Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

194 NEW ARABIAN NIf4nTS.
minutes too early ! The dynamite surpassed my hopes ;
but the clockwork, fickle clockwork, has once more
betrayed me. Alas, can there be no success unmixed
with failure 1 and must even this red-letter day be
chequered l)y a shadow 1 '
' Incomparable ass ! ' said Somerset, ' what have you
done 1 Blown up the house of an unoffending old lady,
and the whole earthly property of the only person who
is fool enough to befriend you ! '
' You do not understand these matters,' replied Zero,
with an air of great dignity. ' This will shake England
to the heart. Gladstone, the truculent old man, will
quail before the pointing linger of revenge. And now
that my dynamite is proved effective '
' Heavens, you remind me ! ' ejaculated Somerset.
' That brick in your bag must be instantly disposed of.
But how ? If we could throw it in the river '
' A torpedo,' cried Zero, brightening, ' a torpedo in
the Thames ! Superb, dear fellow ! I recognise in you
the marks of an accomplished anarch.'
' True ! ' returned Somerset. ' It cannot so be done ;
and there is no help but you must carry it away with you.
Come on, then, and let me at once consign you to a train.'
' Nay, nay, dear boy,' protested Zero. ' There is
now no call for me to leave. My character is now rein-
stated ; my fame brightens ; this is the best thing I
have done yet ; and I see from here the ovations that
await the author of the Golden Square Atrocity.'
' My young friend,' returned the other, ' I give you
your choice. I will either see you safe on board a train
or safe in gaol.'
' Somerset, this is unlike you ! ' said the chymist.
' You surprise me, Somerset.'
' I shall considerably more surprise you at the next
police office,' returned Somerset, with something border-
ing on rage. ' For on one point my mind is settled :
either I see you packed oft' to America, brick and all,
or else you dine in prison.'
' You have perhaps neglected one point,' returned
the unofFended Zero : ' for, speaking as a philosopher, I