"Much nicer than pottering over such rubbish," said the lady. " I have just had such a delightful letter. Guess from whom it is ?"
Augustus guessed, and so they went down towards the sea. He was not given to talking of his intentions until they were fulfilled, and there was yet much work to be done before the colossal battery could produce the phenomena he expected from it. But he had a large body of workmen in readiness, together with vast quantities of material, which seemed to consist chiefly of great sheets of zinc-coated wire netting, of endless coils of the same wire and of great heaps of cork floats, each as big as a man's head, like those used for setting tunny-nets in the Mediterranean. In a number of large deal cases which were yet unopened there were apparatus of all kinds for electric lighting, there were electric motors, electric heating stoves and ranges for cooking by electricity; not to mention telegraphic instruments for measuring currents, for varying the tension of the electricity produced and for ascertaining the tension of the charge in long cables.
The workmen began their labours under Chard's direction and in a week the sea was covered for a considerable distance with a net-work of cables and floats disposed in the shape of a huge fan, adapted to the shape of the lonely little bay below the Castello del Gaudio. All along the shore and half way up the height every level bit of ground was covered with wire netting, and pieces of the latter were thrust into the deep crevices of the rocks and adapted over the rocks themselves wherever these were smooth enough; and the netting, again, was covered with layers of mud and sand and pebbles to protect it from the action of the sun. All these nettings were carefully joined to a system of thick, insulated copper wires which ultimately converged into "one cable and led to a stone hut at some distance from the castle. From the cables floating on the sea, endless spirals of zinc-coated wire hung down to the depths, but did not reach to the bottom. These spirals also were connected and the connections all ended in a second insulated cable which led up by high posts to the little hut. The interior of the latter was now transformed into a rough laboratory and some of the instruments were unpacked from the cases, cleaned from dust and dampness and fixed upon heavy deal tables. Thick glass pillars surmounted by massive brass knobs and binding screws stood upon blocks of wood, for Augustus had taken his precautions, not knowing how far the mysterious element might confine itself to the voltaic form, and fearing some of those startling manifestations of statical electricity which have puzzled and even terrified experimenters ever since Franklin drew sparks from his kite and since Armstrong's workman was knocked down by an electric shock from his steam-engine.
Augustus shut himself up in his laboratory and cautiously began his operations. It was first necessary to ascertain whether the current would produce a spark, and if so, whether the spark were of such magnitude as to be dangerous. Carefully he connected the extremities of his cables with a large universal discharger and adjusting the points at a distance of four inches apart, he retired to the corner of the hut when the commutator was placed upon a separate stand. With intense anxiety he turned the lever that was to produce the connection, keeping his eyes fixed upon the universal discharger. Instantly a lambent flame shot across the space between the points and shed a strange blue light upon the objects near it, even in the broad daylight. Augustus breathed hard. He feared that he had produced a current of strong tension and small quantity. He broke the circuit and increased the distance of the points to eight inches. Again the same lambent flame leapt across as he turned the lever of the commutator. The tension must be enormous, equal to that of a Ruhmkorff inductorium of a hundred thousand metres secondary coil, at the very least. Confused by an appearance so familiar to him, Augustus then attempted to charge a Leyden battery by attaching separate wires to the pillars of the discharger and allowing the sparks to pass as before. No result followed, and Augustus laughed at himself as he realised his mistake. But at ten inches and a half the spark ceased to pass between the points: even at that distance the tension in a constant current was almost incredible. Chard wondered whether the galvanometer would indicate any great quantity of the fluid. With such a tension a tangent compass was of little use and he introduced a common galvanometer into the circuit and watched it as he turned the key of the commutator. He expected to see the needle deflected to an angle of forty-five degrees, indicating a comparatively very small quantity of electricity, such as is frequently found in currents' of very high tension. To his surprise and delight the needle moved quickly round through an angle of 180 degrees and presently remained stationary with its north pole pointing to the south. The quantity was therefore enormous, far beyond even what Augustus had expected, and the tension was, after all, small in comparison. The real world seemed likely to carry out the promises of the artificial one. The gigantic force developed was docile as a child. There were no stunning and unexpected shocks from the fittings of the apparatus, no sparks flying off with a report like a pistol shot such as Augustus had seen in the handling of large dynamo-electric machines and other imperfectly controllable generators. Half an hour convinced him that the current could be stored in common accumulators without trouble or danger and that the tension could be diminished by diminishing the quantity. These admirable properties Augustus attributed to the perfect balance between internal and external resistance which was maintained in his vast natural battery. The incandescent arc light worked admirably and the accumulators when connected with electromotors left nothing to be desired. A few experiments with the latter and a few rough calculations convinced Augustus that the force of his constant current was sufficient to run a train of two hundred tons at the rate of a hundred miles an hour. The idea was fascinating and he grew pale with excitement. If a few hundred yards of collectors could produce such effects, what might be expected from an apparatus covering a mile of sea-coast ? Augustus resolved to illuminate the mountains that very night, in honour of the discovery, and he lost no time in setting his men to work. Lamps were hung upon the jutting rocks, upon the walls and terraces of the castle, upon posts set upright upon the narrow shore below, and high upon the tower a truck bearing half a dozen lamps together was hoisted and connected with the rest.
CHAPTER III.
It was a warm evening in the latter part of May. Augustus had said nothing of the result of the experiments he had been making during the past weeks, intending to surprise the three ladies by showing them the astounding results of his work all at once. The party sat at dinner in the vaulted hall and talked upon indifferent subjects.
"You seem to be revolutionising this part of the world, Augustus," said Diana. "I was walking on the rocks this afternoon with Gwendoline and it seemed as though you were preparing an immense show of fireworks."
"Nothing to speak of," answered her brother; "I will show you after dinner."
"You have not succeeded in getting those people to dinner whom we were talking about the other day, have you? " asked Gwendoline. " I thought the fireworks might be in their honour."
"No, I am afraid they won't come for my asking. Perhaps if they got a word from you, my dear — "
"What oppressive weather!" remarked Lady Brenda. "I am sure there is going to be a thunderstorm."
"I think so too," said Gwendoline. "I always feel the thunder before it comes. Is not it very warm for May? We might almost go out after dinner."
"By all means, let us go out," assented Augustus. "I have something to show you. It is singularly oppressive, as you say — and yet the weather seems fine enough."
"Did it never strike you that your experiments might have an effect on the weather?" asked Diana.
"If one could find a means to affect the weather," Augustus replied, "one might produce rain and drought at will. No — I do not believe it has gone as far as that. If the currents I have produced were being discharged through the air their action might make some very slight local change. But they are not. Just now they are running off into accumulators like water into a cistern."
"I hope it is not you," said Gwendoline, "but there is certainly a very strange feeling