A. D. 2000

again welcomed the arrival of

y, and like the preceding evening, the

us evening were so vividly before their minds that it was impossible to

spectfully at his door, and entered wi

the first sound of their approach, and as the

ier than is your custom," he s

lock," replied Hathaway, breath

reamed of nothing but ozone, dead cats, chemistry, and the

all three were quietly sitting, and sending

e club?" inquir

e young one from the Point, and the othe

t game, or for a quiet c

ther play cinch to remaining here a

d hunted up Craft, that we might the sooner get here, for I have no

being the most fanciful and, perhaps, untenable, you have ever

in the future," th

ruptly asked Cobb, aft

to know-$1,

to Craft, "both bein

ut on style, go to parties, and send bouquets and

re. We are all poor, impecun

ot aware that either of us has anythin

ve to serve fifty years to become a colonel. Of course, I cannot serve th

onelcy; in fact, the most that is before us is a majority. Here we are, gentlemen of thirty and thirty-five years of age, giving our lives and brains to this

poke volumes, and indicated plainly that there was somet

m a glass with whisky from one of the decanters. Raising it to his lips to drink its contents, he suddenly pa

s were laid upon the table; "are you re

ave to say," answered Craft, while Hathaway's eyes an

l never, under any circumstances, be divulged by either of you to a living

men gave him

he table, held it in his right hand, requesting each of the others to place his hand

ter life, and by my belief in a just and good God, that I will not divulge or disclose, by tone of

on of them by the others was in a manner indicative of the

b laid the book

e here to-night, but there would be no use in communicating to you thes

ion, "I have known you for quite a long time. I have admired and respected you

lect of the duties you owe to your God, your country, or yourself-that it will har

ey both e

mantel; again was the oath administered, an

ssion of gratitude came into Cobb's ey

, he wheeled his chair nearer th

r thirty years of age, at the most. Here am I, who will be only a captain at fifty, if even then. This discourages the average young man. It keeps many from entering the service, because they say, 'I can do better outside.' I am ambitious, and desire to gain rank and wealth. But one thing I have found: Life is too short. I propose to lengthen it. You do not yet comprehend the import of my words. I propose to enter life again a hundred years hence! I know this s

at this man would dare to undergo the risk of death for the mere possibility of again living at a future day. He certainly was

d get his breath, he

t going to subject yo

he simply sat and looked

I fail, what is the consequence? I simply die! On this earth, a human being dies every second; does it interfere with the steady and slow movement of the machinery of life? No, not at all! Though 32,000,000 die every year, they are not missed! Do we know what the future is? Do we know it to be worse than the present? No! Then, why care if we die to-day or to-morrow? I am resolved to take this opportunity of demonstrating that man can live longer than the allotted time accorded him. I have always longed to know what this world would be like in a hundred years: it certainly will be a strange world! Most men think that we have reached a state of perfection already, and that it is almost impossible for man to improve upon the present condition of life, surrounded, as we are, by so many and great inventions. I, for one, do not think that way. I believe we are but in our infancy to what we will be in a hundred yea

severing his connections with the present, was still loath to attempt this terrible ordeal. Yet, it was also appare

s knew it

lk, Cobb faced

this, has long been a problem. If I am dead, I will be dropped from the rolls of the army; if I go on leave, I must return at the expiration

, and soon returned with a small

calibre rifle, such as is

wed them a row of small cartridges. They differed

e to Craft

thing peculiar abo

"it seems to be nothing but a solid thirty-calibre bullet. I canno

rdinary bullet with the base filled flush with some black substance; in len

is thumb and forefinger, Cob

these bullets: "This is an ordinary thirty-calibre bullet, but the grand principle is in the explosive used with it. Heretofore it has required about fifty grains of powder to send such a missile on an effective mission. Now, fifty grains of powder require quite a good-sized space; it requires a case to hold it, and all this lengthens out the cartridge. If a magazine gun is used, but f

listeners no

dle of common wrapping-paper on end at the other side of the room. Taking a po

rty sheets. Then, loading with one of his own cartridges, he

nety-seven sheets of paper had been perfora

even, or even more, perhaps. This is the power that will grant me my leave! This explosive is my own invention. You have seen its p

has a rate of combustion three times slower than gunpowder, while the volume of gas liberated is more than sixty-six times that of the latter, or about one hundred thousand times its original bulk. This is the power, as I have said, that gives me my leave of absence. On the 22d of last month I sent an application to the War Department for a leave for the purpose of perfecting a gun in which to use these cartridges. With the application I sent some

rtment, A

n, Novemb

ial O

.

tra

avalry, from December 1, 1887, until surrendered by him in writing, or upon h

of Lieut.-Ge

C. D

ant-Ge

ing to you last night, but I preferred not to show it to you until this evening. Any time after the firs

undertaking was a very foolish one, nevertheless they would gi

night; the two latter going home to wonder over this great scheme of their friend, the former seating