But for that they would have
to face their own institutions. Do you see? That requires uncommon grit. Grit of
a special kind.«
    Ossipon blinked.
    »I fancy that's exactly what would happen to you if you were to set up your
laboratory in the States. They don't stand on ceremony with their institutions
there.«
    »I am not likely to go and see. Otherwise your remark is just,« admitted the
other. »They have more character over there, and their character is essentially
anarchistic. Fertile ground for us, the States - very good ground. The great
Republic has the root of the destructive matter in her. The collective
temperament is lawless. Excellent. They may shoot us down, but -«
    »You are too transcendental for me,« growled Ossipon, with moody concern.
    »Logical,« protested the other. »There are several kinds of logic. This is
the enlightened kind. America is all right. It is this country that is
dangerous, with her idealistic conception of legality. The social spirit of this
people is wrapped up in scrupulous prejudices, and that is fatal to our work.
You talk of England being our only refuge! So much the worse. Capua! What do we
want with refuges? Here you talk print, plot, and do nothing. I daresay it's
very convenient for such Karl Yundts.«
    He shrugged his shoulders slightly, then added with the same leisurely
assurance: »To break up the superstition and worship of legality should be our
aim. Nothing would please me more than to see Inspector Heat and his likes take
to shooting us down in broad daylight with the approval of the public. Half our
battle would be won then; the disintegration of the old morality would have set
in in its very temple. That is what you ought to aim at. But you revolutionists
will never understand that. You plan the future, you lose yourselves in reveries
of economical systems derived from what is; whereas what's wanted is a clean
sweep and a clear start for a new conception of life. That sort of future will
take care of itself if you will only make room for it. Therefore I would shovel
my stuff in heaps at the corners of the streets if I had enough for that; and as
I haven't, I do my best by perfecting a really dependable detonator.«
    Ossipon, who had been mentally swimming in deep waters, seized upon the last
word as if it were a saving plank.
    »Yes. Your detonators. I shouldn't wonder
