THE COUNCIL 97
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 ordi-
nary modes of attack. If the plans and calculations of a
man, whose power for evil is well known to you, are realized
-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 hap-
pens, 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 Dr. 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 dream- ing of disputing his commands. The doctor answered 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 evi- dently beset by some idea which filled his brain to the exclusion of every other thought. He muttered to him- self, "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 pocketbook. He made a gesture requiring silence, and then, pencil in hand, rapidly 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 theV XI Verne
