“What would be said if some wealthy or more powerful foreign nation came to our own country to carry away the bodies of our great Washington or Lincoln, or say of some of our soldiers who lost their lives on the field of battle?
“It may be said that the removal of these highly valuable treasures will serve mankind, but mankind could be better served if the cost of such removal were used in the aiding of needy peoples.
“Beneath Constantinople, the Turkish capital, are buried the treasures of the old Pashas, and this is one of the reasons that makes both England and Russia so anxious to control that city.
“The treasures buried with Kings, Pashas or Pharaohs were buried in accordance with the beliefs of the people, and no other nation, especially a nation of a different religion, should have the right to exploit these graves and treasures to their own advantage.
“However, that is but a matter of opinion and has nothing to do with my new invention, the telephoto device, which has enabled you to see these things for yourselves.”
Tremendous applause greeted Carl as he finished his lecture. Immensely elated, he shouted, “I am satisfied. I have a machine that is one hundred per cent. perfect.”
The words were hardly out of his mouth, when a great seven-league boot kicked him off the globe, while a voice said, “The hell you have!”
Falling through space he looked back and saw another man, a young fellow he had seen in his audience, pick up the machine saying, “Here we have it, one hundred per cent. perfect.”
And again came the gigantic boot and the voice, “The hell you have!” and he, too, slid off the planet.
A second man, one of the type termed “nut” came along and seeing the device, called out gleefully, “Years ago I invented this, but could not make it work. Now I shall claim it mine.”