Quinola So much the better for you.

Fontanares Senor, I respect the name which you have made; but I cannot accept your offer, because of the dangers attendant on my enterprise; I am risking my head in this work and yours is too precious to be exposed.

Don Ramon Do you think, senor, that you can afford to slight Don Ramon, the great scientific authority?

Quinola Don Ramon! The famous Don Ramon, who has expounded the causes of so many natural phenomena, which hitherto had been thought to happen without cause?

Don Ramon The very man.

Quinola I am Fontanaresi, director of the a.r.s.enal of the Venetian Republic, and grandfather of our inventor. My son, you may have full confidence in Don Ramon; a man of his position can have no designs upon you; let us tell him everything.

Don Ramon (aside) Ah! I am going to learn everything about the machine.

Fontanares (aside to Quinola) What is all this about?

Quinola (aside to Fontanares) Let me give him a lesson in mathematics; it will do him no good, and us no harm. (To Don Ramon) Will you come here? (He points out the parts of the machine) All this is meaningless; for philosophers, the great thing--

Don Ramon The great thing?

Quinola Is the problem itself! You know the reason why clouds mount upwards?

Don Ramon I believe it is because they are lighter than the air.

Quinola Not at all! They are heavy as well as light, for the water that is in them ends by falling as flat as a fool. I don't like water, do you?

Don Ramon I have a great respect for it.

Quinola I see that we are made for each other. The clouds rise to such a height, because they are vapor, and are also attracted by the force of the cold upper air.

Don Ramon That may be true. I will write a treatise on the subject.

Quinola My grandson states this in the formula R plus O. And as there is much water in the air, we simply say O plus O, which is a new binomial.

Don Ramon A new binomial!

Quinola Yes, an X, if you like it better.

Don Ramon X, ah yes, I understand!

Fontanares (aside) What a donkey!

Quinola The rest is a mere trifle. The tube receives the water which by some means or other, has been changed to cloud. This cloud is bound to rise and the resulting force is immense.

Don Ramon Immense, why immense?

Quinola Immense--in that it is natural, since man--pay particular attention to this--does not create force--

Don Ramon Very good, then how--?

Quinola He borrows it from nature; to invent, is to borrow. Then--by means of certain pistons--for in mechanics--you know--

Don Ramon Yes, senor, I know mechanics.

Quinola Very good! The method of applying a force is child's play, a trifle, a matter of detail, as in the turnspit--

Don Ramon Ah! He employs the turnspit then?

Quinola There are two here, and the force is such that it raises the mountains, which skip like rams--as was predicted by King David.

Don Ramon Senor, you are perfectly right, the clouds, that is, the water--

Quinola Water, senor? Why! It is the world. Without water, you could not--That is plain. Well now! This is the point on which my grandson's invention is based; water will subdue water. X equals O plus O, that is the complete formula.

Don Ramon (aside) The terms he employs are incomprehensible.

Quinola Do you understand me?

Don Ramon Perfectly.

Quinola (aside) This man is a driveling dotard. (Aloud) I have spoken to you in the language of genuine philosophy--

Mathieu Magis (to Monipodio) Can you tell me who this remarkably learned man is?

Monipodio He is a very great man, to whom I am indebted for my knowledge of ballistics; he is the director of the Venetian a.r.s.enal, and purposes this evening to make us a contribution on behalf of the republic.

Mathieu Magis I must go and tell Senora Brancadori, she comes from Venice. (Exit.)

SCENE FOURTEENTH

The same persons, with the exception of Mathieu Magis. Lothundiaz and Marie.

Marie Am I in time?

Quinola (aside) Hurrah! Here comes our treasure.

(Lothundiaz and Don Ramon exchange greetings and examine the pieces of machinery in the centre of the stage.)

Fontanares What! Is Marie here?

Marie My father brought me. Ah! my dear friend, your servant told me of your distress--

Fontanares (to Quinola) You scoundrel!

Quinola What, grandson!

Marie And he brought all my agonies to an end.