The Moon Metal | Page 4

he said. "What do you think of it?"
"It is beautiful!"
Again the reply came from every mouth simultaneously, and again if
the speakers could have been listeners they would have wondered not
only at their earnestness, but at their words, for why should they

instantly and unanimously pronounce that beautiful which they had not
even seen? But every man knew he had seen it, for instinctively their
minds reverted to the card and recognized in it the metal referred to.
The mesmeric spell seemed once more to fall upon the assemblage, for
the financiers noticed nothing remarkable in the next act of the stranger,
which was to take a chair, uninvited, at the table, and the moment he
sat down he became the presiding officer as naturally as if he had just
been elected to that post. They all waited for him to speak, and when he
opened his mouth they listened with breathless attention.
His words were of the best English, but there was some peculiarity,
which they had already noticed, either in his voice or his manner of
enunciation, which struck all of the listeners as denoting a foreigner.
But none of them could satisfactorily place him. Neither the Americans,
the Englishmen, the Germans, the Frenchmen, the Russians, the
Austrians, the Italians, the Spaniards, the Turks, the Japanese, or the
Chinese at the board could decide to what race or nationality the
stranger belonged.
"This metal," he began, taking the card from Mr. Boon's hand, "I have
discovered and named. I call it 'artemisium.' I can produce it, in the
pure form, abundantly enough to replace gold, giving it the same
relative value that gold possessed when it was the universal standard."
As Dr. Syx spoke he snapped the card with his thumb-nail and it
fluttered with quivering hues like a humming-bird hovering over a
flower. He seemed to await a reply, and President Boon asked:
"What guarantee can you give that the supply would be adequate and
continuous?"
"I will conduct a committee of this congress to my mine in the Rocky
Mountains, where, in anticipation of the event, I have accumulated
enough refined artemisium to provide every civilized land with an
amount of coin equivalent to that which it formerly held in gold. I can
there satisfy you of my ability to maintain the production."
"But how do we know that this metal of yours will answer the

purpose?"
"Try it," was the laconic reply.
"There is another difficulty," pursued the president. "People will not
accept a new metal in place of gold unless they are convinced that it
possesses equal intrinsic value. They must first become familiar with it,
and it must be abundant enough and desirable enough to be used
sparingly in the arts, just as gold was."
"I have provided for all that," said the stranger, with one of his
disconcerting smiles. "I assure you that there will be no trouble with the
people. They will be only too eager to get and to use the metal. Let me
show you."
He stepped to the door and immediately returned with two black
attendants bearing a large tray filled with articles shaped from the same
metal as that of which the card was composed. The financiers all
jumped to their feet with exclamations of surprise and admiration, and
gathered around the tray, whose dazzling contents lighted up the corner
of the room where it had been placed as if the moon were shining there.
There were elegantly formed vases, adorned with artistic figures,
embossed and incised, and glowing with delicate colors which
shimmered in tiny waves with the slightest motion of the tray. Cups,
pins, finger-rings, earrings, watch-chains, combs, studs, lockets, medals,
tableware, models of coins--in brief, almost every article in the
fabrication of which precious metals have been employed was to be
seen there in profusion, and all composed of the strange new metal
which everybody on the spot declared was far more splendid than gold.
"Do you think it will answer?" asked Dr. Syx.
"We do," was the unanimous reply.
All then resumed their seats at the table, the tray with its magnificent
array having been placed in the centre of the board. This display had a
remarkable influence. Confidence awoke in the breasts of the financiers.

The dark clouds that had oppressed them rolled off, and the prospect
grew decidedly brighter.
"What terms do you demand?" at length asked Mr. Boon, cheerfully
rubbing his hands.
"I must have military protection for my mine and reducing works,"
replied Dr. Syx. "Then I shall ask the return of one per cent, on the
circulating medium, together with the privilege of disposing of a
certain amount of the metal--to be limited by agreement--to the public
for use in the arts. Of the proceeds of this sale