Hall snatched the dish away, and placed another in its stead.
"This will be about right for a watch charm when it cools," he said,
with a return of his customary self-command. "I promised you the first
specimen. I'll catch another for myself."
"But can it be possible that we are not dreaming?" I exclaimed. "Do
you really believe that this comes from the moon?"
"Just as surely as rain comes from the clouds," cried Hall, with all
his old impatience. "Haven't I just showed you the whole process?"
"Then I congratulate you. You will be as rich as Dr. Syx."
"Perhaps," was the unperturbed reply, "but not until I have enlarged
my apparatus. At present I shall hardly do more than supply mementoes
to my friends. But since the principle is established, the rest is
mere detail."
Six weeks later the financial centres of the earth were shaken by the
news that a new supply of artemisium was being marketed from a mill
which had been secretly opened in the Sierras of California. For a
time there was almost a panic. If Hall had chosen to do so, he might
have precipitated serious trouble.
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