ussion Crane's face took on a look of dawning comprehension,
which changed to amazement and then to joy. For the first time in
Seaton's long acquaintance with him, his habitual calm was broken.

"By George!" he cried, shaking Seaton's hand in both of his. "I think
you have it! But how under the sun did you get the idea? That calculus
isn't in any of the books. Where did you get it? Dick, you're a wonder!"

"I don't know how I got the idea, it merely came to me. But that Math is
right--it's _got_ to be right, no other conclusion is possible. Now, if
that calc. is right, and I know it is, do you see how narrow the
permissible limits of shifting are? Look at equation 236. Believe me, I
sure was lucky, that day in the Bureau. It's a wonder I didn't blow up
the whole works. Suppose I hadn't been working with a storage cell that
gave only four amperes at two volts? That's unusually low, you know, for
that kind of work."

* * * * *

Crane carefully studied the equation referred to and figured for a
moment.

"In that case the limit would be exactly eight watts. Anything above
that means instant decomposition?"

"Yes."

Crane whistled, a long, low whistle.

"And that bath weighed forty pounds--enough to vaporize the whole
planet. Dick, it cannot be possible."

"It doesn't seem that way, but it is. It certainly makes me turn cold
all over, though, to think of what might have happened. You know now why
I wouldn't touch the solution again until I had this stuff worked out?"

"I certainly do. You should be even more afraid of it now. I don't mind
nitroglycerin or T.N.T., but anything like that is merely a child's
plaything compared to this. Perhaps we had better drop it?"

"Not in seven thousand years. The mere fact that I was so lucky at first
proves that Fate intended this thing to be my oyster. However, I'll not
tempt the old lady any farther. I'm going to start with one millionth of
a volt, and will use a piece of copper visible only under a microscope.
But there's absolutely no danger, now that we know what it is. I can
make it eat out of my hand. Look at this equation here, though. That
being true, it looks as though you could get the same explosive effect
by taking a piece of copper which had once been partially decomposed and
subjecting it to some force, say an extremely heavy current. Again under
the influence of the coil, a small current would explode it, wouldn't
it?"

"It loo