s a
black sea-soaked rock jutting out above the waves; Selwyn pointed at it,
poised himself, and, with the long, overhand, straight throw of a
trained ball player, sent the grenade like a bullet at the rock.

There came a blinding flash, a stunning, clean-cut report--but what the
others took to be a vast column of black smoke was really a pillar of
dust--all that was left of the rock. And this slowly floated, settling
like mist over the waves, leaving nothing where the rock had been.

"I think," said Edgerton Lawn, wiping the starting perspiration from his
forehead, "that you have made good, Captain Selwyn. Dense or bulk, your
Chaosite and impact primer seem to do the business; and I think I may
say that the Lawn Nitro-Powder Company is ready to do business, too. Can
you come to town to-morrow? It's merely a matter of figures and
signatures now, if you say so. It is entirely up to you."

But Selwyn only laughed. He looked at Austin.

"I suppose," said Edgerton Lawn good-naturedly, "that you intend to make
us sit up and beg; or do you mean to absorb us?"

But Selwyn said: "I want more time on this thing. I want to know what it
does to the interior of loaded shells and in fixed ammunition when it is
stored for a year. I want to know whether it is necessary to use a
solvent after firing it in big guns. As a bursting charge I'm
practically satisfied with it; but time is required to know how it acts
on steel in storage or on the bores of guns when exploded as a
propelling charge. Meanwhile," turning to Lawn, "I'm tremendously
obliged to you for coming--and for your offer. You see how it is, don't
you? I couldn't risk taking money for a thing which might, at the end,
prove dear at any price."

"I cheerfully accept that risk," insisted young Lawn; "I am quite ready
to do all the worrying, Captain Selwyn."

But Selwyn merely shook his head, repeating: "You see how it is, don't
you?"

"I see that you possess a highly developed conscience," said Edgerton
Lawn, laughing; "and when I tell you that we are more than willing to
take every chance of failure--"

But Selwyn shook his head: "Not yet," he said; "don't worry; I need the
money, and I'll waste no time when a square deal is possible. But I
ought to tell you this: that first of all I must offer it to the
Government. That is only decent, you see--"

"Who ever heard of the Government's gratitude?" broke in Austin.
"Nonsense, Phil; you are wasting time!"

"I've got t