Would you have piled us up?'

"'That is merely a hypothetical question. I knew that I would not be
forced to do it. I was only afraid that, in the final anguish, Captain
Wilbur would lose his sense of seamanship, and so would wait too long.
That, I confess, would have been unfortunate. Otherwise, there was no
doubt or especial danger.'

"'I'm glad to know it!' I exclaimed, with a shudder of recollection. 'It
wasn't apparent at the time.'

"'No, perhaps not; time was very swift. In fact, he did wait too long.
He was more willful than I had anticipated.'

"I gazed across the harbor, reviewing the experience. 'What did you have
in mind,' I asked, 'before the typhoon shifted? Did you expect to catch
the center?'

"'I had no plan; it is dangerous to plan. There was a task to be begun;
the determination of its direction and result lay with the gods. It was
plain that I had been called upon to act; but beyond that I neither saw
nor cared to see.'

"I could believe him only because I'd witnessed his incredible calm. He
waved a hand toward the city. 'Come, my friend, let us sleep,' he said.
'We have earned our rest. Learn from this never to plan, and always to
beware of overconfidence. It is by straining to look into the future
that men exhaust themselves for present duty; and it is by making their
little plans that men bring down the wrath of the gods. We are their
instruments, molding in faith and humility our various destinies.
Perhaps you thought me unfeeling, but I was only happy. There constantly
were too many propitious signs.'"

THE LIZARD GOD[7]

By CHARLES J. FINGER

(From _All's Well_)

It is not pleasant to have one's convictions disturbed, and that is why
I wish I had never seen that man Rounds. He seems to have crossed my
path only to shake my self-confidence. The little conversation we had
has left me dissatisfied. I look upon my collection with less interest
than I did. I am not as pleased with the result of my investigations as
they appear in my monograph on "The Saurian Family of Equatorial
America." Doubtless the mood that now possesses me will pass away, and I
shall recover my equanimity. His story would have upset most men. Worse
still was his unpleasant habit of interjecting strange opinions. Judge
for yourself.

It was when passing through the Reptile room on my way to the study that
I first saw him. I took him to be a mere common working man passing away
an idle hour; one of the ord