specially that
unless he repented, his life, by all accounts, had been so wicked, that
he was certainly destined to the latter place."

"What did he say to that?" I asked.

"Do you know, I think it frightened him, if one could imagine Oro being
frightened. At any rate he remarked that the truth or falsity of what I
said was an urgent matter for him, as he could not expect to live more
than a few hundred years longer, though perhaps he might prolong the
period by another spell of sleep. Then he asked me why I thought him so
wicked. I replied because he himself said that he had drowned millions
of people, which showed an evil heart and intention even if it were
not a fact. He thought a long while and asked what could be done in the
circumstances. I replied that repentance and reparation were the only
courses open to him."

"Reparation!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, reparation was what I said, though I think I made a mistake there,
as you will see. As nearly as I can remember, he answered that he was
beginning to repent, as from all he had learned from us, he gathered
that the races which had arisen as a consequence of his action, were
worse than those which he had destroyed. As regards reparation, what
he had done once he could do again. He would think the matter over
seriously, and see if it were possible and advisable to raise those
parts of the world which had been sunk, and sink those which had been
raised. If so, he thought that would make very handsome amends to the
departed nations and set him quite right with any superior Power, if
such a thing existed. What are you laughing at, Bickley? I don't think
it a laughing matter, since such remarks do not seem to me to indicate
any real change in Oro's heart, which is what I was trying to effect."

Bickley, who was convulsed with merriment, wiped his eyes and said:

"You dear old donkey, don't you see what you have done, or rather would
have done if there were a word of truth in all this ridiculous story
about a deluge? You would be in the way of making your precious pupil,
who certainly is the most masterly old liar in the world, repeat his
offence and send Europe to the bottom of the sea."

"That did occur to me, but it doesn't much matter as I am quite certain
that such a thing would never be allowed. Of course there was a real
deluge once, but Oro had no more to do with it than I had. Don't you
agree, Arbuthnot?"

"I think so," I answered cautiously, "but really in t