Sometimes the thought, appalling in its truth, flashed across his brain that the force he had discovered and condensed within small compass might as easily destroy half the world as a nation! The fabled thunderbolts of Jove were child's play compared with those plain-looking, thimble-like cylinders which contained such terrific power! A touch of hesitation--of pure human dread affected his nerves for the moment,--he shivered in the sultry air as with cold, and looked about him right and left as though suspecting some hidden witness of his actions.

There was not so much as a bird or a butterfly in sight, and he drew a long deep breath of relief.

The day was treading in the steps of dawn with the full blazonry of burning Californian sunlight, and away in the distance the ridges and peaks of distant mountains stood out sharply clear against the intense blue of the sky.

There was great stillness everywhere,--a pause, as it seemed, in the mechanism of the universe.

The twitter of a bird or the cry of some wild animal would have been a relief,--so Seaton felt, though accustomed to deep silence.
"Better get through with this at once"-- he said, aloud--"Now that a safe place is prepared." Here he looked at his watch.