fighting together? And indeed in those days no man would. In the

Underworld there was no law between man and man; the law and machinery

of the state had become for them something that held men down, fended

them off from much desirable property and pleasure, and that was all.

Violence, that ocean in which the brutes live for ever, and from which a

thousand dykes and contrivances have won our hazardous civilised life,

had flowed in again upon the sinking underways and submerged them. The

fist ruled. Denton had come right down at last to the elemental--fist

and trick and the stubborn heart and fellowship--even as it was in the

beginning.

The rhythm of his machine changed, and his thoughts were interrupted.

Presently he could think again. Strange how quickly things had happened!

He bore these men who had thrashed him no very vivid ill-will. He was

bruised and enlightened. He saw with absolute fairness now the

reasonableness of his unpopularity. He had behaved like a fool. Disdain,

seclusion, are the privilege of the strong. The fallen aristocrat still

clinging to his pointless distinction is surely the most pitiful

creature of pretence in all this clamant universe. Good heavens! what

was there for him to despise in these men?

What a pity he had not appreciated all this better five hours ago!

What would happen at the end of the spell? He could not tell. He could

not imagine. He could not imagine the thoughts of these men. He was

227

Tales of Space and Time