DIPLOMACY WINS


Underhill, left alone, sat for some moments looking from the broken
table to the cannonball and then back again. Finally he picked up a
fragment of glass, for the Royal face protector had likewise been
broken, when the good old English oak had met its defeat at the hands
of this Hun of the world of science, and with it, very gingerly, he
tapped the iron ball--this rusty old barbarian which had set at naught
the force of gravity, had violated all the established laws of nature,
and had like the Germans in Belgium smashed through.

Finding that nothing happened, he hesitated for a moment, and, then,
bracing himself against the shock, he touched his finger gently to
this rude old paradox. There was no shock, and, reassured, he leaned
across the table and tried with both hands to lift the cannon-ball.

"That part is genuine there is no doubt," he granted. "That old
cannon-ball must have been here since--?" He gave a start as his eyes
caught the inscription pasted upon it, which was:

"A freak cannon-ball, made at the Forge
and Manor of Greenwood, Virginia, 1778.
Presented in 1889 to Lord Roberts by
General George Bolling Anderson, Governor
of the State of Virginia."

"How extraordinary!" he exclaimed. "These Americans are popping up at
every turn."