MD3PAD 286-288

[Toby G Levy]

        Dixon says that Mason suffered a childhood "misfortune" with an
torpedo, an electrical fish.

        Mason, Dixon and Washington continue to discuss the lead plates
that Celeron de Bienville planted in the Ohio territory. Washington says
he thinks they were only meant as a slap in the face to the British.

        Wicks interrupts the story to give his own opinion that the
plates might have had inscriptions of words that produced magical
effects.

        Mason and Dixon ask Washington if he's seen the plates.
Washington admits to have dug some up.  Gershom fetches them and they
all examine the plates. Dixon notices that the reverse side of the
plates contains Chinese characters.  Washington says that the only
people who recognize Chinese are Jesuits.  Dixon asks defensively if
Washington has a problem with that, and Washington responds with a code
designed to determine if Dixon is a Mason. Dixon responds with the
proper countersign. Washington is relieved to determine that Dixon is
not a french Jesuit working for France.

        The scene shifts forward to Philadelphia where Franklin is
telling Mason and Dixon about the way the Jesuits conquer time with the
use of "telegraph" involving information conveyed via giant balloons
travelling at high altitudes, operated by "converted Chinese."

        Franklin worries that the Jesuit-Chinese alliance poses the
greatest threat to "Christendom." He says it is deadly to combine the
Jesuit's "Rage for Jesus" with the Chinese "Escape into the Void." He
hopes that arguments over Feng-Shui keeps them divided.

Toby