I will pay ten per cent. to
the government in consideration of its protection."
"But," exclaimed President Boon, "that will make you the richest man
who ever lived!"
"Undoubtedly," was the reply.
"Why," added Mr. Boon, opening his eyes wider as the facts continued
to dawn upon him, "you will become the financial dictator of the whole
earth!"
"Undoubtedly," again responded Dr. Syx, unmoved. "That is what I
purpose to become. My discovery entitles me to no less. But, remember,
I place myself under government inspection and restriction. I should
not be allowed to flood the market, even if I were disposed to do so.
But my own interest would restrain me. It is to my advantage that
artemisium, once adopted, shall remain stable in value."
A shadow of doubt suddenly crossed the president's face.
"Suppose your secret is discovered," he said. "Surely your mine will
not remain the only one. If you, in so short a time, have been able to
accumulate an immense quantity of the new metal, it must be extremely
abundant. Others will discover it, and then where shall we be?"
While Mr. Boon uttered these words, those who were watching Dr. Syx
(as the president was not) resembled persons whose startled eyes are
fixed upon a wild beast preparing to spring. As Mr. Boon ceased
speaking he turned towards the visitor, and instantly his lips fell apart
and his face paled.
Dr. Syx had drawn himself up to his full stature, and his features were
distorted with that peculiar mocking smile which had now returned
with a concentrated expression of mingled self-confidence and disdain.
"Will you have relief, or not?" he asked in a dry, hard voice. "What can
you do? I alone possess the secret which can restore industry and
commerce. If you reject my offer, do you think a second one will
come?"
President Boon found voice to reply, stammeringly:
"I did not mean to suggest a rejection of the offer. I only wished to
inquire if you thought it probable that there would be no repetition of
what occurred after gold was found at the south pole?"
"The earth may be full of my metal," returned Dr. Syx, almost fiercely,
"but so long as I alone possess the knowledge how to extract it, is it of
any more worth than common dirt? But come," he added, after a pause
and softening his manner, "I have other schemes. Will you, as
representatives of the leading nations, undertake the introduction of
artemisium as a substitute for gold, or will you not?"
"Can we not have time for deliberation?" asked President Boon.
"Yes, one hour. Within that time I shall return to learn your decision,"
replied Dr. Syx, rising and preparing to depart. "I leave these things,"
pointing to the tray, "in your keeping, and," significantly, "I trust your
decision will be a wise one."
His curious smile again curved his lips and shot the ends of his
mustache upward, and the influence of that smile remained in the room
when he had closed the door behind him. The financiers gazed at one
another for several minutes in silence, then they turned towards the
coruscating metal that filled the tray.
III
THE GRAND TETON MINE
Away on the western border of Wyoming, in the all but inaccessible
heart of the Rocky Mountains, three mighty brothers, "The Big
Tetons," look perpendicularly into the blue eye of Jenny's Lake, lying
at the bottom of the profound depression among the mountains called
Jackson's Hole. Bracing against one another for support, these
remarkable peaks lift their granite spires from 12,000 to nearly 14,000
feet into the blue dome that arches the crest of the continent. Their
sides, and especially those of their chief, the Grand Teton, are streaked
with glaciers, which shine like silver trappings when the morning sun
comes up above the wilderness of mountains stretching away eastward
from the hole.
When the first white men penetrated this wonderful region, and one of
them bestowed his wife's name upon Jenny's Lake, they were
intimidated by the Grand Teton. It made their flesh creep, accustomed
though they were to rough scrambling among mountain gorges and on
the brows of immense precipices, when they glanced up the face of the
peak, where the cliffs fall, one below another, in a series of breathless
descents, and imagined themselves clinging for dear life to those skyey
battlements.
But when, in 1872, Messrs. Stevenson and Langford finally reached the
top of the Grand Teton--the only successful members of a party of nine
practised climbers who had started together from the bottom--they
found there a little rectangular enclosure, made by piling up rocks, six
or seven feet across and three feet in height, bearing evidences of great
age, and indicating that the red Indians had, for
![](qr/25047/5.png)
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the
Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.