Chapter 10 One Enemy Vs Twenty-Five Millions of Friends The American public took a lively interest in the smallest de-tails of the enterprise of the Gun Club. It followed day by day the discussion of the committee. The most simple preparations for the great experiment, the questions of figures which it involved, the mechanical difficulties to be resolved— in one word, the entire plan of work— roused the popular excitement to the highest pitch. The purely scientific attraction was suddenly intensified by the following incident: We have seen what legions of admirers and friends Barbicane's project had rallied round its