The Ingenious Blackmailer

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Title:     The Ingenious Blackmailer
Author: Ambrose Bierce [More Titles by Bierce]

An Inventor went to a King and was granted an audience, when the following conversation ensued:

_Inventor_.--"May it please your Majesty, I have invented a rifle that discharges lightning."

_King_.--"Ah, you wish to sell me the secret."

_Inventor_.--"Yes; it will enable your army to overrun any nation that is accessible."

_King_.--"In order to get any good of my outlay for your invention, I must make a war, and do so as soon as I can arm my troops--before your secret is discovered by foreign nations. How much do you want?"

_Inventor_.--"One million dollars."

_King_.--"And how much will it cost to make the change of arms?"

_Inventor_.--"Fifty millions."

_King_.--"And the war will Cost--?"

_Inventor_.--"But consider the glory and the spoils!"

_King_.--"Exactly. But if I am not seeking these advantages? What if I decline to purchase?"

_Inventor_.--"There is no economy in that. Though a patriot, I am poor; if my own country will not patronise me, I must seek a market elsewhere."

_King_ (to Prime Minister).--"Take this blackmailer and cut off his head."

[The end]
Ambrose Bierce's short story: The Ingenious Blackmailer

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