urrender or a flag of truce, so the conflict raged
horribly to a bitter end until eighty thousand bruised victors
participated in the jubilant feast that followed. Over two hundred
thousand Scumites lay dead on the field and along the mountain ridges.
According to past history, another such great battle is not liable to
occur for another generation.

The past religion of these giants is not even on a par with idolatry.
There are many saints sleeping in their graves, bright remnants of the
time of the old civilization and religion.

Amidst all this present moral wreck of humanity, there are a few
indications that point to better times. The nobler people of Scum are
banding together with the avowed purpose of bringing back the light of
culture and refinement. But it will require several thousand years of
determined effort to climb to the height from whence their ancestors
were cruelly and thoughtlessly dragged.

CHAPTER XV.

A World of Highest Invention.

After my profitable stay in this immense solar system in the Milky Way,
I crossed the vast dome of the heavens and lighted on Sirius, the
brightest star in all the canopy of night. Here I found the fire life of
Alpha Centaurus repeated, but I did not pause to study the odd phases
presented to my view.

Onward I moved to survey the remarkable systems of worlds that revolve
around Sirius. It is a veritable medley of planets, large and small,
inhabited and barren, sinless, sinful and millennial. A little universe
packed in a nutshell, figuratively speaking.

The orb of this group that first held my attention is very notable
indeed. I have labeled it "High Invention," and it is still entitled to
that distinction. It revolves around Sirius at a distance of seven
million miles and is thirty-three times as large as our world, with
physical features and climate quite dissimilar.

Here, in this world of ours, we are proud of the wonderful genius
displayed by our inventors, and is not this conceit pardonable?

If this world should stand and inventive genius continue at its present
compound rate of progress, what may we expect to see a hundred or a
thousand years hence? Now imagine yourself looking down upon a world
where the highest inventive skill is found. Such was my privilege at
this time in the course of my universal journey.

This surprising world is inhabited by a persevering race of human
beings, among whom are a large number of illustrious characters w