ams--"the less developed
races have been the first to respond to its influence. There are
deplorable accounts from Africa, and the Australian aborigines appear to
have been already exterminated. The Northern races have as yet shown
greater resisting power than the Southern. This, you see, is dated from
Marseilles at nine-forty-five this morning. I give it to you verbatim:--

"'All night delirious excitement throughout Provence. Tumult of vine
growers at Nimes. Socialistic upheaval at Toulon. Sudden illness
attended by coma attacked population this morning. _peste foudroyante_.
Great numbers of dead in the streets. Paralysis of business and
universal chaos.'

"An hour later came the following, from the same source:--

"'We are threatened with utter extermination. Cathedrals and churches
full to overflowing. The dead outnumber the living. It is inconceivable
and horrible. Decease seems to be painless, but swift and inevitable.'

"There is a similar telegram from Paris, where the development is not yet
as acute. India and Persia appear to be utterly wiped out. The Slavonic
population of Austria is down, while the Teutonic has hardly been
affected. Speaking generally, the dwellers upon the plains and upon the
seashore seem, so far as my limited information goes, to have felt the
effects more rapidly than those inland or on the heights. Even a little
elevation makes a considerable difference, and perhaps if there be a
survivor of the human race, he will again be found upon the summit of
some Ararat. Even our own little hill may presently prove to be a
temporary island amid a sea of disaster. But at the present rate of
advance a few short hours will submerge us all."

Lord John Roxton wiped his brow.

"What beats me," said he, "is how you could sit there laughin' with that
stack of telegrams under your hand. I've seen death as often as most
folk, but universal death--it's awful!"

"As to the laughter," said Challenger, "you will bear in mind that, like
yourselves, I have not been exempt from the stimulating cerebral effects
of the etheric poison. But as to the horror with which universal death
appears to inspire you, I would put it to you that it is somewhat
exaggerated. If you were sent to sea alone in an open boat to some
unknown destination, your heart might well sink within you. The
isolation, the uncertainty, would oppress you. But if your voyage were
made in a goodly ship, which bore withi