The Moon Metal | Page 8

more than usually scornful as he stopped a laden car and
invited the visitors to help themselves.
"I think," he said, "that I have struck the only lode of this ore in the
Teton, or possibly in this part of the world, but I don't know for certain.
There may be plenty of it only waiting to be found. That, however,
doesn't trouble me. The great point is that nobody except myself knows
how to extract the metal."
Mr. Boon closely examined the chunk of rock which he had taken from
the car. Then he pulled a lens from his pocket, with a deprecatory
glance at Dr. Syx.
"Oh, that's all right," said the latter, with a laugh, the first that these
gentlemen had ever heard from his lips, and it almost made them
shudder; "put it to every test, examine it with the microscope, with fire,
with electricity, with the spectroscope--in every way you can think of! I

assure you it is worth your while!"
Again Dr. Syx uttered his freezing laugh, passing into the familiar
smile, which had now become an undisguised mock.
"Upon my word," said Mr. Boon, taking his eye from the lens, "I see no
sign of any metal here!"
"Look at the green specks!" cried the doctor, snatching the specimen
from the president's hand. "That's it! That's artemisium! But it's of no
use unless you can get it out and purify it, which is my secret!"
For the third time Dr. Syx laughed, and his merriment affected the
visitors so disagreeably that they showed impatience to be gone.
Immediately he changed his manner.
"Come into my office," he said, with a return to the graciousness which
had characterized him ever since the party started from New York.
When they were all seated, and the doctor had handed round a box of
cigars, he resumed the conversation in his most amiable manner.
"You see, gentlemen," he said, turning a piece of ore in his fingers,
"artemisium is like aluminum. It can only be obtained in the metallic
form by a special process. While these greenish particles, which you
may perhaps mistake for chrysolite, or some similar unisilicate, really
contain the precious metal, they are not entirely composed of it. The
process by which I separate out the metallic element while the ore is
passing through the furnace is, in truth, quite simple, and its very
simplicity guards my secret. Make your minds easy as to
over-production. A man is as likely to jump over the moon as to find
me out."
"But," he continued, again changing his manner, "we have had business
enough for one day; now for a little recreation." While speaking the
doctor pressed a button on his desk, and the room, which was
illuminated by electric lamps--for there were no windows in the
building--suddenly became dark, except part of one wall, where a broad

area of light appeared. Dr. Syx's voice had become very soothing when
next he spoke: "I am fond of amusing myself with a peculiar form of
the magic-lantern, which I invented some years ago, and which I have
never exhibited except for the entertainment of my friends. The pictures
will appear upon the wall, the apparatus being concealed."
He had hardly ceased speaking when the illuminated space seemed to
melt away, leaving a great opening, through which the spectators
looked as if into another world on the opposite side of the wall. For a
minute or two they could not clearly discern what was presented; then,
gradually, the flitting scenes and figures became more distinct until the
lifelikeness of the spectacle absorbed their whole attention.
Before them passed, in panoramic review, a sunny land, filled with
brilliant-hued vegetation, and dotted with villages and cities which
were bright with light-colored buildings. People appeared moving
through the scenes, as in a cinematograph exhibition, but with infinitely
more semblance of reality. In fact, the pictures, blending one into
another, seemed to be life itself. Yet it was not an earth-like scene. The
colors of the passing landscape were such as no man in the room had
ever beheld; and the people, tall, round-limbed, with florid complexion,
golden hair, and brilliant eyes and lips, were indescribably beautiful
and graceful in all their movements.
From the land the view passed out to sea, and bright blue waves, edged
with creaming foam, ran swiftly under the spectator's eyes, and
occasionally, driven before light winds, appeared fleets of daintily
shaped vessels, which reminded the beholder, by their flashing wings,
of the feigned "ship of pearl."
After the fairy ships and breezy sea views came a long, curving line of
coast, brilliant with coral sands, and indented by frequent bays, along
whose enchanting shores lay pleasant towns, the landscapes behind
them splendid with groves, meadows, and streams.
Presently