hat had been set free in the water. Already some
of them had perhaps entered the dark cavernous mouth of the first
culvert to start on their slow journey to Birmingham. The light faded
from the sky and darkness spread swiftly over the lake. Sarakoff emptied
the remaining tubes calmly and then turned his footsteps in the
direction of Rhayader. I waited a moment longer in the deep silence of
that lonely spot; and then with a shiver followed my friend. The
bacillus had been let loose on the world.

CHAPTER VI

THE ATTITUDE OF MR. THORNDUCK

We reached London next day in the afternoon. I felt exhausted and could
scarcely answer Sarakoff, who had talked continuously during the
journey.

But his theory had interested me. The Russian had revealed much of his
character, under the stress of excitement. He spoke of the coming of
Immortality in the light of a _physical_ boon to mankind. He seemed to
see in his mind's eye a great picture of comfort and physical enjoyment
and of a humanity released from the grim spectres of disease and death,
and ceaselessly pursuing pleasure.

"I love life," he remarked. "I love fame and success. I love comfort,
ease, laughter, and companionship. The whole of Nature is beautiful to
me, and a beautiful woman is Nature's best reward. Now that the dawn of
Immortality is at hand, Harden, we must set about reorganizing the world
so that it may yield the maximum of pleasure."

"But surely there will be some limit to pleasure?" I objected.

"Why? Can't you see that is just what there will not be?" he cried
excitedly. "We are going to do away with the confining limits. Your
imagination is too cramped! You sit there, huddled up in a corner, as if
we had let loose a dreadful plague on Birmingham!"

"It may prove to be so," I muttered. I do not think I had any clear idea
as to the future, but there is a natural machinery in the mind that
doubts golden ages and universal panaceas. Call it superstition if you
will, but man's instinct tells him he cannot have uninterrupted pleasure
without paying for it. I said as much to the Russian.

He gave vent to a roar of laughter.

"You have all the caution and timidity of your race," he said. "You are
fearful even in your hour of deliverance. My friend, it is impossible to
conceive, even faintly, of the change that will come over us towards the
meaning of life. Can't you see that, as soon as the idea of Immortality
gets hold of people, they will devot