If anyone ever deserved such a
gain, it is you." With his friend's aid, Adam secured the property without loss of time. Then he went to see his uncle, and told him about it. Mr. Salton was
delighted to find his young relative already constructively the owner of
so fine an estate--one which gave him an important status in the county. He made many anxious enquiries about Mimi, and the doings of the White
Worm, but Adam reassured him. The next morning, when Adam went to his host in the smoking-room, Sir
Nathaniel asked him how he purposed to proceed with regard to keeping his
vow. "It is a difficult matter which you have undertaken. To destroy such a
monster is something like one of the labours of Hercules, in that not
only its size and weight and power of using them in little-known ways are
against you, but the occult side is alone an unsurpassable difficulty. The Worm is already master of all the elements except fire--and I do not
see how fire can be used for the attack. It has only to sink into the
earth in its usual way, and you could not overtake it if you had the
resources of the biggest coal-mine in existence. But I daresay you have
mapped out some plan in your mind," he added courteously. "I have, sir. But, of course, it may not stand the test of practice." "May I know the idea?" "Well, sir, this was my argument: At the time of the Chartist trouble, an
idea spread amongst financial circles that an attack was going to be made
on the Bank of England. Accordingly, the directors of that institution
consulted many persons who were supposed to know what steps should be
taken, and it was finally decided that the best protection against
fire--which is what was feared--was not water but sand. To carry the
scheme into practice great store of fine sea-sand--the kind that blows
about and is used to fill hour-glasses--was provided throughout the
building, especially at the points liable to attack, from which it could
be brought into use. "I propose to provide at Diana's Grove, as soon as it comes into my
possession, an enormous amount of such sand, and shall take an early
occasion of pouring it into the well-hole, which it will in time choke. Thus Lady Arabella, in her guise of the White Worm, will find herself cut
off from her refuge. The hole is a narrow one, and is some hundreds of
feet deep. The weight of the sand this can contain would not in itself
be sufficient to obstruct; but the friction of such a body working up
against it would be tremendous." "One moment. What use would the sand be for destruction?" "None, directly; but it would hold the struggling body in place till the
rest of my scheme came into practice." "And what is the rest?" "As the sand is being poured into the well-hole, quantities of dynamite
can also be thrown in!" "Good. But how would the dynamite explode--for, of course, that is what
you intend. Would not some sort of wire or fuse he required for each
parcel of dynamite?" Adam smiled. "Not in these days, sir. That was proved in New York. A thousand pounds
of dynamite, in sealed canisters, was placed about some workings. At the
last a charge of gunpowder was fired, and the concussion exploded the
dynamite. It was most successful. Those who were non-experts in high
explosives expected that every pane of glass in New York would be
shattered. But, in reality, the explosive did no harm outside the area
intended, although sixteen acres of rock had been mined and only the
supporting walls and pillars had been left intact. The whole of the
rocks were shattered." Sir Nathaniel nodded approval. "That seems a good plan--a very excellent one. But if it has to tear
down so many feet of precipice, it may wreck the whole neighbourhood." "And free it for ever from a monster," added Adam, as he left the room to
find his wife. CHAPTER XXV--THE LAST BATTLE


Lady Arabella had instructed her solicitors to hurry on with the
conveyance of Diana's Grove, so no time was lost in letting Adam Salton
have formal possession of the estate. After his interview with Sir
Nathaniel, he had taken steps to begin putting his plan into action. In
order to accumulate the necessary amount of fine sea-sand, he ordered the
steward to prepare for an elaborate system of top-dressing all the
grounds. A great heap of the sand, brought from bays on the Welsh coast,
began to grow at the back of the Grove. No one seemed to suspect that it
was there for any purpose other than what had been given out. Lady Arabella, who alone could have guessed, was now so absorbed in her
matrimonial pursuit of Edgar Caswall, that she had neither time nor
inclination for thought extraneous to this. She had not yet moved from
the house, though she had formally handed over the estate. Adam put up a rough corrugated-iron shed behind the Grove, in which he
stored his explosives. All being ready for his great attempt whenever
the time should come, he was now content to wait, and, in order to pass
the time, interested himself in other things--even in Caswall's great
kite, which still flew from the high tower of Castra Regis. The mound of fine sand grew to proportions so vast as to puzzle the
bailiffs and farmers round the Brow. The hour of the intended cataclysm
was approaching apace. Adam wished--but in vain--for an opportunity,
which would appear to be natural, of visiting Caswall in the turret of
Castra Regis. At last, one morning, he met Lady Arabella moving towards
the Castle, so he took his courage _a deux mains_ and asked to be allowed
to accompany her. She was glad, for her own purposes, to comply with his
wishes. So together they entered, and found their way to the
turret-room. Caswall was much surprised to see Adam come to his house,
but lent himself to the task of seeming to be pleased. He played the
host so well as to deceive even Adam. They all went out on the turret
roof, where he explained to his guests the mechanism for raising and
lowering the kite, taking also the opportunity of testing the movements
of the multitudes of birds, how they answered almost instantaneously to
the lowering or raising of the kite. As Lady Arabella walked home with Adam from Castra Regis, she asked him
if she might make a request. Permission having been accorded, she
explained that before she finally left Diana's Grove, where she had lived
so long, she had a desire to know the depth of the well-hole. Adam was
really happy to meet her wishes, not from any sentiment, but because he
wished to give some valid and ostensible reason for examining the passage
of the Worm, which would obviate any suspicion resulting from his being
on the premises. He brought from London a Kelvin sounding apparatus,
with a sufficient length of piano-wire for testing any probable depth. The wire passed easily over the running wheel, and when this was once
fixed over the hole, he was satisfied to wait till the most advantageous
time for his final experiment. * * * * *

In the meantime, affairs had been going quietly at Mercy Farm.