there would be promulgated a great discovery which would astonish
the world.

During Roland Clewe's absence in Germany his works had been left
under the general charge of Samuel Block. This old man was not a
scientific person; he was not a skilled mechanic; in fact, he had
been in early life a shoemaker. But when Roland Clewe, some five
years before, had put up his works near the little village of
Sardis, he had sent for Block, whom he had known all his life and
who was at that time the tenant of a small farm, built a cottage
for him and his wife, and told him to take care of the place.
From planning the grounds and superintending fences, old Sammy
had begun to keep an eye upon builders and mechanics; and, being
a very shrewd man, he had gradually widened the sphere of his
caretaking, until, at this time, he exercised a nominal
supervision over all the buildings. He knew what was going on in
each; he had a good idea, sometimes, of the scientific basis of
this or that bit of machinery, and had gradually become
acquainted with the workings and management of many of the
instruments; and now and then he gave to his employer very good
hints in regard to the means of attaining an end, more especially
in the line of doing something by instrumentalities not intended
for that purpose. If Sammy could take any machine which had been
constructed to bore holes, and with it plug up orifices, he would
consider that he had been of advantage to his kind.

Block was a thoroughly loyal man. The interests of his employer
were always held by him first and above everything. But although
the old man understood, sometimes very well, and always in a fair
degree, what the inventor was trying to accomplish, and