undreds of our ancient ships fell prey to the roving steel sharks of
blood-frenzied Europe. Countless were the vessels and men that passed
over our eastern and western horizons never to return; but whether they
met their fates before the belching tubes of submarines or among the
aimlessly drifting mine fields, no man lived to tell.

And then came the great Pan-American Federation which linked the
Western Hemisphere from pole to pole under a single flag, which joined
the navies of the New World into the mightiest fighting force that ever
sailed the seven seas--the greatest argument for peace the world had
ever known.

Since that day peace had reigned from the western shores of the Azores
to the western shores of the Hawaiian Islands, nor has any man of
either hemisphere dared cross 30dW. or 175dW. From 30d to 175d is
ours--from 30d to 175d is peace, prosperity and happiness.

Beyond was the great unknown. Even the geographies of my boyhood
showed nothing beyond. We were taught of nothing beyond. Speculation
was discouraged. For two hundred years the Eastern Hemisphere had been
wiped from the maps and histories of Pan-America. Its mention in
fiction, even, was forbidden.

Our ships of peace patrol thirty and one hundred seventy-five. What
ships from beyond they have warned only the secret archives of
government show; but, a naval officer myself, I have gathered from the
traditions of the service that it has been fully two hundred years
since smoke or sail has been sighted east of 30d or west of 175d. The
fate of the relinquished provinces which lay beyond the dead lines we
could only speculate upon. That they were taken by the military power,
which rose so suddenly in China after the fall of the republic, and
which wrested Manchuria and Korea from Russia and Japan, and also
absorbed the Philippines, is quite within the range of possibility.

It was the commander of a Chinese man-of-war who received a copy of the
edict of 1972 from the hand of my illustrious ancestor, Admiral Turck,
on one hundred seventy-five, two hundred and six years ago, and from
the yellowed pages of the admiral's diary I learned that the fate of
the Philippines was even then presaged by these Chinese naval officers.

Yes, for over two hundred years no man crossed 30d to 175d and lived to
tell his story--not until chance drew me across and back again, and
public opinion, revolting at last against the drastic regulations of
our long-dea