Near the bombs sat a tiny square box, very harmless in appearance.
Mademoiselle Mystere pressed close to Frank, whispering in his ear:
“That man is Novesky, the great Russian nihilist and manufacturer of death-dealing devices. He was forced to flee from Russia, and he is in hiding in France. He is married and has several children. It is said that he is the tenderest and most considerate of husbands and fathers, yet for the cause to which his life is devoted he would shed rivers of blood without a qualm.”
“Strange creatures these!” thought the boy. “I cannot understand them at all. They must be mentally unbalanced.”
One by one Novesky picked up the bombs and explained about them, telling how to handle them, and for what purpose each was designed. He seemed to be very careless in his manner of handling the deadly things, and still Frank saw that he was not. Each bomb was carefully returned to the table when Novesky had finished explaining about it and its use.
At last the nihilist came to the small square box.
“This, my brothers, is the most deadly and effectual instrument of all,” he said. “It is something that you may conceal to-day and set for its work to-morrow, the next day, a week from now. It will not fail; it will accomplish its mission at the hour set. You may be in England, may be afar on the ocean, bound for some foreign land; when the hour and the minute arrives, this little instrument will fulfill its mission. It is called the infernal machine.”
Then he set about describing the workings of the deadly invention, telling them how to handle it and how to set it for an explosion.
Frank was fascinated, and he quite forgot his own position of peril. He listened with the keenest interest.
Once again Mademoiselle Mystere whispered in his ear, and this time she said: