“Then this is something at which you have been working the last month?” asked Baradier, inquisitively.
“The last two years, father. It is on this application of the regulated explosive power of the Trémont powder—you understand, regulated, that is the point—that I have been working with the General. We were on the point of success when he disappeared. But I was in possession of all the plans, sketches, and calculations we made together, and I have continued the work all alone.”
“And you think you have succeeded?”
“I do.”
“And what result will you attain with your machine?”
“A substitute for coal, petroleum, and even electricity, in the production of force. That is to say, the suppression of magazines in war vessels, permitting them to increase to an indefinite extent their sphere of action. There would be no necessity for locomotives to be supplied with a tender, and in all industries coal need only be used for metallurgic and heating purposes.”
“Oh, oh!” said Baradier. “And what will you put in the place of coal, petroleum, and electricity?”
“That, my dear father, is what I will tell you the day the patents have been taken all over the world.”
“When will you take them?”
“To-morrow, if you will advance me the forty thousand francs necessary.”