Among all his trials none was so hard to bear as the conduct of F.O.J.Smith, whose strange tergiversations were almost inconceivable.

Like the old man of the sea, he could not be shaken off, much as Morse and his partners desired to part company with him forever.

The propositions made by him were so absurd that they could not for a moment be seriously considered, and the reasonable terms submitted by Mr.Kendall were unconditionally rejected by him.

It will be necessary to refer to him and his strange conduct from time to time, but to go into the matter in detail would consume too much valuable space.

It seems only right, however, to emphasize the fact that his animosity and unscrupulous self-seeking constituted the greatest cross which Morse was called upon to bear, even to the end of his life, and that many of the aspersions which have been cast upon the inventor's fame and good name, before and after his death, can be traced to the fertile brain of this same F.O.J.