explodes at the same instant ‘by itself,’ as you are good enough to express it. Eh? What? The same the next Friday at ten twenty-nine and a few seconds; a disturbance and an explosion. The next Tuesday at ten thirty-five explosion and disturbance. And so on. As an exception, not in accordance with the programme as it were, a disturbance on Monday at ten twenty-nine minutes, thirty seconds. Ditto explosion. Comes on the second. Eight times in eight cases. A joke, eh? What do you think about it?”
“I d—don’t know,” mumbled Prokop.
“There’s one thing,” said Mr. Carson after reflecting for a long time. “Mr. Thomas was working with us. He has no knowledge, but he has got hold of something. Mr. Thomas had a high frequency generator installed in his laboratory and shut the door in front of our noses. A rotter. It’s the first time I’ve heard of high frequency machines being used in ordinary chemistry, eh? What’s your idea?”
“Well . . . naturally,” said Prokop doubtfully, with an uneasy glance at his own brand-new generator in the corner.
Mr. Carson did not fail to notice this. ‘‘H’m,” he said. ‘You’ve the same sort of toy, eh? A pretty little transformer. What did it cost you?”
Prokop grew sullen, but Mr. Carson began to glow. “I think,” he said with growing expansiveness, “that it would be a magnificent thing if one could produce in some substance . . . let’s say with the help of high power currents . . . certain vibrations, set it in violent motion, loosen its interior
