“I will see what I can do,” he said. And he went off to a telephone.
In five minutes he was back.
“The President and his cabinet meet at 9 o’clock,” announced the director. “You will be received at that hour.”
Dr. Gresham looked at his watch. It was 8:30.
“If you will be so kind,” said Dr. Gresham, “I would like to have you go with us to the President—and Sir William Belford, Monsieur Linne and the Duke de Rizzio as well, if they are still here. What we have to discuss is of the utmost importance to their governments, as well as to ours.”
Professor Whiteman signified his own willingness to go, and went to hunt the other gentlemen.
This trio my friend had named comprised undoubtedly the leading minds of the international scientific congress. Sir William Belford was the great English physicist, head of the British delegation to the congress. Monsieur Camille Linne was the leader of the French group of scientists, a distinguished electrical expert. And the Duke de Rizzio was the famous Italian inventor and wireless telegraph authority, who headed the representatives from Rome.
The director soon returned with the three visitors, and we all hastened to the White House. Promptly at 9 o’clock we were ushered into the room where the nation’s chief executive and his cabinet—all grim and careworn from a night of sleepless anxiety—were in session.
As briefly as possible, Dr. Gresham told the story of the Seuen-H’sin.