d explode the magazines of a
fort or battleship at any distance up to five miles, and that he
believed the perfection of the invention would greatly increase its
range. This new principle, which worked in conjunction with the ordinary
wireless, was something against which there was no way to guard, since
it penetrated both wood and metal. Every ship, every army, every fort
was at the mercy of the man controlling it. If a single nation
controlled it, that nation would become mistress of the world; if it was
common to all nations, war, as we know it, would be impossible.

"Mr. Vard went on to say that it was not his purpose to make this
discovery the property of a single nation. His purpose was to render war
so impossible that all nations would consent to universal disarmament,
and enter into an agreement for universal peace. He had come to Germany
first, he said, because she was the greatest of the armed nations, and
if she agreed to his proposal, the example would be very great. His
proposal was that he would prove that he was able to do everything he
claimed, in any way that Germany might prescribe; in the event of his
success, Germany was to sign an agreement to disarm, was to secure the
signature of Russia and such other nations as she could influence, and
this alliance was then to force the agreement of all other nations; the
navies and coast defences of such nations as would not agree to be blown
to pieces and their consent compelled."

Pachmann paused for a moment and wiped his glistening forehead.

"Am I stating your proposal correctly, Mr. Vard?" he asked.

The inventor nodded, without lowering his eyes from the ceiling.

"I need not say with what astonishment we listened to this extraordinary
proposal," Pachmann continued. "It seemed impossible that any merely
human brain should have been able to work out the details of a plan so
stupendous. But it impressed the Emperor; it impressed all of us. We
held other conferences, and it was finally agreed that, before we went
further, Mr. Vard should give us the proof he had suggested. The test to
which he finally consented was to be a conclusive one. He was to blow up
a French battleship in Toulon harbour. As his funds were limited, we
agreed to bear the expense of the experiment and to reimburse him for
the apparatus which he would have to leave behind. If he succeeded, we
would be ready to treat definitely with him; two commissioners, with
full powers from the Em