"'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 Masusaelili 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.
Pages:
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229