ce that no man born in England has ever had--but
I'm not going to spoil sport by telling you now."

"Yo've thought it all out afore me, Mr Lennard, as yo' always do
everything," replied Tom. "I'm not much given to compliments, as yo'
know, but yo're a wonderful man, and if yo've got something to show me,
it's bound to be wonderful too, and if it's anything as wonderful as t'
lies I've b'n telling those newspaper chaps about t' cannon, I reckon
it'll make me open my eyes as wide as they've ever been, for sure.
Good-bye."

During the journey to Settle, Lennard began to debate once more with
himself a question which had troubled him considerably since he had
received Mr Parmenter's cablegram. Should he publish his calculations to
the world at once, give the exact position of the Invader at a given
moment in a given part of the sky, and so turn every telescope in the
civilised world upon it--or should he wait until some astronomer made
the independent discovery which must come within a short time now?

There were reasons both for and against. To do so might perhaps stop the
war, and that would, at first sight, be conferring a great blessing upon
humanity; but, on the other hand, it might have the very reverse effect
upon the millions of men whose blood was now inflamed with the lust of
battle. Again it was one thing to convince the rulers of the nations and
the scientists of the world that the coming catastrophe was inevitable;
but to convince the people who made up those nations would be a very
different matter.

The end of the world had been predicted hundreds of times already,
mostly by charlatans, who made a good living out of it, but sometimes by
the most august authorities. He had read his history, and he had not
forgotten the awful conditions in which the people of Europe fell during
the last months of the year 1000, when the Infallible Church had
solemnly proclaimed that at twelve o'clock on the night of the 31st of
December Satan, chained for a thousand years, would be let loose; that
on the morning of the 1st of January 1001 the order of Nature would be
reversed, the sun would rise in the west and the reign of Anti-Christ
begin. Then the remnants of the European nations had gradually awakened
to the fact that Holy Church was wrong, since nothing happened save the
results of the madness which her prophesies had produced.

But the catastrophe of which he would have to be the prophet would be
worse even than thi