In fact, the pendulum had stopped. Nino would not believe his own eyes.
“I confiscate it, for the present!” cried the lieutenant.
And, raising the glass of the case, he took out the tube in which the pendulum was fixed.
“When one is as ignorant as you, sir, ...” Every one present applauded vigorously. “And I shall report the matter to headquarters.”
To Nino it mattered nothing that the crowd should applaud and hiss, or that the lieutenant of the Carbineers should report him at headquarters. He was thinking only of Pippo Corradi, and how he would laugh behind his back when he heard it; and the tears stood in his eyes.
And, as though all this had not been enough, behold, on the following day, the following message clicked along the wires from Corradi:—
“To-day, 2 P.M., upward shock of first degree, lasting three seconds; followed, after interval of seven seconds, by undulatory shock, south-north, also first degree, lasting five seconds. No damage.”
“Infamous fate!” stammered Nino d’Arco. And he shut off the current, to escape from the clicks which seemed to deride him.
Luigi Capuana.