ing danger in
accumulating large quantities of it? If an accident were to happen it
would be all up with the island of----!"

Once more the name of Back Cup was on the point of escaping me.
They might consider me too well-informed if they were aware that in
addition to being acquainted with the Count d'Artigas' real name I
also know where his stronghold is situated.

Luckily Engineer Serko has not remarked my reticence, and he replies:

"There will be no cause for alarm. Thomas Roch's explosive will not
burn unless subjected to a special deflagrator. Neither fire nor shock
will explode it."

"And has Thomas Roch also sold you the secret of his deflagrator?"

"Not yet, Mr. Hart, but it will not be long before the bargain is
concluded. Therefore, I repeat, no danger is to be apprehended, and
you need not keep awake of nights on that account. A thousand devils,
sir! We have no desire to be blown up with our cavern and treasures! A
few more years of good business and we shall divide the profits, which
will be large enough to enable each one of us to live as he thinks
proper and enjoy life to the top of his bent--after the dissolution
of the firm of Ker Karraje and Co. I may add that though there is
no danger of an explosion, we have everything to fear from a
denunciation--which you are in the position to make, Mr. Hart.
Therefore, if you take my advice, you will, like a sensible man,
resign yourself to the inevitable until the disbanding of the company.
We shall then see what in the interest of our security is best to be
done with you!"

It will be admitted that these words are not exactly calculated to
reassure me. However, a lot of things may happen ere then. I have
learned one good thing from this conversation, and that is that if
Thomas Roch has sold his explosive to Ker Karraje and Co., he has
at any rate, kept the secret of his deflagrator, without which the
explosive is of no more value than the dust of the highway.

But before terminating the interview I think I ought to make a very
natural observation to Mr. Serko.

"Sir," I say, "you are now acquainted with the composition of Thomas
Roch's explosive. Does it really possess the destructive power that
the inventor attributes to it? Has it ever been tried? May you not
have purchased a composition as inert as a pinch of snuff?"

"You are doubtless better informed upon this point than you pretend,
Mr. Hart. Nevertheless, I thank you for the interest you mani