I had got wind of what Bings intended to do while I was down
at Pocotello, and I hurried up here to warn the soldiers, but
unfortunately I came too late. Finding the military cooped up in the
guard-house and the mob masters of the situation, I kept out of sight
on the side of the Teton, and watched the siege with my binocular. I
think there was very little of the spectacle that I missed."
"What of the mysterious force that the doctor employed to sweep off
the assailants?"
"Of course, Captain Carter's suggestion that Syx turned molten
artemisium from his furnace into a hose-pipe and sprayed the enemy
with it is ridiculous. But it is much easier to dismiss Carter's
theory than to substitute a better one. I saw the doctor on the roof
with a gang of black workmen, and I noticed the flash of polished
metal turned rapidly this way and that, but there was some intervening
obstacle which prevented me from getting a good view of the mechanism
employed. It certainly bore no resemblance to a hose-pipe, or anything
of that kind. No emanation was visible from the machine, but it was
stupefying to see the mob melt down.
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