4
By midnight he was ready to start. He had nothing with him but his sulphur ball and some other things which he needed for his labours. He hid these under his cloak, put out the light of his house and prepared to leave.
Suddenly he heard a noise in the alley where the others lived. He sat down and waited, not because he was afraid of them, but because he did not choose to talk with fools any more. And, while he sat and waited, he took his sulphur ball from under his cloak and began to rub it with his hand, as he had done thousands of times before. He gazed at it, though he could see nothing, for the night was pitch-dark.
All at once, he started up with a cry.
He dropped the ball, found it again, with difficulty, on the floor and began to rub and rub like mad.
Now he saw it quite plainly: light came against his hand when he rubbed. Time after time, he rubbed and, each time, he saw the light.
He was so greatly excited that he could hardly breathe. He closed his eyes and opened them again. No, it was not imagination: the light came as soon as he rubbed the sulphur ball.
He held the ball up to his ear, while he rubbed and rubbed like mad.... Now he plainly heard a faint crackling....
Then he jumped up and sang and cried and laughed and danced round the room like a young man crazy with delight:
“It’s the lightning!... It’s the thunder!” he shouted, exultantly. “I have called them and they come at my bidding.”
The door opened and the little boy whom he had made electric stood on the threshold:
“Father Two-Legs, will you take me with you where you are going?” he asked.
“Do you want to come?” asked Two-Legs.
“Yes,” said the little boy. “I want to stay with you and go where you go. I am not afraid of you. You shall teach me your magic and, one day, I shall become a wise and great man, like yourself.”
“You do not know what you are doing,” said Two-Legs. “I am no magician, but I have seen what no other man has seen. You do not know what has happened to me this night.... I have rubbed my sulphur ball and have produced lightning from it and thunder. They lie in my hand. I can call them forth when I please. They are only quite tiny as yet and weak, but I know that, one day, they will grow strong, like those up there in the clouds. Do you dare?”
“I dare,” said the boy.
“Then come,” said Two-Legs.
He took him by the hand and went out with him into the dark night, to find a country where there were fewer fools.
