ar was over, and who had been victorious.

"No," he replied to this question. "The war is not yet over. But it
soon will be, and it will end, as it always does, with the Westenders
running away. We, the Eastenders, are always victorious."

"No," I said, seeing that he referred to the petty tribal wars of his
little island, "I mean the Great War, the war with Germany. Is it
ended--and who was victorious?"

He shook his head impatiently.

"I never heard," he said, "of any of these strange countries of which
you speak."

It seemed incredible, and yet it was true. These people living at the
very seat of the Great War knew nothing of it, though but two centuries
had passed since, to our knowledge, it had been running in the height
of its titanic frightfulness all about them, and to us upon the far
side of the Atlantic still was a subject of keen interest.

Here was a lifelong inhabitant of the Isle of Wight who never had heard
of either Germany or England! I turned to him quite suddenly with a
new question.

"What people live upon the mainland?" I asked, and pointed in the
direction of the Hants coast.

"No one lives there," he replied.

"Long ago, it is said, my people dwelt across the waters upon that
other land; but the wild beasts devoured them in such numbers that
finally they were driven here, paddling across upon logs and driftwood,
nor has any dared return since, because of the frightful creatures
which dwell in that horrid country."

"Do no other peoples ever come to your country in ships?" I asked.

He never heard the word ship before, and did not know its meaning. But
he assured me that until we came he had thought that there were no
other peoples in the world other than the Grubittens, who consist of
the Eastenders and the Westenders of the ancient Isle of Wight.

Assured that we were inclined to friendliness, our new acquaintances
led us to their village, or, as they call it, camp. There we found a
thousand people, perhaps, dwelling in rude shelters, and living upon
the fruits of the chase and such sea food as is obtainable close to
shore, for they had no boats, nor any knowledge of such things.

Their weapons were most primitive, consisting of rude spears tipped
with pieces of metal pounded roughly into shape. They had no
literature, no religion, and recognized no law other than the law of
might. They produced fire by striking a bit of flint and steel
together, but for the most part th