"
Here Doctor Bainbridge paused for a moment in his narration, lighted a
cigar, took a whiff or two, and then continued:
"You must pardon me for entering so fully into the affairs of Medosus
and his fellow-exiles. It was only by tact and patience that, little by
little, I gathered from Peters the facts. My excuse for this verbosity
is, that from the speech of Medosus--whose words show that he supposed
Pym and Peters would never be allowed to leave Hili-li--we obtain,
better than from all other sources of information which were opened to
Peters, an insight of the geographical knowledge, and of many of the
peculiarities, of a strange, isolated people--a people which, beyond all
doubt, I think, is descended from the pure imperial Roman stock; and
also because it explains the means by which the exiles afterward
obtained their liberty, and were thus enabled to assist their relatives
and friends in the City of Hili-li, at a time when, though of brief
duration, the islands of Hili-li were threatened with depopulation. It
seems that the message of Medosus, joined with the lesson of Lilama's
abduction, carrying as it did a suggestion of future possibilities
should the exiles continue to increase in number whilst growing more
reckless, and at the same time no strangers be at hand to assist in
overcoming them--these considerations, and the influence of Pym, who
described the quality of English, German, French, and American soldiers
that were produced in lands where, he said, sports and games similar to
those of Hili-li (he explained the nature of sparring, cricket, etc.
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