“Yes.”
“And you used two thousand tons of meli-melonite?”
“Yes.”
The three yes’s fell like blows of a sledge-hammer on J. T. Maston’s occiput.
“Then I conclude—” he said.
“What?” asked Barbicane.
“—That, as the experiment failed, the explosive did not give the projectile the necessary initial velocity!”
“Indeed!” said Captain Nicholl.
“And that your meli-melonite is only fit for pop-guns!”
Captain Nicholl started at the insult.