Oom swooped
as Polter sat down. "Hah! Now we bargain. What do you care what I do
to your world? You never will see it again. I can lie to you. My
plans--" "I _do_ care." "Well, I will
tell you, Kent. I am good-natured now. Why should I not be with my
dear little Babs? I tell you, I am done with the Earth world. It iss
much nicer here. My friends, they haf
a good time always. We like this little atom realm. I am going out
once more. I must hide the little piece of golden quartz so no harm
will come to it." Polter was evidently in a high good humor. His
voice fell to an intimate tone of comradeship; but still I could not
mistake the irony in it. "You listen to me, Kent. There was a time,
years ago, when we were good friends. You liked your young assistant,
the hunchback Polter. Iss it not so?
Then why should we quarrel now? I
am gifing up the Earth world. I wanted of it only the little Babs....
You look at me so strange! You do not speak." "There
is nothing to say,"
retorted Dr. Kent wearily. "Then you listen. I haf much gold
above in Quebec. You know that. So very simple to take it out of our
atom, grow large with it to what we call up there the size of a
hundred feet. I haf a place, a room, secluded
from prying eyes under a dome roof. I become very tall, holding a
piece of gold. It is large when I am a hundred feet tall. So I haf
collected much gold. They think I own a mine. I haf a smelter and my
gold quartz I make into ingo
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