ust his ideas."

Summerlee had risen and was standing by the window. His thin, bony hands
were trembling with his emotion.

"Challenger," said he earnestly, "this thing is too serious for mere
futile argument. Do not suppose that I desire to irritate you by any
question I may ask. But I put it to you whether there may not be some
fallacy in your information or in your reasoning. There is the sun
shining as brightly as ever in the blue sky. There are the heather and
the flowers and the birds. There are the folk enjoying themselves upon
the golf-links and the laborers yonder cutting the corn. You tell us
that they and we may be upon the very brink of destruction--that this
sunlit day may be that day of doom which the human race has so long
awaited. So far as we know, you found this tremendous judgment upon
what? Upon some abnormal lines in a spectrum--upon rumours from
Sumatra--upon some curious personal excitement which we have discerned in
each other. This latter symptom is not so marked but that you and we
could, by a deliberate effort, control it. You need not stand on
ceremony with us, Challenger. We have all faced death together before
now. Speak out, and let us know exactly where we stand, and what, in
your opinion, are our prospects for our future."

It was a brave, good speech, a speech from that stanch and strong spirit
which lay behind all the acidities and angularities of the old zoologist.
Lord John rose and shook him by the hand.

"My sentiment to a tick," said he. "Now, Challenger, it's up to you to
tell us where we are. We ain't nervous folk, as you know well; but when
it comes to makin' a week-end visit and finding you've run full butt into
the Day of Judgment, it wants a bit of explainin'. What's the danger,
and how much of it is there, and what are we goin' to do to meet it?"

He stood, tall and strong, in the sunshine at the window, with his brown
hand upon the shoulder of Summerlee. I was lying back in an armchair, an
extinguished cigarette between my lips, in that sort of half-dazed state
in which impressions become exceedingly distinct. It may have been a new
phase of the poisoning, but the delirious promptings had all passed away
and were succeeded by an exceedingly languid and, at the same time,
perceptive state of mind. I was a spectator. It did not seem to be any
personal concern of mine. But here were three strong men at a great
crisis, and it was fascinating to observe