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.
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