fference in level between the Atlantic and Pacific,
clawed away great hunks of land. The great island became a small island,
the small island an islet. At last nothing but ruffling blue water lay
between the Grass and South America. Over this stretch of sea the great
fans blew their steady breath, protecting the continent behind from the
fate of its northern twin.

The passage between was forbidden to all ships for fear they might
inadvertently act as carriers of the seed. The lost continent was not
only isolated, it was sealed off. From the sharp apex of the inverted
triangle to its broad base in the arctic ice the Grass flourished in one
undisputed prairie, the sole legatee of all the hopes, trials,
afflictions, dreams and victories of the men and women who had lived
there since the first alien foot was set upon its soil.

FIVE

_The South Pacific Sailing Directory_

_67._ I cannot say the world greeted the end of the North American
continent with either rejoicing or regret. Relief, yes. When the news of
the last demolition was given and it was clear the Grass was unable to
bridge the gap, the imaginative could almost hear mankind emit a vast
sigh. The world was saved, they could go about their business now,
having written off a sixth of themselves.

I was reminded of Miss Francis' remark that if you cut off a man's leg
you bestow upon him a crippled mentality. For approximately two
centuries the United States had been a leg of the global body, a limb so
constantly inflicted with growingpains it caused the other parts to
writhe in sympathy. Now the member was cut off and everyone thought that
with the troublesome appendage gone life would be pleasanter and
simpler. Debtor nations expanded their chests when they remembered Uncle
Shylock was no more. Industrial countries looked eagerly to enlarge
their markets in those places where Americans formerly sold goods. Small
states whose inhabitants were occasionally addicted to carrying off
tourists and holding them for ransom now felt they could dispense with
those foreign undersecretaries whose sole business it had been to write
diplomatic notes of apology.

But it was a crippled world and the lost leg still twitched spectrally.
I don't think I speak now as a native of the United States, for with my
international interests I believe I have become completely a
cosmopolitan, but for everyone, Englishman, Italian, Afrikander or
citizen of Liberia. The disappeara