and turf, over which petroleum had been poured, was set fire to,
and when blazing to its greatest height was put out in a few minutes
by some drops from a small bottle.

The jubilant public conducted Ivan back to the town in triumph, and
at the next general meeting of shareholders it was resolved to offer
him a remuneration of six hundred thousand gulden if he would
undertake to bring the Bondavara mine into working order.

There were not wanting, however, plenty of opponents. Foremost there
was Prince Waldemar, who possessed the largest proportion of shares,
and who, nevertheless, offered the most determined opposition. He did
everything to embarrass and obstruct Ivan's scientific propositions.

"I grant," he said, "that you may be able to put out with one bucket
of fluid six cubit feet of burning coals; but consider for a moment
that in the Bondavara pit, reckoning from the place where the
explosion took place to the castle, there must be at least sixty
thousand cubit feet of burning stratum. You must have, to meet this,
ten thousand buckets of fluid ready to shoot over the mass. What
machine have you that would be able for such an operation as this?"

"I have not forgotten that such a machine would be necessary,"
returned Ivan, quietly.

"Let us suppose," continued the prince, "that you do succeed in
getting a sufficient quantity of fluid to bear upon the burning mass.
Don't you perceive that this very supply will develop a monstrous
amount of gas, which would permeate the pit from top to bottom, and
cause another and still worse explosion?"

"I have foreseen this danger."

"And, finally, if you possess any idea, which you evidently do, of the
mechanism of machines and the expenditure necessary to procure the
best, you must face the problem that a million of money will not be
sufficient to procure the necessary materials which would be wanting
to make the experiment successful."

"I have drawn up an estimate of probable outlay."

The shareholders here shouted out to him that they undertook all
expenses, even if they amounted to a million, and on the spot it was
agreed that Ivan should receive full powers to do for the Bondavara
mine what he considered necessary, let the cost be what it might.

Prince Sondersheim saw that he could not stem the course of Ivan's
popularity; it must have its way. While the assembled shareholders
were signing the deed of authorization, he took Ivan aside, and said
to him: