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Page 52
"When the party had made Ahpilus as comfortable as possible in the
bottom of the boat, and had seated themselves preparatory to their
return, Medosus stepped down to the shore, and asked Diregus if he would
convey for the exiles a message to the King and Councillors of Hili-li,
and also to the aged mystic, Masus�lili, who, though not an official,
was in reality the chief adviser of those who did control the kingdom.
Diregus, whose father was perhaps second only to the King--it was
supposed by many that the Duke was the real power behind the throne, and
it was within the range of reasonable possibility that his son, Diregus,
might some day reign--replied that he must hear the message before
making any promise. Then Medosus, knowing that his former friend and
schoolmate was at heart in sympathy with the exiles, and did not really
believe them to be in any way vicious (Diregus himself had twice
offended, as had a majority of all Hili-lite youths, past and present;
but he had not offended for a third time), spoke as follows:
"'Say for us to His Majesty, and to the Honorable Councillors, that we,
the so-called Exiles of Olympus, request our release, and also
permission to return to Hili-li. In making this request we are not
willing to say that we have ever in the past done to the State any
serious wrong. We have, however, reached a time of life when we are
willing to abjure the delights and benefits of wrestling, of
ground-ball, of bat-ball, and of other athletic sports. We are willing
to promise not again to visit the savages of surrounding islands--a rare
sport. We regret the broken neck of young Selimus, which occurred during
a game of ground-ball some three years ago, and we regret the accidental
breaking of a few other bones; but we think these accidents no more
deplorable than the death of Testube the scholar, or the blinding of the
chemist, Amurosus--accidents which occurred whilst they were in their
own laboratories, performing experiments of no material benefit, so far
as we know, to the people of Hili-li. I might also allude to the
lamentable death of Solarsistus, who some four years ago fell from his
tower whilst observing the noted shower of falling meteors. And we ask
these wise men--particularly Masus�lili, whose mind is as cultivated as
his body is neglected--what they think would become of the people of
Hili-li if, at some future time, even so few as one thousand such men as
these two strangers standing there should make war upon us, assuming
that the decrees of those in power shall have been for a single
generation faithfully observed. When the barbarian of the north overcame
our ancestors in ancient Rome, it was only after indolent habits had
sapped the physical power of the patrician; and when we here repelled
with ease many times our number of barbarians, it was whilst yet our
race was hardy from its combat with adverse forces in this then new
land. We have not forgotten the strange power which Masus�lili is able
to exert over a limited number of persons at one time. We are not
unaware of the beneficent results of those laws and customs that compel
the most of our people, between the ages of eighteen and fifty, to
perform physical labor during twelve hours of each week; but we maintain
that the elements of contest and danger are necessary concomitants of
physical exertion, if we are to acquire and retain the manly quality of
physical bravery, and that other quality so frequently wanting in him
who is only a scholar--fortitude.
"'Look,' he continued, pointing to Peters. 'There stands a man inured to
physical danger. A few hours ago he was placed where prompt resolution
was demanded to decide the fate of one of the loveliest creatures upon
whom the light of yonder crater-fire ever shone--perhaps upon whom the
sun ever shone; he had scarcely sixty seconds of time in which to
determine whether she should die, or he should take the chance of a
terrible death, with a hand-to-hand conflict, a powerful madman for an
adversary, certain to confront him should his leap by a miracle prove
successful. To have leaped over an abyss of half the width of that one,
and then to have met an ordinary adversary, would have been a
wonderfully brave deed. He decided promptly--and, too, he succeeded. No
man in Hili-li could have done half as much, even had he dared attempt
the feat.
"'That, I think, is all,' continued Medosus. 'We have rarely found our
rulers deaf to reasonable petitions, and we believe that they will, upon
mature deliberation, annul our sentences of ten years' banishment. If I
do not overtax your time and your patience, I should like to ask you,
Diregus, to suggest to your father and to Masus�lili this thought: Since
the termination of those extended surveys which the State inaugurated
and terminated after the departure of that ship which visited us about
two hundred and fifty years ago, we have been aware that Hili-li is
situated in a great inland sea, about twelve hundred miles in diameter,
which sea contains from two hundred to three hundred islands, and in
which our main island occupies a position some three hundred miles from
the nearest mainland in one direction, and some nine hundred miles from
the nearest mainland in another direction. We are also aware that the
sailing vessel which came to us found an entrance through this vast
ring-like continent, which entrance-way is only three hundred miles in
width, and is the only means of access to this inland sea, except a
narrower channel diametrically opposite to the broader one. The broader
opening, in its main part, is traversed by warm currents outward, which
remain warm until the continent is passed; and by one broad central warm
current inward, which is very swift, and the source of the great warmth
of which we have never been able to determine. The narrower passage,
generally completely frozen, or choked with ice, conveys to the central
sea only water at nearly the freezing temperature. The mainland consists
chiefly of volcanic mountains, is apparently covered with ice, and is
wholly impassable. Now, we have long thought ourselves safe from the
outer world, as we really are from the savages of the other islands
within this great sea. We know that in the first thousand years of our
history there came to us once two wrecked sailors, and at another time a
single sailor; then came the ship; and since then every ten to thirty
years we have had some token, animate or inanimate, from the great
beyond. But none that came, save the ship-load of two hundred and fifty
years ago, ever left us; and those who sailed that vessel could not
again have found us, had they tried during the remainder of their lives.
Hence, our Councillors appear to think that we shall forever remain
secreted here in safety. Now I only wish to suggest to those who are
wiser, but whose minds are not like ours sharpened by hardship and
solitude, that some great event in the vast outer world must have
occurred preceding the visit of that ship. The conditions of the world
have in some manner changed. Yet, whilst the vast ring-like continent of
ice-covered volcanoes will long protect us, the warm strait will be
discovered and mapped, and then design will carry to us many, over the
same course by which chance has conveyed a few. As usual, I suppose,
these two men will not be allowed to leave us. But in some way the
outside world will learn of us and of our exhaustless supplies of these
pebbles' (he pointed to nuggets of gold lying on the shore of the bay),
'which we know are the same as others in our museum, that our ancestors
brought from Rome, and of which--so says our ancient history--one pebble
the size of a fingerend would purchase a human captive! Some chance will
carry to those people (no doubt the descendants of those barbarians who
almost exterminated our Roman ancestors) a knowledge of this.' Here
Medosus picked from the ground a nugget of gold about the size of a
large orange, and threw it carelessly from him into the bay. 'Aurum,' he
said, disdainfully; 'aurum, the curse of our ancestors! What would not
the outer world endure to gain the ship-loads of this stuff that lie
scattered over our volcanic islands? Stuff which we use only in building
and for pavements, because it is easily worked, and bright, and lasting.
What will our people do when ship-loads of men like these two strangers
come to us? And, come, too, not almost starved and without weapons, but
with spears, and practised arms to use their spears. Astuteness is a
poor weapon, when it is the only weapon, against men who are maddened
with avarice: bravery, physical power, fortitude; the strong arm, backed
by the quick eye, and the mind inured to danger--these, in such a time
of need, will alone avail to protect our lives, our land, and our homes
from a ruthless foe.
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