truth!" he cried, "it is the power of Omnipotence."

"Then," implored the Minister, "reconsider your decision."

"I have labored too long," said Lambelle, "to forego my triumph now.
You are convinced at last, I see. Now then, tell me: will you, as
Minister of France, secure for your country this greatest of all
inventions?"

"Yes," answered the Minister; "no other power must be allowed to obtain
the secret. Have you ever written down the names of the ingredients?"

"Never," answered Lambelle.

"Is it not possible for any one to have suspected what your experiments
were? If a man got into your laboratory--a scientific man--could he
not, from what he saw there, obtain the secret?"

"It would be impossible," said Lambelle. "I have been too anxious to
keep the credit for myself, to leave any traces that might give a hint
of what I was doing."

"You were wise in that," said the Minister, drawing a deep breath. "Now
let us go and look at the ruins."

As they neared the spot the official's astonishment at the
extraordinary destruction became greater and greater. The rock had been
rent as if by an earthquake, to the distance of hundreds of yards.

"You say," said the Minister, "that the liquid is perfectly safe until
evaporation takes place."

"Perfectly," answered Lambelle. "Of course one has to be careful, as I
told you, in the use of it. You must not get a drop on your clothes, or
leave it anywhere on the outside of the bottle to evaporate."

"Let me see the stuff."

Lambelle handed him the bottle.

"Have you any more of this in your laboratory?"

"Not a drop."

"If you wished to destroy this, how would you do it?"

"I should empty the bottle into the Seine. It would flow down to the
sea, and no harm would be done."

"See if you can find any traces of the dog," said the Minister. "I will
clamber down into the quarry, and look there."

"You will find nothing," said Lambelle confidently.

There was but one path by which the bottom of the quarry could be
reached. The Minister descended by this until he was out of sight of
the man above; then he quickly uncorked the bottle, and allowed the
fluid to drip along the narrowest part of the path which faced the
burning sun. He corked the bottle, wiped it carefully with his
handkerchief, which he rolled into a ball, and threw into the quarry.
Coming up to the surface again, he said to the mild and benevolent
scientist: "I cannot find a trace of the dog."

"No