"Let the nations beware how they gamble with their own lives!" retorted Seaton--"You say war is a method of money-making--let them take heed how they touch money coined in human blood! I--one man only,--but an instrument of the Supreme Intelligence,--I say and swear there shall be no more wars!"
As he uttered these words there was something almost supernatural in the expression of his face--his attitude, proudly erect, offered a kind of defiance to the world,--and involuntarily Gwent, looking at him, thought of the verse in the Third Psalm-"I laid me down and slept; I awaked for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people that have set themselves against me round about."
"No--he would not be afraid!" Gwent mused--"He is a man for whom there is no such thing as fear! But--if it knew--the world might be afraid of HIM!"
Aloud he said--"Well, you may put an end to war, but you will never put an end to men's hatred and envy of one another, and if they can't 'let the steam off' in fighting, they'll find some other way which may be worse. If you come to consider it, all nature is at war with itself,--it's a perpetual struggle to live, and it's evident that the struggle was intended and ordained as universal law. Life would be pretty dull without effort--and effort means war."
"War against what?--against whom?" asked Seaton.
"Against whatever or whoever opposes the effort," replied Gwent, promptly--"There must be opposition, otherwise effort would be unnecessary. My good fellow, you've got an idea that you can alter the fixed plan of things, but you can't. The cleverest of us are only like goldfish in a glass bowl--they see the light through, but they cannot get to it. The old ship of the world will sail on its appointed way to its destined port,--and the happiest creatures are those who are content to sail with it in the faith that God is at the helm!" He broke off, smiling at his own sudden eloquence, then added--"By-the-by, where is your laboratory?"
"Haven't got one!" replied Seaton, briefly.
"What! Haven't got one! Why, how do you make your stuff?"
Seaton laughed.
"You think I'm going to tell you? Mr. Senator Gwent, you take me for a greater fool than I am! My 'stuff' needs neither fire nor crucible,--the formula was fairly complete before I left Washington, but I wanted quiet and solitude to finish what I had begun. It is finished now. That's why I sent for you to make the proposition which you say you cannot carry through."