Page:Karel Čapek - The Absolute at Large (1927).djvu/68

 Pennsylvania has set the oil-fields ablaze. The fire's still raging."

"The fire's still raging," repeated Bondy, as though in a dream. "The fire's still raging. My God, then, we have won!"

"The Chairman of the Mining and Smelting Company has shot himself. The Stock Exchange has simply gone mad. We stand at 8,000 to-day in Berlin. The Cabinet is in permanent sitting, and want to proclaim a state of siege. This isn't an invention, Chief, it's a revolution!"

The Chairman and the General Manager of the M.E.C. looked at each other in silence. Neither of them was a poet, but in that moment their very souls were singing.

The manager drew his chair closer and said in a low voice, "Chief, Rosenthal has gone crazy."

"Rosenthal!" exclaimed G. H. Bondy.

The manager nodded mournfully. "He has become an orthodox Jew, and he's gone in for Talmudic mysticism and Cabalism. He has given ten millions to the cause of Zionism. Not long ago he had a terrible quarrel with Dr. Hubka. You've surely heard that Hubka has joined the Bohemian Brethren."

"What, has Hubka got it too?"

"Yes, I think the Board of Directors must have caught it from Machat. You were not present at