The other—he studied again—the strongly marked angular features, the large brilliant eyes, big nostrils and high forehead. He could be used for the first steps—it might be necessary to hang him later. All right, he would use him and then let him hang himself—suicide was common with his type.
Waldron smiled, quickly approached the table and took his seat. He nodded to Meyer and spoke suavely:
“Your invention has been perfected?”
The deep lines about the thinker’s mouth twitched. He suddenly thrust his hand in his pocket, drew out a box and placed it under the light.
“I have it with me.”
Mora bent close and Waldron watched keenly as Meyer opened the leathern case and exposed the new device which he had promised to perfect.
“Examine the mechanisms,” he said, passing it to Waldron. “It’s perfectly harmless at present. The clockwork inside is as delicate as a Swiss watch.”
The master of the house placed the smooth round surface to his ear, listened, laughed softly and passed it to Mora.
Meyer spoke with the certainty of positive knowledge, holding Waldron’s eye with a steady gaze.
“I guarantee to stop the trade of this money-grabbing nation with all belligerents. I’ll sink a ship from inside her hold as slick as that torpedo ten days ago got the Lusitania—”