The Vast Abyss Part 55

"Oh yes," cried Tom eagerly; "I'd forgotten."

"Well," said Uncle Richard, "the oxide of iron is Nature's action upon the iron. Man produces iron by heat from the ore, but unless great care is used to protect it from the action of the atmosphere, it is always going back to a state of nature--oxidises, or goes back into a salt of iron. That by the way; I am not dealing with a salt of iron but with a salt of silver. There it is, so many grains of a salt of silver, which looked like sugar-candy when I wetted it in the water, and, as you see now, here it is a perfectly colourless fluid. There, I have nearly done talking."

"More applause, Tom," said the Vicar merrily.

"Come, that's hardly fair," retorted Uncle Richard. "What would you say to us if we applauded when you said one of your sermons was nearly at an end?"

"But we did not applaud the announcement that you had nearly done," said the Vicar, "but the fact that the experiment was nearly at hand."

"Yes; that's it, uncle. Go on, please," cried Tom.

"Very well then: my experimental magic trick is this," continued Uncle Richard. "I am about not to change a metal into a salt, but a salt-- that salt in solution in the water--back into a metal--the invisible into the visible--the colourless water into brilliant, flas.h.i.+ng, metallic silver."

"The cannon-ball changed from one hat to the other is nothing to that, Tom Blount," said the Vicar; "but we are the audience; let's be sceptical. I'll say it isn't to be done."

"Oh yes," said Tom seriously. "If uncle says he'll do it, he will."

"Well done, boy," said the Vicar, clapping the lad on the back. "I wish my paris.h.i.+oners would all have as much faith in my words as you have in your uncle's. But silence in the audience. The lecturer will now proceed with the experiment."

"Yes," said Uncle Richard, taking the great gla.s.s jar. "Now watch the magical action of Nature, and see what is a great wonder. See, I pour eight ounces--fluid ounces, Tom, not weighed ounces--into the gla.s.s measure from this bottle. There: and pour them into this gla.s.s jar, which will hold eight times as much. From the next bottle I take an equal quant.i.ty and pour it into the jar; and from this bottle I take another equal quant.i.ty and pour it into the others. Shake them all up together, and I have so much liquid which looks like water, but, as you may have observed, one of them was the limpid silver solution."

"Yes, I saw that," said Tom.

"I didn't," said the Vicar; "but boys always do see the critical thing in the conjuring trick. But go on, Professor Brandon."

"I must come to a halt here," said Uncle Richard.

"No, no, don't say that, uncle," cried Tom. "You've raised us up to such a pitch of expectation."

"Only for a few moments," said Uncle Richard, "while I prepare my gla.s.s.

Now then, when I lift out the piece, Tom, you take up the tray, and empty the water into the sink, and bring the empty tray back, place it where it was before, and then come and hold the gla.s.s here upon this blotting-paper to drain."

All this was done as requested, and then the lecturer was set free by Tom holding the three-cornered piece of gla.s.s, from which nearly all the water had run.

"Now observe," said Uncle Richard, "this is the critical point of the experiment. You see, I take this fourth bottle, and pour the same quant.i.ty of this clear liquid into my measure. There--done; and as long as I keep them separate no action takes place, but the moment I pour this clear liquid into that clear liquid, you will see that a change takes place. Look--I ought to say behold!"

The contents of the measure were poured into the gla.s.s jar.

"Gets cloudy and thick," cried Tom.

"And thicker and thicker," said the Vicar, as the contents of the jar were well shaken up, and then quickly poured into the tray.

"Now, Tom, the gla.s.s," said Uncle Richard sharply; and, taking a couple of little pieces of wood, he placed them in the tray at the sides, and then seizing the piece of broken gla.s.s speculum with the tips of the fingers of each hand, he quickly immersed the polished face in the fourfold solution, letting one side go in first, and then the rest of the face, till the gla.s.s rested about half an inch deep in the tray, its face being perfectly covered all over.

"Now watch," continued the lecturer; "the magic change has commenced, the metallic silver is forming," and as he spoke he kept on rocking the gla.s.s to and fro upon the two bits of wood.

"Why, it has turned all of a dirty black," said Tom, "and as thick as thick," as the rocking went on. "Why are you doing that, uncle?"

"So as to make a regular film come all over, and cause all the solution to be in motion, and give up its silver," was the reply.

"Is it a failure, Brandon?" said the Vicar quietly.

"I hope not," said Uncle Richard; "but of course I am a perfect novice at this sort of thing. It does look though as if I had made a mess instead of a grand experiment."

"Yes, the water has turned pretty inky and thick."

"Hurrah!" shouted Tom enthusiastically; and he caught up a duster and began to wave it in the air.

"What is it, Tom?"

"Hurrah!" yelled the lad. "Silver! Look, look!"

"I do not see any," said the Vicar, taking out his eye-gla.s.ses to put on, "only a greasy look on the top of the dirty water."

"No, sir, silver--silver," cried Tom excitedly. "I can see no end of tiny specks floating. Look, uncle. Don't you see?"

"Yes, Tom, you are right," said Uncle Richard, working away at rocking the gla.s.s to and fro.

"Oh yes, I can see it now, glittering on the surface," cried the Vicar, as excitedly as the boy. "Wonderful! quite large filmy patches floating. My dear Brandon, it really is very grand."

"Let me rock it now, uncle, to rest you," cried Tom.

"No; only a few minutes more, Tom, and then it may rest and finish."

"How long does it take?" said the Vicar.

"Oh, from ten to twenty minutes," said Uncle Richard; and at the end of a quarter of an hour, which had pa.s.sed very quickly, so interested were they all, he ceased rocking the gla.s.s and left the face immersed in the murky solution, which had resembled very dirty blackish water, with faint traces of silvery film on the surface.

At the end of another five minutes the film was in larger patches, and at the end of another similar lapse of time Uncle Richard declared his experiment so far at an end, and lifted the piece of gla.s.s out dripping and dirty, leaving the water fairly clear, but with a thick sediment at the bottom, while the dripping face of the gla.s.s, instead of being brilliant polished gla.s.s, was seen to be coated over with a drabby-white or greyish film.

"Double up that piece of blotting-paper, and place it in the window, Tom," said Uncle Richard; and while this was being done, the darkened gla.s.s was critically examined by the Vicar.

"I'm afraid you won't see many stars in that, friend Brandon," he said.

"It does not look like it," replied Uncle Richard. "But let's get it dry in this current of air, and see what it is like then. Besides, there is something else to follow. That is only the rough surface of metallic silver. It has to be burnished before it is fit for use.

That's right, Tom. There!"

The gla.s.s had been placed in the sunny window opening, and this being done, Uncle Richard washed his discoloured hands at the sink.

"Now," he said, "dinner must be nearly ready. Stop and have a bit with us, Maxted, and see what the experiment says afterwards. It will be dry enough to polish by then."

"Oh, thank you very much, but no, really I ought to--er--I did not mean to stay."

"Never mind, stop," cried Uncle Richard warmly.

"Yes, do stay, Mr Maxted," cried Tom.

"It's very good of you, but I think I ought to--"