What else is there to do?"

We are not half a hundred and they are many millions."

But we held our own."

So far."

If it is God's will, we may still hold our own."

Yes. But think of the dead!"

Another voice took up the strain. "The dead," it said. "Think of the

unborn...."

"Brothers," came the voice of young Redwood, "what can we do but fight

them, and if we beat them, make them take the Food? They cannot help but

take the Food now. Suppose we were to resign our heritage and do this

folly that Caterham suggests! Suppose we could! Suppose we give up this

great thing that stirs within us, repudiate this thing our fathers did

for us--that you, Father, did for us--and pass, when our time has

come, into decay and nothingness! What then? Will this little world of

theirs be as it was before? They may fight against greatness in us who

are the children of men, but can they conquer? Even if they should

destroy us every one, what then? Would it save them? No! For greatness

352

The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth