thing would not budge--the grim, insensate, horrible thing that

was holding us upon the straight road to death!

At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word

returned to my seat. There was no need for words--at least none

that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was

quite sure that he would, for he never left an opportunity neglected

where he might sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in

the morning, he prayed before he ate, he prayed when he had finished

eating, and before he went to bed at night he prayed again. In

between he often found excuses to pray even when the provocation

seemed far-fetched to my worldly eyes--now that he was about to die

I felt positive that I should witness a perfect orgy of prayer--if

one may allude with such a simile to so solemn an act.

But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in

the face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. From his

lips there flowed--not prayer--but a clear and limpid stream of

undiluted profanity, and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn

piece of unyielding mechanism.

"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed

religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the

presence of imminent death."

"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is nothing

by comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, David

within this iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that

science has scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and

with it animated a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand

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