum's inheritance, 
 but all the same persuaded that a struggle between the 
 Saxon and Latin races, besides being always meritorious, 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 would not fail, if set about properly, to turn to the advantage 
 of the former. 
 
 The next important step was to get Dr. Sarrasin's 
 opinion on the subject A telegram despatched immediately 
 to Brighton had the effect of bringing that gentleman to 
 Mr. Sharp's office by five o'clock. 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin heard all that had occurred with a calmness 
 which astonished the solicitor. He frankly declared that 
 he perfectly remembered a tradition in his family of a great- 
 aunt brought up by a rich and titled lady, who had emi 
 grated with her, and who had married in Germany. He 
 knew neither the name nor the exact degree of relationship 
 of this great-aunt. 
 
 Mr. Sharp was busily looking over his notes, carefully 
 numbered in portfolios, which he now exhibited with con 
 siderable complacency to the doctor. 
 
 There was Mr. Sharp did not seek to hide it matter 
 for a lawsuit, and lawsuits of this character may easily 
 be lengthened out. Indeed, it was not at all necessary to 
 acknowledge to the adverse party that family tradition 
 which Doctor Sarrasin had in his honesty just now con 
 fided to his solicitor. To be sure, there were those letters 
 from Jean Jacques Langevol to his sister, of which Pro 
 fessor Schultz had spoken, and which were a point in his 
 favour. A very small point indeed, destitute of any legal 
 character, but still a point no doubt other proofs would 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 53 
 
 be exhumed from the dust of municipal archives. Perhaps 
 even the adverse party, in default of authentic documents, 
 would even dare to manufacture false ones. Everything 
 must be foreseen. Who knew but that fresh investigations 
 might assign to this Therese Langevol and her descendants, 
 who had suddenly started up, superior claims to Dr. 
 Sarrasin's ? In any case, there would be long disputes, 
 tedious examinations no end of them. There was good 
 hope of success for both sides, each could easily form a 
 limited liability company to advance the cost of the pro 
 ceedings and exhaust all the pleas of jurisdiction. 
 
 A celebrated suit of the same sort had been in the Court 
 of Chancery for eighty-three consecutive years, and was 
 only ended at last for want of funds interest and capital, 
 all had gone ! What with inquiries, commissions, transfers, 
 the proceedings would take an indefinite period ! In ten 
 years' time the question would probably be still undecided, 
 and the twenty-one millions still sleeping quietly in the 
 Bank. 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin listened to this long-winded oration, and 
 wondered when it would come to an end. Without taking 
 for gospel all that he heard, he felt a kind of chilly dis 
 couragement creeping over him, as a voyager gazes from 
 the ship's bows at the port to which he believes himself 
 approaching, but sees it growing less and less distinct, and 
 finally disappearing as his vessel drifts away from the 
 
54 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 land. He told himself that it was not impossible that this 
 fortune just now so near, and for which he had already 
 found a use, would end by slipping from his grasp, and 
 fade away. 
 
 " Then what is to be done ? " he asked of the solicitor. 
 
 " What is to be done ? Hem ! That was difficult to 
 say, more difficult still to decide ; but no doubt everything 
 would be arranged in the end. He, Sharp, was certain of 
 that. English law was excellent, a leetle slow perhaps, 
 he could not help saying so yes, decidedly slow, pcde 
 claudo hem ! hem ! but all the more sure. Assuredly 
 Doctor Sarrasin could not fail in the course of a few years 
 to be in possession of this inheritance, always supposing 
 hem ! hem ! his claims sufficient ! " 
 
 The doctor issued from the office in Southampton Row 
 very much shaken in his confidence, and convinced that he 
 must either plunge into an interminable lawsuit or give 
 up his dream. The thoughts that his fine philanthropic 
 scheme must come to nothing gave him keen pain. 
 
 In the meantime, Mr. Sharp sent for Professor Schultz, 
 who had left his address. He told him that Dr. Sarrasin 
 had never heard of Therese Langevol, denied the existence 
 of a German branch of the family, and rejected any idea of 
 a compromise. There was nothing that the professor could 
 do, therefore, if he believed his right well established, but to 
 go to law. From this, Mr. Sharp, who was perfectly dis- 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 55 
 
 interested of course, and was a mere spectator in the 
 matter, had no intention of dissuading him. What more 
 could a solicitor wish than a lawsuit of perhaps thirty 
 years, and not knowing to what it might lead them. He 
 personally would be delighted. If he had not feared that 
 Professor Schultz would think it suspicious on his part, 
 he would have pushed his disinterestedness so far as to 
 recommend to him one of his legal brethren, who would 
 look after his interests. And, indeed, the choice was 
 an important one ! The path of law had now become 
 a regular high road ! swarming with adventurers and 
 robbers ! he owned this shameful fact, though with a 
 blush ! 
 
 " Supposing the French doctor was willing to arrange 
 the matter, how much would it cost ? " asked the professor. 
 
 Being a wise man, words could not confuse him being 
 a practical man, he went straight to the point without 
 wasting any precious time on the way. Mr. Sharp was 
 rather disconcerted by this mode of action. He represented 
 to Professor Schultz that business did not go on so quickly 
 as all that ; that no one could see the end, when as yet 
 they were just at the beginning ; that in order to bring Dr. 
 Sarrasin to terms they must protract the business, so as not 
 to allow him to see that he, Schultz, was at all eager to 
 compromise matters. 
 
 " I beg, sir," he concluded, " that you will leave it to me ; 
 
56 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 put yourself in my hands, and I will be answerable for 
 everything." 
 
 " Very well," replied Schultz, " but I should much like 
 to know what I have to expect." 
 
 However, he could not ascertain from Mr. Sharp the 
 price at which the solicitor valued Saxon gratitude, and 
 was therefore obliged to give him carte blanche in the 
 matter. 
 
 When Dr. Sarrasin appeared next day in answer to Mr. 
 Sharp's summons, and quietly asked if he had any 
 particular news for him, the solicitor, alarmed at his 
 calmness, informed him that a serious examination had 
 convinced him that the better plan would be to nip the 
 threatened danger in the bud, and propose to compromise 
 with this new claimant. Dr. Sarrasin must agree with him 
 that this was essentially disinterested advice, and what few 
 solicitors in Mr. Sharp's place would have given. But he felt 
 quite a paternal interest in the affair, and his pride was 
 concerned in bringing it to a speedy conclusion. 
 
 The doctor listened and thought all this sensible enough. 
 During the last few days he had become so accustomed to 
 the idea of immediately realising his scientific dream that 
 everything gave way to it. To wait ten years, or even one 
 year before he had it in his power, would have been a cruel 
 trial to him. Without being taken in by Mr. Sharp's fine 
 speeches, although little familiar with legal and financial 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 57 
 
 questions, he would have cheerfully given up his claims for 
 a sum paid down in ready money sufficient to enable him 
 to pass at once from theory to practice. He also, therefore, 
 at once, gave carte blanche to Mr. Sharp, and departed. 
 
 The solicitor had now got what he wanted. It was 
 quite true that perhaps another might in his place have 
 yielded to the temptation of beginning and prolonging a 
 lawsuit which would bring in a considerable annuity to his 
 business. But Mr. Sharp was not a man who cared for 
 this kind of speculation. 
 
 He saw close to his hand a way by which he could reap 
 an abundant harvest, and he resolved to seize it. The next 
 day he wrote to the doctor that he believed Herr Schultz 
 was not opposed to a compromise. In subsequent visits 
 made by him to the doctor and professor, he told them 
 alternately, that the adverse party would say nothing 
 decided, and that, in addition, a third candidate, attracted 
 by the scent, was talked of. 
 
 This little game went on for a week. In the morning all 
 was going well, but by the evening an unforeseen objection 
 had suddenly arisen to upset everything. The honest doctor 
 was incessantly troubled by doubts, fears, and changes of 
 mind. Mr. Sharp could not bring himself to hook his fish, 
 he so greatly feared that at the last he would struggle and 
 snap the line. But so many precautions were, in this case, 
 quite superfluous. From the very first day Dr. Sarrasin* 
 
58 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 who would have done anything to spare himself the trouble 
 of a lawsuit, was ready for any arrangement. When at 
 last Mr. Sharp thought that the psychological moment, to 
 use the celebrated expression, had arrived, or in less exalted 
 language, that his client was done to a turn, he suddenly 
 unmasked his batteries, and proposed an immediate com 
 promise. 
 
 A benevolent man then appeared the banker, Stilbing 
 who proposed to split the difference, to give to each ten 
 millions, and merely have for commission the surplus 
 million. 
 
 Dr. Sarrasin could have embraced Mr. Sharp when he 
 made him this proposal ; it seemed splendid to him. 
 He was ready and eager to sign. He would have 
 liked to put up in the market place of the proposed 
 city golden statues to the banker Stilbing, to the solicitor 
 Sharp, to the bank and to all the lawyers in the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The documents were drawn up, and everything was 
 ready. Professor Schultz had surrendered Mr. Sharp 
 assuring him that, with a less easy-tempered adversary he 
 would certainly have had all costs to pay. So it was 
 settled. The two heirs each received a cheque for a 
 hundred thousand pounds, payable at sight, and a promise 
 of a definite settlement after all the legal formalities had 
 been gone through. 
 
" We've got the best of it this time!" 
 
 59- 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 59 
 
 Thus was this wonderful affair settled, to the great glory 
 of the Anglo-Saxon race ! 
 
 We are assured that, that same evening, whilst dining at 
 the Cobden Club with his friend Stilbing, Mr. Sharp drank 
 a glass of champagne to the health of Dr. Sarrasin, another 
 to Professor Schultz, and then, as he finished the bottle, 
 gave way to this somewhat indiscreet exclamation 
 
 " Hurrah ! Rule Britannia ! We've got the best of it 
 this time!" 
 
 The truth is, that the banker Stilbing considered his 
 friend rather stupid for not having made a great deal more 
 out of the business, and in his heart the professor had 
 thought the same, from the moment in which he had felt 
 himself obliged to agree to any arrangement that was 
 offered. What could not have been done with a man like 
 Dr. Sarrasin, a Celt, careless, thoughtless, and very certainly 
 visionary ! 
 
 The professor had heard of his rival's project of founding 
 a French town, under such moral and physical conditions 
 as would develop the qualities of the race, and form strong 
 and brave generations. 
 
 This enterprise appeared to him absurd, and, to his ideas, 
 sure to fail, as it opposed the law of progress, which decreed 
 the uprooting of the Latin race, its subjection to the Saxon, 
 and eventually its disappearance from the surface of the 
 globe. However, these results might be held in check if 
 
60 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 the doctor's programme began to be realised, and so much 
 the more if there was any prospect of its success. It was, 
 therefore, the duty of every true Saxon, in the interest of 
 general order, to obey this appointed law, and bring to 
 nothing, if he could, this insane enterprise. Under the 
 circumstances it was quite clear that he, Schultz, M.D., 
 privat decent of chemistry in Jena University, known by 
 his numerous works on the different human races, works 
 in which it was proved that the German race was to absorb 
 all others it was quite clear that he was particularly 
 designed by the great creative and destructive force of 
 nature to annihilate the pigmies who were struggling against 
 it. From the very beginning it had been ordained that 
 Therese Langevol would marry Martin Schultz, and that 
 one day, the two nationalities meeting in the persons of 
 the French doctor and the German professor, the latter 
 would crush the former. Already he had in his possession 
 half the doctor's fortune, this was the weapon he was to 
 wield. 
 
 This project was but a secondary one to Professor 
 Schultz at present ; he merely added it to others still 
 more vast which he had formed for the destruction of all 
 nations who refused to blend themselves with the German 
 people and be united with the Vaterland. However, wishing 
 to explore to the end if so be that they had an end of 
 Dr. Sarrasin's plans, he attended all the meetings of the 
 
TWO CLAIMANTS. 6 1 
 
 Congress. As several members, with Doctor Sarrasin 
 himself among them, were leaving the meeting, the professor 
 was overheard to make this declaration : that he would 
 found at the same time as Frankville, a city strong enough 
 to put an end to that absurd and abnormal ant-hill. 
 
 " I hope," he added, " that the experiment we shall make 
 will serve as an example to all the world !" 
 
 Although good Doctor Sarrasin was so full of love to all 
 mankind, he had lived long enough to know that all his 
 fellow-creatures did not deserve the name of philanthropists. 
 He noted, however, this speech of his adversary, thinking 
 like a sensible man that no threat ought to be neglected. 
 Some time afterwards, writing to Max to invite him to aid 
 in his enterprise, he mentioned this incident and described 
 Herr Schultz so accurately that the young Alsacian was 
 certain the doctor had in him a formidable adversary. The 
 doctor added 
 
 "We shall need bold and energetic men, of practical 
 information, not only to build, but to defend us." 
 
 Max answered 
 
 " Although I cannot immediately give my co-operation 
 to the founding of your city, you may depend on finding 
 me when the right time comes. I shall not lose sight for 
 a single day of this Professor Schultz whom you have 
 described so well. My Alsacian birth gives me the right 
 to know about his affairs. Whether I am near you or far 
 
62 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 away, I am devoted to you. If by any unforeseen chance 
 you should be some months, or even years, without hearing 
 from me, do not be uneasy. Whether I am near you or 
 far away, I shall have but one thought, to work for you, 
 and consequently to serve France." 
 
STAHLSTADT. 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 STAHLSTADT. 
 
 WE must take a leap through time and space. Five 
 years have elapsed since the two heirs took possession of 
 the Begum's inheritance. The scene lies in the United 
 States, to the south of Oregon, ten leagues from the shores 
 of the Pacific. The district is mountainous, its northern 
 limits as yet barely defined by the two neighbouring 
 powers. 
 
 A merely superficial spectator might call it the American 
 Switzerland, with its abrupt peaks rising above the clouds,, 
 its deep valleys dividing the heights, its aspect at once 
 grand and wild. 
 
 But, unlike the European Switzerland, it is not given up 
 to the peaceful industries of the shepherd, the guide, and 
 the hotel-keeper. It has Alpine decorations only, just a 
 crust of rocks, and earth and venerable pines spread over 
 a mass of iron and coal. 
 
64 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Should the traveller through these solitudes stay on his 
 way to listen awhile to the voice of nature, he would not, 
 as on the slopes of the Oberland, hear the gentle murmurs 
 of insect life, or the herd-boy's call, enhancing the silence 
 of the mountain. )n his ear in this wild spot would fall 
 the heavy sound of the steam hammer, and under his feet 
 would echo the muffled explosions of powder. 
 
 He would feel as if the ground was as full of trap-doors 
 as the stage of a theatre, and that at any moment even the 
 huge rocks might sink and disappear into unknown depths. 
 
 Dreary roads, black with cinders and coke, wind round 
 the sides of the mountains. 
 
 Heaps of variegated scoria, which the scanty herbage 
 fails to cover, glance and glare like the eyes of a basilisk. 
 Here and there yawns the shaft of a deserted mine, a dark 
 gulf, the mouth grown over with briers. The air is heavy 
 with smoke, and hangs like a pall over the ground. Not 
 a bird nor an insect is to be found, and a butterfly has not 
 been seen within the memory of man. 
 
 At the northern point, where the mountain-spurs slope 
 into the plain, lies between two ranges of bleak hills what 
 up to 1871 was called the "red plain," because of the 
 colour of the soil, which is impregnated with oxide of 
 iron, but what is now called Stahlfeld, or the field of 
 steel. 
 
 Just imagine a plateau of seventeen or eighteen square 
 
Stahlstadt. 
 
 65. 
 
STAHLSTADT. 6$ 
 
 miles, the soil sandy and strewn with pebbles, and altogether 
 as arid and desolate as the ancient bed of some inland sea. 
 Nature has done nothing towards giving life and movement 
 to the place, but man has brought a wonderful amount of 
 energy and vigour to bear on it. 
 
 In five years there sprang up on this bare and rocky 
 plain eighteen villages, composed of small wooden houses, 
 all alike, brought ready built from Chicago, and containing 
 a large population of rough workmen. 
 
 In the midst of these villages, at the very foot of the 
 Coal Butts, as the inexhaustible mountains of coal are 
 called, rises a dark mass, huge, and strange, an agglomera 
 tion of regular buildings, pierced with symmetrical windows, 
 covered with red roofs, and surmounted by a forest of 
 cylindrical chimneys, which continually vomit forth clouds 
 of dense smoke. Through the black curtain which veils 
 the sky, dart red lightning-like flames, while a distant 
 roaring is heard resembling that of thunder or the beating 
 of the surf on a rocky shore. 
 
 This erection is Stahlstadt Steel Town ! The German 
 city, and the personal property of Professor Schultz, the 
 ex-chemistry professor of Jena, who has become, by means 
 of the Begum's millions, the greatest iron-worker, and 
 especially the greatest cannon-founder, of the two hemi 
 spheres. 
 
 He casts guns of all shapes and of all calibres, smooth 
 
 F 
 
66 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 and rifled bores, for Russia, Turkey, Roumania, Japan, foi 
 Italy and for China, but particularly for Germany. 
 
 With the aid of his enormous capital, this large establish 
 ment, which is at the same time a regular town, started up 
 as at the wave of a conjurer's wand. Thirty thousand 
 workmen, Germans for the most part, crowded to it, and 
 settled themselves in the suburbs. In a few months its 
 products, owing to their overwhelming superiority, acquired 
 universal celebrity. 
 
 Professor Schultz digs out iron and coal from his own 
 mines, which lie ready to his hand, changes them into 
 steel, and again into cannon, all on the spot. 
 
 What none of his competitors can do he manages. In 
 France ingots of steel are obtained, eighty thousand pounds 
 in weight. In England a hundred-ton gun has been cast. 
 At Essen M. Krupp has contrived to cast blocks of steel 
 of ten hundred thousand pounds ! Herr Schultz does not 
 stop at that he knows no limits. Order a cannon of him, 
 of whatever weight and power you like, he'll turn you out 
 that cannon, as bright as a new halfpenny, exactly at the 
 time agreed on. 
 
 But he makes his customers pay for it ! It is as if the 
 two hundred and fifty millions of 1871 had only given him 
 an appetite for more ! 
 
 In gun-casting, as in everything else, the man who can 
 do what others cannot is sure to be well off. Indeed, 
 
STAHLSTADT. 6/ 
 
 Schultz's cannon not only attain to an unprecedented size, 
 but, although they may deteriorate slightly by use, they 
 never burst. Stahlstadt steel seems to have special proper 
 ties. There are many stories current of mysterious chemical 
 mixtures ; but one thing is certain, that no one has dis 
 covered the invaluable secret. 
 
 Another thing certain is that, in Stahlstadt, that secret is 
 guarded with the most jealous care. 
 
 In this remote corner of North America, surrounded by 
 deserts, isolated from the world by a rampart of mountains, 
 five hundred miles from the nearest town or habitation of 
 any sort, we may search in vain for the smallest vestige 
 of that liberty which is the foundation principle of the 
 United States. 
 
 On arriving under the walls of Stahlstadt it is useless to 
 try and enter one of the massive gateways which here and 
 there break the line of moats and fortifications. The 
 sternest of sentinels will repulse the traveller. He must 
 go back to the suburbs. He cannot enter the City of 
 Steel unless he possesses the magic formula, the password, 
 or, at any rate, an order, duly stamped, signed, and 
 countersigned. 
 
 One November morning a young workman arrived at 
 Stahlstadt, who doubtlessly possessed such an order, for 
 after leaving his well-worn portmanteau at an inn, he 
 directed his steps to the gateway nearest the village. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 He was a fine, strongly built young fellow, dressed in a 
 loose coat, woollen shirt, with no collar, and trousers of 
 ribbed velveteen, tucked into big boots. He pulled his 
 wide felt hat over his eyes, as if to conceal the coal dust 
 with which his skin was begrimed, and walked forward 
 with elastic step, whistling through his brown moustache. 
 
 Arrived at the gateway, the young man, showing a printed 
 paper to the officer of the gate, was immediately admitted. 
 
 "Your order is addressed to the foreman, Seligmann, 
 section K, road ix, workshop 743," said the sentinel. 
 "You must follow the roundway to your right till you 
 come to the K boundary, and there show yourself to the 
 porter. Do you know the rule ? Expelled, if you enter 
 another section than your own," he added as the new 
 comer went away. 
 
 The young workman followed the direction indicated to 
 him along the roadway. On his right lay a moat, above 
 which marched numerous sentinels. On his. left, between 
 the wide circular road, and the mass of buildings, lay first 
 a double line of railway, and then a second wall, similar to 
 the outer one, which entirely surrounded the Steel City. 
 
 It was of so great an extent, that the sections, enclosed 
 by the fortified walls like the spokes of a wheel, were 
 perfectly independent of each other, although surrounded 
 by the same wall and moat. 
 
 The young workman soon reached the boundary K,. 
 
The new workman. 
 
 Page 68. 
 
STAHLSTADT. 60 
 
 placed at the side of the road, before a lofty gateway 
 surmounted by the same letter sculptured in the stone, 
 and presented himself to the porter. 
 
 This time, instead of having a soldier to deal with, he 
 found himself before a pensioner, with a wooden leg, and 
 medals on his breast. 
 
 The pensioner examined the paper, stamped it again 
 and said 
 
 "All right, ninth road on the left." 
 
 The young man entered this second intrenched line, and 
 at last found himself in section K. The road which 
 debouched from the gate was the axle, and at right angles 
 on either side extended rows of uniform buildings. 
 
 The noise of machinery was almost deafening. Those 
 grey buildings pierced with thousands of windows were 
 like living monsters. But the new-comer was apparently 
 accustomed to such scenes, for he bestowed not the 
 slightest attention on the curious sight. 
 
 In five minutes he had found road ix, workshop 743, 
 and having entered a little office full of portfolios and 
 registers, stood in the presence of the foreman Seligmann. 
 
 The man took the paper with all its stamps, examined 
 it, then looked the young workman up and down. 
 
 "Hired as puddler, are you?" he asked; "you seem 
 very young ? " 
 
 " Age has nothing to do with it," was the answer. " I 
 
70 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 shall soon be six-and-twenty, and I've been puddling for 
 the last seven months. If you like I can show you 
 certificates on the strength of which I was engaged at 
 New York by the head overseer." 
 
 The young man spoke German quite easily, but with a 
 slight accent which seemed to arouse the suspicions of the 
 foreman. 
 
 " Are you an Alsacian ? " he demanded. 
 
 "No, I am Swiss from Schaffhausen. "Look, here 
 are all my papers, quite correct," he added, taking out a 
 leather pocket-book and showing a passport, testimonial, 
 and certificates. 
 
 "Very good. After all, you are hired, and it's my 
 business simply to show you your place," returned 
 Seligmann, assured by this display of official documents. 
 
 He then inscribed in a register the name of Johann 
 Schwartz, copying it from the order, and gave to the 
 workman a blue card bearing his name and the number 
 57,938, adding 
 
 " You must be at the K gate every morning at seven 
 o'clock ; show this card which will already have passed you 
 through the outer wall. Take from the rack in the lodge 
 a counter with your number on it and show it to me when 
 you come in. At seven in the evening, as you go out, 
 drop the counter into a box placed at the door of the 
 workshop, and only open at that time." 
 
STAHLSTADT. 71 
 
 " I know the system. Can I live in the town ? " asked 
 Schwartz. 
 
 " No ; you must find a lodging outside, but you can get 
 your meals at the canteen in the shed at a very moderate 
 price. Your wages are a dollar a day to begin with, but 
 they will be raised quarterly. Expulsion is the only 
 punishment. It is pronounced by me at first, and by the 
 engineer on appeal, for any infraction of the rules. Will 
 you begin to-day ? " 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " It will be but half-a-day," observed the foreman, as he 
 guided Schwartz to an inner gallery. 
 
 The two men walked along a wide passage, crossed a 
 yard and entered a vast hall, like the platform of an 
 immense terminus. Schwartz, as he glanced round, could 
 not restrain a movement of professional admiration. 
 
 On each side of the long hall were two rows of enormous 
 columns, as big as those in St. Peter's, at Rome, their tops 
 rising through the glass roof. These were the chimneys 
 of the puddling furnaces, and there were fifty of them in 
 a row. 
 
 At one end engines were continually bringing up waggon 
 loads of iron to feed the furnaces ; at the other, empty 
 trucks appeared to receive and carry away the metal, 
 transformed into steel. 
 
 This metamorphosis is accomplished by means of the 
 
72 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 operation of "puddling," at which gangs of half-naked 
 Cyclops, armed with long iron rakes, were working with 
 might and main. 
 
 The "pigs" of iron are thrown into a furnace brought 
 to an intense heat. As soon as melted, the metal is stirred 
 about for a considerable time. When it acquires a certain 
 consistency, the puddler, by means of his long hook, turns 
 and rolls about the molten mass, and makes it up into 
 four blooms, or balls, which he then hands over to others. 
 
 The operation is continued in the midst of the hall. 
 Opposite each furnace stands a shingling hammer, moved 
 by steam. 
 
 Protected by boots and armlets of iron, the head covered 
 with a metallic veil, and wearing a thick leathern apron, 
 the "shingler" with his long pincers takes up the red hot 
 ball, and places it under the hammer. Down on it comes 
 the weight of the ponderous machine, pressing out a 
 quantity of dross, amidst showers of sparks. When it cools 
 it is taken back to the furnace, to be brought out again and 
 hammered as before. 
 
 There was incessant movement in this monster forge. 
 To a spectator it was a terrifying scene, the cascades of 
 molten metal, dull blows heard above the roaring, showers 
 of brilliant sparks, the glare of the red hot furnaces. In 
 the fearful din and tumult, man appeared like a helpless 
 infant. 
 
Puddlers at work. 
 
 Page 72 
 
A monster hammer. 
 
 Page 72. 
 
STAHLSTADT. 73 
 
 Powerful fellows must these puddlers be. To stir and 
 knead four hundredweight of metallic paste in that tem 
 perature, to see nothing for hours but the blinding glare of 
 the furnace and molten iron, is trying work, and wears a 
 man out in ten years. 
 
 Schwartz, as if to show the foreman what he could do, 
 at once stripped off his coat and woollen shirt, exhibiting a 
 well-knit frame, and arms on which the muscles stood out 
 like cords, seized a hook which one of the puddlers had 
 just put down, and set to work. 
 
 Seeing that he was likely to do well, the foreman soon 
 left, and returned to his office. 
 
 The new-comer worked on until the dinner-hour. But 
 he was either too energetic, or he had neglected to take 
 sufficient food that morning to support his strength in this 
 unusual toil, for he soon appeared tired and faint. Indeed so 
 worn out did he seem that the chief of his gang noticed it. 
 
 "You're not fit for a puddler, my lad," he said, "and 
 you had best ask at once to be changed into another 
 section, for they won't do it later." 
 
 Schwartz protested against this. It was but a passing 
 faintness. He could puddle as well as any one ! 
 
 The gang's-man made his report however, and Schwartz 
 was immediately called up before the chief engineer. 
 
 This personage examined his papers, shook his head, 
 and asked in an inquisitorial tone 
 
74 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " Were you a puddler at Brooklyn ?" 
 
 The young man looked down in confusion. 
 
 " I must confess it, I see," he answered. "I was employed 
 in casting, and it was in the hope of increasing my salary 
 that I wished to try my hand at puddling." 
 
 " You are all alike," returned the engineer, shrugging his 
 shoulders. "At five-and-twenty you think you can do 
 what few men of five-and-thirty are fit for. Well, then, 
 are you good at casting ?" 
 
 " I was two months in the first class." 
 
 " You had better have stayed in it ! Here you will have 
 to begin in the third. All the same, you may think yourself 
 lucky in being allowed to change your section so easily !" 
 
 The engineer then wrote a few words on a pass, sent a 
 telegram, and said 
 
 "Give up your counter, leave this division, and go 
 straight to section O, chief engineer's office. He has been 
 told." 
 
 The same formalities were gone through again that 
 Schwartz had met with at the K gate. As in the morning, 
 he was questioned, accepted, and sent to the foreman of 
 the workshop, who introduced him into the casting-hall. 
 But here the work was more silent, and more methodical. 
 
 "This is only a small gallery, for casting forty-two 
 pounders," observed the foreman ; " first-class workmen 
 alone are allowed to cast the big guns." 
 
The casting hall. 
 
 Page 74 
 
STAHLSTADT. 7$ 
 
 The " small " gallery was not less than four hundred and 
 fifty feet long and two hundred wide. Schwartz, as he 
 glanced round, calculated that there must be at least six 
 hundred crucibles being heated, by four, eight, or twelve 
 together in the side furnaces. 
 
 The moulds destined for the reception of the fused steel 
 were placed down the middle of the gallery, at the bottom 
 of a trench. On each side of the trench was a movable 
 crane, which, running on a line of rails, was constantly in 
 use for moving enormous weights. As in the puddling 
 hall, at one end was a railroad for the conveyance of the 
 bars of steel, at the other, one for taking away the cannon 
 as they came out of the mould. 
 
 Near each mould stood a man armed with an iron rod, to 
 test the state of fusion of the metal in the crucibles. 
 
 The processes, which Schwartz had seen put in practice 
 elsewhere, were here brought to a remarkable state of 
 perfection. 
 
 When a cast was to be made, a warning bell gave the 
 signal to all the watchers of the crucibles. Then, two by 
 two, workmen of equal height, bearing between them on 
 their shoulders a horizontal bar of iron, came with measured 
 step, and placed themselves before every furnace. 
 
 An officer, armed with a whistle, his chronometer in his 
 hand, stood near the mould, conveniently placed for all the 
 furnaces in action. On each side, channels of refractory 
 
76 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 earth, covered with metal, converged in gentle slopes to a 
 funnel-shaped reservoir, placed just above the mould. The 
 officer whistled ; immediately a crucible, taken from the fire 
 with pincers, was slung on the iron bar supported by the 
 two workmen. The whistle commenced a series of modula 
 tions, and the two men, keeping time to it, approached and 
 emptied the contents of their crucible into the corres 
 ponding channel. Then they tossed their empty, still red- 
 hot receptacle into a vat. 
 
 Without interruption, at regular intervals, so as to keep 
 up a constant flow, gangs from the other furnaces went 
 through exactly the same operation. 
 
 It was all executed with such wonderful precision that 
 just at the appointed time the last crucible was emptied 
 and flung into the vat. The manoeuvre seemed rather the 
 result of a blind mechanism, than the co-operation of a 
 hundred human wills. 
 
 Inflexible discipline, the force of habit, and the power of 
 the measured musical strain, worked the miracle. 
 
 The Sight appeared familiar to Schwartz, who was soon 
 coupled with a man of his own height, tested in a small 
 cast, and found a capital workman. Indeed, the head of 
 his gang at the close of the day promised him a speedy 
 rise. 
 
 On leaving the section O, at seven that evening, he went 
 back to the inn to fetch his portmanteau. Then, following 
 
STAHLSTADT. 77 
 
 one of the exterior roads, he soon came to a group of 
 houses, which he had remarked that morning as he passed, 
 and easily found a lodging in the cottage of a good woman 
 who " took in a lodger." 
 
 After supper, our young workman did not, like too 
 many of his class, stroll out to the nearest public-house. 
 He shut himself in his room, took from his pocket a frag 
 ment of steel evidently picked up in the puddling shed, a 
 little crucible earth from the O section, and examined 
 them carefully by the light of a smoky lamp. Then, 
 taking from his portmanteau a thick manuscript book, 
 half full of notes, receipts, and calculations, he wrote the 
 following in good French, though, for precaution, in a 
 cipher of which he alone knew the key : 
 
 " November loth. Stahlstadt. There is nothing par 
 ticular in the mode of puddling, unless, of course, it is the 
 choice of two different temperatures, relatively low for the 
 first heat and the re -heating, according to Chernoff 's rules. 
 As to the casting, it is done after Krupp's process, but 
 with a perfectly admirable uniformity of movement. This 
 precision in manoeuvres is the great German power. It 
 results from the innate musical talent in the German race. 
 The English could never attain to this perfection ; they 
 have no ear, and want discipline. The French may reach 
 it easily, as they are the most perfect dancers in the world. 
 So far, there appears to be nothing mysterious in the 
 
78 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 remarkable success of this manufacture. The mineral 
 specimens which I picked up on the mountain are similar 
 to our best iron. 
 
 " The coal is certainly uncommonly fine, of an eminently 
 metallurgic quality, but still there is nothing unusual 
 in it. 
 
 "There is no doubt that in the Schwartz manufacture 
 special care is taken to purify the principal materials from 
 any foreign matter, that they may be employed only in a 
 perfectly pure state The result may easily be imagined. 
 To be in possession of the remainder of the problem, I 
 have only to determine the composition of the refractory 
 earth of which the crucibles and the channels are made. 
 This discovered, and our gangs of workmen properly 
 drilled, I do not see why we should not do what they do 
 here. All the same, as yet I have only seen two sections, 
 and there are at least four-and-twenty, without counting 
 the central building, the plans and models department, 
 the secret cabinet ! What dangerous schemes may not be 
 maturing in that den ? What may not our friends have to 
 fear, after the threat uttered by Herr Schultz when he 
 took possession of his fortune ? " 
 
 After these questions, * Schwartz, who was tired enough 
 with his day's work, undressed, laid himself down in a 
 little bed, which was about as uncomfortable as a German 
 bed could be and that is saying a good deal lighted 
 
STAHLSTADT. 79 
 
 his pipe, and began to smoke, and read a well-worn book. 
 But his thoughts were apparently elsewhere. The odorous 
 clouds issued from his lips as if they were saying 
 
 "Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!" 
 
 He soon put down his book, and remained lost in 
 thought for a long time, as if he were absorbed in the 
 solution of a difficult problem. 
 
 , " Ah," he exclaimed at last, " though the devil himself 
 should try to prevent me I will find out the secret of 
 Professor Schultz, and, above all, what he is meditating 
 against Frankville ! " 
 
 Schwartz went to sleep, murmuring the name of Doctor 
 Sarrasin ; but in his dreams it was the name of Jeannette, 
 sweet little Jeannette, that was on his lips. He had never 
 forgotten the little girl, although Jeannette, since he last 
 saw her, had grown into a young lady. This phenomenon 
 is easily explained by the ordinary laws of the association 
 of ideas. Thoughts of the doctor brought up that of 
 his daughter association by contiguity. Then, when 
 Schwartz or rather Max Bruckmann awoke, having still 
 Jeannette in his mind, he was not at all astonished, but 
 found in this fact a fresh proof of the excellence of the 
 psychological principles of John Stuart Mill. 
 
So THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ALBRECHT PIT. 
 
 FRAU BAUER, Max Bruckmann's good landlady, was a 
 Swiss by birth, and widow of a miner, who was killed four 
 years previously in one of those accidents which make a 
 miner's life so precarious. She was allowed a small 
 annual pension of thirty dollars, and, in addition, the wages 
 of her boy Carl, brought regularly to her every Sunday. 
 She was enabled slightly to increase her income by letting 
 a furnished room. 
 
 Although scarcely thirteen, Carl was employed in the 
 coal mine as a trapper ; it being his duty to open and 
 shut one of the ventilator doors, whenever it was necessary 
 for the coal trucks to pass. His mother had her house on 
 lease ; and as it was too far from the Albrecht pit for him 
 to come home eveiy evening, he had obtained some night 
 work at the bottom of the same mine. It was not heavy, 
 being merely to look after six horses, whilst the man 
 
THE ALBRECHT PIT. 8 1 
 
 who had charge of them during the day spent the night 
 above ground. 
 
 Carl's young life was passed, therefore, almost entirely, 
 fifteen hundred feet below the surface of the earth. All 
 day he kept watch by his door, all night he slept on a bed 
 of straw, near his horses. On Sunday mornings only, did 
 he return to the light of day, to revel for a few short hours 
 in the universal blessing of the sun, the blue sky, and his 
 mother's smile. 
 
 As may be imagined, after such a week, on coming up 
 from the pit he was hardly what would be called 
 presentable. Indeed he was more like a young gnome, 
 a sweep, or a negro, than anything else. Frau Bauer 
 had always a large supply of hot water and soap ready, 
 and devoted a good hour, the first thing, to scrubbing 
 him. She next dressed him in a comfortable suit of dark 
 green cloth, made from an old one of his father's, and kept 
 all the week in the big deal cupboard, and then set to work 
 to admire her boy, an occupation of which she never tired, 
 for she thought him the handsomest in the world. 
 
 When the layer of coal-dust was washed off, Carl was 
 really as good-looking as most boys. His golden silky 
 locks, his pleasant blue eyes, well suited his fair complexion, 
 but he was altogether too small for his age. His sunless 
 life made him as white as a turnip and, had Dr. Sarrasin's 
 compte-globules been applied to the blood of the young 
 
 G 
 
82 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 miner, it would probably have revealed that he possessed a 
 very insufficient quantity. 
 
 In character he was rather silent and quiet, with some of 
 that pride which the feeling of constant danger, the habit of 
 regular work, and the satisfaction of difficulties overcome, 
 gives to all miners. 
 
 His greatest happiness was to sit near his mother at the 
 square table in their little kitchen, and arrange in a box a 
 large number of frightful insects brought from the bowels 
 of the earth. The warm and equal atmosphere of the 
 mines has its special fauna, little known by naturalists, just 
 as the damp walls of the pits have their flora of curious 
 mosses, mushrooms, and lichens. 
 
 The engineer, Maulesmiilhe, who was fond of entomology, 
 had remarked this, and had promised a small reward for 
 each new specimen that Carl brought him. This, which 
 had at first led the boy to explore all the recesses of the 
 mine, had gradually taught him to be a collector. He now 
 sought for insects on his own account. 
 
 However, he did not limit his affections to spiders and 
 wood-lice. He was on intimate terms with two bats and a 
 big rat. If he was to be believed, these three animals were 
 the most intelligent and amiable creatures in the world ; 
 even more intellectual than the horses with long silky 
 manes and shining sides, of which Carl always spoke in 
 terms of warm admiration. 
 
The little miner's life. 
 
 Page 83. 
 
THE ALBRECHT PIT. 83 
 
 Blair- Athol was chief favourite, the eldest in the stable, a 
 philosophical old horse, who had been for six years fifteen 
 hundred feet below the level of the sea, and had all that 
 time never seen the light of day. He was now nearly blind. 
 
 But how well he knew his way along the subterranean 
 labyrinth, when to turn to the right or when to the left, as 
 he drew his trucks, without ever missing a step ! He 
 always stopped at the right time before the trap, leaving 
 just room enough to open it. In what a friendly way did 
 he neigh, morning and evening, at the exact minute when 
 it was time for his provender to be brought him. How 
 good, how obedient, how gentle, he was ! 
 
 " I declare, mother, he really gives me a kiss, by rubbing 
 his cheek against mine, when I put my head near him," 
 said Carl. " And he is wonderfully useful besides, mind you, 
 for he is just like a clock ; without him we should never 
 know whether it was night or day, morning or evening." 
 
 So chattered the boy, and dame Bauer listened to him 
 with delight. She, too, loved Blair- Athol as much as her 
 son did, and never failed to send him a lump of sugar. She 
 would have given anything to go and see the old servant 
 her husband had known, and at the same time visit the dismal 
 place where poor Bauer's body black as ink, carbonised 
 by the fire-damp had been found after the explosion. But 
 women are not admitted into the mines, and she had to be 
 satisfied with the vivid descriptions given by her son. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Ah ! she knew that mine well that great dark pit to 
 which her husband went down, and never returned. How 
 many times she had waited near the yawning mouth, 
 eighteen feet in diameter, looking along the walling of free 
 stone, gazing at the oaken frame-work to which the corves 
 were drawn up by cables and pulleys of steel visited the 
 out-works, the engine-shed, the scorer's hut, and the rest ! 
 How many times had she warmed herself at the glowing 
 brazier where the miners dry their garments on emerging 
 from the pit, and the impatient smokers light their pipes ! 
 How familiar she was with all the noise and activity of the 
 place ! 
 
 The receivers who unhooked the loaded corves the 
 sorters, washers, engine-men, stokers she had watched 
 them all at work over and over again. 
 
 What she could not see, and yet could always picture 
 with the eyes of affection, was what happened when the 
 basket sank down, carrying its cluster of workmen, with 
 formerly her husband, and now her only child among them. 
 
 She could hear their voices and laughter, growing fainter 
 and fainter in the depths, and finally ceasing altogether. 
 In her thoughts she followed that frail basket as it was 
 lowered down, down the narrow chimney, fifteen, eighteen 
 hundred feet, fourteen times the height of the great 
 pyramid, till it arrived at the bottom, and the men hastened 
 off to their work. 
 
THE ALBRECHT PIT. 85 
 
 She imagined them all dispersing to different parts of 
 the subterranean town, some to the right, some to the left 
 pickers, armed with strong pickaxes to attack the blocks 
 of coal ; shorers, to bank up places whence the coal had 
 been hollowed ; carpenters, to put up wood-work ; labourers, 
 to repair the roads and lay down rails ; masons, to cement 
 the roofs. 
 
 A wide central gallery led from this shaft to another, a 
 ventilator about a mile distant. At right angles from this 
 spread secondary roads ; and in parallel lines, smaller ones 
 again. These roads were separated by walls and pillars 
 of coal or rock. All was regular, square, solid, black ! 
 
 And this labyrinth of roads was alive with half-naked 
 miners, working, talking, laughing, by the light of their 
 safety-lamps. 
 
 All this dame Bauer could see, as she sat alone, 
 dreaming, beside her fire. 
 
 Among the numerous galleries, the one she oftenest 
 imagined to herself was where her boy Carl opened and 
 shut his door. 
 
 When evening came, the day workmen went up, to be 
 replaced by others ; but her boy did not go with the rest 
 to take his place in the basket. He went off to the stable, 
 patted his beloved Blair- Athol, and gave him his supper 
 of oats and fresh hay. Then he ate his own little cold 
 supper, which had been sent to him, played for a few 
 
86 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 minutes with his big pet rat, caught and stroked the two 
 bats as they fluttered about him, and then was soon fast 
 asleep on his heap of straw. 
 
 Well did the fond mother know all this, and much she 
 loved to hear every incident of her boy's daily life. 
 
 "Mother, what do you think Mr. Maulesmulhe, the 
 engineer, said to me yesterday ? He said that if I gave 
 correct answers to some questions in arithmetic which he 
 would put to me one of these days, he would take me to 
 hold the land-chain when he surveys the mine with his 
 compass. It seems they are going to pierce a new gallery, 
 to join the Weber shaft, and he will find it uncommonly 
 difficult to bring it out in the right place ! " 
 
 "Really!" cried dame Bauer with delight; "did Mr. 
 Maulesmulhe say that ! " And already she imagined her 
 Carl holding the chain along the gallery, whilst the 
 engineer, note-book in hand, set down figures, and, his eyes 
 fixed on the compass, ordered the direction of the 
 opening. 
 
 " Unluckily," continued Carl, " I have nobody to explain 
 what I don't understand in my arithmetic, and I'm much 
 afraid I shall not answer correctly ! " 
 
 At this point, Max, who was silently smoking by the 
 fireside, which place, as a lodger in the house, he had the 
 privilege of occupying, joined in the conversation, and said 
 to the boy 
 
Max offers his help. 
 
 Page 86. 
 
THE ALBRECHT PIT. 87 
 
 " If you like to show me what you find difficult, perhaps 
 I can give you a helping hand." 
 
 " You ? " said dame Bauer with some incredulity. 
 
 " Certainly," replied Max. " Do you think I learn 
 nothing at the evening class to which I go regularly after 
 supper ? The master is very pleased with me, and says he 
 will make me a monitor." 
 
 This settled, Max brought from his room a clean paper 
 copy-book, and seating himself by the lad, explained the 
 difficult sum, with so much clearness that the astonished 
 Carl managed it easily. 
 
 From that day dame Bauer showed more consideration 
 for her lodger, and Max took a great liking to his little 
 companion. 
 
 In the factory, Max showed himself an exemplary work 
 man, and was not long in being promoted to the second, 
 and then to the first class. Every morning he was at the 
 O gate punctually at seven o'clock. Every evening, after 
 his supper, he repaired to the class taught by the engineer, 
 Trubner. Geometry, algebra, drawing of diagrams and 
 machines he attacked them all with equal ardour; and 
 his progress was so rapid that his master was much 
 struck by it. Two months from his entry into the Schultz 
 manufactory, the young workman was already noted 
 as one of the cleverest intellects, not only in the A 
 section, but in all Stahlstadt. A report of his engineer, 
 
88 
 
 sent up at the end of the quarter, bore this formal 
 mention : 
 
 " Schwartz (Johann) twenty-six, working caster . of the 
 first class. I wish to bring this man before the notice of 
 the Directors, as quite above the average, in three respects, 
 theoretical knowledge, practical skill, and remarkable 
 genius for invention." 
 
 But something more than this was required to draw 
 the attention of the chiefs to Max. It was not long in 
 coming ; though unfortunately it was under the most 
 tragical circumstances. 
 
 One Sunday morning, Max, much astonished at hearing 
 ten o'clock strike without his young friend Carl having 
 appeared, went down to ask dame Bauer if she knew any 
 reason for this delay. He found her very uneasy ; Carl 
 ought to have been at home two hours and more. Seeing 
 her anxiety, Max offered to go and look after him, and set 
 off in the direction of the Albrecht shaft. 
 
 He met several miners on the way, and inquired from 
 them if they had seen the boy ; then, on receiving a nega 
 tive reply, exchanging the "Gliickauf!" (success to you! 
 safe return !), which is the usual salutation of German 
 pitmen, Max continued his walk. 
 
 About eleven o'clock, he reached the head of the 
 Albrecht shaft. It was not noisy, and animated, as on a 
 week day; there was only one young "milliner," as the 
 
THE ALBRECHT PIT. 89 
 
 miners jokingly call the sorters of the coal chatting 
 with the watchman, whose duty kept him, even on this 
 day, at the pit's mouth. 
 
 " Have you seen little Carl Bauer, number 41,902, come 
 up this morning ? " asked Max of this functionary. 
 
 The man consulted his list, and shook his head. 
 
 " Is there any other outlet to the mine ? " 
 
 " No, this is the only one ; the new shaft to the north is 
 not yet finished." 
 
 " Then, is the boy below ? " 
 
 "He must be, though it's an odd thing too, for on 
 Sundays only the five watchmen should be left.' 
 
 " Can I go down to find out ? " 
 
 " Not without permission." 
 
 " There may have been an accident," put in the milliner. 
 
 " Not possible on Sunday." 
 
 " All the same," said Max, " I must find out what has 
 become of that boy." 
 
 "You must speak to the overseer of machinery, in his 
 office, if he is still there." 
 
 The overseer, dressed in his Sunday best, with a shirt 
 collar as stiff as if it had been made out of tin, was 
 fortunately still at his accounts. He was an intelligent 
 and humane man, and at once entered into Max's 
 anxiety. 
 
 " We will go immediately and see what he is doing." 
 
THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 And ordering the man on duty to be ready to pay away 
 the cable, he prepared to descend into the mine with the 
 young workman. 
 
 " Have you not the Galibert apparatus ? " asked Max. 
 " It may be useful." 
 
 "You are right. One can never be sure what has 
 occurred at the bottom of the pit." 
 
 Saying this, the overseer took from a cupboard two zinc 
 reservoirs, similar to the urns which the street cocoa-sellers 
 in Paris carry on their backs. These were boxes of com 
 pressed air, placed in communication with the lips by 
 means of two india-rubber tubes, the horn mouthpiece 
 being held between the teeth. They are filled with the aid 
 of peculiar bellows, constructed to empty themselves com 
 pletely. The nose being held in wooden pincers, a man 
 may, thus supplied with a store of air, penetrate into the 
 most unbreathable atmosphere. 
 
 These preparations completed, the overseer and Max 
 took their places in the basket, the cable moved, and the 
 descent began. 
 
 Two small electric lamps shed some degree of light 
 around, and the men conversed together as they were 
 lowered into the depths of the earth. 
 
 " For a man not in the business you are a cool hand," 
 remarked the overseer. "I've seen people who couldn't 
 summon up courage enough to go down; or if they 
 
THE ALBRECHT PIT. 91 
 
 did, they crouched like rabbits at the bottom of the basket 
 all the time." 
 
 " Really/' answered Max, " it seems nothing to me ; 
 though it's true I have been down a coal mine two or three 
 times before." 
 
 They were soon landed at the foot of the shaft. The 
 watchman whom they found there had seen nothing of 
 young Carl. 
 
 They first visited the stable ; the horses were there alone, 
 and appeared quite tired of their own company. At least 
 such was the conclusion to be drawn from the neigh with 
 which Blair- Athol greeted the approach of the three human 
 figures. On a nail hung Carl's knapsack, and in a corner, 
 beside a curry-comb, lay his arithmetic book. 
 
 Max remarked directly that his lantern was not there, a 
 fresh proof that the boy must be still in the mine. 
 
 " He may have been hurt by a landslip," said the over 
 seer, " but it is scarcely probable. What can he have been 
 doing in the galleries on a Sunday ? " 
 
 " Oh ! perhaps he went to hunt for some insects before 
 going up," said the watchman. " It is quite a passion with 
 him." 
 
 The stable-boy, who arrived in the midst of this discus 
 sion, confirmed this supposition. He had seen Carl start 
 at seven o'clock with his lantern. 
 
 A regular search was immediately commenced. The 
 
92 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 other watchmen were called, and each one, with his lantern, 
 told off in a different direction, pointed out to him on a 
 large plan of the mine, that every tunnel and gallery 
 might be thoroughly examined. 
 
 In two hours the whole mine had been gone through, and 
 the seven men met again at the foot of the shaft. There 
 had not been the least appearance of a landslip found any 
 where, nor the least trace of Carl. The overseer, perhaps 
 influenced by an increasing appetite, inclined to the opinion 
 that the boy had passed out unperceived, and would by 
 this time be at his home. But Max, convinced of the 
 contrary, insisted on renewed exertions. 
 
 " What is that ?" he asked, pointing to a dotted region on 
 the plan, resembling in the midst of the adjacent minute 
 ness those terrae incognitos marked on the confines of the 
 arctic continents. 
 
 " That is the zone provisionally deserted, because of the 
 thinning of the bed," replied the overseer. 
 
 "Is there a deserted zone? We must look there!" 
 exclaimed Max, with a decision to which the other men 
 submitted. 
 
 They were not long in reaching the entrance to some 
 galleries which, to judge by the slimy and mouldy walls, 
 might have been deserted for many years. 
 
 They had proceeded for some time without coming upon 
 anything suspicious, when Max stopped, and said 
 
Poor little Carl. 
 
 Page 93. 
 
THE ALBRECHT PIT. 93 
 
 " Do you not feel stupefied, and attacked with headache ?" 
 
 " Why, yes, indeed we do ! " answered his companions. 
 
 " So do I," resumed Max ; " for a moment I felt quite 
 giddy. There is certainly carbonic acid gas about ! Will 
 you allow me to light a match ?" he asked of the overseer. 
 
 " By all means, my lad, strike away." 
 
 Max took his little box from his pocket, struck a match, 
 and stooping, held it towards the ground, upon which it 
 instantly went out. 
 
 " I was sure of it," he remarked. " The gas, being more 
 heavy than the air, lies close to the ground. You must 
 not stay here I mean those who have not the Galibert 
 apparatus. If you like, sir, we can continue the search 
 alone." 
 
 This being agreed to, Max and the overseer each took 
 between his teeth the mouthpiece of his air box, placed 
 the nippers on his nostrils, and boldly penetrated into a 
 succession of old galleries. 
 
 In a quarter of an hour they came out to renew the air 
 in their reservoirs ; this done, they started again. 
 
 On the third trial their efforts were crowned with success. 
 The faint bluish light of an electric lamp was seen far off 
 in the darkness. They hastened to it. 
 
 At the foot of the damp wall, motionless and already 
 cold, lay poor little Carl. His blue lips and sunken eyes 
 told what had happened. 
 
94 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 He had evidently wished to pick up something from the 
 ground, had stooped, and been literally drowned in the 
 carbonic acid gas. 
 
 Every effort to recall him to life was in vain. He must 
 have been already dead four or five hours. By the next 
 evening there was another little grave in the cemetery of 
 Stahlstadt, and poor dame Bauer was bereaved of her child 
 as well as of her husband. 
 
THE CENTRAL BLOCK. 95 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CENTRAL BLOCK. 
 
 A REPORT from Dr. Echternach, surgeon-in-chief to the 
 section of the Albrecht pit, stated that the death of Carl 
 Bauer, number 41,902, thirteen years of age, trapper in 
 gallery 228, was caused by asphyxia, resulting from the 
 absorption by the respiratory organs of a large proportion 
 of carbonic acid. 
 
 Another no less luminous report from the engineer 
 Maulesmulhe, explained the necessity of including in the 
 ventilating scheme zone B in the plan xiv., as a large 
 amount of deleterious gas filtered slowly from its galleries. 
 Lastly, a note from the same functionary brought before 
 the notice of the authorities the devotedness of the overseer 
 Rayer, and of the first-class workman, Johann Schwartz. 
 
 Ten hours later, on reaching the porter's lodge, Max, as 
 he took his presence-counter, found this printed order on 
 the nail, addressed to him : 
 
96 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " Schwartz will present himself at the Director-General's 
 office at ten o'clock to-day. Central block, Gate and 
 Road A." 
 
 "At last !" thought Max. "This is the first step ; the 
 rest will come ! " 
 
 While chatting with his comrades on his Sunday 
 walks round Stahlstadt, he had acquired sufficient know 
 ledge of the general organisation of the city to know 
 that authority to enter the central block was not to 
 be had every day. All sorts of stories were current about 
 this place. It was said that some indiscreet people, who 
 had tried to get into the guarded enclosure by stratagem, 
 had never been seen again. That before their admission, 
 all workmen employed there had to go through a series of 
 masonic ceremonies were obliged to take the most solemn 
 oaths not to reveal anything that went on there, and 
 were mercilessly sentenced to death by a secret tribunal 
 if they violated their oath. A subterranean railway put 
 this sanctuary in communication with the out-works. 
 Night trains brought unknown visitors. Supreme councils 
 were held there, and sometimes mysterious personages 
 came to participate in the deliberations. 
 
 Without putting unnecessary faith in these accounts, 
 Max knew that they were really the popular expression of 
 a well-known fact the extreme difficulty which attended 
 admission into the central division. Of all the workmen 
 
THE CENTRAL BLOCK. 97 
 
 whom he knew and he had friends in the iron mines as 
 well as in the coal pits, among the refiners as well as the 
 men employed in the blast furnaces, among the carpenters 
 as well as the smiths not one had ever entered the 
 gate. 
 
 It was therefore with a feeling of intense curiosity as 
 well as secret pleasure that he presented himself there at 
 the hour named. It was soon plain that the precautions 
 were of the strictest. 
 
 Evidently Max was expected. Two men, dressed in a 
 grey uniform, swords at their sides, and revolvers in their 
 belts, were waiting in the porter's lodge. 
 
 This lodge, like that of a cloistered convent, had two 
 gates, an outer and an inner one, which were never open at 
 the same time. 
 
 The pass examined and signed, Max saw, though 
 without manifesting any surprise, a white handkerchief 
 brought out, with which the two attendants in uniform 
 carefully bandaged his eyes. 
 
 Then taking him by the arms, they marched him off 
 without saying a word. 
 
 After walking two or three thousand steps they mounted 
 a staircase, a door was opened and shut, and Max was 
 allowed to take off his bandage. 
 
 He found himself in a large plain room, furnished with 
 some chairs, a black board, and a long desk, supplied with 
 
 H 
 
98 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 every implement necessary for linear drawing. It was 
 lighted by high windows, filled with ground glass. 
 
 Almost immediately, two personages, who looked as if 
 they belonged to a university, entered the room. 
 
 " You are brought before our notice as having somewhat 
 distinguished yourself," said one of them. " We are about 
 to examine you to find out if there is reason to admit you 
 into the model division. Are you prepared to answer our 
 questions ?" 
 
 Max modestly declared himself ready to be put to the 
 proof. 
 
 The two examiners then successively put questions to 
 him in chemistry, geometry, and algebra. The young 
 workman satisfied them in every case by the clearness and 
 precision of his answers. The figures which he traced in 
 chalk on the board were neat, decided, and elegant. His 
 equations in the most perfect way, in equal lines, like the 
 ranks of a crack regiment. One of these demonstrations 
 was so remarkable, and so new to the judges, that they 
 expressed their astonishment, and asked where he had 
 been taught. 
 
 "At Schaffhaiisen, my native town, in the elementary 
 school." 
 
 "You appear a good draughtsman ?" 
 
 " It was my strong point." 
 
 " The education given in Switzerland is decidedly very 
 
THE CENTRAL BLOCK. 99 
 
 uncommon," remarked one examiner to the other. "We 
 will give you two hours to execute this," he resumed, 
 handing to the candidate a drawing of a very complicated- 
 looking steam-engine. " If you acquit yourself well you 
 shall be admitted with the mention, * Perfectly satisfactory 
 and very superior.' " 
 
 Left alone, Max set eagerly to work. 
 
 When his judges re-entered at the expiration of the given 
 time, they were so delighted with his diagram, that they 
 added to the promised mention, " We have not another 
 draughtsman of equal talent." 
 
 Our young workman was then again seized by the grey 
 attendants, and with the same ceremonial, that is to say, 
 the bandaged eyes, was led to the office of the Director- 
 General. 
 
 " You are offered admission to one of the studios in the 
 model division," said this personage. " Are you ready to 
 submit to the rules and regulations ?" 
 
 " I do not know what they are," said Max ; " but I 
 presume they are acceptable." 
 
 " They are these : First, you are compelled, as long as 
 your engagement lasts, to reside in the same division. You 
 cannot go out but by special and exceptional order. Second, 
 you are subjected to military discipline; and you owe 
 absolute obedience, under military penalties, to your supe 
 riors. To weigh against this, you are also like the non- 
 11 2 
 
ioo THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 commissioned officers of an active army, for you may, by a 
 regular advance, be raised to the highest grades. Third, 
 you bind yourself by an oath never to reveal to any one what 
 you see in the division to which you have access. Fourth,, 
 your correspondence is opened by your chiefs, all you send 
 as well as all you receive ; and it must be limited to your 
 family." 
 
 " In short, I am in prison," thought Max. 
 
 Then he replied quietly 
 
 "These rules seem perfectly just, and I am ready to 
 submit to them." 
 
 " Good. Raise your hand. Take the oath. You are 
 nominated draughtsman to the fourth studio. A lodging 
 will be assigned to you, and for your meals, you will find 
 a first-rate canteen here. You have not your property 
 with you ?" 
 
 " No, sir. As I was ignorant of what I was wanted for, 
 I left everything in my room." 
 
 41 They will be brought to you, for you must not again go 
 out of the division." 
 
 " I did well," thought Max, "to write my notes in cipher! 
 They would only have had to look at them !" 
 
 Before the close of the day, Max was established in a 
 pretty little room, in the fourth story of a building over 
 looking a wide courtyard, and had some ideas about his 
 new life. 
 
THE CENTRAL BLOCK. IOI 
 
 He did not fancy that it would be as dismal as at first 
 sight it appeared. His comrades, with whom he made 
 acquaintance at the restaurant, were in general quiet and 
 gentle, like all industrious people. To enliven themselves 
 a little for there was rather a want of gaiety in their 
 mechanical life they formed a band amongst themselves, 
 and performed selections of very tolerable music every 
 evening. A library, a reading-room, were valuable 
 resources for the mind, from a scientific point of view, 
 during the rare hours of leisure. Special courses held 
 by professors were obligatory to all the men employed, 
 who had besides to undergo frequent examinations and 
 competitions. But fresh air and liberty were lacking in 
 these narrow confines. 
 
 It was a regular college, only with extra strictness exer 
 cised on grown men. The surrounding atmosphere could 
 not but weigh on their spirits, subjected as they were to 
 an iron discipline. 
 
 The winter passed away in these employments, to which 
 Max gave himself up heart and soul. His application, the 
 perfection of his drawings, his extraordinary progress in 
 every subject he was taught, noticed by all his tutors and 
 examiners, had made for him, even in this short time, and 
 amongst all these diligent men, a corresponding celebrity. 
 By general consent he was the most clever draughtsman, 
 the most ingenious, the most fruitful in resources. Was 
 
102 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 there a difficulty ? they applied to him. Even the chiefs 
 themselves resorted to his experience, with the respect 
 which merit extorts even from the most marked jealousy. 
 
 But if, on reaching the heart of the model division, the 
 young man calculated that he would be any nearer getting 
 at the innermost secrets, he was very much out in his 
 reckoning. 
 
 His life at present was enclosed within an iron railing 
 three hundred yards in diameter, surrounding the segment 
 of the central block to which he was attached. Intellec 
 tually, his activity could and should extend to the highest 
 branches of metallurgic industry. In practice, it was 
 limited to drawing steam-engines. He constructed them 
 of all dimensions and of all powers, for every kind of 
 industry and use, for war-ships and for printing-presses ; 
 but he never left this speciality. The division of labour 
 pushed to its utmost limit held him as in a vice. 
 
 After four months passed in section A, Max knew no 
 more of the entire plan of the works in the Steel City than 
 he did on entering. At the most he had merely collected 
 a little general information about the organisation of the 
 machinery of which he formed notwithstanding his 
 merits but a very small portion. He knew that the 
 centre of the spider's web, figurative of Stahlstadt, was the 
 Bull Tower, a kind of cyclopean structure, overlooking all 
 the neighbouring buildings. 
 
THE CENTRAL BLOCK. IO3 
 
 He had learnt, too, through the legendary stories of the 
 canteen, that the dwelling of Herr Schultz himself was at 
 the base of this tower, and that the renowned secret room 
 occupied the centre. It was added that this vaulted hall, 
 protected against any danger of fire, and plated inside, as a 
 monitor is plated outside, was closed by a system of steel 
 doors with spring-gun locks, worthy of the most suspicious 
 bank. The general opinion was that Professor Schultz 
 was working at the completion of a terrible engine of war 
 of unprecedented power, and destined to assure universal 
 dominion to Germany. 
 
 Max had revolved in his brain many most audacious plans 
 of escalade and disguise, but had been compelled to acknow 
 ledge to himself that nothing of the sort was practicable. 
 Those lines of sombre and massive walls, flooded with 
 light during the night, and guarded by trusty sentinels, 
 would always oppose an insuperable obstacle to every 
 attempt. But even if he did overcome it to some extent 
 ^what would he see ? Details, always details, never the 
 whole ! 
 
 What matter ! He had sworn not to yield, and he 
 would not yield. If it took ten years, he would wait that 
 time. But the hour was coming when that secret would 
 be his own. It must ! The happy city Frankville was 
 prospering, its beneficent institutions favouring each and 
 all, and giving a new horizon of hope to a disheartened 
 
104 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 people. Max had no doubt that in the face of such a 
 triumph to the Latin race, Schultz would be more than 
 ever determined to make good his threats. Stahlstadt and 
 its factories were a proof of that. 
 
 Thus many weeks passed away. 
 
 One day in March, Max had just for the hundredth time 
 repeated his secret vow, when one of the grey attendants 
 informed him that the Director-General wished to speak 
 to him. 
 
 " I have received from Herr Schultz," said this high 
 functionary, " an order to send him our best draughtsman. 
 You are the man. Make your arrangements to pass into 
 the inner circle. You are promoted to the rank of 
 lieutenant." 
 
 Thus, at the very moment when he was almost despair 
 ing of success, his heroic toil at last procured him the 
 much desired entrance ! 
 
 Max was so filled with delight that his joy exhibited 
 itself on his countenance. 
 
 " I am happy to have such good news to announce to 
 you," continued the Director ; " and I cannot refrain from 
 urging you to continue in the path you have begun to 
 tread so gallantly. A brilliant future is before you. Go, 
 sir." 
 
 So Max, after his long probation, caught the first 
 glimpse of the end which he had sworn to reach ! 
 
An unexpected sight. 
 
 Page 105. 
 
THE CENTRAL BLOCK. 105 
 
 To stuff all his clothes into his portmanteau, follow the 
 grey men, pass through the last enclosure, of which the 
 entrance in the A road might have been still forbidden to 
 him, was the work of a few minutes. 
 
 He now stood at the foot of the inaccessible Bull Tower ; 
 until this moment he had but seen its lofty head reared 
 among the clouds. 
 
 The scene which lay before him was indeed an unex 
 pected one. Imagine a man suddenly transported from a 
 noisy, commonplace European workshop into the midst of 
 a virgin forest in the torrid zone. Such was the surprise 
 which awaited Max in the centre of Stahlstadt. 
 
 As a virgin forest gains in beauty from the descriptions 
 of great writers, so was Professor Schultz's park more 
 beautiful than the most lovely of pleasure gardens. Slender 
 palms, tufted bananas, curious cacti formed the shrubberies, 
 Creepers wound gracefully round eucalyptus trees, hung in 
 green festoons, or fell in rich clusters. The most tender 
 plants bloomed in abundance. Pineapples and guavas 
 ripened beside oranges. Humming-birds and birds of 
 paradise displayed their brilliant plumage in the open air ; 
 for the temperature was as tropical as the vegetation. 
 
 Max instinctively looked around and above for glass and 
 hot-air pipes to account for this miracle ; seeing nothing but 
 the blue sky he stopped bewildered. 
 
 Then it flashed upon him that not far from the spot was 
 
io6 
 
 a coal mine in permanent combustion, and he guessed that 
 Herr Schultz had ingeniously utilised this valuable sub 
 terranean heat, by means of metallic pipes, to maintain a 
 constant hot-house atmosphere. 
 
 But this explanation did not prevent the young Alsacian's 
 eyes from being dazzled and charmed with the green lawns, 
 while his nostrils inhaled with delight the delicious scents 
 which filled the air. To a man who had passed six months 
 without seeing even a blade of grass, it was truly refreshing. 
 A gravelled path led him, by a gentle slope, to the foot 
 of a handsome flight of marble steps, commanded by a 
 majestic colonnade. Behind rose the huge and massive 
 square building, which was as it were the pedestal of the 
 Bull Tower. 
 
 Beneath the peristyle Max could see seven or eight 
 servants in red livery, and a gorgeous porter in cocked hat, 
 and bearing a halberd. And he noticed between the columns 
 rich bronze candelabra. As he ascended the steps a 
 slight rumble betrayed that the underground railroad lay 
 beneath his feet. 
 
 Max gave his name, and was immediately admitted into 
 a hall, a regular museum of sculpture. Not having time to- 
 examine anything, he was conducted first through a saloon, 
 adorned with black and gold, then through one with red 
 and gold ornaments, and he was finally left alone for five 
 minutes in a yellow and gold saloon. At the end of that 
 
The King of Steel in his palace. 
 
THE CENTRAL BLOCK. 
 
 time a footman returned and showed him into a splendid 
 green and gold study. 
 
 Herr Schultz in person, smoking a long clay pipe, with a 
 tankard of beer at his side, had the effect, in the midst of 
 all this luxury, of a spot of mud on a patent-leather boot. 
 
 Without rising, without even turning his head, the King 
 of Steel merely said, in a cold tone 
 
 " Are you the draughtsman ? " 
 
 "Yes,. sir." 
 
 " I have seen your diagrams. They are veiy good. But 
 do you only understand steam-engines ? " 
 
 " I have never been examined in anything else." 
 
 "Do you know anything of the science of projectiles ?" 
 
 " I have studied it in my spare time, and for my own 
 pleasure." 
 
 This reply interested Herr Schultz. 
 
 He deigned to turn and look at his employe. 
 
 " Well, will you undertake to design a cannon with me ? 
 We shall see what you can make of it ! Ah ! you 
 will be scarcely able to take the place of that idiot of a 
 Sohne, who got killed this morning whilst handling some 
 dynamite ! The fool might have blown us all up ! " 
 
 It must be acknowledged that this revolting want of 
 feeling was only what might have been expected from the 
 mouth of Herr Schultz. 
 
io8 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE DRAGON'S DEN. 
 
 THE reader who has followed the progress of our young 
 Alsacian's fortune will probably not be much surprised to 
 find him, at the end of a few weeks, firmly established 
 in Herr Schultz's favour. The two had become in 
 separable. They \vorked together, they ate and walked 
 together, and together they sat smoking over their 
 foaming glasses of beer. The ex-professor of Jena had 
 never before met with a coadjutor so entirely after 
 his own heart, one who caught his meaning with half a 
 word, and who could so rapidly utilise his theoretical 
 ideas. 
 
 Max not merely possessed transcendent merit in all 
 branches of the profession, he was besides the most charming 
 companion, the most diligent worker, the most modestly 
 fertile inventor. 
 
 Herr Schultz was delighted with him. Ten times a day 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 109 
 
 he said to himself, " What a treasure ! what a pearl this 
 fellow is !" 
 
 The truth was that Max had, at the first glance, seer* 
 through the character of his formidable patron, and per 
 ceiving that blind and insatiable vanity was its leading 
 feature, he regulated his conduct by humouring the egotism 
 which he despised. 
 
 In a few days the young man had acquired such skill 
 in the fingering necessary for this human keyboard, that 
 he could play upon Schultz as easily as one plays on a 
 piano. 
 
 His tactics merely consisted in exhibiting his own merits 
 to advantage, but always in such a way as to leave an 
 opening for his master to show superiority over him. For 
 instance, when he finished a drawing he would leave it 
 perfect, with the exception of some slight fault, as easy to 
 see as to correct, and this the ex-professor immediately 
 and exultantly pounced upon. 
 
 Had he some theoretical idea, he caused it so to open out 
 in the course of conversation that Herr Schultz might fancy 
 that he himself had originated it. Sometimes he even 
 went further, boldly saying 
 
 " I have traced that plan of a vessel with the detached 
 ram, which you asked for." 
 
 " I ? " returned Herr Schultz, who had never dreamt of 
 such a thing. 
 
no THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 "Why, yes ! you don't mean to say you have forgotten? 
 A detached ram, which will leave a spindle-shaped torpedo 
 in the enemy's side, to burst after an interval of three 
 minutes ! " 
 
 " I had not the least recollection of it. That comes of 
 having a head like mine ! it is so full of inventive genius 
 that I forget my own ideas." And Herr Schultz con 
 scientiously pocketed the credit of the new invention. 
 
 Perhaps, after all, he was only half duped by this artifice. 
 In his innermost heart he probably felt that Max was 
 stronger than he. But by one of those mysterious workings 
 which go on in the human brain, he was contented with the 
 appearance of superiority as long as he could delude his 
 subordinate. 
 
 " But the fellow must be an ass after all, in spite of his 
 cleverness!" he would sometimes say to himself, with a 
 silent laugh which showed all the thirty- two dominoes in 
 his jaw. 
 
 His vanity, if ever wounded, was soon consoled by the 
 reflection that he alone in all the world could carry out 
 these inventions and ideas. They would have been of no 
 value but for his gold. After all Max was only part of the 
 mechanism which he, Schultz, had set going, &c., &c. 
 
 Yet, although in high favour, Max was never taken into 
 the professor's confidence, and after five months' sojourn in 
 the Bull Tower, he knew little more than at first of its 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. in 
 
 mysteries. His suspicions had become certainties, and 
 that was all. He was now convinced that Stahlstadt 
 contained a secret, and that Herr Schultz had some aim 
 far beyond that of gain. The nature of his occupations 
 rendered the supposition that he had invented some 
 perfectly new engine of warfare extremely probable. 
 
 But the enigma had still to be solved. Max at last came 
 to the conclusion that it would be impossible to obtain the 
 knowledge he sought without coming to some crisis, and 
 this he resolved to provoke. 
 
 It was after dinner on the evening of the 5th of September ; 
 exactly a year since he had found the body of his little 
 friend Carl in the Albrecht pit. 
 
 Outside, the long severe American winter already covered 
 the country with its white mantle ; but in the park of 
 Stahlstadt the temperature was as warm as during June, 
 and the snow, melting before it touched the ground, fell in 
 rain instead of flakes. 
 
 " Those sausages in sourkraut were delicious, were they 
 not?" remarked Herr Schultz, whose love of his favourite 
 dish was unaffected by the Begum's millions. 
 
 " Delicious ! " returned Max, who had heroically partaken 
 of this mess every evening, till at last he hated the very 
 sight of it. 
 
 His feelings on this subject decided him at once to carry 
 his meditated project into execution. 
 
ii2 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 "I wonder," resumed Herr Schultz, with a sigh, "how 
 people who have neither sausages, nor sourkraut, nor beer, 
 can endure existence." 
 
 " Life must be one long misery to them," replied Max. 
 " It would really be a charity to unite all mankind with the 
 Vaterland." 
 
 "Well ! well! that will come, that will come !" exclaimed 
 the King of Steel. " Here we are already installed in the 
 heart of America. Just let us take an island or two in the 
 neighbourhood of Japan, and you will see in what a few 
 strides we shall get round the globe !" 
 
 The footman now brought in the pipes ; Herr Schultz 
 filled and lighted his. Max had purposely determined to 
 make use of this moment of supreme bliss, so began, after 
 a few minutes' silence 
 
 " I must say that I don't quite believe in this conquest ! " 
 
 " What conquest ?" asked Herr Schultz, who had forgotten 
 what was the topic of conversation. 
 
 " The conquest of the world by the Germans." 
 
 The ex-professor thought he had not heard correctly. 
 
 " You do not believe in the conquest of the world by the 
 Germans ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Oh, indeed, that is something strange ! I am curious to 
 know the reasons for your doubt." 
 
 ' Simply because the French artillerymen will end by 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 113 
 
 doing better, and will far surpass you. The Swiss, my 
 fellow-countrymen, who know them well, are firmly con 
 vinced that a forewarned Frenchman is worth two Germans. 
 The lesson of 1870 will be repeated against those who gave 
 it. No one doubts this in my little country, sir, and if I 
 may venture to say so, it is the opinion of the cleverest 
 men in England." 
 
 Max had uttered these words in a cool, dry, and decisive 
 tone, which, if it were possible, doubled the effect of the 
 point-blank blasphemy. 
 
 Herr Schultz glared wildly his astonishment almost 
 choked him. Then the blood rushed to his face with such 
 violence that the young man feared, for a moment, he had 
 gone too far. However, seeing that rage had not stifled 
 his victim, and that he would not die of the shock this 
 time, he resumed 
 
 "Yes, it is annoying to think of; but it's the fact. 
 Although our rivals make no noise about it, yet they are 
 working. Do you think they have learnt nothing since the 
 war ? Whilst we are stupidly trying to increase the weight 
 of our cannon, you may be certain that they are preparing 
 something new, and that we shall see what it is on the very 
 first opportunity !" 
 
 "Something new, something new!" stammered Herr 
 Schultz. " We are doing that too, sir !" 
 
 "Ah, yes, in a way. We are making in steel what our 
 
 I 
 
ii4 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 predecessors made in bronze, that's all. We double the 
 proportions and the range of our pieces." 
 
 "Double!" exclaimed Herr Schultz, in a tone which 
 signified, "Indeed ! we do better than double !" 
 
 "In short," resumed Max, "we are mere plagiarists. See 
 here, the truth is we lack any genius for inventing. We 
 discover nothing, and the French do, and will, you may be 
 sure." 
 
 Herr Schultz had become, outwardly at least, rather 
 calmer, though his trembling lips, and the paleness which 
 had succeeded the apoplectic crimson, betrayed the agitated 
 state of his mind. 
 
 Must he endure such a pitch of humiliation ? To be the 
 far-famed Schultz, the absolute master of the greatest 
 manufactory and cannon foundry in the whole world, to 
 have kings and parliaments at his feet, and then to be told 
 by an insignificant Swiss draughtsman that he lacked 
 invention, that he was below a French gunner ! And all 
 this when he had close to him, on the other side of a plated 
 wall, something which would a thousand times confound 
 the impudent rascal, shut him up completely, and sweep 
 away all his idiotic arguments ? No, it was not to be 
 endured ! 
 
 Herr Schultz rose so abruptly that he broke his pipe. 
 Then, casting at Max a glance full of irony, he hissed out 
 from between his set teeth 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 115 
 
 " Follow me, sir, I am about to show you whether I, 
 Herr Schultz, have any lack of invention !" 
 
 Max had played high, but had won thanks to the 
 surprise his bold and unexpected language had produced, 
 and the passion he had aroused. 
 
 Vanity being stronger than prudence with the ex- 
 professor, Schultz was now eager to lay open his secret. 
 He led the way with a hurried step into his study, closed 
 the door carefully, and walking straight up to the book 
 case, touched a panel. Immediately an opening, concealed 
 by the rows of books, appeared in the wall. This was the 
 entrance to a narrow passage, leading by a stone staircase 
 to the very foot of the Bull Tower. 
 
 There, an oaken door was opened by means of a little 
 key, which never left the possession of the master of the 
 place. A second door appeared, fastened with a padlock, 
 similar to those used for strong boxes. 
 
 Herr Schultz threw open the heavy iron barrier, protected 
 within by a complicated apparatus of explosive machinery, 
 which Max, actuated by professional curiosity, would have 
 much liked to examine ; but his guide left him no time to 
 do so. 
 
 The two men then found themselves before a third door, 
 without any apparent lock or bolt, which yielded to a slight 
 push, given, however, in a particular way. 
 
 This third barrier passed, Herr Schultz and his companion 
 
 I 2 
 
n6 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 climbed an iron staircase of two hundred steps, and arrived 
 at the summit of the Bull Tower, overlooking all the city of 
 Stahlstadt. 
 
 In the centre of a sort of casemate, pierced with numerous 
 embrasures, stood a steel cannon. 
 
 " There ! " exclaimed the professor, who had not uttered 
 a word since they left the dining-room. 
 
 It was the most enormous piece of ordnance Max had 
 ever beheld. A breach-loader of at least three hundred tons. 
 Its mouth measured nearly five feet in diameter. Mounted 
 on a steel carriage, and running on rails of the same metal, 
 it might have been manoeuvred by a child, so easy were all 
 its movements made, by a system of cogged wheels. A 
 spring, fixed at the back of the carriage, had the effect of 
 annulling the recoil, or at least producing a perfectly equal 
 reaction*, so that after each shot the gun returned to its 
 first position. 
 
 " And what may be the perforating power of this piece ? " 
 asked Max, who could not restrain his admiration. 
 
 " At twenty thousand yards we can pierce a forty-inch 
 plate as easily as if it were a slice of bread and butter !" 
 
 "And its range?" 
 
 "Its range?" cried Schultz, enthusiastically. "Ah! 
 you said just now that our imitative genius had done 
 nothing more than double the range of former guns ! 
 Well, with this fellow, I would undertake to send, with 
 
The masterpiece of Herr Schultz. 
 
 Page 1 1 6. 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 117 
 
 tolerable precision, a projectile to the distance of thirty 
 miles!" 
 
 " Thirty miles ! " cried Max. " Thirty miles ! What new 
 powder can you use ?" 
 
 " Oh ! I can tell you everything, now," replied Herr 
 Schultz, in a peculiar tone. " There is no inconvenience in 
 revealing my secrets to you. Large grained powder has 
 served its time. Gun-cotton is what I use ; its expansive 
 power is four times that of ordinary powder, and I increase 
 it fivefold by mixing with it eight-tenths of its weight of 
 nitrate of potash." 
 
 "But," observed Max, "no piece, though made of the 
 best steel, could stand that long. After four or five shots 
 your cannon will be impaired, and soon become useless." 
 
 " If it were only to fire one shot that one would be 
 sufficient!" 
 
 " It would be an expensive one." 
 
 " It would cost a million, for that is the net cost of the 
 gun." 
 
 " One shot worth a million !" 
 
 "What matter, so that it destroyed a thousand millions !" 
 
 "A thousand millions !" cried Max. 
 
 " However, he restrained the mingled horror and admira 
 tion with which this fearful agent of destruction inspired 
 him, and added 
 
 " It is assuredly a wonderful and astonishing piece of 
 
ii8 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 artillery, but, notwithstanding its merits, it bears out my 
 theory, there are improvements certainly, but it is all 
 imitation, no invention." 
 
 "No invention !" responded Herr Schultz, shrugging his 
 shoulders. " I repeat that I have now no secrets from you. 
 Come with me." 
 
 "The King of Steel and his companion then left the 
 casemate and descended to a lower story, by means of an 
 hydraulic lift. Here lay a large number of long objects, 
 cylindrical in shape, which might, from a distance, have 
 been taken for dismounted cannon. 
 
 "There are our shells," said Herr Schultz. 
 
 " This time Max was obliged to acknowledge that they 
 resembled nothing he had ever seen before. They were 
 enormous tubes, six feet in length and three in diameter, 
 sheathed in. lead in such a way as to fit into the rifling of 
 the gun, closed behind by a steel plate, and the point 
 finished off by a steel tip, supplied with a percussion 
 button. 
 
 Nothing in their appearance indicated the special 
 nature of these shells; though Max felt that in them 
 was contained some terrible element of destruction, 
 surpassing all that Jiad ever before been made or 
 thought of. 
 
 "Can you not guess?" asked Herr Schultz, seeing that 
 his companion remained silent. 
 
Terrible projectiles. 
 
 Page 1 1 8. 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 119 
 
 " Indeed, no, sir ! Why should you want a shell so long 
 and so heavy in appearance at least ?" 
 
 " The appearance is deceitful," answered Herr Schultz ; 
 " and there is no great difference in their weight to that of 
 an ordinary shell of the same calibre. Come ! I must tell 
 you everything. A fusee shell of glass, encased in oak, 
 charged with liquid carbonic acid by seventy atmospheres 
 of interior pressure. The fall provokes the explosion of 
 the case and the return of the liquid to a gaseous 
 state. An -enormous volume of carbonic acid gas rushes 
 into the air, and a cold of a hundred degrees below zero 
 seizes upon the surrounding atmosphere. Every living 
 thing within a radius of thirty yards from the centre of the 
 explosion is at once frozen and suffocated. I say thirty 
 yards as the lowest calculation, but the action would really 
 extend much farther, say to a hundred or a couple of 
 hundred yards. 
 
 " Another capital thing about it is, that the carbonic acid 
 gas, remaining a very long time near the ground, by reason 
 of its weight, being greater than that of air, will preserve 
 the dangerous properties of the zone for many hours after 
 the first explosion, so that any creature which may attempt 
 to enter or pass through it, must infallibly perish. The 
 effect of that shot will be both instantaneous and lasting. 
 Besides, with my plan, there will be no wounded, only 
 dead!" 
 
^20 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Herr Schultz displayed manifest pleasure in exhibiting 
 the merits of his invention. His good humour had returned, 
 he was flushed with pride, and his teeth gleamed. 
 
 " You are to imagine," he resumed, " a sufficient number 
 of my pieces of ordnance directed against a besieged 
 town. Supposing one sufficient for the destruction of a 
 place of two acres and a half in extent, then, for a town of 
 two thousand five hundred acres, we must have a hundred 
 batteries, each consisting of ten suitable guns. Now, let us 
 suppose all our guns in position, the weather calm and 
 favourable, the general signal given by an electric wire. 
 In a minute there would not be a single living being 
 remaining in an extent of two thousand five hundred 
 acres ! The town would be submerged in a regular ocean 
 of carbonic acid gas ! The idea occurred to me last year 
 on reading the medical report of the accidental death of a 
 little miner in the Albrecht pit. I had the first inspiration 
 at Naples, when I visited the Dog Grotto. 1 But that last 
 fact was needed to put the finishing stroke to my thought. 
 You comprehend the principle, do you not ? An artificial 
 
 1 The Grotto del Cano, in the neighbourhood of Naples, borrows 
 its name from the curious property its atmosphere possesses of 
 suffocating a dog, or any small four-legged animal, without doing any 
 harm to a man standing upright this is owing to a layer of about 
 two feet of carbonic acid gas, which is kept by its specific weight 
 close to the ground. 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 121 
 
 ocean of pure carbonic acid ! Now, the proportion of a 
 fifth of this gas would be sufficient to render the air 
 unbreathable." 
 
 Max did not utter a word. He was regularly struck 
 dumb. Herr Schultz felt his triumph so keenly, that he 
 did not wish to take advantage of it. 
 
 " There is only one detail which troubles me," said he. 
 
 "And what can that be ?" asked Max. 
 
 " That I have not succeeded in suppressing the sound of 
 the explosion. It makes my gun too much like a common 
 cannon. Just think of what it would be if I could manage 
 to have a silent shot. Sudden death comes noiselessly upon 
 a hundred thousand men at once, on some calm and serene 
 night!" 
 
 The enchanting prospect thus called up, threw Herr 
 Schultz into a brown study. From this reverie, which was 
 but a deep immersion in a bath of self-love, he was 
 aroused by Max observing 
 
 " Very good, sir, very good ! but a thousand guns of this 
 description mean time and money." 
 
 " Money ? we are overflowing with it ! Time ? Time 
 is ours !" 
 
 And indeed this German, the last of his school, believed 
 what he said. 
 
 "Well," replied Max, "your shell loaded with carbonic 
 acid is not perfectly new after all, for it is derived from 
 
122 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 those suffocating projectiles which have been known for 
 many years ; but that it may be eminently destructive, I 
 do not deny. Only " 
 
 " Only ? " 
 
 " It is light for its size, and if it is ever projected thirty 
 miles " 
 
 " It is only made to go six," answered Herr Schultz, 
 smiling. " But," he added, pointing to another shell, " here 
 is one of steel. This fellow is full, and contains a hundred 
 little guns, symmetrically arranged, fitted one into the 
 other, like the parts of a telescope. Having been fired 
 as projectiles, they will become cannon to vomit forth 
 in their turn little shells loaded with incendiary matter. 
 It will be a whole battery hurled through space, to 
 carry flame and death into a town by covering it with 
 a shower of inextinguishable fire ! This has the requisite 
 weight to go the thirty miles of which I spoke. In a 
 short time a trial of it will be made in such a way 
 that unbelievers may go if they like and handle the 
 hundred thousand corpses which it will have stretched on 
 the ground ! " 
 
 Here the dominoes gleamed so intolerably in Herr 
 Schultz's mouth, that Max felt a strong desire to smash 
 in a dozen or so of them, but contained himself. He had 
 not yet heard all. 
 
 Herr Schultz resumed 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 123. 
 
 u I have said that a decisive experiment is shortly to be 
 made." 
 
 " How ? Where ?" cried Max. 
 
 " How ? With one of these shells, which thrown by my 
 gun from the platform, will cross the Cascade mountains. 
 Where ? There exists a city, separated from us by at most 
 thirty miles, upon whose inhabitants it will come like 
 a thunder-clap, for even if they expected it, they could 
 not ward it off, or escape the startling effects. This is 
 now the 5th of September. Well, on the I3th, at a 
 quarter before midnight, Frankville will disappear from off 
 American soil ! The burning of Sodom will be rivalled. 
 Professor Schultz, in his turn, will let loose the fires of 
 Heaven !" 
 
 At this unexpected declaration Max felt the blood curdle 
 in his veins. Fortunately Herr Schultz did not perceive 
 his agitation. 
 
 " Now you see," he continued in an easy tone, " we act 
 just contrary to the founders of Frankville. We search for 
 the secret of abridging the lives of men, whilst they seek to 
 lengthen them. However, everything has an object in 
 nature, and Dr. Sarrasin, by founding that isolated city, has, 
 without suspecting it, placed a most magnificent field of 
 experiments within my reach." 
 
 Max could scarcely believe his ears. 
 
 " But," said he, and the involuntary tremor in his voice 
 
124 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 attracted for a moment the attention of the King of Steel, 
 " the inhabitants of Frankville have done nothing to you, 
 sir. You have not, so far as I know, any reason for picking 
 a quarrel with them.' 7 
 
 " My dear fellow," replied Herr Schultz, " in your brain, 
 though well organised in other respects, there is a fund of 
 Celtic ideas, which would do you much injury were you to 
 live long enough ! Right Good Evil are purely relative, 
 and quite conventional words. Nothing is positive but the 
 grand laws of nature. The law of competition has the same 
 claim as that of gravitation. It is folly to resist, while to 
 submit and follow in the way it points out, is only wise 
 and reasonable, and therefore I mean to destroy Doctor 
 Sarrasin's city. Thanks to my cannon, my fifty thousand 
 Germans will easily make an end of the hundred thousand 
 dreamers over there, who now constitute a group condemned 
 to perish." 
 
 Seeing that an attempt to argue with Herr Schultz 
 would be useless, Max did not try to soften him. 
 
 The two then left the shell chamber, closed the secret 
 doors, and returned to the dining-room. 
 
 In the coolest, most natural way, the professor again 
 lifted his tankard to his lips, touched a bell, called for a 
 pipe in the place of the one he had broken, and then 
 addressing the footman 
 
 "Are Arminius and Sigimer there?" he asked. 
 
Formidable ruards. 
 
 Page 125. 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 125 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Tell them to remain within call." 
 
 When the servant had left the room, the King of Steel 
 turned to Max and looked him full in the face. 
 
 The latter's eyes did not quail before that look of almost 
 metallic hardness. 
 
 "You mean really," said he, "to put your project, into 
 execution ?" 
 
 "Really. I know the situation and the latitude and 
 longitude of Frankville to the tenth of a second, and on the 
 1 3th of September, at a quarter before midnight, it will 
 cease to be." 
 
 " Perhaps you ought to have kept this plan an absolute 
 secret." 
 
 " My dear fellow," answered Herr Schultz, " decidedly 
 your mind never would become logical. This makes me 
 regret the less that you must die young." 
 
 At these words Max started up. 
 
 " Is it possible you do not understand," added Herr 
 Schultz, coldly, " that I never speak of my plans but before 
 those who cannot repeat them ?" 
 
 The bell rang. Arminius and Sigimer, two giants, 
 appeared at the door. 
 
 " You wished to know my secret," said Herr Schultz , 
 "you do know it. Nothing remains for you now but to 
 die!" 
 
126 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Max did not reply. 
 
 "You are too intelligent," resumed Herr Schultz, "to 
 suppose that I can let you live, now that you know all 
 about my plans. That would be an act of unpardonable 
 carelessness ; that would be illogical. The greatness of my 
 aim forbids me to compromise its success for the considera 
 tion of a relative value so trifling as the life of a man 
 even of such a man as you, my dear fellow, whose good 
 cerebral organisation I most particularly esteem. Now I 
 truly regret that a little movement of self-love should have 
 carried me away and placed me under the necessity of 
 suppressing you. But you must understand that in the 
 face of the interests to which I have devoted myself, there 
 can be no question of sentiment. I may as well tell you 
 now, that it was for having penetrated my secret that your 
 predecessor met his death, and not by an explosion of 
 dynamite ! The rule is strict, it must be inflexible ! I can 
 alter nothing." 
 
 Max looked at Herr Schultz. He understood by the 
 .-sound of his voice, by the unrelenting obstinacy of that 
 bald head that he was lost. He did not give himself the 
 trouble of uttering a word of protest. 
 
 "When, and by what death shall I die?" he merely 
 asked. 
 
 "Don't be uneasy about that," replied Herr Schultz, 
 composedly. " You will die ; but suffering will be spared 
 
THE DRAGON'S DEN. 127 
 
 you. You will not wake up some morning. That 
 is all" 
 
 At a sign from the King of Steel, Max found himself led 
 away, and shut into his room, the door of which was 
 guarded by the two giants. 
 
 But when he found himself alone, he thought with a 
 shudder of agony and rage of the doctor, his relations, 
 compatriots, all those whom he loved. 
 
 "The death which awaits me is nothing," he said to 
 himself. " But how am I to avert the danger which 
 threatens them ?" 
 
128 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 p. P. c. 
 
 THE situation was indeed serious. What could poor 
 Max do, he whose hours were already numbered, and 
 whose last night might have come with the setting 
 sun. 
 
 He did not sleep for an instant, not from the dread of 
 never awaking, as Herr Schultz had said, but because his 
 heart was too full of thoughts of Frankville and of the 
 impending catastrophe. 
 
 '< What shall I attempt ? " he thought to himself. " To 
 destroy that gun ? Blow up the tower it stands on ? How 
 could I manage it ? Escape ! Escape ? when my room is 
 guarded by a couple of giants ? And then suppose I could 
 get away from Stahlstadt before the I3th of September, 
 how could I help them ? To be sure, if not our beloved 
 city, I might at least save the inhabitants. I might fly to 
 them shouting " Escape ! escape without delay ! You are 
 
p. P. c. 129 
 
 in danger of perishing by fire and steel ! Fly all of you 
 for your lives !" 
 
 Then Max's thoughts passed into another channel. 
 
 "That villain Schultz!" he thought. "Even admitting 
 that he has exaggerated the destructive effects of his shell, 
 and that he cannot really fire the whole town, it is very 
 certain that with a single shot he can burn a considerable 
 part ! It's a frightful machine he has invented, and not 
 withstanding the distance between the two towns, it will 
 easily send the projectile over it ! The speed, too, must be 
 twenty times superior to any hitherto obtained. Something 
 like ten thousand yards, or nine miles a second ! It's 
 actually a third of the speed of the earth in its orbit ! Is 
 it possible ? Oh, if only that horrible gun would blow up 
 at the first shot ! But there is no hope of that, for the 
 metal of which it is made will stand anything. How 
 exactly the wretch knows the position of Frankville ! 
 Without going out of his den, he can point his cannon with 
 mathematical precision, and, as he said, the shell will un 
 doubtedly fall in the very heart of the city! How can 
 the unhappy inhabitants be warned ?" 
 
 Max had not closed an eyelid when day dawned. He 
 then rose from the bed, on which he had tossed in feverish 
 restlessness. " Come," he said to himself, " it will be for 
 another night. As this executioner means to spare me 
 suffering, he no doubt will wait till sleep, getting the better 
 
 K 
 
130 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 of my anxiety, has overpowered me. And then ! What 
 sort of death can he have in store for me ? Does he think 
 of killing me with some decoction of prussic acid whilst I 
 sleep ? Will he introduce some of that carbonic acid gas, 
 which he has at his command, into my room ? Will he 
 not rather use it in a liquid form, such as he has in his glass 
 shells, when its sudden return to a gaseous state produces 
 a hundred degrees of frost ? And the next day, instead of 
 ' me/ instead of this strong, well-constituted body, so full 
 of life, there will be nothing but a dried, frozen, shrivelled 
 mummy ! Oh, the savage ! Well, well, if it must be so, 
 let my heart be frozen and my life wither away in that 
 unbearable atmosphere, if only my friends, Doctor Sarrasin, 
 his family, Jeannette my little Jeannette may be saved ! 
 But to effect that I must escape. Well, escape I 
 will!" 
 
 As he uttered these words, Max, though he believed 
 himself locked into his room, instinctively laid his hand on 
 the handle of the door. 
 
 To his great surprise it opened, and he went down as 
 usual, and out into the garden, where he was accustomed 
 to walk. 
 
 " Ah," he thought, " I am a prisoner in the Central Block, 
 though not in my room. That's something in my favour !" 
 
 However, no sooner was Max outside, than he saw that, 
 though apparently free, he in reality could not make a step 
 
P. P. C. 131 
 
 without being escorted by the two personages who answered 
 to the historic, or rather pre-historic, names of Arminius 
 and Sigimer. 
 
 He had often wondered, when he met them about the 
 place, what could be the duty of those two huge men in 
 grey cloaks, with their bull necks, herculean muscles, dark 
 red faces, bristling with thick moustaches and bushy 
 whiskers. 
 
 He now knew what that duty was. They were the 
 executioners of Herr Schultz's darkest deeds, who for the 
 present were acting as his body-guard ! 
 
 These two giants never let him out of their sight, lying 
 at the door of his room, and dogging his steps when he 
 walked in the park. The formidable array of revolvers 
 and daggers which each carried in his belt rendered 
 hopeless any attempt to escape from them. 
 
 With all this, they were as dumb as fish. 
 
 Max tried, in a diplomatic way, to get up a conversation 
 vvith them, but only received a ferocious glare in reply. 
 Even the offer of a glass of beer, which he. had some 
 reason to suppose irresistible, was made in vain. After 
 observing them for fifteen hours, he discovered that they 
 had one weakness, only one a pipe, which they took the 
 liberty of smoking close at his heels. This single weakness 
 Max determined to turn to account. How, he did not 
 know, he could not even imagine, but he had vowed to 
 
 K 2 
 
132 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 escape, and nothing should be neglected that could in any 
 way assist him. 
 
 Time was pressing. What was to be done ? 
 
 At the least sign of rebellion or flight, Max was sure of 
 receiving a couple of bullets in his head. Even supposing 
 they missed, he was still in the centre of a triple fortified 
 line, guarded by a triple row of sentinels. 
 
 According to his custom, the former pupil of the Central 
 School correctly put the situation in the form of a mathe 
 matical problem. 
 
 " Given, a man guarded by two unscrupulous rufiians > 
 individually stronger than he, and armed to the teeth. 
 The man must first escape the vigilance of these warders. 
 This done, he must get out of a fortified place, all the 
 entrances to which are strictly watched." 
 
 Max pondered this double question a hundred times, 
 but always came to the conclusion " Which is impossible." 
 However, the gravity of his situation seemed to sharpen 
 all his faculties of invention. Whether chance alone gave 
 the finishing touch or not would be difficult to say. 
 
 It happened that the next day, as Max was walking in 
 the park, his eyes fell on a shrub, the appearance of which 
 instantly attracted him. 
 
 It was a dull-looking herbaceous plant, its leaves 
 alternately oval, pointed and double, with great red bell- 
 shaped monopetalous flowers hanging by auxiliary stalks. 
 
P. P. C. 133 
 
 Max had merely studied botany as an amateur, but it 
 immediately occurred to him that this shrub had the 
 characteristics of one of the order Solanaceae. 
 
 Quite at a venture, he gathered a leaf and slightly 
 chewed it as he pursued his walk. He was not mistaken. 
 A feeling of heaviness in his limbs, accompanied by a 
 sensation of nausea, soon convinced him that he had close 
 at hand a natural laboratory of bella-donna, that is to say, 
 the most active of all narcotics. 
 
 He strolled on until he reached a small artificial lake, 
 which stretched away to the southern end of the park, and 
 supplied a cascade, which, by the bye, was evidently copied 
 from that in the Bois de Boulogne. 
 
 " Where does the water of that cascade go to ? " thought 
 Max. 
 
 It first flowed into the bed of a little river, which, after 
 describing various turns and bends, finally disappeared at 
 the limits of the park. 
 
 There was evidently an outlet, and, to all appearance, 
 the river escaped by filling one of the subterranean channels 
 which watered the plain beyond Stahlstadt. 
 
 In this Max saw a gate of egress. It was certainly not 
 a carriage way, but it was an opening. 
 
 ' And suppose the channel is barred by an iron grating ! " 
 objected the voice of prudence. 
 
 " Nothing venture nothing have ! Files weren't made to 
 
134 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 gnaw away corks, and there are capital files in the 
 laboratory ! " so answered another ironical voice, one that 
 prompted daring resolves. 
 
 In two minutes Max's determination was made, An 
 idea as it may be called had darted into his mind, one 
 that perhaps could not after all be carried out, but which 
 he would attempt, if death did not first overtake him. 
 
 He sauntered back towards the shrub with red flowers, 
 and gathered two or three leaves in such a way that his 
 guards could not fail to see him. 
 
 Then, returning to his room, he quite openly dried these 
 leaves before the fire, rubbed them in his hands to crush 
 them, and mixed them with his tobacco. 
 
 During the six following days, Max, to his extreme 
 surprise, woke up quite well every morning. Had Herr 
 Schultz, whom he had not again seen and never met in his 
 walks had he given up his plan of making away with him ? 
 No, it was not likely, any more than he would relinquish 
 that of destroying Doctor Sarrasin's city. 
 
 Max made use of this permission to live, and every day 
 renewed his manoeuvre. He took care, of course, never to 
 smoke the bella-donna himself, and therefore kept two 
 packets of tobacco, one for his personal use, the other for 
 daily show. His object was simply to arouse the curiosity 
 of Arminius and Sigimer. Confirmed smokers, such as 
 these two ruffians, were sure soon to notice the shrub from 
 
Max's ruse. 
 
 Page 134. 
 
p. P. c. 135 
 
 which he took the leaves, imitate the operation, and try 
 how they liked the mixture. 
 
 This supposition was correct, and the result proved 
 equal to his anticipations. 
 
 On the sixth day, the eve of the fatal 1 3th of September, 
 Max, as he glanced carelessly behind him, had the 
 satisfaction of seeing his guards collect a little store of the 
 green leaves. 
 
 An hour later, he observed that they were drying them 
 at the fire, rubbing them in their great horny hands, and 
 mixing them with their tobacco. They seemed already 
 licking their lips in anticipation. 
 
 Was it Max's intention merely to stupefy Arminius and 
 Sigimer ? No, that was not sufficient. Eluding their 
 vigilance he had still to pass down that stream, even if 
 it should prove to be miles in length. But he had 
 arranged his plan. It was true, there were nine chances 
 in ten that he would perish ; but as he was already con 
 demned to death, that did not much matter. 
 
 Evening came, with it the supper hour, afterwards a walk. 
 The inseparable trio took the way into the park. 
 
 Without hesitating, without losing a minute, Max pro 
 ceeded straight towards a building, standing alone, and 
 which was no other than the workshop where all the models 
 were made. He sat down on a bench outside, filled his 
 pipe, and began to smoke. 
 
136 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Arminius and Sigimer, who had their pipes all ready, sat 
 down on a neighbouring seat and soon were puffing away. 
 The effects of the narcotic were not Ions; in becoming 
 
 O ' O 
 
 visible. 
 
 Before five minutes had passed, the two clumsy giants 
 were yawning and stretching like bears in a cage. Their 
 eyes grew dim, a dull sound was in their ears ; their com 
 plexions changed from red to purple, their arms fell useless 
 at their sides, their heads dropped on their breasts. 
 
 The pipes slipped to the ground. 
 
 Then followed loud snoring, mingled with the twittering 
 of the birds, who lived all the year round in the perpetual 
 summer of the Stahlstadt park. 
 
 Now was Max's time. His impatience may be imagined, 
 when it is remembered that in the next night, at a quarter 
 before midnight, Frankville, having been sentenced by Herr 
 Schultz, would cease to exist. 
 
 He darted into the workshop. It was a large building, 
 a perfect museum of models. Hydraulic machines, locomo 
 tives, steam engines, portable engines, suction pumps, 
 boring machines, ships, ship machinery, in fact, the master 
 pieces would be too numerous to mention. It was a 
 collection of models in wood of everything made in the 
 Schultz manufactory since its foundation, and you may be 
 sure that many cannon, torpedoes, and shells were amongst 
 them. 
 
A destructive fire. 
 
 Page 137, 
 
p. P. c. 137 
 
 The night was dark, and favourable to the young 
 Alsacian's daring project. Besides accomplishing his 
 escape he hoped to destroy the Stahlstadt Model Museum. 
 
 How he longed to annihilate that huge Bull Tower, with 
 its destructive cannon and all it contained ; but it was 
 useless to think of that. 
 
 Max's first, care was to seize a little steel saw, fit for 
 filing iron, which was hanging from a tool rack, and slip it 
 into his pocket. Then taking a match from his box, he 
 struck it, set fire to a heap of drawings and slight fir-wood 
 models, and rushed out. 
 
 The fire spreading among all these inflammable materials 
 increased with great rapidity, and flames speedily burst 
 forth from every part of the building. The alarm-bell 
 rang, the electric wire carried the news to every quarter of 
 Stahlstadt, peals sounded, and firemen and engines hastened 
 from all directions. 
 
 At the same moment Herr Schultz, whose presence 
 was well calculated to encourage the workers, made his 
 appearance. 
 
 In a very few minutes, the boilers were under pressure 
 and the powerful pumps at work. But in spite of the 
 deluges of water which fell on the walls and roofs, the fire 
 gained force, and it was soon evident that all hope of 
 mastering it must be given up. It was a grand and terrible 
 spectacle. 
 
138 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Crouched in a corner, Max never lost sight of Herr 
 Schultz, who cheered on his men as if assaulting a town. 
 There was no necessity for giving a further helping hand 
 to the fire. The Museum, standing as it did, alone in the 
 park, would soon be entirely consumed. 
 
 Herr Schultz, seeing that the building itself could not 
 possibly be saved, suddenly shouted out 
 
 "Ten thousand dollars to whoever will save model,, 
 number 3175, from the glass case in the centre !" 
 
 This was the very mould of Schultz's famous cannon, 
 and he valued it above all other things in the Museum. 
 
 To reach it, however, a person would be compelled to 
 make his way through a deluge of sparks and falling wood, 
 and an unbreathable atmosphere of dense black smoke. It 
 was ten to one that he would escape with his life. Not 
 withstanding, therefore, the magnificence of Herr Schultz's 
 offer, no one answered to his appeal. 
 
 At last a man presented himself. 
 
 It was Max. 
 
 " I will go," said he. 
 
 'You !" exclaimed Herr Schultz. 
 
 'Yes, I!" 
 
 "It won't save you from the sentence of death pronounced 
 against you, so don't imagine it !" 
 
 " I do not propose to avoid that, but to snatch your 
 precious model from destruction." 
 
P. P. C. 139 
 
 " Go then," answered Herr Schultz, " and I swear that if 
 you succeed, the ten thousand dollars shall be faithfully 
 made over to your heirs." 
 
 " I will depend on you for that," returned Max. 
 
 Several of the Galibert apparatus were brought to him ; 
 they were always at hand in case of fire, as they enabled 
 men to venture into the densest smoke. Max had already 
 made use. of one when he tried to save from death dame 
 Bauer's boy, poor little Carl. 
 
 One of these was soon filled with air and placed on his 
 back. He put the pincers on his nose, took the tube in 
 his mouth, and darted into the smoke. 
 
 "At last !" said he. " This air will last for a quarter of 
 an hour ! Heaven grant that may be time enough !" 
 
 As may be imagined, Max had not the slightest 
 intention of endeavouring to save Schultz's cannon model. 
 His life every moment in dire peril, he made his way across 
 the smoke-filled hall, amidst a shower of blazing brands 
 and charred beams. Mercifully none of them touched him, 
 and just as the roof fell in with a fearful crash, Max escaped 
 at the opposite side of the building. 
 
 To fly towards the stream, run along its banks till he 
 reached the unknown opening and plunge in, was the work 
 of only a few seconds. 
 
 The rapid current swept him along in a depth of seven 
 or eight feet. He had no need to guide himself, for the 
 
140 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 water bore him as straight as if he had held Ariadne's 
 clue. 
 
 He soon found that he had entered a narrow channel, a 
 sort of pipe, quite filled by the overflow of the river. 
 
 "What can be the length of this tunnel ?" thought Max. 
 41 Everything depends on that ! If I do not pass through 
 it in a quarter of an hour, the air will fail and I am 
 lost!" 
 
 He maintained his coolness and presence of mind. Ten 
 minutes passed, when suddenly he was driven up against 
 some obstacle. 
 
 This was an iron grating on hinges, barring the way 
 down the tunnel. 
 
 " This is what I feared ! " thought Max simply. 
 
 Without losing a moment, he took the saw from his 
 pocket, and set to work on the bolt of the staple. 
 
 Five minutes labour did not loosen it, the grating 
 remained obstinately closed. Already Max breathed with 
 difficulty. There came a buzzing in his ears, the blood 
 mounted in his head, he felt he would soon lose con 
 sciousness. 
 
 He endeavoured, however, to make the most of the small 
 quantity of air remaining, by taking breath as seldom as 
 possible ! Though half sawn through, the bolt would not 
 yield ! 
 
 At that moment the saw slipped from his hands. 
 
p. P. c. 141 
 
 " Surely God himself cannot be against me ! " was his 
 thought. 
 
 And grasping the grating with both hands, he shook it 
 with the despairing energy given by the instinct of self- 
 preservation. 
 
 The grating opened. The bolt had given way, and 
 the current carried onwards the daring Alsacian, nearly 
 suffocated, yet still feebly struggling, as he inhaled the 
 
 last particles of air in the reservoir ! 
 
 ****** 
 
 The next day, when Herr Schultz's men ventured into 
 the ruins left by the fire, they searched in vain among all 
 the debris, and still smouldering cinders for any trace of 
 human remains. It was evident that the brave workman 
 had perished. 
 
 His daring act astonished none of his friends who had 
 known him in the different workshops. 
 
 The precious model was not saved, but the man who was 
 acquainted with the secrets of the Steel King was dead. 
 
 "Heaven is witness that I wished to spare him all 
 suffering," said Herr Schultz to himself, in his usual serene 
 fashion. " At any rate, as I know not his heirs, I am saved 
 ten thousand dollars !" 
 
 Such was the only funeral oration pronounced by the 
 philosophical professor over the supposed grave of our 
 young Alsacian ! 
 
142 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AN ARTICLE FROM * UNSERE CENTURIE/ A GERMAN 
 REVIEW. 
 
 A MONTH before the period at which the events we have 
 just related occurred, a review, in a salmon-coloured 
 wrapper, entitled " Our Century," published the following 
 article on the subject of Frankville, an article which was 
 particularly relished by the fastidious people of the 
 German Empire, perhaps, because it only studied that city 
 from a purely material point of view : 
 
 " We have already given our readers an account of the 
 extraordinary phenomenon which has been produced on 
 the western coast of the United States. The great 
 American republic, owing to the large proportion of emi 
 grants included in its population, has for long accustomed 
 the world to a succession of surprises ; but the last, and 
 certainly the most singular, is that of a city named Frank 
 ville. Though the very idea of it did not exist five years 
 
Frankville. 
 
 Page 142. 
 
AN ARTICLE FROM ' UNSERE CENTURIE.' 143 
 
 ago, it is now flourishing, and in the highest degree of 
 prosperity. 
 
 " This marvellous city has risen as if by enchantment on 
 the balmy shores of the Pacific. We will not inquire 
 whether it is true (as we are assured) that the first plan 
 and idea of this enterprise is due to a Frenchman, Doctor 
 Sarrasin. The thing is possible, as this doctor may boast 
 a distant relationship with our illustrious King of Steel. 
 We may also say in passing, it is rumoured that a 
 considerable inheritance, which should properly have 
 come to Herr Schultz, has had something to do with 
 the founding of Frankville. Wherever any good springs 
 up in the world, we may be certain that it is from 
 German seed ; this is a truth we are proud of stating 
 whenever an opportunity offers. But, however that may 
 be, we now wish to give our readers some precise and 
 authentic details on the subject of the spontaneous vegeta 
 tion of a model city. 
 
 " It is useless to look for its name on the map. Even the 
 great atlas in three hunderd and seventy-eight folio volumes, 
 by our eminent Tuchtigmann, in which every thicket and 
 clump of trees in the old and new world are put in with 
 such exactitude, even this noble monument to geographical 
 science, designed for the use of sharpshooters, does not 
 bear the least trace of Frankville. 
 
 The place where the new city now stands was five years 
 
144 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 ago a complete desert. The exact spot lies 43 n' 3" 
 north latitude, and 124 41' 17" west longitude. 
 
 " It will be seen that this is on the shores of the Pacific 
 Ocean, and at the foot of the secondary chain of the Rocky 
 Mountains, called the Cascade Mountains, sixty miles to 
 the north of White Cape, Oregon State, North America. 
 
 " This most advantageous site has been carefully sought 
 and chosen from among a number of others. The pro 
 minent reasons for its adoption are the temperate climate 
 of the northern hemisphere, which has always been at the 
 head of terrestrial civilisation ; its position, in the middle 
 of a federative republic, and in a still new State, which has 
 allowed it to secure its independence, and rights similar to 
 those possessed by the principality of Monaco in Europe, 
 on the condition that after a certain number of years it 
 would enter the Union. Its situation on the Ocean, which 
 is becoming more and more the great highway of the 
 globe ; the varied, fertile, and salubrious nature of the soil ; 
 the proximity of a chain of mountains, sheltering it from 
 the north, south, and east w r inds, leaving to the fresh 
 Pacific breeze the care of renovating the atmosphere of 
 the city ; the possession of a little river, whose fresh, sweet, 
 clear water, oxygenated by repeated falls, and by the 
 rapidity of its course, arrives perfectly pure at the sea ; 
 lastly, a natural port, formed by a long curved promontory, 
 which may easily be enlarged by moles. 
 
AN ARTICLE FROM ' UNSERE CENTURIE.' 145 
 
 "A few secondary advantages may be mentioned, such as 
 the proximity of fine marble and stone quarries, bearings 
 of kaolin, and even traces of auriferous ore. In fact, this 
 last detail was almost the cause of the site being given up, 
 for the founders of the town feared that the gold fever 
 might come in the way of their plans. Fortunately, 
 however, the nuggets were found to be small and not 
 numerous. 
 
 "The choice of a territory, although determined upon 
 after serious and close study, took but a few days, and 
 was not made the subject of a special expedition. Science 
 is now so far advanced that, without leaving his study, a 
 man may gather exact and particular information about 
 the most distant regions. 
 
 " This point decided, two commissioners of the organisa 
 tion committee took the first boat from Liverpool, arrived 
 in eleven days at New York, in seven more at San 
 Francisco, where they chartered a steamer, which in ten 
 hours landed them on the proposed site. 
 
 "To come to terms with the legislature of Oregon, to 
 obtain a grant of twelve miles of land on the shores of the 
 sea on the crest of the Cascade Mountains, to indemnify 
 with a few millions of dollars the half-dozen planters who 
 had some real or supposed rights on the ground, all this 
 business did not take more than a month. 
 
 "By January 1872, the territory was already surveyed, 
 
 L 
 
146 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 measured, laid out, and an army of twenty thousand 
 Chinese coolies, under the direction of five hundred over 
 seers and European engineers, were hard at work. Placards 
 posted up all over the State of California, an advertisement 
 van permanently attached to the rapid train, which starts 
 every morning from San Francisco to traverse the 
 American continent, and a daily article in the twenty-three 
 newspapers of that town, were sufficient to ensure the 
 recruiting of the labourers. It was not even found 
 necessary to resort to the expedient of publishing on a 
 grand scale, by means of gigantic letters sculptured on the 
 peaks of the Rocky Mountains, that men were wanted. It 
 must be said that the influx of Chinese coolies into western 
 America had just at this time caused much perturbation in 
 the labour market. Several States had, in the interest of 
 their own population, actually expelled these unfortunate 
 people en masse. The building of Frankville came just in 
 time to save them from perishing. Their wages, fixed at 
 a dollar a day, were not to be paid them until the works 
 were finished, and their rations were distributed by the 
 municipal administration. Thus all the disorder and shame 
 ful speculations, which so often attend any great displace 
 ment of population, were avoided. The wages were deposited 
 every week, in the presence of delegates, in the great Bank 
 at San Francisco, and every coolie was warned that when 
 he drew it out, he was not to return. This precaution was 
 
The Frank ville railway. 
 
 Page 147. 
 
AN ARTICLE FROM ' UNSERE CENTURIE.' 147 
 
 absolutely necessary to get rid of a yellow population, 
 which would otherwise have infallibly lowered the tone 
 and standard of the new city. The founders having, 
 besides, reserved the right of granting or refusing per 
 mission to live there, the application of this measure was 
 comparatively easy. 
 
 " The first great enterprise was the establishment of a 
 branch railway, connecting the territory of the new town 
 with the trunk of the Pacific Railroad, and running to 
 Sacramento. These works, and those of the harbour, were 
 pushed on with extraordinary activity. In April, the first 
 train, direct from New York, brought to the Frankville 
 terminus the members of the committee, who, until this 
 time, had remained in Europe. 
 
 " In this interval, the general plan of the town, the details 
 of habitations and public monuments had been stopped. 
 
 " This was not from want of materials ; from the very 
 first, American industry had hastened to load the quays 
 of Frankville with every imaginable requisite for building. 
 It was merely the difficulty of choice. The founders at last 
 decided that the freestone should be reserved for national 
 edifices and general ornamenation, and that all houses 
 should be built of brick. Not, it must be understood, of 
 common roughly-moulded, half-baked bricks, but light, 
 well-shaped ones, regular in size, weight, and density, 
 and pierced from end to end with a series of cylindrical 
 
 L 2 
 
148 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 and parallel holes. These bricks, when placed together, 
 allowed the air to circulate freely throughout the walls of 
 the building. 1 This arrangement had at the same time 
 the valuable effect of deadening sounds, and giving 
 complete independence to each apartment. 
 
 " The committee did not wish to impose a model on the 
 builders. They were averse to a wearisome and insipid 
 uniformity, and merely gave a certain number of fixed 
 rules, to which the architects were bound to adhere. 
 
 " 1st. Each house to stand alone in a plot of ground 
 planted with trees, grass, and flowers, and to be inhabited 
 by a single family. 
 
 " 2nd. No house to be more than two stories high : air 
 and light must not be monopolised by some, to the detri 
 ment of others. 
 
 " 3rd. Every house must be set back ten yards from the 
 road, and divided from it by a breast-high railing. The 
 space between the building and the railing must be laid 
 out as a garden. 
 
 "4th. The walls to be built of the patent tubular 
 bricks, similar to the model. All ornamentation to be left 
 to the taste of the architect. 
 
 " c;th. The roofs to be in terraces, slightly inclined from 
 the four sides, covered with bitumen, surrounded by a 
 
 1 These plans, as well as the general idea, are borrowed from Doctor 
 Benjamin Ward Richardson, Member of the Royal Society of London. 
 
AN ARTICLE FROM 'UNSERE CENTURIE.' 149 
 
 balustrade high enough to render accidents impossible, 
 and proper canals made for the passing off of rain-water. 
 
 6th. All the houses must be built on a vaulted foun 
 dation, open on each side, and thus forming under the 
 ground-floor a subsoil of aeration, as well as a hall. All 
 water-pipes must be exposed, running up the central pillar, 
 in such a way that it may be always easy to ascertain their 
 state, and in case of fire, to be able to obtain the necessary 
 water immediately. The floor of this hall, rising about 
 three inches above the level of the road, must be properly 
 gravelled. A door and a special staircase will place it in 
 direct communication with the kitchens and offices, so that 
 all household transactions may go on without offending 
 either the eyes or the nose. 
 
 " /th. The kitchens and offices will, contrary to the usual 
 custom, be placed in the upper story, and in communication 
 with the terrace. A lift, moved by mechanical force, 
 which, like artificial light and water, will be supplied at 
 reduced prices to the inhabitants, will easily convey all 
 loads to this level. 
 
 " 8th. The plan of the rooms is left to individual taste. 
 But two dangerous elements of illness, regular nests of 
 miasma and laboratories of poison, are to be strictly ex 
 cluded carpets and painted papers. The floors, beauti 
 fully inlaid with valuable woods by clever workmen, would 
 be quite wasted were they hidden under a woollen cloth of 
 
150 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 doubtful cleanliness. The walls, lined with polished 
 bricks, present the brilliancy and variety of the inner apart 
 ments of Pompeii, with a luxury of colour, which painted 
 paper, charged with its thousand subtile poisons, could 
 never reach. They are washed as windows are washed, 
 and rubbed like ceilings and floors. Not even a gerrn of 
 anything harmful can be harboured there. 
 
 " 9th. Each bedroom is distinct from the dressing-room. 
 It cannot be too much recommended that the former 
 apartment, where a third of a man's life is passed, should 
 be the largest, the most airy, and at the same time the 
 most simple. It must only be used for sleep ; four chairs, 
 an iron bedstead, supplied with two frequently-beaten 
 mattresses, is the only necessary furniture. Eider-down 
 quilts and heavy coverlets, powerful allies of epidemics, 
 are excluded as a matter of course. Good woollen cover 
 ings, light and warm, and easily washed, replace them 
 well. Though curtains and draperies are not absolutely 
 forbidden, it is recommended that, if used, they should be 
 made of washing materials. 
 
 " loth. Each room may be warmed according to fancy 
 by wood or coal ; but to every chimney is a corresponding 
 opening to the outer air. The smoke, instead of issuing 
 through the roof, is led away by subterranean pipes to 
 special furnaces, established, outside the town, at the back 
 of the houses, at the rate of a furnace to every two 
 
AN ARTICLE FROM ' UNSERE CENTURIE.' 151 
 
 hundred inhabitants. There it is deprived of the particles 
 of carbon which it bears, and is discharged in a colourless 
 state into the air, at a height of thirty-five yards. Such 
 are the ten rules imposed on the building of each parti 
 cular house. 
 
 " The general arrangements are no less carefully studied. 
 
 " The plan of the town is essentially simple and regular, 
 the roads crossing at right angles, at equal distances, of a 
 uniform width, planted with trees, and numbered. 
 
 " Some of the roads being wider, are then called boule 
 vards or avenues, and leave on one side rails for tramways 
 and metropolitan railways. Public gardens are numerous, 
 and ornamented with fine copies of the masterpieces of 
 sculpture, until the artists of Frankville shall have pro 
 duced original pieces worthy to replace them. 
 
 " Every industry and trade is free. 
 
 " Any one wishing to have the right of living in Frank 
 ville must give good references, be fit to follow a useful 
 or liberal profession in industry, science, or the arts, and 
 must engage to keep the laws of the town. An idle life 
 would not be tolerated there. 
 
 "There are already a large number of public edifices. 
 The most important are the Cathedral, chapels, mu 
 seums, libraries, schools, and gymnasiums, fitted up with 
 the luxury and hygienic skill worthy of a great city. 
 
 " It is needless to say that from the age of four years all 
 
152 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 children are obliged to follow physical and intellectual 
 exercises, calculated to develope the brain and muscles. 
 They are also accustomed to such strict cleanliness, that 
 they consider a spot on their simple clothes quite a 
 disgrace. 
 
 " Individual and collective cleanliness is the great idea of 
 the founders of Frankville. To clean, clean unceasingly, 
 so as to destroy the miasmas constantly emanating from 
 a large community, such is the principal work of the 
 central government. For this purpose, all the contents of 
 the drains are led out of the town, condensed, and daily 
 transferred to the fields. 
 
 " Water flows everywhere in abundance. 
 
 " The streets are paved with bituminated wood ; and the 
 stone footpaths are as spotless as a courtyard in Holland. 
 The provision markets are subject to strict surveillance, 
 and any merchants who dare to speculate on the public 
 health incur the severest penalties. The man who sells a 
 bad egg, damaged meat, or a pint of adulterated milk, is 
 simply treated as the poisoner he really is. This necessary 
 and delicate office is confided to experienced men, who 
 receive a special education for it. Their jurisdiction 
 extends to the very laundries, which are on a large scale, 
 provided with steam engines, artificial dryers, and, above 
 all, with disinfecting-rooms. No body-linen is sent back 
 to its owners without being thoroughly bleached, and 
 
AN ARTICLE FROM ' UNSERE CENTURIE.' 153 
 
 special care is taken never to mix the washing of two 
 families. This simple precaution is of great value. 
 Hospitals are few in number, for the system of house 
 nursing is general, and they are reserved for homeless 
 strangers and exceptional cases. The idea of making the 
 hospital larger than any other building, and of putting 
 seven or eight hundred patients under one roof, so as to 
 make a centre of infection, would not enter the head of the 
 founders of this model city. Far from this, it is in theirs, 
 as well as in the public interest, to isolate the sick as much 
 as possible. This is the plan pursued in the houses, the 
 hospitals being merely for the temporary accommodation 
 of the most pressing cases. 
 
 "Twenty or thirty patients at most, each having a 
 separate apartment, are put into these light barracks, 
 which are built of fir-wood, and burnt regularly every year. 
 They have, besides, the advantage of being easily carried 
 from one part of the town to another as they are wanted, 
 and, being all on one model, can be multiplied to any 
 extent. 
 
 "Another ingenious institution is that of a body of 
 experienced nurses, specially trained for the purpose, and 
 always at the disposal of the public. These women, being 
 carefully chosen, are most valuable and devoted aids to the 
 doctors. They bring into the bosom of families that 
 practical knowledge, so necessary and yet so often absent ; 
 
154 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 in the time of danger it is their mission to prevent the 
 spread of the disease as well as to tend the sick. 
 
 " We should never finish were we to attempt to enumerate 
 all the hygienic perfections inaugurated by the founders 
 of this new town. On his arrival each citizen is presented 
 with a small pamphlet, in which the most important 
 principles of a life, regulated according to science, are set 
 forth in clear and simple language. 
 
 " He is there told that the perfect equilibrium of all the 
 functions is one of the necessities for health, that work and 
 rest are equally indispensable, that fatigue is as necessary 
 for the brain as for the muscles ; that nine-tenths of the 
 illnesses are owing to contagion transmitted by air and food. 
 He cannot surround his dwelling and his person with too 
 many sanitary precautions. To avoid the use of exciting 
 poisons, to practise bodily exercises, to conscientiously 
 perform every day some appointed duty, to drink pure 
 water, to eat fresh meat and vegetables simply prepared, 
 to sleep regularly seven or eight hours a night, such is the 
 A B C of health. 
 
 "Beginning from the first principles laid down by the 
 founders, we have been led on to speak of this singular 
 city as already finished. It is indeed so ; the first houses 
 built, the others rose as if by magic. A man should have 
 previously visited the far west in order to realise the 
 wonderful change. The site that was a desert in the 
 
AN ARTICLE FROM ' UNSERE CENTURIE.' 155 
 
 month of January 1872, contained six thousand houses in 
 1873. In 1874 it possessed nine thousand, and all public 
 edifices complete. 
 
 " Speculation has certainly had its part in this unheard-of 
 success. The ground having cost nothing, the houses 
 could be sold or let at very moderate prices. There being 
 no taxes, the political independence of this isolated little 
 territory, its novelty, and the pleasant climate, all con 
 tributed to induce emigration. At the present time 
 Frankville contains nearly a hundred thousand inhabitants. 
 
 "But to us the most interesting part of it is that the 
 result of the sanitary experiment is conclusive. 
 
 " Whilst the annual mortality in the most favoured towns 
 of Europe or the New World has never been less than 
 three per cent, in Frankville for these five years the 
 average has been one and a half. Even this figure was 
 increased by a slight fever epidemic during the first 
 summer. That of the last year was only one and a 
 quarter. And a more important circumstance still, is that, 
 with but a few exceptions, all the deaths actually registered 
 were due to specific and hereditary affections. Accidental 
 illnesses have been at once infinitely rarer, and less 
 dangerous, than in any other great centre. As to epi 
 demics, properly so called, nothing has been seen or heard 
 of them. 
 
 " It will be interesting to follow the development of this 
 
156 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 attempt, and certainly curious to discover if the influence 
 of this scientific regime may not in the course of a genera 
 tion, or more likely still, after several generations, weaken 
 hereditary and morbid predispositions. 
 
 " ' It is assuredly not too much to hope/ as one of the 
 founders has written, ' and if so what may not be the 
 grandeur of the result ! Everybody living for ninety or a 
 hundred years, and then only dying of old age, as do the 
 greater number of animals and plants.' 
 
 " There is something enchanting in such a dream ! 
 Nevertheless, if we may be allowed to express our sincere 
 opinion, we have but an indifferent belief in the actual 
 success of this experiment. We see in it an original and 
 probably fatal flaw, which is its being in the hands of a 
 committee in which the Latin element prevails, and from 
 which the German element has been systematically 
 excluded. That is a bad symptom. Since the world began 
 nothing durable has been made but by Germany, and 
 without her nothing perfect can be effected. The founders 
 of Frankville may clear the ground, and elucidate some 
 special points ; not, however, on this spot in America, but 
 on the borders of Syria, shall we one day see the true 
 model city arise." 
 
AT DINNER WITH DOCTOR SARRASIN. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 AT DINNER WITH DOCTOR SARRASIN. 
 
 ON the 1 3th of September, although it wanted but a 
 few hours to the time fixed on by Professor Schultz for 
 the destruction of Frankville, neither the governor nor 
 a single person among the inhabitants dreamed of the 
 danger which threatened them. 
 
 Seven o'clock in the evening arrived. 
 
 Half buried in thick masses of oleander and tamarinds, 
 the beautiful city lay at the foot of the Cascade Mountains, 
 its marble quays gently caressed by the waves of the 
 Pacific. The carefully watered roads, freshened by the 
 breeze, presented a cheerful and animated spectacle. The 
 trees which shaded them rustled softly. The velvet lawns 
 were fresh and green. Brilliant beds of flowers exhaled 
 their sweetness around the calm and smiling white houses. 
 The air was warm and balmy, and the sky as blue as the 
 sea, which glittered at the end of the long avenues. 
 
158 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 A stranger arriving in the town would have been at once 
 struck with the healthful look of the inhabitants and the 
 activity in the streets. The academies of painting, music, 
 and sculpture, and the library, all in the same quarter, had 
 just been closed. Excellent public courses were given 
 there to small sections, so that each pupil might get the 
 full advantage of the lesson. Among the crowds issuing 
 from these places, and naturally causing some stoppage, 
 not an exclamation of impatience, nor an angry look, was 
 heard or seen. The general aspect was one of calmness 
 and satisfaction. 
 
 Not in the centre of the town, but on the shores of the 
 Pacific, had Doctor Sarrasin built his house. It had been 
 among the first put up, and he had come immediately and 
 established himself there with his wife and daughter 
 Jeannette. 
 
 Octavius, the extempore millionaire, had chosen to 
 remain in Paris ; but he had no longer Max for a mentor. 
 
 The two friends had almost lost sight of each other 
 since the time when they lived together in King of Sicily 
 Street. 
 
 When the doctor emigrated with his wife and daughter 
 to the coast of Oregon, Otto was his own master. He soon 
 neglected college, where his father had wished him to 
 continue his studies, and was in consequence plucked in 
 the final examination, when his friend Max came out first. 
 
AT DINNER WITH DOCTOR SARRASIN. 159 
 
 Till then, poor Otto, who was incapable of managing for 
 himself, had had Max for a guide. When the young 
 Alsacian left, his companion directly began to see life in 
 Paris. He passed the greater part of his time on the box 
 of a four-in-hand coach, driving perpetually between the 
 avenue Marigny, where he had rooms, and the various 
 race-courses of the suburbs. 
 
 Otto Sarrasin, who, three months before, could scarcely 
 manage to stick on a horse hired by the hour, had suddenly 
 become deeply versed in the mysteries of hippology. His 
 erudition was borrowed from an English groom who had 
 entered his service, and who ruled him entirely, in con 
 sequence of the superiority of his special knowledge. 
 
 Interviews with tailors, saddlers, and bootmakers, occu 
 pied the mornings. His evenings were spent at the 
 theatres and in the rooms of a flaming new club, just 
 opened at the corner of Trouchet Street, and chosen by 
 Otto because the people he met there paid to his money a 
 homage which his personal merits had not hitherto received. 
 
 The company seemed to him highly distinguished. A 
 noticeable thing about it was that the handsomely framed 
 list, hanging in the waiting-room, bore few but foreign 
 names. Titles abounded, so that you might almost fancy 
 yourself in the antechamber of an heraldic college. But 
 on penetrating farther one might imagine oneself in a living 
 ethnological exhibition. All the big noses and bilious 
 
160 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 complexions of the two hemispheres seemed to have met 
 together there. 
 
 Otto Sarrasin reigned paramount among these worthies. 
 His words were quoted, his cravats copied, his opinions 
 accepted as articles of faith. And intoxicated with this 
 incense of flattery, he never found out that he regularly lost 
 money at play and the races. Perhaps certain members of 
 the club, in their Oriental capacity, thought that they had 
 some rights on the Begum's heritage. At any rate, they 
 were able to gradually draw it into their pockets by a slow 
 though continued process. 
 
 In this new life the ties which bound Otto to Max 
 Bruckmann were soon loosened. At last, the two chums 
 only exchanged letters at long intervals. What could 
 there be in common between the eager hard-working man, 
 solely occupied with bringing his intellect to the highest 
 point of culture and strength, and the idle youth, puffed 
 up with his riches, his thoughts only filled with club and 
 stable gossip. 
 
 We know how Max left Paris, first to keep a watch on 
 Herr Schultz, who had just founded Stahlstadt, the rival 
 to Frankville, and then actually to enter the service of the 
 King of Steel. 
 
 For two years Otto led his useless and dissipated life. 
 Then a weariness of these hollow and worthless pleasures 
 seized him, and one fine day, after having wasted some 
 
AT DINNER WITH DOCTOR SARRASIN. l6l 
 
 millions of francs, he rejoined his father, thus escaping 
 from moral and physical ruin. At the present time he 
 was living in the doctor's house in Frankville. 
 
 His sister Jeannette was now a lovely girl of nineteen, 
 to whose French grace her four years' stay in the new 
 country had added all the good American qualities. Her 
 mother said sometimes that before having her so com 
 pletely to herself, she had never felt the charm of 
 perfect intimacy. 
 
 As to Madame Sarrasin, since the return of her prodigal 
 son, the child of her hopes, she was as completely happy 
 as any one can be here below, for she associated herself 
 with all the good her husband could and did do with his 
 immense fortune. 
 
 On the evening of which we have spoken, Doctor 
 Sarrasin had invited to dinner two of his most intimate 
 friends. Colonel Hendon, an old hero of the War of 
 Secession, who had left an arm at Pittsburg, and an ear at 
 Sevenoaks, but who could hold his own with any one at a 
 game of chess ; and Monsieur Lentz, General Director of 
 Instruction in the new city. 
 
 The conversation turned on the plans for the administra 
 tion of the town, the results already obtained in the public 
 establishments of all sorts, institutions, hospitals, mutual 
 aid societies. 
 
 M. Lentz, according to the doctor's programme, in which 
 
 M 
 
1 62 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 religious teaching was not forgotten, had founded several 
 elementary schools, where the cares of the master tended 
 to develope the mind of the child by submitting it to a 
 sort of intellectual gymnastic exercise, adjusted so as to 
 follow the natural bent of its faculties. It was taught to 
 love a science before being crammed with it, avoiding that 
 knowledge which, says Montaigne, "floats on the surface 
 of the brain," without penetrating the understanding, or 
 rendering its possessor either wiser or better. Later, a 
 well-prepared intellect can of itself choose its path and 
 follow it with profit. 
 
 The principles of health took a first place in this well- 
 ordered education. 
 
 Man should have equal command both of his mind and, 
 body. If one fails him he suffers for it, and the mind 
 especially, if unsupported by the body, would soon give 
 way. 
 
 Frankville had now reached the highest degree of in 
 tellectual as well as temporal prosperity. In its congress 
 were collected all the illustrious and learned men of 
 the two worlds. Artists, painters, sculptors, musicians, 
 attracted by the reputation of this city, crowded to it. All 
 the young people of Frankville, who promised some day 
 to illuminate this corner of America, studied under these 
 masters. This new Athens of French origin was on the 
 way to become the first of cities. A good military as well 
 
The dinner at Doctor Sarrasin's. 
 
 Page 163. 
 
AT DINNER WITH DOCTOR SARRASIN. 163 
 
 as civil education was given in the colleges. All the 
 young men were taught the use of firearms, as well as 
 the first principles of strategy and tactics. 
 
 When this became the subject of conversation, Colonel 
 Hendon declared himself delighted with all his recruits. 
 
 "They are," said he, "already accustomed to forced 
 marches, fatigue, and all kinds of manly exercises. Our 
 army is composed of citizens, and when the time comes to 
 prove them, they will be found disciplined and trustworthy 
 soldiers." 
 
 Frankville was on the best terms with all the neigh 
 bouring States, for she had seized every occasion to oblige 
 them ; but ingratitude speaks so loudly when people's own 
 interests are in question, that the doctor and his friends 
 resolved not to lose sight of the maxim : " Heaven helps 
 those who help themselves," and to rely on their own 
 exertions. 
 
 Dinner was over, the dessert was on the table, and, 
 according to the usual custom, the ladies had just left the 
 room. 
 
 Doctor Sarrasin, Otto, Colonel Hendon, and M. Lentz 
 continued the conversation, and were attacking the higher 
 questions of political economy, when a servant entered and 
 handed the doctor his paper. 
 
 It was the New York Herald. This respectable journal 
 had always shown itself extremely favourable, first to the 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 foundation, and then to the development of Frankville, and 
 the principals of the city were accustomed to look in its 
 columns for the possible variations of public opinion with 
 regard to them in the United States. This agglomeration 
 of happy, free, and independent people on their little 
 neutral territory was envied by not a few, and if Frankville 
 had many friends in America to defend her, she had also 
 enemies who delighted in attacking her. At any rate, the 
 New York Herald was on their side, and constantly 
 expressed itself in terms of admiration and esteem. 
 
 Without interrupting himself in what he was saying, 
 Doctor Sarrasin opened the paper, mechanically casting 
 his eyes on the first paragraph. Suddenly he stopped, con 
 founded, as he saw the following lines, which he read to 
 himself, and then aloud, to the great surprise and greater 
 indignation of his friends : 
 
 " New York, September 8th. A violent attempt against 
 the rights of men is shortly to take place. We learn from 
 a certain source that formidable preparations are being 
 made at Stahlstadt, with the object of attacking and 
 destroying Frankville, the city of French origin. We do 
 not know if the United States can or ought to interfere in 
 this struggle, which will set the Latin and Saxon races by 
 the ears ; but, in common with all honest men, we denounce 
 this odious abuse of strength. Frankville should not lose 
 an hour in putting herself in a state of defence, &c." 
 
THE COUNCIL. 165 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE COUNCIL. 
 
 THE hatred which the King of Steel bore to Doctor 
 Sarrasin's work was no secret. Every one knew that his 
 was a rival city. But no one would have believed him 
 capable of attacking a peaceful town, and endeavouring to 
 destroy it at a blow. The article in the New York Herald 
 was, however, positive on the point. The correspondents 
 of that provincial journal had penetrated Herr Schultz's 
 designs, and, as they said, there was not an hour to 
 spare ! 
 
 The worthy doctor was confounded. Like all honest- 
 hearted men, he refused as long as he could to believe 
 in the evil designs of others. It seemed to him impos 
 sible that a human being could be so wicked as to wish 
 to destroy without sufficient reason, and from simple 
 malice, a city, which was in a certain sense the common 
 property of mankind. 
 
1 66 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 "Just think that our average mortality will this year be 
 only one and a quarter in every hundred ! " he exclaimed, 
 naively ; " that there is not a boy of ten years old who 
 does not know how to read ; that not a murder or theft has 
 been committed since the foundation of Frankville ! And 
 these barbarians want to destroy this successful experi 
 ment at its very beginning ! No ; I cannot believe that a 
 chemist, a savant, were he a hundred times a German, 
 could be capable of such atrocity ! " 
 
 They were compelled, however, to trust to the evidence 
 of a paper thoroughly devoted to their undertaking, and 
 act without delay. The first moment of dismay passed, 
 Doctor Sarrasin regaining the command of his feelings, 
 thus addressed his friends 
 
 " Gentlemen, you are members of the Civic Council, and 
 it is your duty as well as mine to take all necessary 
 measures for the safety of the town. What ought we to 
 do first?" 
 
 "Is there no possibility of arranging matters?" said 
 M. Lentz. " Can we not honourably avoid war ? " 
 
 "That is impossible," replied Otto. " Herr Schultz 
 evidently will have it at any price. His hate will not 
 allow him to come to terms ! " 
 
 " Very well ! " exclaimed the doctor ; " we shall be 
 ready to receive him. Do you think, colonel, that any 
 thing can resist the cannons of Stahlstadt ? " 
 
THE COUNCIL. l6/ 
 
 "Any human force can be efficaciously combatted by 
 another human force," answered Colonel Hendon ; " but 
 we need not think of defending ourselves by the same 
 means and the same arms which Herr Schultz will use to 
 attack us. The construction of engines of war, capable of 
 opposing his, would take a long time to make, and I do 
 not know, besides, if we should succeed in fabricating them, 
 since we have not special workshops. I can only see one 
 chance of safety, that of preventing the enemy from reach 
 ing us, and rendering an investment impossible." 
 
 " I will go immediately and convoke the Council," said 
 Doctor Sarrasin ; and he led his guests into his study. 
 
 It was a simply furnished room, three sides being 
 covered with shelves, loaded with books, whilst the fourth 
 presented, below several pictures and curiosities, a row of 
 numbered openings, similar to ear-trumpets. 
 
 "Thanks to the telephone," said he, "we can hold a 
 council in Frankville, whilst every one remains at home." 
 
 The doctor touched a warning-bell, which instantaneously 
 communicated with the houses of all the members. In 
 less than three minutes, the word "present" brought 
 successively by each wire, announced that the Council was 
 sitting. 
 
 The doctor placed himself before the mouthpiece, rung 
 the bell, and said 
 
 " The meeting is open. My honourable friend, Colonel 
 
1 68 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Hendon, will speak, to make a communication of the 
 deepest importance." 
 
 The colonel, in his turn, placed himself before the 
 telephone, and, after reading the article from the New 
 York Herald, he proposed that immediate measures 
 should be taken to impede the advance of the enemy. 
 
 He had scarcely concluded when number Six put the 
 question 
 
 " Does the colonel believe a defence possible, in case 
 the means by which he hopes to prevent the enemy from 
 reaching us does not succeed ? " 
 
 Colonel Hendon replied in the affirmative. The ques 
 tion and answer instantaneously reached each invisible 
 member of the Council, as well as the explanations which 
 preceded them. 
 
 Number Seven asked how long in his estimation it 
 would take for the people of Frankville to prepare. 
 
 The colonel could not say, but it would be advisable to 
 act as if they were to be attacked in a fortnight. 
 
 Number Two : " Should we await the attack, or would 
 you think it preferable to prevent it ? " 
 
 " We must do all in our power to prevent it," answered 
 the colonel ; " and if we are threatened with a fleet, we 
 must blow up Herr Schultz's ships with torpedoes." 
 
 On this, Doctor Sarrasin offered to call into council the 
 most distinguished chemists, as well as the most experi- 
 
An important meeting to be held. 
 
 Page 169. 
 
THE COUNCIL. 169 
 
 enced artillery officers, and give to them the task of 
 examining the plans which Colonel Hendon had ready to 
 submit to them. 
 
 Question from Number One 
 
 "What is the sum necessary for the immediate com 
 mencement of the works of defence ? " 
 
 " We should have at our disposal from fifteen to twenty 
 millions of dollars." 
 
 " I propose that the Citizens' Assembly be instantly 
 convoked." 
 
 President Sarrasin : " I will put it to the vote." 
 
 The bells in each telephone rang twice, announcing that 
 the proposal was unanimously adopted. 
 
 It was half-past eight. The Council had only lasted 
 eighteen minutes, and had not disturbed any one. 
 
 The popular assembly was convoked by means as simple, 
 and almost as expeditious. Doctor Sarrasin communi 
 cated by telephone the vote of the Council to the Town 
 Hall. An electric peal was instantly set in motion at the 
 summit of each of the columns in every square of the city. 
 The columns were surmounted by luminous dial plates, on 
 which the hands, moved by electricity, pointed to half-past 
 eight, the hour for the assembly. 
 
 This clamorous call, continuing for a quarter of an hour, 
 brought all the inhabitants out of their houses, they 
 glanced up at the nearest dial, and ascertaining that some 
 
1 70 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 national duty required their presence at the Town Hall, 
 they hastened thither as fast as possible. 
 
 In less than forty-five minutes the Assembly was complete. 
 Doctor Sarrasin was already in the place of honour, sur 
 rounded by the Council, whilst Colonel Hendon waited at the 
 foot of the tribune, until permission was given him to speak. 
 
 The greater number of the citizens already knew the 
 reason of the meeting being called. In fact, the discussion 
 of the Civic Council, automatically, stereographed by the 
 Town Hall telephone, had been immediately sent to the 
 papers, printed in a special edition, and placarded all over 
 the town. 
 
 The municipal hall was an immense building, roofed 
 with glass, and brilliantly lighted by gas. 
 
 The crowd which filled it was calm and orderly, every 
 one standing. All the faces were cheerful. Perfect health, 
 an active and regular life, and a quiet conscience, placed 
 them above any unruly passion of alarm or anger. 
 
 At exactly half-past eight, the president rang his bell, 
 and silence fell on the assembly. 
 
 The colonel ascended the tribune. There, in sober, but 
 forcible language, without useless ornament or oratorical 
 pretensions the language of a man, who, knowing what 
 he is talking about, clearly expresses himself Colonel 
 Hendon related the inveterate hate which Herr Schultz 
 bore against Frankville, Doctor Sarrasin, and his work, 
 
THE COUNCIL. I/I 
 
 and the formidable preparations announced by the New 
 York Herald, destined to destroy their city and its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 " It is for you to decide what is best to be done," he 
 continued. " Some people, possessing neither courage nor 
 patriotism, might perhaps prefer to give up the land, and 
 leave the aggressors to do what they wish with their new 
 home. But I am certain beforehand that such a pusil 
 lanimous proposal would find no echo among my fellow- 
 citizens. Men who are able to understand the greatness of 
 the object aimed at by the founders of the model city, 
 men who have accepted its laws, are necessarily men of 
 heart and intelligence. Sincere representatives of pro 
 gress, you will do everything to save our incomparable 
 town, the glorious monument raised by science, to 
 ameliorate the fallen condition of man ! Your duty, there 
 fore, is to give your lives for the cause you represent." 
 
 Thunders of applause greeted this peroration. Several 
 speakers supported Colonel Hendon's motion. 
 
 Doctor Sarrasin, having impressed the necessity of con 
 stituting a Committee of Defence, which was to take imme 
 diate measures, with all the secrecy indispensable in 
 military operations, the proposal was adopted. 
 
 A member of the Civic Council then suggested that five 
 million dollars should be voted for the works. A show of 
 hands ratified this measure. 
 
172 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 At five-and-twenty minutes past ten the meeting was 
 over, and the citizens of Frankville were about to leave the 
 hall, when an unexpected incident occurred. The empty 
 tribune was suddenly occupied by a stranger of most 
 curious appearance. He had sprung up as if by magic. 
 His face showed that he was labouring under frightful 
 excitement ; but his attitude was calm and resolute. His 
 torn and muddy clothes, his bleeding forehead, told of 
 something extraordinary. 
 
 At sight of him every one paused. With an imperative 
 -gesture, the stranger commanded silence. 
 
 Who was he ? Whence had he come ? No one, not 
 even Doctor Sarrasin, ventured to ask him. 
 
 " I have just escaped from Stahlstadt," he said. 
 " Herr Schultz had condemned me to death. God has 
 -allowed me to reach you in time to attempt to save 
 you. I am not unknown to you all. My venerated 
 master, Doctor Sarrasin, can tell you, I hope, that in 
 spite of my appearance, rendering me unrecognisable 
 even to him, some confidence may be placed in Max 
 Bruckmann ! " 
 
 " Max ! " exclaimed both the doctor and Otto at once, 
 starting towards him. 
 
 He stopped them by a sign. 
 
 Max had been, indeed, miraculously saved. After 
 forcing the grating, just as he was almost suffocated, the 
 
No time to be lost. 
 
 Page 172. 
 
THE COUNCIL. 173: 
 
 current swept him onwards, and two minutes later threw 
 him on the bank, outside Stahlstadt, indeed, but almost 
 lifeless. 
 
 For several hours the brave young fellow lay stretched 
 motionless in the darkness, far from all help, on the 
 lonely desert. When consciousness returned, it was day 
 light. He thanked God that he had escaped from that 
 horrible Stahlstadt ! He was no longer a prisoner. 
 The next moment his thoughts were concentrated on 
 Doctor Sarrasin, his friends, and fellow citizens. 
 
 " I must save them ! " he repeated. 
 
 By a supreme effort he got upon his feet. He was 
 thirty miles from Frankville, and he had thirty miles to 
 traverse on foot, for there was no railway in that direction, 
 not even a cart or a horse to be got, for the whole country 
 round the terrible Steel City was shunned. He pressed 
 on, however, without taking a moment's rest, and at a 
 quarter-past ten arrived at the city. 
 
 The placards which covered the walls told him all. He 
 found that the inhabitants had been warned of the 
 threatened danger ; but they were not aware of its frightful 
 nature, or that it was immediate. 
 
 The catastrophe premeditated by Herr Schultz, was to 
 take place on this very evening, at a quarter to twelve. 
 It was now a quarter-past ten. 
 
 Max had not a moment to lose, he sped through the 
 
174 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 town, and at twenty-five minutes past ten, as the assembly 
 was about to break up, he scaled the tribune. 
 
 " Not in a month, my friends," he cried, " not even in a 
 week, must you expect the danger ! But in an hour, this 
 awful catastrophe, a rain of iron and fire, will burst upon 
 your town. An engine, worthy the invention of a fiend, 
 which will carry thirty miles, is at this very moment 
 pointed against us. I have seen it. Let the women and 
 children seek shelter in the deepest and strongest cellars, 
 or let them instantly leave the town, and take refuge in the 
 mountains. All the men must prepare to combat the fire 
 by every possible means. Fire will for the time be your 
 only enemy. Neither armies nor soldiers will march 
 against you. The adversary who menaces you disdains all 
 ordinary modes of attack. If the plans and calculations 
 of a man, whose power for evil is well known to you, are 
 realised unless Herr Schultz is mistaken for the first time 
 in his life fire will suddenly break out in at least a hundred 
 places all over Frankville. We shall presently have to 
 face the flames at a hundred different points ! Whatever 
 happens, the population must be saved first ; such of your 
 houses and monuments which cannot be preserved, or even 
 the whole town, time and money can restore ! " 
 
 In Europe, Max would have been thought mad. But 
 in America it is not wise to refuse to believe in any 
 miracle of science, however unexpected ; so, by Doctor 
 
THE COUNCIL. 175 
 
 Sarrasin's advice, the young engineer was listened to and 
 believed in. 
 
 The crowd, awed as much by the accent and appearance 
 of the speaker as by his words, obeyed, without even 
 dreaming of disputing his commands. The doctor an 
 swered for Max Bruckmann, and that was enough. 
 
 Orders were immediately given, and messengers sent 
 out in every direction. 
 
 As to the inhabitants, some withdrew to the cellars of 
 their dwellings, resigned to suffer all the horrors of a 
 bombardment, others on foot, horseback, or in carriages, 
 hastened out into the country, and ascended the steeps 
 of the Cascade Mountains. In the meantime the able- 
 bodied men collected in the square, and in different 
 places pointed out by the doctor, everything that would 
 serve to subdue fire, that is to say, water, earth, and 
 sand. 
 
 In the Hall the deliberation continued. 
 
 Max was evidently beset by some idea which filled 
 his brain to the exclusion of every other thought. He 
 muttered to himself 
 
 " At a quarter to twelve ! Is it really possible that 
 that villainous Schultz will destroy us with his execrable 
 invention ? " 
 
 Suddenly Max drew out his pocket-book. He made a 
 gesture requiring silence, and then, pencil in hand, rapidly 
 
176 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 put down several figures on one of the pages. As he did 
 so his brow cleared, his face became radiant. 
 
 " Ah ! my friends ! " he exclaimed, " my friends ! Either 
 these figures are liars, or else all that we fear will vanish 
 like a nightmare before the evidence of a problem in the 
 science of projectiles, the solution of which I have till this 
 moment sought in vain. Herr Schultz is mistaken ! The 
 threatened danger is but a dream. For once, his science is 
 at fault ! Nothing of what he foretold will come to pass. 
 It's impossible ! His formidable shell will fly over Frank- 
 ville without touching it, and if there is anything to fear,, 
 it will be only in the future ! " 
 
 What could Max mean ? His friends did not under 
 stand ! 
 
 The young Alsacian then explained the result of his 
 calculations. 
 
 In his clear ringing voice he explained his demonstra 
 tion in such a way as to render it luminous, even to the 
 most ignorant. It was light succeeding darkness, calm 
 following agony. Not only would the projectile leave 
 untouched the doctor's city, but it would touch nothing 
 whatever. It was destined to lose itself in space ! 
 
 Doctor Sarrasin acknowledged the correctness of Max's 
 calculations, and then, pointing to the luminous dial in the 
 hall 
 
 " In three minutes," he exclaimed, " we shall know 
 
THE COUNCIL. 177 
 
 whether Schultz or Max Bruckmann is right ! Whatever 
 happens, my friends, we need not regret any of the pre 
 cautions we have taken, and we still must neglect nothing 
 which can baffle the inventions of our enemy. If his 
 design fails for the present, as Max has just given us 
 reason to hope, it won't be the last. Schultz's hate will 
 never be stifled or arrested." 
 
 Come ! " exclaimed Max. 
 
 All followed him into the square. Three minutes passed 
 in breathless suspense. The quarter before twelve was 
 tolled forth from the great clock ! 
 
 Four seconds after, a dark mass was seen high above 
 their heads ; quick as thought it rushed onwards, and with 
 a sinister hiss soon disappeared far beyond the town. 
 
 "A pleasant journey to it ! " shouted Max, with a burst 
 of laughter. " If Herr Schultz's shell keeps up that speed, 
 it will never again fall upon terrestrial soil ! " 
 
 In two minutes a roar was heard like distant thunder. 
 This was the report of the cannon in the Bull Tower, the 
 sound reaching Frankville a hundred and thirteen seconds 
 after the projectile had passed at the rate of four hundred 
 and fifty miles an hour. 
 
 N 
 
178 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NEWS FOR THE PROFESSOR. 
 " Max Bruckmann, to Professor Schultz, of Staklstadt. 
 
 " Frankville, September I4th. 
 
 "I CONSIDER it proper to inform the King of Steel, 
 that on the evening of the day before yesterday, I suc 
 ceeded in passing beyond the frontier of his dominion, 
 preferring my own safety to that of the model in the 
 blazing workshop. 
 
 " While taking leave, I should fail in my bounden duty 
 were I not in turn to reveal my secrets. Do not, however, 
 be uneasy on that account, I shall not require you to pay 
 for the knowledge with your life. 
 
 "My real name is not Schwartz, and I am not a 
 Swiss. Alsace is my country, and I am called Max 
 Bruckmann. 
 
 " I am a tolerable engineer, if one may take your word 
 for it ; but first and foremost, I am a Frenchman. You 
 
NEWS FOR THE PROFESSOR. 
 
 have shown yourself the implacable enemy of my country, 
 my friends, and my family. You have entertained odious 
 designs against everything I hold most dear. I have 
 dared, and done all, in order to discover those designs ; I 
 will dare and do all to frustrate them. 
 
 " I hasten to let you know that your first shot has failed 
 to take effect. 
 
 " It has not hit the mark, for, thank heaven, it could not. 
 Your gun is not the less a wonderful one, though the 
 projectiles which it sends forth will never do any harm to 
 any one ! They will fall nowhere. I had a presentiment 
 of this, and, to your great glory, it is now an established 
 fact, that Herr Schultz has invented a wonderful cannon, 
 entirely inoffensive. 
 
 " You will hear with pleasure that we saw your perfect 
 shell, at forty-five minutes and four seconds past eleven, 
 pass above our town. It was flying towards the west, 
 circulating in space, which it will continue to do until the 
 end of time. A projectile, animated with an initial speed 
 twenty times superior to the actual speed, being ten 
 thousand yards to the second, can never fall ! This 
 movement, combined with terrestrial attraction, destines 
 it to revolve perpetually round our globe. 
 
 "You ought to have been aware of this 
 
 " I hope and expect that the cannon in the Bull Tower is 
 quite spoilt by this first trial ; but two hundred thousand 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 dollars is not too much to have paid for the pleasure of 
 having endowed the planetary world with a new star, and 
 the earth with a second satellite. 
 
 "MAX BRUCKMANN." 
 
 An express was immediately sent from Frankville to 
 Stahlstadt with this letter ; and Max must be forgiven for 
 not having been able to resist the satisfaction of writing 
 it to Herr Schultz. 
 
 Max was quite right when he said that the famous shell 
 would never again fall on the surface of the earth, and also 
 right when he predicted the cannon of the Bull Tower would 
 be rendered useless by the enormous charge of pyroxilc. 
 
 The receipt of this letter greatly discomfited Herr 
 Schultz, and was a terrible shock to his self-love. As he 
 read it, he turned perfectly livid, and his head fell on his 
 breast as if he had been struck with a club. He remained 
 in this state of prostration for a quarter of an hour. When 
 he revived his rage was frightful. Arminius and Sigimer 
 alone witnessed the outbursts ! 
 
 However, Herr Schultz was not a man to acknowledge 
 himself beaten. 
 
 Henceforth the struggle between him and Max would 
 continue to the death. He still had other shells charged 
 with liquid carbonic acid, which less powerful, but more 
 practical guns, could "throw to a short distance. 
 
NEWS FOR THE PROFESSOR. iSl 
 
 Calming himself by an effort, the King of Steel 
 re-entered his study, and continued his work. 
 
 It was clear that Frankville, now more than ever 
 menaced with danger, must neglect nothing by which it 
 could be put into a perfect state of defence. 
 
1 82 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CLEARING FOR ACTION. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the danger was no longer imminent, it was 
 serious. Max communicated to Doctor Sar/asin and his 
 friends all that he knew of Herr Schultz's preparations, 
 and described his engines of destruction. On the next 
 day the Council of Defence, in which he took a principal 
 part, occupied itself with discussing a plan of resistance, 
 and preparing to put it into execution. 
 
 In all this Max was well seconded by Otto, whom he 
 found altered in character, and much improved. 
 
 No one knew the details of the resolutions passed. The 
 general principles alone were regularly communicated to 
 the press. It was not difficult to trace in them the prac 
 tical hand of Max. 
 
 "In preparing for defence," said the townsfolk, "the 
 great thing is to know the strength of the enemy, and 
 adapt the system of resistance to that strength. No 
 
Plans for the defence. 
 
 Page 182. 
 
CLEARING FOR ACTION. 183 
 
 doubt, Herr Schultz's cannon are formidable, but it is 
 better to have to face these guns, of which we know the 
 number, calibre, range, and effect, than to have to combat 
 unknown engines." 
 
 It was decided to prevent the investment of the town, 
 either by land or sea. 
 
 How this was best to be done was a question actively 
 discussed by the Council, and the day on which a placard 
 announced that this problem was solved, no one doubted 
 it. The citizens hastened en masse to execute the under 
 taking. No tasks were despised which could contribute 
 to the work of defence. Men of all ages, and of every 
 position in life, became simple labourers on this occasion, 
 and everything went on rapidly and cheerfully. Pro 
 visions sufficient for two years were stored in the town. 
 Coal and iron also were brought in considerable quanti 
 ties ; the iron, being requisite for manufacturing arms of 
 all sorts, and the coal absolutely necessary, both for 
 warmth, and for fuel to work the various warlike engines it 
 was intended to employ. 
 
 In addition to the heaps of iron and coal could be seen 
 gigantic piles, composed of sacks of flour, and quarters of 
 'smoked meat, stacks of cheeses, mountains of preserved and 
 dried vegetables, all stored in the market places. Numbers 
 of sheep and cattle were also enclosed in the beautiful 
 gardens of the town. 
 
184 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 When the decree appeared for the mobilisation of all 
 men able to carry arms, the enthusiasm with which it was 
 received, testified to the excellent disposition of these 
 soldier-citizens. Plainly dressed in woollen shirts, cloth 
 trousers and half-boots, strong leather caps, and armed 
 with Werder rifles, they drilled every day in the avenues. 
 
 Gangs of coolies banked up earth, dug trenches, raised 
 intrenchments and redoubts at every favourable point. 
 The casting of guns had been commenced and pushed on 
 with activity, for the numerous smoke furnaces in the city 
 were easily transformed into casting furnaces. 
 
 Max was indefatigable in all this. He was here, there, 
 and everywhere in the thick of all the work. Did some 
 theoretical or practical difficulty arise, he could imme 
 diately solve it. If necessary, he turned up his sleeves 
 and gave a practical definition. His authority was always 
 accepted without a murmur, and his orders punctually 
 attended to. 
 
 Next to him, Otto did his best. Although at first he 
 had thought of ornamenting his uniform with gold lace, 
 he soon gave up the idea, seeing that to set a good 
 example to others he must be content to do the duty of a 
 simple soldier. 
 
 He, therefore, took his place in the battalion assigned to 
 him, and conducted himself like a model soldier. To 
 those who at first attempted to pity him, he replied 
 
I 
 
 !jl I 
 
 Coolies at work. 
 
 Page 
 
( l.KARING FOR ACTION. 185 
 
 " Every one according to his merits. lYrliaps I should 
 not have been able to command ! The least I can do is to 
 learn to obey ! " 
 
 A report which turned out to be false gave a still 
 more lively impulse to the works of defence. Ilcrr Schultz, 
 it was said, was negotiating with some maritime company 
 for the transport of his cannon. From that time these 
 sort of hoaxes were the order of the day. Now it was 
 that the Schultz fleet was off the coast of Frankvillc, and 
 now that the Sacramento Railway had been cut by Uhlans, 
 who had apparently dropped from the clouds. 
 
 But all these rumours, which were immediately con 
 tradicted, were invented by the correspondents of news 
 papers, hard up for matter to fill their despatches, their 
 object being to sustain the curiosity of their readers. The 
 truth was that Stahlstadt did not give the least sign of 
 life. 
 
 This perfect quietude, although it left Max ample time 
 to complete his preparations, caused him a good deal of 
 uneasiness in his rare moments of leisure. 
 
 " Is it possible that the ruffian has changed his tactics, 
 and is preparing some new mode of attack ? " he thought. 
 
 However, the plans for checking the advance of the 
 enemy's ships, and preventing the investment of the town, 
 promised to answer well, and Max redoubled his exertions. 
 
 1 1 is sole pleasure and only rest, after a hard day's work, 
 
1 86 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 was the short hour which he passed every evening in 
 Madame Sarrasin's drawing-room. 
 
 From the first, the doctor had stipulated that he should 
 always come and dine at his house, unless he was pre 
 vented by another engagement ; but, by some singular 
 circumstance, no other invitation enticing enough to 
 make Max give up this privilege had as yet presented 
 itself. 
 
 The everlasting game of chess between the doctor and 
 Colonel Hendon could not have been sufficiently interest 
 ing to explain the punctuality with which he presented 
 himself every day at the door of the mansion. We are 
 therefore compelled to believe that there was another 
 attraction for Max, and we might, perhaps, have suspected 
 its nature, although, assuredly, he did not as yet suspect it 
 himself, had we observed the interest which he took in the 
 conversations between himself, Madame Sarrasin, and 
 Mademoiselle Jeannette, when they were all three seated 
 near the large table, at which the two ladies were working 
 at what might be necessary for future service in the 
 ambulances. 
 
 "Will these new steel bolts be better than those of 
 which you showed us a drawing ? " asked Jeannette, who 
 was interested in everything connected with the defence. 
 
 " No doubt about it, mademoiselle," replied Max. 
 
 " Ah, I am very glad of that ! But how much trouble 
 
CLEARING FOR ACTION. 
 
 and research is represented by the smallest industrial 
 particular. You told me that five hundred fresh yards of 
 the trench were dug yesterday ? That is a great deal, is 
 it not ? " 
 
 " Indeed, no, it is not nearly enough. At that rate we 
 shall not have finished the enclosure at the end of a 
 month." 
 
 " I should much like to see it done, and these horrible 
 Schultz people arriving ! Men are very fortunate in being 
 able to work and make themselves useful. Waiting is 
 never so trying for them as for us, who are of no use." 
 
 " Of no use ! " exclaimed Max, usually so calm, " no use ! 
 And for whom do you think do these brave men, who 
 have left everything to become soldiers, for whom do they 
 work, if not to secure the safety and happiness of their 
 mothers, their wives, and those whom they hope may 
 become their wives ? From whence comes their ardour, if 
 not from you, and to what would you trace this readiness 
 to sacrifice themselves, if not - " 
 
 Here Max got rather confused, and stopped. Mademoi 
 selle Jeannette did not urge him, and good Madame 
 Sarrasin herself was obliged to close the discussion by 
 saying to the young man that a love of duty was doubtless 
 sufficient to explain the zeal of the greater number. 
 
 And when Max, at the call of inexorable duty, tore 
 himself away from this pleasant talk, in order to finish a 
 
1 88 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 plan, or an estimate, he carried with him the invincible 
 determination to save Frankville and its inhabitants. 
 
 Little could he conjecture what was about to happen, 
 and yet it was but the inevitable result of a state of 
 things so utterly unnatural as this concentration of all 
 power in a single person, which was the fundamental 
 principle in the City of Steel. 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 THE Exchange of San Francisco, by which term is ex 
 pressed, as it were algebraically, immense industrial and 
 commercial business, presents one of the strangest and most 
 animated scenes in the world. 
 
 The geographical position of the capital of California 
 imparts to its Exchange, as a natural consequence, the 
 cosmopolitan character, which is one of its most remarkable 
 features. 
 
 Beneath its handsome red granite porticoes, the tall, fair 
 Saxon jostles the slight, active dark-haired Celt. The negro 
 meets the Finlander and the Hindoo. 
 
 The Polynesian gazes with astonishment at the Green- 
 lander. The Chinaman, with oblique eyes and long plaited 
 pigtail, endeavours to outdo in trade his historic enemy,, 
 the Japanese. 
 
THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Every tongue, every dialect, every jargon mingles there 
 as in a modern Babel. 
 
 On the 1 2th of October this place of business opened in 
 the usual way. At about eleven o'clock the principal 
 brokers and men of business began to arrive, accost one 
 another gravely or gaily, according to their several tempers, 
 shaking hands, and going together to the refreshment bar 
 to fortify themselves by " liquoring up " for the operations 
 of the day. 
 
 One after the other went to open the little metal door of 
 the numbered letter-boxes, which in the vestibule received 
 the correspondence of subscribers. Enormous packets of 
 letters were drawn forth, and eagerly examined. 
 
 In a short time the market prices for the day were 
 announced, when the crowd gradually increased. Groups 
 more or less numerous were formed, from among which 
 arose a murmur and hum of human voices. 
 
 Then commenced a shower of telegraphic messages from 
 all quarters of the globe. 
 
 Scarcely a minute passed that the officials of the Ex 
 change did not add a fresh strip of blue paper to the 
 collection of telegrams placarded on the north wall, which 
 was read forth in a stentorian voice, amid the now deafening 
 buzz. 
 
 The commotion and hubbub went on increasing. 
 
 Clerks rushed in and out; the telegraph office was 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 19 1 
 
 besieged ; messages sent out, answers received every 
 instant. 
 
 All note-books were open, entries made, erased, or torn 
 up. 
 
 At about one o'clock a contagious excitement appeared 
 to take possession of the crowd. A mysterious sensation 
 passed like the trembling of an earthquake through these 
 agitated groups of human beings. 
 
 A piece of news, startling, unexpected, and incredible had 
 been brought by one of the partners in the Bank of the Far 
 West, and it circulated with the rapidity of an electric 
 flash. 
 
 Exclamations and comments were heard on all sides. 
 
 "Impossible! It's a trick a hoax," said some. "Who 
 is likely to believe anything so preposterous ?" 
 
 "Well," said others, "there may be something in it. No 
 smoke without fire, you know." 
 
 u But is a man in his position likely to fail ? " 
 
 " People in apparently the very best positions fail." 
 
 " But, sir," cried one, " the fixtures, tools and engines 
 alone represent more than eighty million dollars ! " 
 
 " Without reckoning the cast iron and steel, raw material, 
 and manufactured articles ! " added another. 
 
 " To be sure ! That's just what I say, too ! Schultz is 
 good for ninety millions of dollars, and I'll undertake to be 
 answerable for that on his demand ! " 
 
192 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " Well, but then how do you explain this suspension of 
 payment ? " 
 
 " Explain ! I don't explain it at all ! I don't believe 
 it!" 
 
 " Don't you ? As if such things did not happen every 
 day to houses of the most firm and established reputations !" 
 
 " Stahlstadt is not a house ; it is a city." 
 
 " Of course ! It is perfectly impossible it can have 
 broken up so completely. A company will certainly be 
 formed to carry on the business." 
 
 " But why on earth did not Schultz form such a company 
 instead of declaring himself bankrupt ? " 
 
 " Exactly, sir ; and there's the absurdity ! So absurd 
 that the statement won't bear examination. It is neither 
 more nor less than a pure fabrication, probably invented 
 by Nash, who is desperately anxious for a rise in steel." 
 
 " A fabrication ? False intelligence ? Nothing of the 
 sort ! Schultz has not only failed ; he has absconded ! " 
 
 "Come! Come!" 
 
 " Absconded, sir ! The telegram announcing it has this 
 moment been posted up !" 
 
 A formidable wave of humanity rolled towards the frame 
 in which the despatches were placarded. 
 
 The last strip of blue paper bore these words : 
 
 "New York, 12.40. Central Bank. Manufactory of 
 Stahlstadt. Stopped payment. Liabilities, as far as 
 
Great excitement among business men. 
 
 Page 192. 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 193 
 
 known : forty-seven million dollars. Schultz has dis 
 appeared." 
 
 There was now no doubt about the truth of the astounding 
 intelligence ; and conjectures and rumours were rife. 
 
 By two o'clock lists of failures consequent upon that of 
 Schultz began to pour in. 
 
 The Mining Bank of New York lost most. 
 
 The firm of Westerly and Son at Chicago was implicated 
 to the extent of seven million dollars. 
 
 The house of the Mitwaukees of Buffalo, five millions. 
 
 The Industrial Bank of San Francisco, a million and a 
 half. 
 
 The names of numbers of minor firms followed with 
 proportionate losses. 
 
 But, without waiting for this news, came the natural 
 rebound. 
 
 The money market, which was so dull in the morning, 
 was now not steady for two hours together. What 
 starts ! what rises ! what fluctuations, what unrestrained 
 speculation ! 
 
 A rise in steel, and going up eveiy minute ; a rise in 
 coal ; a rise in the shares of all the foundries in the 
 American Union ; a rise in the products of every kind of 
 iron industry ; a rise in Frankville land. 
 
 Although on the declaration of war the latter had fallen 
 to zero, and disappeared from the list of quotations, it 
 
 O 
 
194 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 had now suddenly risen to a hundred and eighty dollars 
 an acre. 
 
 In the evening the newspaper shops were perfectly 
 besieged. But though the Herald, the Tribune, \htAlta, 
 the Gtiardian, the Echo, and the Globe printed in gigantic 
 characters the meagre information they had been able to 
 collect, it after all amounted to very little. 
 
 All that was known was, that on the 2 5th of September, 
 a draft for eight millions of dollars, accepted by Herr 
 Schultz, drawn by Jackson, Elder, and Co., of Buffalo, 
 having been presented to Schring, Strauss, and Co., the 
 King of Steel's bankers, in New York, those gentlemen had 
 stated that the balance to their client's account was iiir 
 sufficient for such an enormous sum, and had telegraphed 
 this to him, without receiving any answer. 
 
 On referring to their books, they perceived with con 
 sternation that for thirteen days no letter and no bills had 
 come from Stahlstadt. 
 
 From that moment drafts and cheques, drawn by Herr 
 Schultz on their bank, came in daily, to undergo the fate 
 of being returned with the words, no funds. 
 
 For four days inquiries, telegrams, and furious questions 
 rained from one side on the bank and then again on 
 Stahlstadt. 
 
 At last a decisive reply was given. 
 
 " Herr Schultz disappeared on the i/th of September," 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 195 
 
 so said the telegram. " No one can throw the least light 
 on this mystery. He has left no orders, and the coffers in 
 every section are empty." 
 
 Since then it had been no longer possible to conceal the 
 truth. Many of the principal creditors had taken fright 
 and sent in their claims to the commercial court. Ruin 
 spread rapidly in all directions. 
 
 At twelve o'clock, on the I3th of October, the total 
 amount of failures was estimated at forty-seven millions of 
 dollars. When everything became known it was likely to 
 amount to sixty millions. 
 
 This was all that could be said, and all that the journals, 
 with a few exceptions, could report. Of course they 
 announced for the next day full and special particulars, 
 " as yet unpublished." And, indeed, to do them justice, 
 each, within an hour of the first announcement, had 
 despatched a correspondent on the road to Stahlstadt. 
 
 By the evening of the I4th of October, Steel City was 
 besieged by an army of reporters, all with open note-books, 
 and pencils in hand. Like a wave, however, they broke 
 against the outer wall, for the sentries were in their places, 
 and any attempt to bribe or soften them was utterly in 
 vain. 
 
 They, nevertheless, ascertained that the workmen as yet 
 knew nothing, and that the routine of the sections in nothing 
 had been changed. The overseers had merely announced 
 
 O 2 
 
196 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 the day before by superior order, that no funds nor in 
 structions had been issued from the Central Block, and 
 that in consequence the works would be suspended the 
 following Saturday, unless contrary orders were received. 
 
 All this only complicated, instead of throwing any light 
 on the situation. 
 
 That Herr Schultz had disappeared for nearly a month r 
 of that there was no doubt. But what might be the cause 
 and import of this disappearance no one knew. A vague 
 impression that the mysterious personage might, at any 
 moment re-appear still prevailed, and seemed to lessen the 
 general uneasiness. 
 
 For some days all work had gone on as usual. Every 
 one had pursued his task within the limited horizon of his 
 section. The salaries were paid from the strong boxes 
 every Saturday, and the principal coffer had met all 
 local necessities. But centralisation had been brought to 
 too high a pitch of perfection in Stahlstadt ; the master 
 had reserved so absolutely to himself the superintendence 
 of everything, that his absence could not fail in a very 
 short time to cause a stoppage in the machinery. Thus, 
 from the i/th of September, the day on which the King 
 of Steel had signed his orders for the last time up to the 
 1 3th of October, when the news of the suspension of 
 payment had burst like a thunder-clap, millions of letters, 
 a large number containing considerable bills, passed through 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 197 
 
 the Stahlstadt Post Office, had been deposited in the box 
 of the Central Block, and no doubt had reached Herr 
 Schultz's study. But he alone had the right to open them, 
 mark them with a red pencil, and transmit them to the 
 principal cashier. 
 
 Even the highest functionaries in the town never dreamt 
 of doing anything out of their regular department. 
 
 Invested with almost absolute power over their subordi 
 nates, they were each, in connection with Herr Schultz 
 as they were also with his memory like so many instru 
 ments, without authority, without power of initiating, or- 
 a voice in any matter. Each fortified himself within the 
 narrow limits of his commission, waited, temporised, and 
 watched the course of events. 
 
 The end came at last. This remarkable state of 
 affairs was prolonged until the principal houses interested, 
 suddenly seized with a panic, telegraphed, begged for an 
 answer, entreated, protested, and finally commenced legal 
 proceedings. This took some time. No one was willing 
 hastily to suspect that prosperity, so firmly believed in, had 
 been resting on an insecure basis. But the fact was now 
 patent : Herr Schultz had fled from his creditors. 
 
 This was all that the reporters could gather. The 
 celebrated Meiklejohn himself, famous for having extracted 
 a political avowal from President Grant, the most taciturn 
 man of his time; the indefatigable Blunderbuss, remarkable 
 
198 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 for being the first, although but a simple correspondent of 
 The World, to announce to the Czar the news of the 
 capitulation of Plevna, even these great men in the re 
 porting line had not this time been more fortunate than 
 their brethren. They were forced to confess to themselves 
 that The Tribune and The World could not yet give the 
 latest news of the bankrupt Schultz. 
 
 That Stahlstadt was indeed in a strange situation will 
 be seen when it is remembered that it was an independent 
 and isolated town, permitting no regular and legal inquiry. 
 Herr Schultz's signature was, it is true, protested at New 
 York, and his creditors had every reason to believe that 
 the stock and manufactory would indemnify them in some 
 degree. 
 
 But to what court should they apply to obtain an 
 execution or a sequestration ? Stahlstadt lay in a territory 
 of its own, where everything belonged to Herr Schultz. 
 
 If only he had left a representative, an administrative 
 council, or a substitute. But there was nothing of the sort. 
 He himself was king, judge, general-in-chief, notary, lawyer, 
 and the only commercial court in the city. In his person 
 he had realised the ideal of centralisation. 
 
 Therefore, he being absent, there was absolutely no one 
 in power, and the whole fabric fell like a house of cards. 
 
 In any other situation, the creditors would have been 
 able to form a syndicate, substituting themselves for Herr 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 199 
 
 Schultz, lay hands on the stock, and take the direction 
 of affairs. To all appearance only a little money and 
 regulating power was needed to set the machine to work. 
 
 But nothing of this was possible. The proper legal 
 instrument to effect this substitution was wanting. There 
 was a moral barrier round the City of Steel, which was if 
 possible more insurmountable than its walls. The un 
 fortunate creditors could see the securities for their debts, 
 though quite unable to touch them. 
 
 All they could do was to unite in a general assembly, 
 and agree to address a request to the Congress to ask it to 
 take their case in hand, espouse the interests of its natives, 
 pronounce the annexation of Stahlstadt to American 
 territory, and thus include this monstrous creation in the 
 common laws of civilisation. Several members of the Con 
 gress were personally interested in the business, the request 
 was tempting to the American character, and there was 
 reason to believe that it would be crowned with complete 
 success. 
 
 Unfortunately the Congress was not then in session, so 
 that a long delay was to be feared before the matter could 
 be submitted to it. 
 
 Until that time nothing could be done in Stahlstadt, and 
 one by one the furnaces were extinguished. 
 
 The consternation among the population of ten thousand 
 families who lived by the manufactory was profound. But 
 
200 THE BEGUM'S FOETUNE. 
 
 what were they to do ? Continue to work in hopes of 
 wages, which might be six months in coming, or might 
 never come at all ? No one was inclined to adopt this 
 opinion. Besides, what work could they do ? The source 
 from which orders came was dried up as well as everything 
 else. All Herr Schultz's clients waited the legal solution. 
 The heads of the sections, engineers, and overseers, could 
 do nothing for want of orders. 
 
 Numberless assemblies, meetings, and debates took 
 place, though no plan could really be fixed on. The 
 enforced stoppage soon brought with it a train of misery, 
 despair, and vice. As the workshops emptied, the public- 
 houses filled. For each chimney which ceased to smoke 
 in the factory, a tavern sprung up in one of the neigh 
 bouring villages. 
 
 The wisest and most prudent among the workmen, those 
 who had foreseen hard times, and had laid by for a rainy 
 day, hastened to escape with bag and baggage ; and 
 happy rosy-cheeked children, wild with delight at the 
 new world revealed to them, peeped through the curtains 
 of the departing waggons, loaded with their father's tools 
 and furniture, and the precious bedding, dear to the heart 
 of the housewife. These all were scattered east, south, 
 and north, soon finding other factories, other anvils, other 
 hearthstones. 
 
 But for one who could thus depart, there were ten whose 
 
THE EXCHANGE OF SAN FRANCISCO. 2OI 
 
 poverty nailed them to the soil ! There they remained, 
 hollow-eyed and broken-hearted ! Selling their poor 
 garments to the flock of birds-of-prey in human shape, 
 whose instinct attracts them to scenes of great disasters, 
 reduced to the last extremities in a few days, deprived of 
 credit as well as of wages, of hope as well as work, and 
 seeing before them a future of misery as black and dismal 
 as the fast approaching winter ! 
 
202 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN. 
 
 WHEN tidings of the disappearance of Schultz reached 
 Frankville, Max's first words were 
 
 " Suppose it should be merely a trick !" 
 
 He reflected, however, that the results to Stahlstadt had 
 been so disastrous as to make such a$ hypothesis in 
 admissible. 
 
 Still, as hatred is an unreasoning passion, the exasperated 
 rage of such a man as Herr Schultz might really render 
 him capable -of sacrificing everything to it Whether or 
 not this was the case, it was undeniably necessary to be on 
 the " qui vive." 
 
 The Council of Defence immediately, therefore, issued a 
 proclamation exhorting the inhabitants to be on their 
 guard against false reports spread by the enemy, with the 
 object of lulling them into security. 
 
 Frankville judged it prudent to continue all the prepara- 
 
A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN. 203 
 
 tions for defence, taking no notice of what might after all 
 prove to be a stratagem of its arch-enemy. 
 
 But by-and-by the journals of San Francisco, Chicago, 
 and New York published further details, and news of the 
 financial and commercial consequences of the Stahlstadt 
 catastrophy, forming altogether a mass of evidence to prove 
 that Schultz was a genuine bankrupt, and had indeed 
 disappeared. 
 
 And so, one fine morning, the doctor's model city became 
 aroused to the fact that it was safe, just as a sleeper escapes 
 from the oppression of a horrible dream by the simple 
 operation of awaking. 
 
 Yes ! Frankville was clearly out of danger, without 
 having to strike a blow, and Max, now absolutely certain 
 of it, announced the news amid public rejoicing. 
 
 A strain seemed suddenly removed. The public drew,, 
 as it were, a long sigh of relief, and assumed a holiday 
 aspect. 
 
 Everybody shook hands, offered mutual congratulations, 
 and invited each other to dinner. All the women came 
 out in fresh toilettes, and the men took leave of drill,, 
 manoeuvres, and hard work. 
 
 Every one went about looking satisfied, and beaming. 
 Frankville was just like a town peopled with convalescents. 
 But among them all, the happiest was unquestionably 
 Doctor Sarrasin. 
 
204 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 The worthy man had felt himself responsible for the 
 fate of those who had come with confidence to settle on his 
 territory, and to place themselves under his protection. 
 
 For the last month, the fear of having allured them to 
 destruction, when he had only sought their happiness, had 
 never left him a moment's rest. Now he was released from 
 terrible anxiety, and breathed freely. 
 
 This common danger had more closely united the 
 citizens. All classes had been brought nearer to each 
 other, and knew themselves brothers, animated with the 
 same feelings, and affected by the same interests. A 
 new sensation had sprung up in the hearts of all. 
 Henceforward the inhabitants had a strong feeling of 
 patriotism for Frankville. They had feared, they had 
 suffered for their town, and now they knew how much 
 they loved it. 
 
 The material results of having placed it in a state of 
 defence were also to the advantage of the city. Their 
 strength was known. They felt more sure of themselves, 
 and would now be ready for whatever the future might 
 bring. 
 
 The prospects of Doctor Sarrasin's work had never 
 appeared more brilliant ; and (a rare thing) no ingratitude 
 was shown towards Max. Although the safety of the 
 population had not been his work, public thanks were 
 voted to the young engineer, as to the organiser of the 
 
A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN. 205, 
 
 defence, the man to whose devotion the town would have 
 owed its safety, had the plans of Herr Schultz succeeded. 
 
 Max, however, did not regard his part as finished. The 
 mystery surrounding Stahlstadt might still, he thought, 
 conceal danger. He could, not rest satisfied until he had 
 thrown complete light into the very midst of the darkness 
 which still enveloped the City of Steel. 
 
 He resolved, therefore, to return to Stahlstadt, and to 
 stop at nothing until he had probed the last secret to its 
 depths. 
 
 Doctor Sarrasin represented to him that the enterprise 
 would be difficult, that it would bristle with dangers, that 
 he knew not what mines might spring beneath his feet, and 
 that, in fact, it would resemble a descent into the lower 
 regions. Herr Schultz, such as he had been described to 
 him, was not a man to disappear with impunity to others, 
 or to bury himself alone beneath the ruins of all his hopes. 
 They had every reason to fear the last desperate design 
 of such a man. It would be like the terrible dying agony 
 of a shark ! 
 
 "My dear doctor, it is just because I think all you 
 imagine possible that I believe it my duty to go to 
 Stahlstadt," answered Max. " The place may be compared 
 to a shell from which I must snatch the match before it 
 bursts, and I will even ask your permission to take Otto 
 with me." 
 
2o6 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " Otto ! " exclaimed the doctor. 
 
 " Yes ! He is now a fine fellow, who may be relied on ; 
 and I assure you that this excursion will do him a great 
 deal of good!" 
 
 " May God protect you both ! " returned the old man, 
 fervently grasping his hand. 
 
 The next morning a carriage drove through the deserted 
 villages and deposited Max and Otto at the gate of 
 Stahlstadt. 
 
 Both were well equipped, well armed, and very determined 
 not to come back until they had cleared up the mystery. 
 
 They walked side by side along the outer road which 
 led round the fortifications, and the truth, which Max 
 till then had persisted in doubting, now lay before 
 them. 
 
 It was evident that the place was completely deserted. 
 From the lonely road, which he now trod with Otto, he 
 could formerly have seen within the town flaring gas, or 
 the flash of a sentinel's bayonet, and many other signs of 
 life. The windows of the different sections would have 
 been illuminated and dazzling. Now all was gloomy and 
 silent. Death seemed to hover over the city, its tall 
 chimneys standing up like skeletons. The footfalls of 
 Max and his companion alone aroused the echoes of the 
 place. The sensation of solitude and desolation was so 
 strong that Otto could not help remarking 
 
Entering Stahlstadt. 
 
 Page 207. 
 
A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN. 2O/ 
 
 " It is singular, but I have never felt silence similar to 
 this ! We might suppose ourselves in a cemetery ! " 
 
 It was seven o'clock when Max and Otto reached the 
 edge of the moat, opposite to the principal gate of Stahlstadt. 
 Not a living creature appeared on the crest of the wall, and 
 of the sentinels who formerly had stood at equal distances 
 all round, like so many human posts, not one remained. 
 The drawbridge was raised, leaving before the gate a gulf 
 from five to six yards in width. 
 
 It took them more than an hour before they could 
 succeed in fastening the end of a stout rope, by throw 
 ing it with all their might, so as to catch over one of 
 the beams. After much trouble, Max managed it, and 
 Otto going first, drew himself up hand over hand to 
 the top of the gate. Max passed up to him their 
 arms and ammunition, and then he himself took the 
 same way. 
 
 They now carried their rope to the other side of the wall, 
 let down all their impedimenta, and finally slid down 
 themselves. 
 
 The two young men were now on the roundway which 
 Max remembered having followed the first day he entered 
 Stahlstadt. Complete silence and solitude were all around. 
 Before them rose, black and dumb, the imposing mass of 
 buildings which glared with their thousand glass windows 
 at the intruders, as if to say 
 
208 THF BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " Be off! You have no business to attempt the penetra 
 tion of our secrets ! " 
 
 Max and Otto consulted. 
 
 " We will assail the O gate, as that is the one with which 
 I am best acquainted," said Max. 
 
 They bent their steps westward, and soon arrived before 
 the monumental arch, which bore on its front the letter O. 
 The two massive oaken doors, full of great iron nails, were 
 closed. Max approached, and struck them several times 
 with a large stone taken from the road. 
 
 The echo alone resounded. 
 
 " Come ! to work ! " he cried to Otto. 
 
 They had now to recommence the troublesome work of 
 throwing their rope over the door, until it met with some 
 obstacle on which it would firmly catch. This was difficult, 
 but they succeeded at last, and Max and Otto surmounted 
 the wall, and found themselves in section O. 
 
 " What a nuisance ! " exclaimed Otto, looking round ; 
 " where is the use of all our trouble ? We have made but 
 little progress ! No sooner have we got over one wall, 
 than we find another before us ! " 
 
 " Silence in the ranks ! " returned Max. " Here we are 
 in my old workshop. I am not sorry to see it again, that 
 we may possess ourselves of certain tools which we shall be 
 sure to need, not forgetting a few packets of dynamite." 
 
 As he spoke they entered the great casting-hall, to which 
 
A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN. 20Q 
 
 the young Alsacian had been admitted on his arrival at 
 the factory. 
 
 How dismal it now looked, with its furnaces extinguished, 
 its rails rusted, its dusty cranes extending their gaunt arms 
 in the air, like so many gallows. All this struck a chill to 
 the heart, and Max felt that some diversion to their ideas 
 would be pleasant. 
 
 " Here is a workshop which will interest you more," he 
 observed, leading the way to the canteen. 
 
 Otto followed obediently, and showed unmistakable 
 signs of satisfaction as he caught sight of a whole regiment 
 of red, yellow, and green bottles, drawn up in order of 
 battle on a wooden shelf. Several boxes of preserved 
 meats and other good things were also there ; more than 
 enough to furnish them with a substantial breakfast, the 
 want of which they began to feel, so, having spread 
 the food on the counter, the two young men fell to. 
 
 Whilst eating, Max considered what was next to be 
 done. There was no use in even thinking of scaling the 
 wall of the Central Block, as it was prodigiously high, 
 isolated from all the other buildings, and without a projec 
 tion on which to fasten a rope. To find the door of 
 which there was probably only one it would be necessary 
 to go through all the sections, anything but an easy task. 
 Dynamite could be used, though that was dangerous, for 
 it seemed impossible that Herr Schultz should have 
 
 P 
 
210 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 disappeared without constructing traps in his deserted 
 territory, or establishing counter-mines to the mines which 
 those who wished to take possession of Stahlstadt would 
 not fail to form. But no fear of this could deter Max. 
 
 Seeing that Otto was now refreshed and rested, Max 
 went with him to the end of the road which formed the 
 axis of the section, up to the foot of the huge freestone 
 wall. 
 
 " What say you to attempting a blast here ? " he asked. 
 " Shall we pierce the wall and lay a train of dynamite ? " 
 
 " It will be hard work, but we are not afraid of that ! " 
 replied Otto, ready to attempt anything. 
 
 They first had to lay bare the foot of the wall, then 
 introduce a lever between two stones, loosen one, and 
 finally, with a drill, pierce several little parallel trenches. 
 By ten o'clock all was prepared, the dynamite in its place 
 and the match lighted. 
 
 Max knew that it would burn for five minutes, and as he 
 had noticed that the canteen was underground, and was a 
 regular stone-vaulted cellar, he took refuge there with 
 Otto. 
 
 Suddenly every building, and even the cellar, were 
 shaken as if by an earthquake. Then, almost immediately, 
 a tremendous roar, resembling the sound of three or four 
 batteries thundering at once, rent the air. 
 
 In two or three seconds a perfect avalanche of stones 
 
Forcing an entrance. 
 
 Page 210. 
 
A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN. 211 
 
 and debris showered down far and wide. Then began an 
 uproar of breaking roofs, crashing beams, falling walls, 
 mingled with the sound of a cascade of broken glass. 
 
 When the frightful din had ceased, Max and Otto 
 ventured forth from their retreat. 
 
 Accustomed as he was to the terrific effects of an 
 explosion, Max was perfectly astonished at the results of 
 this one. Half of the section had been blown up, and the 
 dismantled walls of all the neighbouring workshops re 
 sembled those of a bombarded town. On all sides the 
 ground was strewed with heaps of rubbish, and pieces of 
 glass and plaster, whilst clouds of dust settling down, fell 
 like snow on the ruins. 
 
 Otto and Max hastened to the inner wall. 
 
 From fifteen to twenty feet of it had been thrown down, 
 and on the other side of the breach, the ex-draughtsman 
 of the Central Block could see the well-known hall, where 
 he had passed so many monotonous hours. 
 
 As the place was no longer guarded, it was soon entered. 
 
 Still the same silence everywhere. 
 
 Max passed in review the studios, where formerly his 
 comrades admired his diagrams. In one corner he dis 
 covered the very half-sketched drawing of a steam-engine 
 on which he had been engaged when Herr Schultz 
 summoned him to the park. In the reading-room lay the 
 papers and familiar books. 
 
 P 2 
 
212 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 Everything bore the look of business suspended, of a 
 sudden interruption to work. 
 
 The two friends had now reached the inner limits of the 
 Central Block and stood before the wall, which Max 
 believed divided them from the park. 
 
 " Are we to make this fellow dance too ? " asked Otto. 
 
 "Perhaps; but first we can look for a door, which a 
 simple fusee could send flying." 
 
 They proceeded, therefore, to skirt the wall around the 
 park, from time to time making a detour to avoid a 
 building jutting out like a spur, or to climb a fence. But 
 they never lost sight of it, and were soon rewarded for 
 their trouble, by coming to a low, narrow door. 
 
 In two minutes Otto had bored a gimlet hole through 
 the oaken panels, and Max, applying his eye to the 
 opening, perceived with lively satisfaction that on the other 
 side lay the tropical park, with its eternal verdure and 
 summer temperature. 
 
 " One more door to blow up, and we shall be in the 
 place ! " he exclaimed to his companion. 
 
 "A fusee for a piece of wood like this would be too 
 great an honour," returned Otto. 
 
 And as he spoke he struck a heavy blow on the postern 
 with an axe he carried. 
 
 It had not begun to give way, however, when they heard 
 a key turned, and two bolts slipped back. 
 
A BRACE OF FRENCHMEN CAPTURE A TOWN. 213 
 
 The door half opened, though held inside by a thick 
 chain. 
 
 " Wer da ? " (Who goes there ?) demanded a hoarse 
 voice. 
 
2i4 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PARLEY BEFORE THE CITADEL. 
 
 THE two young men were little prepared for such a 
 question. It astonished them more than if they had been 
 met by a rifle shot. 
 
 Max had had a great many conjectures about this 
 mysterious town, and the very last thing he had expected 
 was that a living being would quietly demand the reason of 
 his visit. His enterprise, legitimate enough, under the 
 supposition that Stahlstadt was completely deserted, 
 assumed quite another aspect, when the city was found 
 still to be inhabited. 
 
 That which in the one case was but a kind of archaeolo 
 gical inquiry, in the other became an attack by force of 
 arms, and bore the character of a burglary. 
 
 These reflections rushed in upon the mind of Max with 
 such force that he stood as if struck dumb. 
 
PARLEY BEFORE THE CITADEL. 21$ 
 
 " Who goes there ?" repeated the voice, impatiently. 
 
 There was certainly some reason for impatience. For 
 intruders to have reached this door by overcoming so many 
 obstacles, scaling walls, and blowing up half the town, and 
 then to have nothing to say on being simply asked, " Who 
 goes there ?" was somewhat astonishing. 
 
 In half a minute Max became aware of the awkwardness 
 of his position, and he replied in German 
 
 " Friend or enemy, whichever you like ! I wish to speak 
 to Herr Schultz." 
 
 Directly he uttered these words an exclamation was 
 heard from the other side of the door 
 
 "Ach!" 
 
 And through the opening Max could discern a red 
 whisker, half a bristly moustache, and a dull eye, which he 
 immediately recognised as belonging to Sigimer, one of 
 the uncouth beings who had been ordered by Schultz to 
 guard him. 
 
 "Johann Schwartz!" exclaimed the giant, with a sort 
 of stupid joy, " Johann Schwartz !" 
 
 The unexpected return of his prisoner seemed to astonish 
 him as much as his mysterious disappearance must have 
 done. 
 
 " Can I speak to Herr Schultz ?" repeated Max, finding 
 that this exclamation was the only answer he received. 
 
 Sigimer shook his head. 
 
2i6 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 "No order! "he said. "Can't come in here without an 
 order ! " 
 
 " At least you can tell Herr Schultz that I am here, and 
 want to see him." 
 
 " Herr Schultz not here ! Herr Schultz gone ! " replied 
 the giant, with a shade of sadness in his tone. 
 
 " But where is he ? When will he be back ? " 
 
 " Don't know ! Instructions remain as before ! No one 
 can enter without an order !" 
 
 These disjointed sentences were all that Max could get 
 from Sigimer, who to any other questions maintained a 
 dogged and obstinate silence. 
 
 Otto at last became impatient. 
 
 "Where's the use of asking permission to enter?" said 
 he. " It is much easier to take it !" 
 
 And he shoved against the door to try and force it open. 
 It was held by the chain, however, and a more powerful 
 arm than his soon shut it, and rapidly drew the bolts. 
 
 " There must be several men behind there ! " cried Otto, 
 rather humiliated at this result. 
 
 He applied his eye to the gimlet-hole, and uttered a cry 
 of surprise. 
 
 " There's a second giant ! " 
 
 " Arminius, no doubt," returned Max, in his turn putting 
 his eye to the hole. 
 
 "Yes! It is Arminius, Sigimer's companion." 
 
PARLEY BEFORE THE CITADEL. 2 1/ 
 
 As he spoke, another voice, apparently from the sky, 
 caused Max to raise his head. 
 
 "Wer da?" it said. 
 
 This time it was Arminius who spoke, looking over the 
 top of the wall, which he had reached by means of a 
 ladder. 
 
 "Come, you know well enough who it is, Arminius!" 
 returned Max. " Will you open, yes or no ? " 
 
 These words had scarcely left his lips when the muzzle 
 of a gun was pointed over the wall, and a bullet just grazed 
 the brim of Otto's hat. 
 
 " Very well, here's an answer for that ! " exclaimed Max, 
 who, placing some dynamite under the door, blew it into 
 fragments. 
 
 A breach being thus made, Otto and Max, their guns in 
 their hands, and their knives between their teeth, sprang 
 into the park. 
 
 The ladder still leant against the now tottering wall, and 
 at its foot were traces of blood, but neither Arminius 
 nor Sigimer were there to bar the progress of the 
 adventurers. 
 
 The gardens lay before them in all the richness of their 
 vegetation. 
 
 Otto was delighted. 
 
 " What a magnificent place ! " he said ; " but look out ! 
 We had better proceed like sharpshooters ! These sour- 
 
218 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 krout-eaters are most likely watching for us hiding 
 behind the bushes !" 
 
 Max and Otto separated, and each taking one side 
 of the walk which opened before them, they advanced 
 cautiously from tree to tree, from mound to mound, after 
 the most approved principles of strategy. 
 
 This was a wise precaution. They had not gone a 
 hundred yards when a second shot was heard, and the 
 bark of the tree Max had just quitted flew in splinters. 
 
 "This is serious! Down on the ground!" ejaculated 
 Otto. 
 
 And, adding example to precept, he crawled on hands 
 and knees up to a thorny thicket bordering the square, in 
 the centre of which rose the Bull Tower. 
 
 Max, not following this advice quickly enough, narrowly 
 escaped another bullet, and only avoided a fourth by 
 darting behind the trunk of a palm-tree. 
 
 "Fortunately these fellows shoot no better than raw 
 recruits !" called out Otto to his friend. 
 
 "Hush!" returned Max. "Don't you see the smoke 
 hanging about that window on the ground-floor ? The 
 villains are in ambush there ! But I mean to play them a 
 trick in my turn ! " 
 
 In a trice, Max had cut a good-sized stick from the 
 shrubbery, on which he hung his coat, placing his hat on 
 the top. Having thus improvised a very presentable 
 
Danger around. 
 
 Page 218. 
 
Max and Otto fighting the giants. 
 
 Page 219. 
 
PARLEY BEFORE THE CITADEL. 219 
 
 dummy, he stuck it in the ground, so that the hat and 
 sleeves alone were visible, then, gliding up to Otto, he 
 whispered in his ear 
 
 "Just keep them amused by firing at the window, first 
 from your place and then from mine ! I'm off to take 
 them in the rear !" 
 
 And Max, leaving Otto to skirmish, crept cautiously 
 away through the bushes. 
 
 A quarter of an hour passed, whilst about twenty shots 
 were exchanged without result on either side, though 
 Max's coat and hat were completely riddled with bullets. 
 As to the window-blinds, Otto's gun had sent them into 
 shivers. 
 
 Suddenly the firing ceased, and Otto distinctly heard a 
 stifled cry of 
 
 " Help ! help ! I've got him ! " 
 
 To leave his shelter, fly through the shrubbery, and 
 spring in at the window, took Otto but a moment. 
 
 Struggling desperately on the floor, entwined like two 
 serpents, were Max and Sigimer. Surprised by the sudden 
 attack of his adversary, who had forced an inner door, the 
 giant had been unable to use his weapons. But his 
 herculean strength rendered him a formidable enemy, and 
 although thrown to the ground, he had not lost hope of 
 gaining the upper hand. Max, on his side, displayed 
 remarkable vigour and agility. 
 
220 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 The fight would certainly have terminated in the death 
 of one of the combatants, had not Otto's intervention made 
 a less tragic end possible. The two together soon disarmed 
 Sigimer, and bound him so that he could move neither 
 hand nor foot. 
 
 " Where's the other fellow ?" asked Otto. 
 
 Max pointed to the further end of the room, where 
 Arminius lay bleeding on a bench. 
 
 " Has he been shot ?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes," replied Otto. 
 
 Together they examined the body. 
 
 'Quite dead !" said Max. 
 
 'If so the rascal might have died in a better cause!" 
 exclaimed Otto. 
 
 " Here we are, masters of the place! "said Max. "So 
 now to serious business. Let us first explore the study of 
 the great Herr Schultz !" 
 
 From the room, in which the last act of the siege had 
 been performed, the two young men proceeded through 
 the suite of apartments which led to the sanctum of the 
 King of Steel. 
 
 Otto was lost in admiration at the sight of such 
 splendour. 
 
 Max smiled as he looked round at him, and opened, one 
 after the other, the doors of the magnificent rooms, till 
 they reached the green-and-gold apartment. 
 
PARLEY BEFORE THE CITADEL. 221 
 
 He had expected to find something new, but nothing so 
 strange as the spectacle which here lay before their eyes. 
 It looked just as if the General Post-Office of New York 
 or Paris had been robbed and its contents thrown pell-mell 
 on the floor. On every side were heaps of letters and 
 sealed packets, on the writing-table, on the chairs, on 
 the carpet. They waded knee-deep in a flood of papers. 
 All the financial, industrial, and personal correspondence 
 of Herr Schultz, brought to the letter-box in the park wall, 
 and faithfully carried in by Arminius and Sigimer, had 
 here accumulated in their master's study. 
 
 How many questions, what expectations, what anxious 
 suspense, what misery and tears were enclosed in those 
 voiceless envelopes addressed to Herr Schultz ! What 
 millions of money, too, no doubt, in paper, cheques, bills, 
 and orders of all sorts ! 
 
 Everything rested here motionless through the absence 
 of the only hand which had a right to break these fragile, 
 but inviolable seals. 
 
 " We have now," said Max, " to discover the secret door 
 of the laboratory !" 
 
 He began by taking all the books out of the bookcase. 
 This was useless ; he could not find the masked passage he 
 had traversed in company with Herr Schultz. 
 
 In vain he shook the panels one by one, and, with an 
 iron rod, which he took from the mantelpiece, tapped 
 
222 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 them in succession ! In vain he struck the wall in the 
 hope of hearing it give forth a hollow sound ! It was 
 very evident that Schultz, uneasy at no longer being the 
 sole possessor of his secret, had done away with that 
 door. 
 
 He must necessarily have opened another. 
 
 " But where ?" asked Max. " It must be here somewhere, 
 as Arminius and Sigimer have brought the letters to this 
 room, which Herr Schultz doubtless continued to use after 
 my departure. I know enough of his habits to be sure 
 that, after bricking up the old passage, he would wish to 
 have another close at hand, and concealed from inquisitive 
 eyes ! Can there be a trap-door under the carpet ? " 
 
 The carpet itself showed no signs of a cut ; but none the 
 less was it unnailed and raised. The floor, examined bit 
 by bit, showed nothing suspicious. 
 
 " How do you know the opening is in this room at all ?" 
 asked Otto. 
 
 " I am morally certain of it ! " answered Max. 
 
 " Then the ceiling only remains to be explored," returned 
 Otto, springing on to a chair. 
 
 His idea was to get up to the lustre and sound the 
 central rose with the butt end of his gun. 
 
 However, no sooner had he grasped the gilded chan 
 delier, than, to his extreme surprise, it sunk under his 
 hand. The ceiling opened and left to view a wide gap, 
 
The mysterious entrance. 
 
 Page 222. 
 
PARLEY BEFORE THE CITADEL. 223 
 
 from which a light, self-acting steel ladder slid down level 
 with the floor. 
 
 It was a distinct invitation to ascend. 
 
 "Here we are! Come along!" said Max, composedly, 
 and immediately began to mount the ladder, closely 
 followed by his friend. 
 
224 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE KERNEL OF THE NUT. 
 
 THE top of the steel ladder was fixed close to the wall of a 
 vast circular chamber, there being no communication with 
 the exterior. It would have been in complete darkness 
 had it not been for a dazzling white light which streamed 
 through the thick glass of a bull's-eye, fixed in the centre of 
 the oak floor. For purity and brilliancy it might be 
 compared to the moon, when she is in her full beauty. 
 
 Perfect silence reigned within these mute and eyeless 
 walls. The two young men imagined themselves in the 
 antechamber of a tomb. 
 
 But before bending over the glass, Max hesitated for a 
 moment. He had attained his object ! The secret, to 
 penetrate which he had come to Stahlstadt, was about 
 to be revealed to him ! 
 
 This feeling, however, soon passed off. Together he and 
 
Herr Schultz discovered. 
 
 Piige 225. 
 
THE KERNEL OF THE NUT. 225 
 
 Otto knelt beside the disc and looked down into the 
 chamber beneath. 
 
 A horrible and unexpected sight met their astonished 
 gaze. 
 
 The glass disc, being convex on both sides, formed a 
 lens, which immensely increased in size all objects seen 
 through it. 
 
 Here was the secret laboratory of Herr Schultz. The 
 intense glare which shone through the disc, as if from the 
 lantern of a lighthouse, came from a double electric lamp, 
 still burning in its airless bell, being incessantly fed by a 
 powerful voltaic pile. 
 
 In the middle of the room, motionless as marble, and 
 enormously magnified by the refraction of the lens, a human 
 form was seated. 
 
 Pieces and splinters of shells were strewn on the ground 
 around this spectre. 
 
 There was no doubt about it! It was Herr Schultz 
 himself, recognisable by his horrid grinning mouth, and his 
 gleaming teeth ; but a gigantic Herr Schultz, suffocated 
 and frozen by the action of a terrible cold, caused by the 
 explosion of one of his frightful engines of warfare. 
 
 The King of Steel was seated at his table, holding an 
 enormous pen like a lance in his hand, as if he were 
 writing. Had it not been for the stony glare of his dilated 
 eyeballs, and his set mouth, he would have appeared still 
 
 Q 
 
226 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 living. Here this awful corpse had been for a month, 
 hidden from all eyes, and now discovered like a mammoth 
 which has been concealed for ages in the glaciers of 
 the Polar regions. Everything around him was frozen, the 
 re-agents in their jars, the water in its receivers, and 
 the mercury in its reservoirs ! 
 
 In spite of the horror of this spectacle, Max's first 
 thought was one of satisfaction that they had been 
 fortunate enough to be able to observe the interior of the 
 laboratory from the outside, for if he and Otto had entered 
 they must infallibly have been struck dead. 
 
 Max soon guessed how the fearful accident had occurred, 
 when he marked that the fragments scattered on the ground 
 were small pieces of glass. He knew that the inner case of 
 Herr Schultz's suffocating projectiles contained liquid 
 carbonic acid, and that, to resist the enormous pressure, it 
 was formed of tempered glass, which has ten or twelve 
 times the ordinary strength ; the great fault of this newly- 
 invented production, however, is that, by some mysterious 
 action, it often suddenly bursts without any apparent reason. 
 This was evidently what had happened. Perhaps the 
 interior pressure had helped to provoke the explosion of 
 the shell deposited in the laboratory ; at any rate, the 
 discharged acid, on returning to a gaseous state, had 
 occasioned a fearful lowering of the surrounding atmosphere, 
 even to a hundred degrees below zero. 
 
THE KERNEL OF THE NUT. 22/ 
 
 The effects had indeed been something awful. Death 
 had surprised Herr Schultz in the attitude he was in at 
 the time of the explosion, and in a moment he was turned 
 into ice. 
 
 One circumstance which Max particularly noticed, was 
 that at the time of his death the King of Steel was engaged 
 in writing. 
 
 What was inscribed on the sheet of paper lying beneath 
 that lifeless hand ? It would be interesting to know the 
 last thought, and read the last words of such a man. 
 
 The difficulty was to procure the paper. The idea of 
 breaking the disc so as to descend into the laboratory could 
 not be entertained for an instant. The gas would have 
 immediately rushed out and suffocated every living being. 
 The risk of bringing a sudden death upon themselves could 
 not be run merely for the sake of satisfying their curiosity. 
 Max, therefore, seeing that the writing as well as everything 
 else was so wonderfully magnified and brilliantly illumin 
 ated, endeavoured to read it from a distance. Being well 
 acquainted with the handwriting of Herr Schultz, with a 
 little trouble he at last made out the following lines. 
 
 According to the usual custom of Herr Schultz, it was 
 rather an order than an instruction. 
 
 " Order to B. K. R. Z. to advance the projected expedi 
 tion against Frankville by a fortnight. As soon as this 
 order is received execute the measures I have devised ; 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 they must this time be overwhelming and complete. Do 
 not alter an iota of what I have decided upon. I wish that 
 in a fortnight Frankville should become a city of the dead 
 without a surviving inhabitant. I hope for a modern 
 Pompeii, to be at once a terror and an astonishment to the 
 whole world. If my orders are properly executed, this 
 result will be inevitable. 
 
 " You will send the bodies of Doctor Sarrasin and Max 
 Bruckmann to me. I wish to have them. 
 
 Schult ." 
 
 The signature was unfinished, the final z and the usual 
 flourish being wanting. 
 
 Max and Otto gazed mute and motionless at this strange 
 spectacle, feeling as if they were witnessing the invocation 
 of some malignant genius. 
 
 But it was time to leave the dismal scene, and the two 
 friends, agitated by conflicting feelings, descended from the 
 room above the laboratory. 
 
 There, in that dark tomb, for, when the electric current 
 failed, the lamp would be extinguished, the corpse of the 
 King of Steel would remain alone, dried up like a mummy 
 Pharaoh, whom twenty centuries had not reduced to dust ! 
 
 An hour later, having unbound Sigimer, who seemed 
 puzzled to know what to do with his liberty, Otto and Max 
 quitted Stahlstadt, and took their way back to Frankville, 
 which they entered the same evening. 
 
THE KERNEL OF THE NUT. 229 
 
 Doctor Sarrasin was busy in his study when the return 
 of the two young men was announced to him. 
 
 "Tell them to come in!" he exclaimed. "Come in 
 quickly!" 
 
 " Well ?" said he, as soon as the friends presented them 
 selves before him. 
 
 " Doctor," replied Max, " the news we bring from Stahl- 
 stadt will put your mind at rest for a long time. Herr 
 Schultz is no more ! Herr Schultz is dead ! " 
 
 " Dead ! " exclaimed Doctor Sarrasin. 
 
 The good man remained thoughtful for a few moments, 
 without uttering another word. 
 
 " My dear fellow," he said at last, " can you understand 
 that this news, which ought to make me rejoice, since it 
 takes from us the dread of the thing I most execrate, war, 
 and the most unjust, unreasonable war ever heard of! can 
 you understand how, against all reason, it makes my heart 
 ache ? Oh, why should a man of such powerful intelligence 
 have constituted himself our enemy ? Why did he not use 
 his rare intellectual qualities for the benefit of his fellow 
 creatures ? How much wisdom has been lost, which would 
 have been so valuable, had it been associated with us, and 
 used for a common object ! All this at once struck me 
 when you said : * Herr Schultz is dead ;' but now tell 
 me all that you know of this unexpected event." 
 
 " Herr Schultz," replied Max, " has met his death in the 
 
230 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 mysterious laboratory, which, with such diabolical ingenuity, 
 he had striven to render inaccessible to < all others. No one ' 
 but himself ever knew of its existence, and no one con 
 sequently could penetrate into it to bring him help. He 
 has fallen a victim to that marvellous concentration of all 
 his plans in his own hands, on which he had so erroneously 
 relied. By the will of Providence, his desire of being 
 himself the key to all his projects, has been turned to his 
 own destruction ! " 
 
 " It could not have been otherwise ! " answered Doctor 
 Sarrasin. " Herr Schultz started with a totally wrong 
 notion. For, indeed, is not the best government the one of 
 which the chief, on his death, can be most easily replaced, 
 and which will continue to work smoothly, just because all 
 the machinery is open and visible ? " 
 
 "You will see, doctor," said Max, "how all that has 
 happened in Stahlstadt bears out what you have said. We 
 found Herr Schultz seated before his desk, that central 
 point whence came all those orders so implicitly obeyed by 
 the Steel City, and which no one ever dreamt of disputing. 
 Death had left him every appearance of life, so that for a 
 moment I thought the spectre would have spoken to us ! 
 But the inventor has fallen by his own invention ! He was 
 killed by one of the shells, with which he hoped to destroy 
 our town, just as he was signing his name to the order 
 for our extermination ! Listen !" 
 
THE KERNEL OF THE NUT. 231 
 
 And Max read aloud a copy he had taken of the horrible 
 words written by Herr Schultz. 
 
 Then he added 
 
 " The greatest proof of the death of Herr Schultz, even 
 if we had not seen him, is that everything around him has 
 ceased to live. There is nothing breathing in Stahlstadt. 
 As in the palace of the Sleeping Beauty, slumber has 
 suspended all life, and arrested every movement. The 
 effects of the master's death hatf^extended, not only to the 
 servants, but also to the machinery." 
 
 "Yes," returned Doctor Sarrasin ; "we see in this the 
 justice of God ! From indulging in his hatred against us, 
 and urging on his attack with such boundless rancour, Herr 
 Schultz has perished." 
 
 " That is true," answered Max ; " but now, doctor, let us 
 leave the past and think only of the present. Although 
 the death of Herr Schultz gives peace to us, it causes the 
 ruin of the wonderful business he created. Blinded by his 
 success, and his hatred of France and you, he had supplied 
 large numbers of cannon and weapons to any one who 
 might be our enemy, without getting sufficient guarantees. 
 In spite of this, and although the payment of all his debts 
 would take a long time, I believe that a strong hand could 
 set Stahlstadt on its legs again, and turn to a good purpose 
 all that has been hitherto used for an evil one. Herr 
 Schultz has only one likely heir, doctor, and that is you. 
 
232 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 His work must not be allowed to fall to the ground entirely. 
 It is too much the belief of this world that the only profit 
 to be drawn from a rival force is in its total annihilation. 
 This is not really the case, and I hope you will agree with 
 me that, on the contrary, it is our duty to endeavour to save 
 from this immense wreck all that can be used for the benefit 
 of humanity. Now, I am ready to devote myself entirely 
 to this task." 
 
 " Max is right," said Otto, grasping his friend's hand, 
 "and here am I, ready also to work under his orders, if 
 my father will give his consent." 
 
 "I certainly approve, my dear lads," replied Doctor 
 Sarrasin. " Yes, Max, there will be no want of capital, and, 
 thanks to you, I shall hope to have in the resuscitated 
 Stahlstadt such an arsenal that no one in the world will 
 ever henceforth dream of attacking us ! And as we shall 
 then be the strongest, we must at the same time endeavour 
 to be also the most just, we must spread the benefits of 
 peace and justice all around. Ah, Max ! what enchanting 
 dreams ! And when I feel that, with you to help me, I can 
 at least accomplish a part, I ask myself why yes, why 
 have I not two sons ! Why are you not the brother of 
 Otto ! We three working together, it seems as if nothing 
 could be impossible !" 
 
A FAMILY AFFAIR. 233 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A FAMILY AFFAIR. 
 
 PERHAPS in the course of this veracious narrative we have 
 not been sufficiently communicative about the personal 
 history of those who have played such prominent parts in 
 it. We may now, therefore, be allowed to stop in order to 
 give a few details regarding them. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that the good doctor was not 
 so entirely taken up with the idea of collective humanity, 
 as to merge in it the welfare of individuals. He had, there 
 fore, been struck by the sudden pallor which overspread 
 the countenance of Max as he uttered his last words. He 
 sought to read in the ' young man's eyes the cause of this 
 sudden emotion. The silence of the older man seemed 
 to question the engineer, as if he expected him to 
 speak, but Max, mastering himself with a strong effort, 
 immediately resumed his composure. His complexion 
 reassumed its natural tint, and his attitude was merely 
 
234 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 that of a man who expects the continuance of an interesting 
 conversation. 
 
 Doctor Sarrasin, slightly provoked at this evidently 
 assumed calmness, approached his young friend, and with 
 a familiar gesture, laid his hand upon his wrist, just as he 
 would on that of a patient, whose pulse he wished quietly, 
 unobtrusively to feel. 
 
 Max allowed this naturally without apparently noticing 
 the doctor's intentions, and as he did not open his 
 lips 
 
 " My dear Max," observed the old man, " we will put off 
 our conversation about the future destiny of Stahlstadt to 
 some other time. For although we are vowed to the work 
 of labouring to ameliorate the condition of mankind, it is 
 not forbidden us also to occupy ourselves with the fate of 
 those we love, of those who are nearest to us. Well, I 
 think the time has come to tell you what a young lady, 
 whose name I will mention presently, replied not long ago 
 to her father and mother, when for the twentieth time that 
 year they had been asked for her in marriage. 
 
 " The proposals were, for the most part, such that even 
 the most fastidious could have had no reason for refusing 
 them, and yet this young woman always said * No ! ' 
 
 At this point Max drew his hand away with a sudden 
 movement from the doctor's grasp, and the latter, as if he 
 was satisfied on the subject of his patient's health, and had 
 
A FAMILY AFFAIR. 235 
 
 not noticed that both his arm and his confidence had been 
 withdrawn, quietly continued his story. 
 
 "'Well, now/ said the mother, to the young lady of 
 whom I speak, 'just tell me the reason of these continued 
 refusals. Education, fortune, position, good looks, all are 
 there. Why this decided no, so resolute and prompt, to 
 requests which you don't even take the trouble to consider 
 a little ? You are not usually so very peremptory ! ' 
 
 " At this the girl determined to speak clearly and frankly, 
 and thereupon replied 
 
 " ' I say no with as much sincerity as I would say yes, 
 dear mother, if the yes came really from my heart. I agree 
 with you that several of the matches you have proposed to 
 me are perfectly unexceptionable ; but, besides my belief 
 that most of those addresses were paid more to what is 
 considered the best, that is the richest match in the town, 
 than to me myself, and that that idea does not incline me 
 to say yes, I will venture to tell you, since you wish it, that 
 none of these proposals is the one I hope for, the one 
 that I still expect, and which, unfortunately, I may have to 
 wait a long time for, if it ever comes at all !' 
 
 "'What, my dear,' said the mother, in surprise, 
 ' you ' 
 
 "She did not end that sentence, for want of knowing 
 how to finish it, and in perplexity turned to her husband, 
 with looks which plainly begged for help and advice. 
 
236 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 " However, as he did not intend to interfere in the 
 discussion between the mother and daughter until a little 
 more light had been thrown on the subject, he put on an 
 obtuse air, and counterfeited so well that the poor girl, 
 blushing with embarrassment, and perhaps with a little 
 anger, suddenly determined to make a clean breast of it. 
 
 " ' I said, dear mother,' she continued, ' that the proposal 
 I hoped for might be a very long time in coming, and 
 might possibly never come at all. I add that this delay, 
 although so indefinite, will neither hurt nor astonish me. 
 I have the misfortune to be very rich ; he, whose proposal I 
 hope for, is very poor ; therefore, he will not make it, and 
 he is right. It is for him to wait ' 
 
 "'Why not for us to speak/ said the mother, wishing, 
 perhaps, to prevent her daughter from uttering words she 
 feared to hear. 
 
 " Then the husband interposed. 
 
 " ' My dear,' he said, affectionately, taking his wife's hands 
 in his, ' it is not with impunity that a mother, reverenced 
 by her daughter as you are, can constantly in her presence 
 sing the praises of a fine, handsome fellow, who, ever since 
 she was born, has been almost one of the family, that she 
 remarks to every one on the solidity of his character, that 
 she glories in what her husband says, when he has occasion 
 in his turn to boast of his remarkable intelligence, or speaks 
 feelingly of the thousand proofs of devotion he has received 
 
A FAMILY AFFAIR. 237 
 
 from him ! If the girl who saw this young man, distin 
 guished both by her father and her mother, had not 
 admired him herself, she would have failed in her duty ! ' 
 
 " ' Oh, father ! ' cried the girl, throwing herself into her 
 mother's arms, to hide her confusion, * if you guessed, why 
 did you make me speak !' 
 
 " ( Why ?' returned the father, 'why, but to have the joy 
 of hearing you, my darling, that I might be still more 
 certain that I was not mistaken, to be able at last to tell 
 you that both your mother and I approve your choice, that 
 your heart has been given where we wished ; and to spare a 
 poor and proud man from making a proposal, at which he 
 feels a reluctant delicacy, I will do it myself yes, I will 
 do it, because I have read his heart as I have read yours ! 
 Calm yourself then ! On the first favourable opportunity, 
 I will ask Max, if, by any possibility, he would care to 
 become my son-in-law !' " 
 
 Taken unawares by this sudden peroration, Max had 
 started to his feet as if moved by a spring. Otto silently 
 grasped his hand, while Doctor Sarrasin held out his arms. 
 The young Alsacian was pale as death. But does not 
 happiness sometimes take this appearance when it enters 
 without warning into a strong heart ! 
 
238 THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 FRANKVILLE, released from all anxiety, in peace with its 
 neighbours, well governed, happy, thanks to the good 
 behaviour of its inhabitants, is highly prosperous. Its 
 success is so justly merited that it causes no envy, and its 
 strength enforces the respect even of the most warlike. 
 
 Under the iron rule of Herr Schultz, the City of Steel was 
 a terrible manufactory, an organised source of destruction ; 
 but, thanks to Max Bruckmann, the liquidation of its debts 
 was effected without loss to any one, and Stahlstadt became 
 a centre of production, unsurpassed by any other industry. 
 
 A year ago, Max became the happy husband of Jeannette, 
 and the birth of a child has recently added to their felicity. 
 
 As to Otto, he worked gallantly under his brother-in- 
 law's directions, and seconded all his efforts. His sister is 
 hoping soon to see him married to a friend of hers, whose 
 good sense will preserve her husband from any relapse. 
 
CONCLUSION. 239 
 
 The wishes of the doctor and his wife are thus fulfilled, 
 and to put it in a few words, they are at the zenith of 
 happiness and even of glory if glory ever entered into the 
 programme of their honest ambitions. 
 
 We may now be assured that the future belongs to the 
 efforts of Doctor Sarrasin and Max Bruckmann, and that 
 the example of Frankville and Stahlstadt, as model city 
 and manufactory, will not be lost upon future generations. 
 
THE 
 
 MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TURNED ADRIFT. 
 
 NOT a breath of wind, not a ripple on the surface of the 
 ocean, not a cloud in the sky. The splendid constella 
 tions of the Southern Hemisphere shone with exquisite 
 brilliancy. The Bounty lay motionless, with drooping 
 sails, as the night wore on ; and the moon, turning pale 
 at the approach of dawn, rilled the air with dim and 
 uncertain light. 
 
 The Bounty, a vessel of two hundred and fifteen tons 
 burden, manned by a crew of forty-six, had left Spithead 
 on the 2$rd of December, 1787, under the command of 
 Captain Bligh, a rough, but experienced seaman, who 
 had accompanied Captain Cook on his last voyage of 
 discovery. 
 
 The special object of this voyage of the Bounty was to 
 obtain plants of the bread-fruit tree, which grows in pro- 
 
 R 
 
242 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY. 5 ' 
 
 fusion in the Tahitian Archipelago, and to carry them 
 to the Antilles. 
 
 After remaining for six months in the Bay of Matavai, 
 Captain Bligh, with a cargo of a thousand bread-fruit trees, 
 set sail for the West Indies, stopping at the Friendly 
 Islands for a short time. 
 
 The suspicious and passionate character of the captain 
 had repeatedly occasioned disagreeable scenes between 
 him and his officers ; but, when the sun rose on the 
 morning of the 28th of April, 1789, the perfect tran- 
 quility which prevailed on board the Bounty was dis 
 turbed by no token of the serious events about to 
 take place. 
 
 By-and-by the apparent tranquility was broken by 
 unwonted animation among the crew : the seamen met, 
 exchanged two or three words in whispers, and then 
 separated quietly. What could be going on ? 
 
 " Above all things, make no noise, friends," said Fletcher 
 Christian, the second officer of the Bounty. " Load your 
 pistol, Bob ; but do not fire till I give the word. Churchill, 
 take a hatchet to burst open the lock of the captain's cabin 
 door, and, mark me, I must have him alive." 
 
 Followed by a dozen seamen, armed with sabres, 
 cutlasses, and pistols, Christian glided between decks, 
 where he placed two sentinels before the cabins of Stewart 
 and Peter Heywood, the one the boatswain, the other 
 
TURNED ADRIFT. 243 
 
 a midshipman of the Bounty, and then, passing on, he 
 stopped at the captain's door. 
 
 " Come, lads !" he cried, "one good shove all together !" 
 The door yielded to their vigorous blows, and the seamen 
 rushed into the cabin. 
 
 Confused by the darkness, and, perhaps, reflecting on 
 the serious nature of the step they had taken, they 
 hesitated for a moment. 
 
 "Hullo! What's the matter? Who dares - -?" 
 exclaimed the captain, jumping out of his cot. 
 
 "Silence, Captain Bligh !" answered Churchill. "Silence, 
 and do not attempt to resist, or I will gag you ! " 
 
 " You needn't trouble yourself to dress," added Bob ; 
 "you will cut quite a good enough figure as you are 
 when you are dangling at the yard-arm !" 
 
 "Lash his hands behind his back, Churchill," said 
 Christian, "and hoist him up on deck !" 
 
 " The most tyrannical captains need be feared no longer, 
 when one knows how to set about dealing with them," 
 remarked John Smith, the philosopher of the crew. 
 
 Then, without caring -whether or not they awoke the 
 rest of the crew, they returned on deck. 
 
 It was a regular mutiny. Of the officers on board 
 besides Christian, Young alone, one of the midshipmen, 
 had made common cause with the mutineers. 
 
 As to the crew, those who hesitated at first had been 
 
 R 2 
 
244 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY/ 1 
 
 obliged to give in, whilst the other officers, without arms ? 
 and without a leader, remained spectators of the drama 
 which was being acted before their eyes. 
 
 All were drawn up in silence on the deck, and gazed at 
 their captain, who, half-naked, held his head high in the 
 midst of these men, who usually trembled before him. 
 
 " Captain Bligh," said Christian, roughly, "you are 
 deprived of your command." 
 
 " I do not recognise your right," replied the captain. 
 
 " Do not waste time in useless protestations," interrupted 
 Christian. " I now speak the sentiments of the Bounty's 
 crew. We had scarcely left England when we had already 
 reason to complain of your insulting suspicions, your brutal 
 proceedings. When I say we, I mean the officers as well 
 as the seamen. We not only could not obtain the satisfac 
 tion which was our due, but you set aside our complaints 
 with contempt ! Are we dogs, that we should be abused 
 on every occasion ? Scoundrels, ruffians, liars, thieves, 
 you had no expression strong enough, no abuse coarse 
 enough for us ! Indeed, had we patiently borne such 
 a life, we should have been unworthy to be called men ! 
 And I, I your countryman, who know your family, and 
 have already made two voyages under you, have you 
 spared me ? Did you not accuse me, only yesterday, of 
 stealing some wretched fruit ? And the men, they are put 
 in irons when guiltless of a fault. For a trifle they are 
 
Captain Bligh in the power of the mutineers. 
 
 Page 244. 
 
TURNED ADRIFT. 245 
 
 condemned to receive two dozen lashes. Well, everything 
 is paid for in this world ! You have been too liberal with 
 us, Bligh ! It is our turn now ! You are about to expiate 
 the insults, the injustice, the mad accusations, the moral 
 and physical tortures with which you have overwhelmed 
 your crew during a year and a half, and you shall pay 
 dearly for them ! Captain, you have been judged by 
 those whom you have offended, and you are condemned. 
 Is that right, shipmates ? " 
 
 "Yes, yes, death, death to the tyrant!" shouted the 
 greater number of the seamen, threatening their captain. 
 
 " Captain Bligh," resumed Christian, " some have spoken 
 of hoisting you dangling to the yard-arm, between sky and 
 sea ; others propose to make your back taste the cat you 
 have so freely bestowed on theirs, until you die under the 
 infliction. They lack imagination. I have a better plan 
 than that Besides, you are not alone guilty in this 
 matter. Those who have always faithfully executed your 
 orders, however cruel they were, would be in despair at 
 having to submit to my command. They deserve to bear 
 you company wherever the wind may drive you. Lower 
 the longboat!" 
 
 Christian's last words were received with a murmur of 
 disapprobation, which, however, did not seem to trouble 
 him. Captain Bligh, who was not intimidated by these 
 menaces, profited by the moment's silence to speak. 
 
246 
 
 "Officers and men," he said, in a firm voice, "in my 
 character of officer in the royal navy, commander of the 
 Bounty, I protest against the treatment with which I am 
 threatened. If you have had reason to complain of the 
 way I have exercised my power, you might have had me 
 tried by a court-martial. But, doubtless, you have not 
 reflected on the serious consequences of the act you are 
 about to commit. To lay hand on your captain is to put 
 yourself in revolt against existing laws ; it will render a 
 return to your native country impossible, and will cause 
 you to be treated like pirates ! Sooner or later you will 
 come to an ignominious death, the death of traitors and 
 rebels ! In the name of honour and the obedience you 
 swore to me, I summon you to return to your duty !" 
 
 " We know perfectly well to what we expose ourselves," 
 replied Churchill. 
 
 " Enough ! Enough ! " cried the crew, ready for any 
 deed of violence. 
 
 " Well," said Bligh, " if you must have a victim, let it be 
 me, but me alone ! Those of my companions whom you 
 condemn with me have only obeyed my orders ! " 
 
 The voice of the captain was now drowned by a chorus 
 of vociferations, and he was obliged to renounce the hope 
 of moving those pitiless hearts. 
 
 While this was going on, arrangements for the execution 
 of Christian's orders had been made. 
 
TURNED ADRIFT. 247 
 
 However, a lively dispute had arisen among the mutineers, 
 some of whom wished to abandon Captain Bligh and his 
 friends without giving them a weapon, or leaving them 
 an ounce of bread. 
 
 Some and it was also Churchill's advice thought that 
 the number of those who ought to leave the ship was not 
 large enough. They must get rid, he said, of all the men 
 who, not being directly implicated in the plot, were not 
 safe. They could not depend on those who contented 
 themselves with merely accepting accomplished facts. As 
 to himself, his back was still sore from the lashes he had 
 received for deserting at Tahiti. The best, and the most 
 rapid way of healing it would be to deliver the captain 
 over to him ! He would know well how to revenge 
 himself, with his own hand ! 
 
 "Hay ward! Hallett !" exclaimed Christian, addressing 
 two of the officers, without taking any notice of Churchill's 
 observations, " get into the boat." 
 
 "What have I done to you, Christian, that you should 
 treat me thus ?" said Hay ward. "You are sending me to 
 my death !" 
 
 " Recriminations are useless ! Obey, or else ! 
 
 Fryer, in with you too ! " 
 
 But these officers, instead of going towards the boat, 
 approached Captain Bligh, and Fryer, who- seemed the 
 most determined, bent forward, saying 
 
248 THE MUTINEERS OF THE 
 
 " Captain, will you try to retake the ship ? We have 
 no arms, it is true, but the mutineers, if surprised, could 
 not resist. If a few of us are killed, what matter ! We 
 can but try ! What do you think ? " 
 
 The officers were already preparing to throw themselves 
 on the mutineers, who were now busily engaged in making 
 ready the long boat, when Churchill, whose notice these 
 words, brief as they were, had not escaped, summoning 
 several well-armed men, forced them into the boat. 
 
 "Millward, Muspratt, Birket, and you others," said 
 Christian, addressing some of the seamen who had not 
 taken part in the mutiny, " go below and choose whatever 
 you value most ! You are to accompany Captain Bligh. 
 You, Morrison, look after those fellows ! Purcell, take 
 your carpenter's 'chest, I will allow you to have that." 
 
 Two masts with their sails, nails, a saw, a piece of sail 
 cloth, four small kegs, each containing twenty-four quarts 
 of water, a hundred and fifty pounds of biscuit, thirty-two 
 pounds of salt pork, six bottles of wine, six bottles of rum, 
 the captain's wine case, were all the stores and provisions 
 they were to be allowed to take. 
 
 They were given, besides, two or three old swords, but 
 fire-arms of any description were refused them. 
 
 "Where are Peter Hey wood and Stewart?" asked 
 Bligh, when he was in the boat. " Have they also betrayed 
 me?" 
 
TURNED ADRIFT. 249 
 
 They had not betrayed him, but Christian had resolved 
 to keep them on board. 
 
 The captain now had a moment of discouragement and 
 very pardonable weakness, which, however, did not last. 
 
 " Christian," he said, " I give you my word of honour 
 to forget all that has just occurred, if you will give up 
 your abominable plan ! I beseech you, think of my wife 
 and family ! Should I perish, what will become of them ? " 
 
 "If you possessed any honour," answered Christian, 
 " things would not have reached this pitch. If you 
 yourself had thought a little more often of your wife, of 
 your family, and of the wives and families of others, you 
 would not have been so harsh, so unjust, towards all 
 of us!" 
 
 The boatswain's mate, as he was embarking, endeavoured 
 in his turn to soften Christian. All in vain. 
 
 " I have been suffering too long," he replied, bitterly. 
 41 You do not know what my tortures have been ! No, it 
 cannot last a day longer ; and, besides, you are not ignorant 
 that, all this voyage, I, the second officer of the ship, have 
 been treated like a dog ! However, in separating myself 
 from Captain Bligh, whom, in all probability, I shall never 
 see again, I wish from pity, not to take from him all hope 
 of safety. Smith, go to the captain's cabin, and bring him 
 his clothes, his commission, his journal, and his portfolio. 
 Also, give him my nautical charts, and my own sextant. 
 
250 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 He will thus have some chance of being able to save his 
 companions, and get out of the scrape himself!" 
 
 Christian's orders were performed, though not without 
 many objections from the crew. 
 
 " And now, Morrison, cast off," exclaimed the master's 
 mate, now the commander of the Bounty, " and leave them 
 to the mercy of God !" 
 
 Whilst the mutineers saluted Captain Bligh and his 
 unfortunate companions with ironical cheers, the unhappy 
 Christian, leaning against the hammock nettings, could 
 not take his eyes from the departing boat. This brave 
 officer, whose conduct, loyal and open, had always, till 
 then, merited the praises of all the commanders under 
 whom he had served, was to-day no better than the chief 
 of a band of pirates. He could never see again either 
 his old mother, or his betrothed, or the Isle of Man, his 
 native place. He had sunk in his own self-esteem, and 
 was dishonoured in the eyes of everyone. 
 
 Chastisement was already following his crime ! 
 
Christian watching the departing boat. 
 
 Page 250. 
 
VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT. 251 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT. 
 
 WITH her eighteen passengers, officers and men, and the 
 scanty provisions she contained, the boat which carried 
 Bligh was so loaded that her gunwale was only fifteen 
 inches above the level of the sea. Twenty-one feet long 
 and six wide, she was a useful ship's boat for so numerous 
 a crew, but for such a voyage as she was destined to 
 perform, she appeared utterly unsuitable. 
 
 The sailors, confident in the skill and energy of their 
 captain and officers, who were now all joined in the same 
 fate, rowed vigorously, and the boat rapidly sped through 
 the waves. 
 
 Bligh had no hesitation about what he was to do. He 
 wished first of all to regain as soon as possible the island 
 of Tofoa, the nearest of the Friendly Islands, which they 
 had only left a few days before ; they would there collect 
 
252 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 bread-fruit, and renew their store of water, and then run 
 for Tonga-Tabou. They would there obtain a sufficient 
 quantity of provisions to last them till they could reach 
 the Dutch settlements in Timor, if, through fear of savages, 
 they did not wish to touch at any of the numerous 
 archipelagos scattered here and there on their way. 
 
 The first day passed without incident, and night was 
 falling when they sighted the coast of Tofoa. Unfortu 
 nately, the shore was so rocky, and the cliffs so steep, that 
 it was impossible to disembark that night. They must 
 wait for day. 
 
 Unless it was absolutely necessary, Bligh did not mean 
 to touch their provisions. The island would have to 
 nourish his men and himself. That seemed difficult, for, 
 on first landing, not a trace of inhabitants was to be met 
 with. Some, however, soon made their appearance, and, 
 being well received, others came, who brought them water 
 and a few cocoa-nuts. 
 
 Bligh's perplexity was great. What was he to say to 
 these natives, who had already trafficked with the Bounty 
 on her last visit ? At any cost it was necessary to hide 
 the truth, so as not to destroy the prestige which the 
 strangers had before acquired. Could they say that 
 they were sent for provisions for their ship, which was 
 out at sea ? 
 
 That was impossible, for the Bounty was not visible, 
 
The English and the natives. 
 
 Page 252. 
 
VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT. 253 
 
 even from the tops of the hills ! Should they state that 
 their vessel was wrecked, and they were the only survivors ? 
 That was the story most likely* to be credited. Perhaps 
 that would touch the hearts of the natives and induce them 
 to complete the provisioning of the boat. Bligh deter 
 mined to say this, though it was dangerous, and he cautioned 
 his men to adhere to the statement, so that they might all 
 agree. 
 
 On hearing this the natives made no sign of either 
 joy or sorrow. Their faces only expressed profound 
 astonishment, and [ it was impossible to guess what they 
 thought. 
 
 On the 2nd of May, the number of natives from other 
 parts of the island increased to an alarming extent, and 
 Bligh soon guessed that they had hostile intentions. 
 Some even tried to haul the boat up on the shore, and 
 only drew back before the energetic demonstrations of the 
 captain, who menaced them with his cutlass. Whilst this 
 was going on, some of the men, whom Bligh had sent to 
 search, brought back three gallons of water. 
 
 The time had come for quitting this inhospitable island. 
 At sunset all was ready ; but it was not easy to gain the 
 boat. The beach was covered with natives, clashing stones 
 against each other, ready to throw. The boat kept off a 
 few fathoms from the shore, and only touched just as the 
 men were ready to embark. 
 
254 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 The English, really uneasy at the hostile look of the 
 savages, walked down the beach, in the midst of two 
 hundred natives, who were evidently only waiting a signal 
 to rush upon them. However, all got safely into the boat, 
 when one of the sailors, named Bancroft, imprudently 
 returned to fetch some article he had forgotten. In a 
 second, the foolish man was surrounded and felled with 
 stones, his companions, having no firearms, being unable 
 to help him. At the same time they themselves were 
 attacked, and stones rained upon them. 
 
 "Come, lads," shouted Bligh, "bend to your oars and 
 pull hard ! " 
 
 The natives followed them into the sea, and showers of 
 pebbles fell upon them. Many men were wounded ; but 
 Thomas Hayward (there were two midshipmen of that 
 name belonging to the Bounty), picking up a stone which 
 had fallen into the boat, took aim at one of their assailants 
 and hit him between the eyes. The savage fell back with 
 a cry, which was answered by a cheer from the English. 
 Their unfortunate comrade was avenged. 
 
 By this time several canoes had left the shore and were 
 giving chase. This pursuit could have only ended in a 
 combat, the issue of which could not have been favourable, 
 when the master had a bright idea. Without suspecting 
 that he was imitating Hippomenes in his race with 
 Atalanta, he stripped off his jacket, which he threw into 
 
VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT. 255 
 
 the sea. The natives, leaving the prey for the shadow, 
 stopped to pick it up, and this expedient permitted the 
 boat to double the point of the bay. 
 
 In the meantime night came on, and the savages 
 discouraged, abandoned the chase. 
 
 This first attempt at landing was too unlucky to be 
 renewed ; such at least was the opinion of Captain Bligh. 
 
 "We must now come to a resolution," he said. "The 
 scene which has just passed at Tofoa will occur again, I 
 am certain, at Tonga Tabou, and wherever else we may 
 touch. So small a number as we are, without firearms, 
 would be absolutely at the mercy of the savages. Having 
 no articles for barter, we could not buy provisions, and it 
 is impossible for us to procure them by force. We are 
 reduced to our own resources ; and you, my friends, know 
 as well as I do, how miserable they are ! But would it 
 not be better to be contented with them, rather than at 
 each landing to risk the lives of some of our party ? 
 However, I do not wish to hide anything of the horror of 
 our situation from you. To reach Timor we have nearly 
 twelve hundred leagues to run, and you must be satisfied 
 with one ounce of biscuit and a quarter of a pint of water 
 a day ! Safety can be obtained at this price only, and 
 also on the condition that you yield me implicit obedience. 
 Answer me without reserve ! Do you consent to attempt 
 the enterprise ? Will you swear to obey my orders, 
 
256 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 whatever they may be ? Will you promise to submit 
 without murmuring to these privations ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, we swear it ! " exclaimed Bligh's companions, 
 with one voice. 
 
 " My friends," resumed the captain, " we must also forget 
 our reciprocal wrongs, our antipathies, and our hates, in 
 one word, sacrifice our personal grudges to the interest of 
 all, which must alone guide us ! " 
 
 " We promise." 
 
 " If you keep your word," added Bligh, "and if need be, 
 I can force you to do so, I will answer for your safety." 
 
 A course was now steered to the W.N.W. The wind, 
 which was strong, blew a regular gale by the evening of 
 the 4th of May. The waves were so high that the boat 
 disappeared between them, and could hardly struggle up 
 again. Every moment the danger increased. Drenched 
 and chilled, the unfortunate men had] nothing to comfort 
 them on that day but a glass of rum and the quarter of a 
 half-rotten bread-fruit. 
 
 During the next and following days their condition did 
 not improve. The boat passed by a few islands, from 
 which several canoes put off. 
 
 Was it to give chase, or to try and barter ? In any 
 case it would be imprudent to stop. The boat, therefore, 
 her sails filled with a fair breeze, soon left them far 
 behind. 
 
Bligh's perilous voyage. 
 
 Page 256. 
 
VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT. 257 
 
 On the Qth of May again a terrible storm broke over 
 them. Thunder and lightning succeeded without interrup 
 tion. The rain fell with a force, of which even the most 
 violent storms of our climate fail to give an idea. It was 
 impossible to dry their clothes. Bligh then thought of 
 plunging them into the sea, and thus to impregnate them 
 with salt, so as to bring back to the skin a little of the 
 warmth carried away by the rain. These torrents of rain, 
 however, which caused so much suffering to the captain 
 and his companions, spared them other tortures still more 
 horrible, the tortures of thirst, which unbearable heat 
 would soon have produced. 
 
 On the morning of the i/th of May, after a frightful 
 gale, complaints became general. 
 
 " We shall never have strength to reach New Holland," 
 cried the unfortunate crew. "Wet through by the rain, 
 exhausted by fatigue, we shall never have a moment's 
 rest ! We are half dead with hunger ; will you not increase 
 our rations, captain ? What matters it if our provisions 
 do fail ? We can easily replace them on arriving at New 
 Holland ! " 
 
 " I refuse," replied Bligh. " That would be to act like 
 fools. What ! We have only crossed half the distance 
 we had to run when cast adrift to reach Australia, and you 
 are already discouraged ! Do you think, besides, that 
 you will find it easy to obtain provisions on the coast of 
 
 S 
 
258 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 New Holland ? You know neither the country nor the 
 inhabitants ! " 
 
 And Bligh described in a graphic way the nature of the 
 soil, the manners and customs of the natives, the small 
 dependence they must place on a friendly reception, 
 everything, indeed, that his voyage with Captain Cook 
 had taught him. For this time his companions listened 
 and were silenced. 
 
 For the next fifteen days they were cheered by a 
 bright sun, which dried their clothes. On the 2/th they 
 crossed the reefs which border the eastern coast of New 
 Holland. The sea was calm behind this coral belt, and 
 several groups of islands, covered with exotic vegetation, 
 rejoiced their sight. 
 
 They landed, and advanced cautiously. No traces of 
 the natives did they find, except some signs of fires. It 
 was, therefore, possible to pass a good night on shore. 
 But they had to eat. By great good luck one of the 
 sailors discovered a bed of oysters, which furnished them 
 with a regular feast. 
 
 The next day Bligh found in the boat a magnifying 
 glass and a tinder-box. This enabled them to procure fire 
 to cook game or fish. 
 
 Bligh then proposed to divide his crew into three parties ; 
 one to stay and put everything in order in the boat, the 
 two others to go and search for food. But several men 
 
VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT. 259 
 
 complained bitterly, declaring that they would rather go 
 without their dinner than venture into the country. 
 
 One of them, more violent or more bold than his 
 companions, went so far as to say to the captain 
 
 " One man is as good as another, and I don't see why 
 you should always take your ease ! If you are hungry go 
 and get something to eat ! For all the good you do I 
 could do as well ! " 
 
 Bligh, knowing that this mutinous spirit must be put a 
 stop to, immediately seized a cutlass, and throwing another 
 at the rebel's feet, he exclaimed 
 
 " Defend yourself, or I will kill you like a dog ! " 
 
 This energetic attitude soon brought the mutineer back 
 to reason, and the general discontent was calmed. 
 
 During this rest the boat's crew collected an abundance 
 of oysters and other shell-fish, as well as a supply of fresh 
 water. 
 
 A little further on, in the Endeavour Straits, of two 
 detachments, sent out to chase tortoises and noddies (a 
 species of sea-fowl), the first returned with empty hands, 
 the second with only six noddies ; but they would have 
 taken many more had it not been for the obstinacy of one 
 of the hunters, who, straying from his comrades, frightened 
 the birds. This man acknowledged afterwards that he 
 had managed to get hold of nine noddies, and had eaten 
 them raw on the spot. 
 
 S 2 
 
260 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 Without the food and fresh water they found on the 
 coast of New, Holland, it is very certain that Bligh and 
 his companions would have perished. As it was, they 
 were in a most pitiable condition, so exhausted and 
 emaciated as to resemble skeletons rather than living- 
 men. 
 
 The voyage to Timor, through a little-known sea, was 
 but a mournful repetition of the sufferings already endured 
 by these unfortunate men before they reached the coasts 
 of New Holland. The only difference was that the 
 strength of all, without exception, was much diminished. 
 In the course of a few days their legs became swollen, and 
 while in this prostrate condition they were overwhelmed 
 with an incessant longing for sleep. These symptoms, it 
 was conjectured, foreboded a termination to their sufferings, 
 which could not be long in coming. As soon as Captain 
 Bligh perceived these alarming symptoms he distributed 
 double rations to the weakest, and strove to inspire them 
 with some hope. 
 
 At last, on the morning of the 1 2th of June, the coast of 
 Timor appeared, after a voyage of three thousand six 
 hundred miles had been accomplished under the most 
 frightful and trying circumstances. 
 
 The English received an excessively sympathetic recep 
 tion at Coupang ; and remained there two months to 
 recruit. Captain Bligh, having here purchased a small 
 
VOYAGE OF THE LONG BOAT. 26 1 
 
 schooner, sailed for Batavia, which place was reached in 
 safety, and thence he embarked for England. 
 
 On the I4th of March, 1790, the deserted men landed 
 at Portsmouth. The recital of the tortures they had 
 endured excited universal sympathy and indignation. 
 The Admiralty almost immediately fitted out the frigate 
 Pandora, of twenty-four guns, which, with a crew of a 
 hundred and sixty men, was sent out in pursuit of the 
 mutineers of the Bounty. 
 
 We will now see what had become of them. 
 
262 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY.' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MUTINEERS. 
 
 AFTER Captain Bligh had been deserted in the open sea, 
 the Bounty set sail for Tahiti. The same day she reached 
 Toubouai. The smiling aspect of this little island, sur 
 rounded by a belt of coral rocks, invited Christian to touch 
 there ; but the demonstrations of the inhabitants appearing 
 too threatening, a landing was not effected. 
 
 On the 6th of June, 1789, the anchor was dropped in 
 the roads of MatavaT. Great was the surprise of the 
 Tahitians on recognising the Bounty. The mutineers soon 
 fell in with the natives, whose friendship they had gained 
 on a previous occasion, and to them they told a story, into 
 which they took care to bring the name of Captain Cook, 
 whom the Tahitians well remembered. 
 
 On the 29th of June the mutineers departed for Toubouai 
 and began a search for some island out of the ordinary 
 route of ships, where the soil was fertile enough to supply 
 
The Bounty approaching the shore. 
 
 Page 262. 
 
THE MUTINEERS. 263 
 
 them with food, and where they might live in security. 
 They roved thus from one group of islands to another, 
 committing excesses of all sorts, which Christian's authority 
 was rarely sufficient to prevent. Then, attracted once 
 more by the fertility of Tahiti, and by the gentle and 
 easy nature of the inhabitants, they returned to the Bay 
 of Matavai'. There two-thirds of the crew landed, but that 
 same evening the Bounty weighed anchor and disappeared, 
 before the men suspected Christian of any intention of 
 going without them. 
 
 Left to their own resources, the seamen established 
 themselves without much regret in different parts of the 
 island. George Stewart and Peter Hey wood, the two 
 midshipmen whom Christian had excepted from the 
 sentence pronounced against Bligh, and had brought in 
 spite of themselves, remained at Matavai' near the king 
 Tippao, whose sister Stewart soon afterwards married. 
 Morrison and Milward joined the chief Peno, who received 
 them well. As to the others they went inland, and before 
 long took Tahitian wives. 
 
 Churchill and a mad fellow named Thompson, after 
 having committed all sorts of crimes, came at last to blows. 
 Churchill was killed in the struggle, and Thompson was 
 stoned to death by the natives. 
 
 Thus perished two of the persons who had taken the 
 greatest share in the mutiny. The others, on the contrary, 
 
264 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 by their good conduct, endeared themselves to the 
 Tahitians. 
 
 However, Morrison and Milward, always seeing chastise 
 ment suspended over their heads, could not live quietly 
 in an island where they might be so easily discovered. 
 They, therefore, conceived the idea of building a schooner, 
 in which to reach Batavia, there to conceal themselves in 
 the midst of a civilised community. With eight of their 
 companions, having only a few ordinary carpenters' tools, 
 they contrived, not without difficulty, to construct a small 
 vessel, which they called the Resolution, mooring her in a 
 bay behind Venus Point ; but the impossibility of procuring 
 sails prevented them from putting to sea. 
 
 All this time, strong in their innocence, Stewart cultivated 
 a garden, and Peter Heywood collected materials for a 
 vocabulary, which, later, was of great assistance to the 
 English missionaries. 
 
 Eighteen months had thus passed away, when, on the 
 23rd of March, 1791, a vessel doubled Venus Point, and 
 anchored in Matavai Bay. This was the Pandora, sent in 
 pursuit of the mutineers by the English Admiralty. 
 
 Heywood and Stewart hastened on board, declared their 
 names and rank, and said that they had taken no part in 
 the mutiny; but they were not believed, and were imme 
 diately put in irons, as were the rest of the men found on 
 shore, without the least enquiry having been made as 
 
THE MUTINEERS. 265 
 
 to the truth of their statements. Loaded with chains, and 
 threatened that they would be shot should they converse 
 in the Tahitian language among themselves, they were 
 shut up in a cage eleven feet long, placed at the end of the 
 quarter-deck, to which some one versed in mythology gave 
 the name of Pandora's box. 
 
 On the I Qth of May, the Resolution, which had been 
 provided with sails, and the Pandora, put to sea. For 
 three months they cruised among the Friendly Isles, where 
 it was supposed that Christian and the rest of the mutineers 
 had taken refuge. As the Resolution did not draw much 
 water, she was of great use in this cruise; but she dis 
 appeared near Chatham Island, and although the Pandora 
 remained in the neighbourhood for several days, nothing 
 was ever again heard of her or of the five seamen by whom 
 
 she was manned. BKCroft Lit*** 
 
 The Pandora was on her way back to Europe with the 
 prisoners, when, in Torres Straits, she struck on a coral 
 reef, and went down with thirty-one of her own men, and 
 four of the mutineers. 
 
 The crew and the prisoners who escaped gained a sandy 
 island. There the officers and seamen sheltered themselves 
 under tents ; but the mutineers, exposed to the heat of a 
 vertical sun, were obliged, in order to obtain a little relief, 
 to bury themselves up to their necks in sand. 
 
 The castaways remained on this islet for some days, and 
 
266 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 then all reached Timor in the Pandora's boats, the strict 
 watch kept over the mutineers, notwithstanding the fearful 
 circumstances in which they were placed, never being for 
 a moment relaxed. 
 
 Reaching England in the month of June, 1792, the 
 mutineers were brought before a court-martial, presided 
 over by Admiral Hood. The trial lasted six days, and 
 was terminated by the acquittal of four of the accused, 
 and the condemnation to death of six others, for the crime 
 of desertion and carrying off of the vessel given to their 
 charge. Four of the condemned were hung on board 
 a ship of war ; the two others, Stewart and Peter Heywood, 
 whose innocence was at last acknowledged, were pardoned. 
 
 But what had become of the Bounty ? Had she been 
 wrecked with the last of the mutineers ? This no one 
 could tell. 
 
 In iSi4,[twenty-five years after the scene with which this 
 narrative commences, two English ships of war were 
 cruising in Oceania, under the command of Captain Staines. 
 They found themselves to the south of the dangerous 
 archipelago, in sight of a mountainous and volcanic island, 
 discovered by Carteret in his voyage round the world, and 
 by him given the name of Pitcairn Island. It was a mere 
 islet, almost without a shore, rising perpendicularly from 
 the sea, and clothed to its summit with forests of palms 
 and bread-fruit trees. 
 
THE MUTINEERS. 267 
 
 This island had never before been visited ; it was twelve 
 hundred miles from Tahiti, 25 4' south latitude, and 
 1 80 8' west longitude; it measured four miles and a 
 half in circumference, and only a mile and a half across 
 in its widest part. No one knew what report Carteret 
 had given of it. 
 
 Captain Staines resolved to survey it, and ascertain if 
 a suitable place for landing existed. 
 
 On approaching the shore, he was surprised at seeing 
 huts, plantations, and on the beach, two natives, who, having 
 launched a boat and skilfully crossed the surf, came 
 towards his vessel. But his astonishment was boundless 
 when they addressed him in excellent English with the 
 words 
 
 " Hullo, you there ! Will you heave us a rope, that we 
 may get on board !" 
 
 Directly they reached the deck, the two sturdy rowers 
 were surrounded by the wondering sailors, who over 
 whelmed them with questions. Brought before the captain, 
 they were interrogated in form 
 
 "Who are you?" 
 
 " My name is Thursday October Christian, and my mate 
 here is Ned Young." 
 
 These names told nothing to Captain Staines, who was 
 far from thinking of the survivors of the Bounty. 
 
 " How long have you lived here ?" 
 
263 THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 u We were born here." 
 
 " How old are you ?" 
 
 " I am five-and-twenty, and Young is eighteen." 
 
 " Were your parents wrecked on this island ? " 
 
 The son of Fletcher Christian, for such the young man 
 was, then gave Captain Staines the following narrative 
 
 On leaving Tahiti, where he abandoned twenty-one of 
 his comrades, Christian, who had on board an account 
 -of Cartaret's voyage, steered towards Pitcairn Island, the 
 position of which appeared to him suitable for the plan he 
 proposed. Twenty-eight men now composed the crew of 
 the Bounty. They were Fletcher Christian, the midshipman 
 Young, and seven seamen, six Tahitians, three with wives, 
 a child of ten months old, and three men and six women, 
 natives of Rouboua'f . 
 
 The first care of Christian and his companions on 
 reaching Pitcairn had been to destroy the Bounty, so as 
 not to be discovered. This, of course, prevented their leav 
 ing the island again, but it was necessary for their safety. 
 
 The establishment of the little colony was not made 
 without difficulty among persons whose only bond of union 
 was their common crime. Bloody quarrels soon broke out 
 between the Tahitians and the English. In 1794 only four 
 of the mutineers survived. Christian had fallen by the 
 knife of one of the natives he had brought to the island. 
 All the Tahitians had been massacred. 
 
THE MUTINEERS. 269 
 
 One of the English, who had discovered a way of 
 manufacturing spirits from the root of a plant, became 
 brutalised by drunkenness, and, in a fit of delirium tremens, 
 threw himself from the top of a cliff into the sea. 
 
 Another, in a fit of madness, attacked Young, and one of 
 the sailors, named John Adams, was obliged to kill him. 
 In 1 800 Young died from a violent attack of asthma. 
 
 John Adams was then the sole survivor of the mutineers. 
 Remaining alone, with several women and twenty children, 
 the offspring of marriages between his shipmates and the 
 natives, the character of John Adams underwent a 
 complete change. He was then not more than thirty-six ; 
 but during those years he had been present at so many 
 scenes of violence and bloodshed, he had seen human 
 nature under so many sad aspects, that, on looking back 
 on his conduct, he became an altered man. 
 
 In the library of the Bounty, kept on the island, were 
 a Bible and several Prayer-books. John Adams, who read 
 them frequently, became converted, brought up the youth 
 ful population, who considered him as a father, in excellent 
 principles, and became, in the nature of things, the legis 
 lator, the high priest, and, so to speak, the king of Pitcairn. 
 
 However, up to 1814, his alarms had been constant. In 
 1795, a vessel had approached Pitcairn, and the four 
 survivors of the Bounty hid themselves in inaccessible woods, 
 not daring to descend to the bay until after the departure 
 
2/O THE MUTINEERS OF THE "BOUNTY." 
 
 of the ship. John Adams acted in the same way, when, in 
 1808, an American captain landed on the island, from 
 which he carried off a chronometer and a compass, which 
 he sent to the British Admiralty ; but the Admiralty were 
 not affected at the sight of these relics of the Bounty, there 
 being something more important to think of in Europe just 
 at that time. 
 
 Such was the narrative given to Captain Staines by the 
 two natives, English on their father's side, one the son of 
 Christian, the other the son of Young ; but when Captain 
 Staines asked to see John Adams, the latter refused to 
 come on board, until he knew how he was likely to be 
 treated. 
 
 The captain, having assured the two young men that 
 John Adams was safe, as twenty-five years had passed 
 since the mutiny of the Bounty, went on shore, where he 
 was received by a population composed of forty-six adults, 
 and a large number of children. All were tall and strong, 
 of a clearly-marked English type, the girls especially being 
 remarkably pretty, the modesty of their manners making 
 them altogether charming. 
 
 The laws in force in the island were of the simplest 
 character. On a register was noted all that each one gained 
 by his work. Money was unknown, all transactions being 
 made by means of exchange ; but there was no manufactory, 
 as no materials were to be had. For clothing the inhabitants 
 
THE MUTINEERS. 
 
 wore large hats and belts of grass. Fishing and agriculture 
 were their principal occupations. Marriages were only 
 made with the permission of Adams, and when the man 
 had cleared and planted ground sufficient for the support 
 of his future family. 
 
 Captain Staines, having collected much curious informa 
 tion relating to this island, thus long concealed from the 
 civilised world in the most unfrequented part of the 
 Pacific, put to sea, and returned to Europe. 
 
 Since that time the venerable John Adams has terminated 
 his checkered career. He died in 1829, and was replaced 
 by the Reverend John Nobbs, who then fulfilled in the 
 island the functions of pastor, doctor, and schoolmaster. 
 
 In 1853, the descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty 
 numbered a hundred and seventy individuals. Since then 
 the population had increased and become so numerous that, 
 three years later, it was decided to remove a number to 
 Norfolk Island, which until then had been used for convicts. 
 But the party of emigrants regretted Pitcairn so much, 
 although Norfolk was four times larger, its soil remarkable 
 for its richness, and living there was far easier, that after a 
 couple of years' stay, several families returned to Pitcairn, 
 where they continue to prosper. 
 
 Such was the issue of an adventure which had begun in 
 so tragic a way. 
 
 At first, mutineers, murderers, madmen, and now, under 
 
2/2 THE MUTINEERS OF THE 
 
 the influence of Christian morals, and instruction given by 
 a poor converted sailor, Pitcairn Island has become the 
 fatherland of a gentle, hospitable, and happy population, 
 among whom are found the primitive manners of the 
 patriarchal ages. 
 
 LONDON : 1'RINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
(XTS H\