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bottle, all the order and sanctity of things--Cries of "No! No!"--Well,
if it was not to be so, they must exert themselves, they must say
good-bye to hesitation--Here there came a gust of cheering. They must
say good-bye to hesitation and half measures.
"We have heard, gentlemen," cried Caterham, "of nettles that become
giant nettles. At first they are no more than other nettles--little
plants that a firm hand may grasp and wrench away; but if you leave
them--if you leave them, they grow with such a power of poisonous
expansion that at last you must needs have axe and rope, you must needs
have danger to life and limb, you must needs have toil and distress--men
may be killed in their felling, men may be killed in their felling---"
There came a stir and interruption, and then the man from prison heard
Caterham's voice again, ringing clear and strong: "Learn about Boomfood
from Boomfood itself and--" He paused--"Grasp your nettle before it is
too late!"
He stopped and stood wiping his lips. "A crystal," cried some one, "a
crystal," and then came that same strange swift growth to thunderous
tumult, until the whole world seemed cheering....
The man from prison came out of the hall at last, marvellously stirred,
and with that in his face that marks those who have seen a vision. He
knew, every one knew; his ideas were no longer vague. He had come back
to a world in crisis, to the immediate decision of a stupendous issue.
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