have seen the glory, they must have had the vision, but so near that it

has blinded them. The splendour has blinded them, mercifully, so that

for the rest of their lives they can hold the lights of knowledge in

comfort--that we may see!

And perhaps it accounts for Redwood's touch of preoccupation,

that--there can be no doubt of it now--he among his fellows was

different, he was different inasmuch as something of the vision still

lingered in his eyes.

II.

The Food of the Gods I call it, this substance that Mr. Bensington and

Professor Redwood made between them; and having regard now to what it

has already done and all that it is certainly going to do, there is

surely no exaggeration in the name. So I shall continue to call it

therefore throughout my story. But Mr. Bensington would no more have

called it that in cold blood than he would have gone out from his flat

in Sloane Street clad in regal scarlet and a wreath of laurel. The

phrase was a mere first cry of astonishment from him. He called it the

Food of the Gods, in his enthusiasm and for an hour or so at the most

altogether. After that he decided he was being absurd. When he first

thought of the thing he saw, as it were, a vista of enormous

possibilities--literally enormous possibilities; but upon this dazzling

vista, after one stare of amazement, he resolutely shut his eyes, even

The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth