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5. Chapter 6: Modularity Using Functions
TRUE/FALSE
1. In creating C++ functions, you must be concerned with the function itself and how it interacts with
other functions, such as main().
ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: 306
2. In C++, a function is allowed to change the contents of variables declared in other functions.
ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: 309
3. In C++, nesting of functions is never permitted.
ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: 313
4. Calling a function places a certain amount of overhead on a computer.
ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: 333
5. Calling a function and passing arguments by value is a distinct advantage of C++.
ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: 338
6. C++ functions are constructed to be independent modules.
ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: 359
7. You should make all your variables global if possible.
ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: 364
8. After they’re created, local static variables remain in existence for the program’s lifetime.
ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: 370
9. Static variables can be initialized using other variables.
ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: 370
10. Declaration statements containing the word extern create new storage areas.
ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: 374
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The function that does the calling is referred to as the ____ function.
a. summoned c. called
b. child d. calling
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 307
6. 2. The declaration statement for a function is referred to as a function ____.
a. prototype c. definition
b. calling d. initialization
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 307
3. Every C++ function consists of two parts, a function header and a function ____.
a. prototype c. body
b. definition d. declaration
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 309
4. The names in parentheses in the header are called the formal ____ of the function.
a. parameters c. identifiers
b. variables d. constants
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 310
5. ____ are any set of conditions a function requires to be true if it’s to operate correctly.
a. Postconditions c. Sentinels
b. Preconditions d. Prototypes
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 314
6. A ____ is the beginning of a final function that can be used as a placeholder for the final unit until the
unit is completed.
a. declaration c. stub
b. definition d. prototype
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 315
7. C++ provides the capability of using the same function name for more than one function, referred to as
function ____.
a. prototyping c. interpreting
b. conditioning d. overloading
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 317
8. A function ____ is a single, complete function that serves as a model for a family of functions.
a. template c. prototype
b. stub d. definition
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 319
9. The line template <class T>, called a ____, is used to inform the compiler that the function
immediately following is a template using a data type named T.
a. template prototype c. template prefix
b. template body d. template postfix
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 320
10. When a value is passed to a called function with only copies of the values contained in the arguments
at the time of the call, the passed argument is referred to as a ____.
a. pass by reference c. call by reference
b. call by value d. passed by value
7. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 328
11. A function returning a value must specify, in its ____, the data type of the value to be returned.
a. body c. assignment
b. initialization d. header
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 328
12. Telling the C++ compiler that a function is ____ causes a copy of the function code to be placed in the
program at the point the function is called.
a. inline c. overloaded
b. online d. overline
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 334
13. Passing addresses is referred to as a function ____.
a. pass by value c. call by value
b. pass by reference d. pass by copy
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 339
14. In C++ a reference parameter is declared with the syntax:
a. dataType referenceName& c. dataType* referenceName&
b. dataType* referenceName d. dataType& referenceName
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 339
15. The default in C++ is to make passes by ____.
a. address c. value
b. pointer d. reference
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 346
16. Because the variables created in a function are conventionally available only to the function, they are
said to be ____ variables.
a. local c. external
b. global d. internal
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 360
17. ____ is the section of the program where the identifier, such as a variable, is valid or “known.”
a. Reach c. Range
b. Spread d. Scope
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 360
18. A variable with ____ scope has storage created for it by a declaration statement located outside any
function.
a. local c. internal
b. global d. function
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 360
19. The symbol ____ represents the C++’s scope resolution operator.
a. :: c. ||
b. : d. ;;
8. ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 364
20. In C++, function prototypes typically have ____ scope.
a. external c. internal
b. local d. global
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 365
21. Where and how long a variable’s storage locations are kept before they’re released can be determined
by the variable’s ____.
a. data type c. storage category
b. name d. scope
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 368
22. Local variables can be members only of the auto, static, or ____ storage categories.
a. global c. extern
b. const d. register
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 369
23. A local variable that is declared as ____ causes the program to keep the variable and its latest value
even when the function that declared it is through executing.
a. auto c. register
b. static d. extern
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 370
24. Most computers have a few high-speed storage areas called ____.
a. registers c. CPU memory
b. static d. external memory
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 372
25. A(n) ____ declaration statement simply informs the computer that a global variable already exists and
can now be used.
a. auto c. extern
b. static d. global
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 374
COMPLETION
1. The use of function ____________________ permits the compiler to error-check data types.
ANS:
prototypes
prototype
PTS: 1 REF: 308
2. A(n) ____________________ function is summoned into action by the calling function.
ANS: called
9. PTS: 1 REF: 307
3. In a function call, the items enclosed in parentheses are known as ____________________.
ANS:
arguments
argument
parameters
parameter
PTS: 1 REF: 308
4. In addition to argument data types, ____________________ argument values may be assigned in the
function prototype for added flexibility.
ANS: default
PTS: 1 REF: 317
5. A function returning a value must specify the ____________________ type of the value to be
returned.
ANS: data
PTS: 1 REF: 328
6. After a function returns a value, program control reverts to the ____________________ function.
ANS: calling
PTS: 1 REF: 330
7. To actually use a returned value, you must provide a(n) ____________________ to store the value or
to use the value in an expression.
ANS: variable
PTS: 1 REF: 331
8. Function call overhead is justified because it can reduce a program's ____________________
substantially.
ANS: size
PTS: 1 REF: 333
9. The advantage of using an inline ____________________ is an increase in execution speed.
ANS: function
PTS: 1 REF: 334
10. C++ provides two types of address parameters: ____________________ and pointers.
10. ANS:
references
reference
PTS: 1 REF: 339
11. While a function is executing, only variables and parameters that are in the ____________________
for that function can be accessed.
ANS: scope
PTS: 1 REF: 363
12. In addition to the space dimension represented by scope, variables have a(n) ____________________
dimension.
ANS: time
PTS: 1 REF: 368
13. A variable is said to be alive if ____________________ for the variable is available.
ANS: storage
PTS: 1 REF: 369
14. Initialization of ____________________ variables is done only once, when the program is first
compiled.
ANS: static
PTS: 1 REF: 370
15. Variables that are created by definition statements external to a function are called
____________________ variables.
ANS: global
PTS: 1 REF: 372
12. planet, but storms come suddenly and we can never be sure of the
weather on the outer crust. It is well to make haste."
We started stumblingly, each of us led by a soldier to whom the
way was plain. We were jostled here and there through the gloom,
and finally were made to mount some object which gave a metallic
ring beneath our feet.
"This is the royal lift," explained the king. "When the heat of the
day is suspended I often go above."
He then addressed himself to Olox. "Give the signal at once."
The signal was given and we shot aloft. The transformation
from the fury of a storm to the light and tranquillity of the
underworld had been great and astounding; but this second
transformation was none the less impressive.
We emerged into a wonderful night set with stars that were
perfectly familiar to me. The Dipper and Polaris were in the north
and occupying relatively the same positions that they do when
viewed from Earth—so little effect has the immensities of distance
upon their posts in the vault.
But our own globe! It hung huge and tremulous in the blue of
the evening sky, so plain that we could almost note the continents
that gemmed its surface.
Meigs gave a whimpering cry and he and Markham and Popham
rushed together, fell upon each other's neck, and wept aloud.
"Oh, I wish I was back, I wish I was back!" moaned the broker.
"I'm lonesome enough to die!" sobbed Markham.
"Exiled, exiled, exiled!" was all the coal baron could murmur in
husky tones.
13. I will not say that I was proof against the sentiments that had
unmanned the one-time magnates, but I will declare that both Quinn
and myself had our feelings under better control. In silence I
assisted the professor to plant the telescope and we each gazed
longingly at the greenish star magnified to many times its diameter.
"There's the United States!" cried Popham.
"Can you see New York?" whispered Meigs hoarsely. "Look for
New York, man!"
Of course, a view of New York was out of the question, but the
frantic ex-plutocrats imagined they could see it, and even look down
into Wall Street for aught I know. Again were their emotions too
much for them, and they gave way as they had done before.
"Mr. Munn," said the professor, "this is harrowing."
"It is pretty hard on those gentlemen," I returned, "to be
brought face to face with something they thought they owned and
yet not be able to possess it."
"That remark is unlike you," answered the professor, and turned
to the king. "A thought occurred to me while we were coming up on
the lift," he went on, "and I should like you to explain."
"If it is in my power." answered the king, his eye to the
telescope.
"When we dropped into the kingdom of Baigol there was a
storm on the surface of this planet. That storm must have hidden
the sun, and yet the reflectors below were sending day throughout
the realm."
"The reflection came from other and smaller reflectors arranged
to take care of just such an emergency," explained the king. "Storms
are only local, you know, and when one gathers over the giant
14. reflector the smaller ones at the other points are brought into use.
But let's not talk of this planet, but of that other one up here."
And along that line the king's conversation ran for a full hour.
At last, when we were ready to descend, so far from being
dismayed by the enormity of the task before him, the royal zealot
was fortified in his resolution to carry it out.
His majesty was in great good humor, and when we had left the
lift and marched back to the square he very graciously tendered us
the freedom of the town.
He could not understand why the professor and I should have
any desire to escape from his country, and inasmuch as he had
made us his honored guests, to return us to the circle of zet would
be to besmirch his hospitality.
The zet had been regathered into the high chief's zetbai and it
was not again released. It was not necessary for Popham to return
to the royal mines until the following night, so he remained with us,
along with Markham, and we all bunked down in the centre of the
plaza.
"Is there no way, Professor Quinn," quavered Popham,
"whereby we can escape from the inhuman monsters who people
this planet? The treatment I have suffered is monstrous! I feel as
though I shall die if I have to go back to those royal coal mines
again. Being a large man, they expect me to do the work of a dozen
Mercurials. There are blisters on my hands and my feet are so sore I
can hardly walk."
This wail from the brusque and tyrannical Popham was in itself a
highly edifying comment on his sad experiences.
15. "Your position was grace itself compared with mine," mourned
Markham. "These people seemed determined to starve me to death.
I am expected to travel from house to house, begging food, and
they hardly give me enough at one house to take me to the next."
"You are on the surface," returned Popham, "and you are not
delving continually in the hot, unhealthy regions where I must do my
work. I have to toil like a galley slave for a cent a day, and a cent's
worth of this vegetable food, which seems to be all they have here,
does not furnish me with enough strength for my labor."
"You have your clothes, at least," whimpered Meigs. "Quinn
ought to help us; he must help us."
"I shall do what I can, gentlemen," said the professor wearily. "I
have not succeeded in showing you the error of your ways, but I
must let that pass. A greater calamity menaces our planet than any
you could possibly let loose upon our devoted country."
"Meigs was saying something about that," spoke up Popham.
"What is it this mad king thinks of doing?"
"Why, with fifty warriors, armed with zetbais, he intends making
an attack upon Terra. He hopes to conquer our mother orb."
Popham gave a faint cry of derision.
"Why; if that rascal ever landed on our planet," said he, "he and
his warriors would be captured out of hand and turned over to some
museum for exhibition purposes. If I happened to be around at the
time of their capture," he finished angrily, "I would send every last
one of them into mines that are mines. I'd make them toil with their
four hands until they wore them off at the wrists. Gad, but that
would be a revenge worth having!"
16. "This is not a time to think of revenge, Mr. Popham," spoke up
the professor, more in sorrow than rebuke. "We have our planet to
consider, and, next to the planet, ourselves."
"Our planet is big enough to take care of itself," averred
Markham. "Leave that out of the question, professor, and confine
your attention to some way in which we can better our condition."
"The danger that threatens Earth is greater than you appear to
imagine," went on Quinn. "For whatever happened to our home-star
because of King Gaddbai and his astounding plans of conquest, I
should be responsible. The thought weighs upon me and will give
me no rest. The king must be foiled."
"How does he intend to reach the Earth?" asked Markham.
"By means of our car."
"Is that in usable condition?" came joyously from Popham.
"So far as I can discover, it lies intact at the bottom of the crater
on whose rim we landed. There is no reason why the car cannot be
employed for a return to Terra; but," and here the professor's words
became emphatic, "it shall not be so employed by King Gaddbai and
his army of conquest. I shall prevent that at all hazards."
"How?" came hoarsely from the three ex-millionaires.
"By destroying the car, as a last resort and when other means
fail," was the calm rejoinder.
"You would not dare!" breathed Popham.
"You would not have the heart to take from us our sole means
of escape!" added Markham.
"Madman!" ground out Meigs. "If I really thought that you
would destroy our only means of salvation, I'd——"
17. "You wouldn't do a thing, Meigs," I chimed in. "Whatever the
professor thinks best to do is going to be done, and no two ways
about it."
"I don't want to destroy the car," continued the professor,
unmoved by this storm he had aroused, "if other means can be
made to serve. And I may say that we shall exhaust every effort to
make other means serve. I feel that it is my duty to return you
gentlemen to the place from whence you were taken. I have not
accomplished what I had hoped to do, but it is better to be
disappointed in that rather than to let King Gaddbai get away in the
car with his fifty warriors."
"Certainly it is your duty to send us back," said Meigs, "and you
should consider that duty before anything and everything else."
"Exactly!" seconded Popham, "and we must take Gilhooly with
us. If one goes, all must go."
"Leave the matter to me, gentlemen," counseled the professor
quietly. "I shall do everything possible."
The coal baron and the food-trust magnate continued to dwell
upon their harrowing experiences with various degrees of intensity
until a command for silence came from a word-box somewhere
around us. Our raucous tones were keeping the people awake all
over the city, the talking machine averred, and unless we became
instantly quiet the authorities would take the matter in hand.
This threat had the desired result. We gave over our
conversation and settled ourselves for the night.
I do not know how long I slept, but it must have been some
hours. I was aroused to find it still dark and to behold the professor
with a lighted match in one hand and his other hand over my lips.
18. The burning match threw a fitful glare around the open space
and even reached to the roof tops beyond. Both the palace and the
imperial exchequer were brought shadowily forth out of the gloom.
"Now is the time, Mr. Munn!" whispered the professor.
"The time?" I returned sotto voce. "Time for what?"
Without a word he pointed to the square building under the
wing of the palace. I understood. It was now or never if I intended
to make my raid and secure the Bolla.
I started erect.
"You have matches, Mr. Munn?" the professor asked in the very
faintest of audible tones.
I nodded.
"You must be very careful to keep to the street until you reach
the country," the professor went on. "If you should make a misstep
and wreck a block of houses the disaster would be irretrievable."
"I will strike matches and light my way until I get well into the
hills," said I.
"Just what I should have suggested," said he. "Good-by, Mr.
Munn. Fail not to return with the exchequer as soon as the king of
Baigol has secured the Bolla. Meantime I shall hope to get the car in
readiness to speed our departure."
We struck hands as men will when confronted by an issue of life
and death. Then I stepped into the street, bent over the imperial
exchequer, and wrenched it from its foundations.
It was a well-constructed building, and, although its contents
jingled like a rattle box when I took it under my arm, it did not give
way in any part.
19. Striking a match on the roof of the exchequer, I lighted my way
down the street, picking my steps with care and caution.
CHAPTER XVI.
HOW ILL-LUCK OVERTOOK ME.
Good fortune fared forth with me from the royal city and remained
steadfastly at my right hand as long as the matches lasted; but
when the last one had flickered out and left me in impenetrable
gloom, my troubles began.
I was well into the rough country when the lights failed,
threading a road bordered by hills that in some places were shoulder
high. About the first thing I did was to blunder off the trail; in trying
to regain it I stumbled over a five-foot mountain and went down all
of a heap.
Had I fallen on the exchequer I should have smashed it into a
cocked hat—a result only narrowly averted. Regaining my feet and
smothering some good strong language that rose instinctively to my
lips, I essayed once more to find the Baigol road.
I had my trouble for my pains, and, after an hour spent in
fruitless blundering, I sat down on a cliff, propped up the exchequer
on the side of a cañon and nursed my barked shins until day began
flashing from the reflectors.
As I sat there waiting for the light my brain was filled with evil
thoughts which I recall with contrition and chronicle with regret. I
20. knew the exchequer must contain the king's wealth—golden pieces
of eight of a rare fineness unknown to the mints of Terra.
I was not of a mind to return the gold after allowing the king of
Baigol to take his Bolla. Why not stow the treasure away about my
clothes and rely upon my native tact and discretion to get me to the
steel car in spite of the grasping monarch of Baigadd?
I was much wrought up over the way I had lost the loot taken
from the plutocrats. In my mind's eye I could see those four bulging
handkerchiefs waxing and waning about the castle, and I had hoped
they would fall to the surface of Mercury along with the car, so that I
might still be able to secure them.
In this I was disappointed. Once the Mercurial atmosphere was
struck the loot and the revolver had fallen away from the castle like
so many pieces of lead.
The wallets, undoubtedly, had been incinerated by the sun's
rays, together with the banknotes that were in them. I imagined that
the intense heat had exploded the cartridges in the six-shooter and
had warped and twisted the firearm until it was no longer
serviceable.
The other plunder also, even if found, could not by any
possibility be utilized by me or any one else.
All this had made me savagely eager to recoup my finances.
And as I sat brooding on the cliff I asked myself why I should not do
this at the expense of the Baigadd exchequer.
I did not arouse myself at the first reflected flash of day.
Although I had decided to appropriate the contents of Gaddbai's
coffers, I was casting about for a suitable method that would gain
my end with the least inconvenience.
21. A maudlin chuckle from near at hand brought me abruptly out
of my reflections. I turned, and there, on a neighboring elevation,
stood Gilhooly, balancing the exchequer on the broad of his hand.
I was brought up staring. What could the motive power of the
B.&B. Interplanetary be doing there, at that time? His absence must
have interfered sadly with the train schedule. Certainly the officers of
the system, would not have countenanced this neglect of duty, had
they known of it.
Then it flashed over me that Gilhooly had run away. He had
tired of racing up and down the V-shaped groove with a string of toy
cars and had taken French leave of the system.
The fire of insanity was still in his eyes, and he retreated step
by step as I advanced upon him.
"Look here, Gilhooly," said I in my most persuasive tones, "that
building you have in your hands is the imperial exchequer. Put it
down, there's a good fellow. Don't juggle with it in that way.
Suppose you were to drop it!"
Gilhooly had begun shaking it up and down as though it were
one of those cast-iron banks in which children sometimes deposit
their coppers The jingle of the exchequer's contents appeared to
please him.
"If you want this road you have got to bid up for it," said he.
"I'm not so young that I don't know a good thing when I've got it in
my grip."
"That road has gone into the hands of a receiver," I returned,
humoring his fancy, "and I'm the receiver. Give it here, Gilhooly."
"I was not consulted when the receiver was appointed," he
answered. "I have rights in the matter and those rights must be
22. protected. It's a deal framed up to beat the pool. My, how it rattles!"
and he shook the exchequer again.
I was at my wits' end. I knew that tact was far and away more
effective than violence when dealing with a crazed person.
"Put it down for a moment, Gilhooly," I wheedled, "and come
over to the directors' meeting."
"Who are the directors?" he asked suspiciously.
"Well, there are only two. I'm one, you know, and you're the
other."
He exploded a laugh, tossed the exchequer in the air like a
strong man playing with a cannon ball, and then caught it deftly as it
came down.
"I'm the boy to juggle with railroads!" he boasted. "Ask any one
in the Street and they'll tell you."
"Look out!" I gasped, "or you'll drop it."
"Not I!" he mumbled. "I never yet wrecked a railroad."
"Where did you come from, Gilhooly?" I asked, seeking to get
him into conversation while I edged closer to him by degrees.
"From distant parts," he replied. "I've been the whole thing for a
big transcontinental line that I'm adding to the Gilhooly System." He
chuckled craftily. "They thought they had me, but I got out from
under with the rolling stock. I've hid the cars in a gully, and my next
move will be to steal the right of way. I'm the big railroad man of the
country. Just ask anybody who knows what's what in transportation
circles and they'll tell you the same thing."
I had arrived within a few feet of him, and suddenly I leaped
forward. But he was wary and sprang aside, the exchequer jingling
sharply.
23. "No, you don't," said he. "You're trying to serve a subpoena on
me and I'm too foxy for you. Get out of here or I'll have you thrown
downstairs."
"Come over to the directors' meeting, Gilhooly," I urged, turning
and walking away from him. "You've got to look after your interests,
you know."
But the vagaries of a shattered mind are hard to deal with.
Gilhooly laughed at me, sat down on a rock and took the exchequer
on his knees. He was wary, and never for an instant permitted me to
lose his eyes.
"You can't fool me," he cried, "so you'd better take the next
train for home. I hold a majority of the stock, and after I've watered
it a little I'll have enough to buy another line. It's easy being a
railroad magnate when you know how. Clear out, you annoy me."
"Gilhooly," said I, with a gentleness I was far from feeling,
"don't you want to know something about Popham?"
"Don't know him," snarled Gilhooly, "but if he's trying to break
into this railroad game, just tell him that I control the whole bag of
tricks and that it's not worth his while."
Hugging the exchequer in his arms, he rocked back and forth
and began to sing.
"Well," said I, starting away again, "if you don't want to attend
this directors' meeting I'll have to look after it myself."
He made no reply but kept on hugging the exchequer, rocking
back and forth, and timing his monotonous croon to the rattle of
treasure in the king's strong rooms.
Warily as I could, I circled about, creeping on all fours and
screening myself by the little hills and ridges. My design was to
24. come up on Gilhooly from behind and snatch the exchequer away
from him.
But he heard me. Before I had come within a dozen feet of him,
he stopped his singing, leaped to his feet, and whirled around. The
next moment he had placed himself at a safe distance.
"I'm too many for you," he shouted. "Go away, or I'll call the
police."
I was in a sweat for fear some of King Gaddbai's soldiers would
locate us and develop their zetbais. One flash of that violet fire
would do the business for both Gilhooly and me, and the professor's
cherished plans would go by the board. Besides, I had plans of my
own, and it seemed as though Gilhooly was destined to make a
mess of everything.
"Oh, come, now," I cried, in a bit of a temper. "That won't do
you any good, Gilhooly. It doesn't belong to you, and you haven't
any right to keep it."
"Don't we ever keep anything that don't belong to us?" he asked
sarcastically. "I'm not that sort of a fellow, for I keep everything in
the railroad line that I can get my hands on."
Logic and reason were utterly dead in his mind. Whims he had,
but they were but fancies of the moment. As I stood there looking at
him, I wondered how the people of Baigadd had ever managed to
keep him hauling their trains as long as they had.
"Good-by," he called suddenly, taking the exchequer under his
arm. "I think I'll go to the office and——"
Just then I made a dash at him. With a mocking laugh he
whirled about and raced off across the hills, myself in hot pursuit.
25. Gilhooly's course intersected the Baigol highway and he turned
into it, roaring defiantly as he sped along. Suddenly he stumbled and
fell, and a cry of dismay escaped me.
He had fallen squarely on the exchequer and wrecked it
completely!
Kyzicks—yellow coins the size of a gold dollar and worth five
times as much—rolled, everywhere about the road, diverging from a
heap that lay revealed by the collapsed walls of the building. Flinging
forward, I went to my knees and began plunging my hands into the
pile.
I believe that just then I was as daft as Gilhooly himself. In
those days the glimmer of gold always had a demoralizing effect on
me.
As I raked my outspread fingers through the yellow pile I
brought up a round, jet-black stone the size of my fist. I regarded it
as a bit of chaff in the bin of wealth and hurled it from me down the
road. With a loud yell, Gilhooly leaped after it.
Then I became aware of a weird and inexplicable feeling that
laid itself like an axe at the root of my professional instinct. What
right had I to all this treasure? It belonged to the king of Baigall; he
was an unworthy creature, perhaps, but still it belonged to him.
What had I been about to do? My heart sickened and I sprang up,
spurned the kyzicks with my heel and turned my back.
That was my awakening. In one instant the iron of repentance
had pierced my soul. The past rolled its turgid waters in front of me.
I shivered and drew back from that wave of evil, covering my eyes
to blot it from my sight.
26. How should I atone for the days that had been? Could I do it by
an unflinching rectitude in the days there were to be? Conscience
was belaboring me with telling blows. I had not been on intimate
terms with my conscience for many years, and to have it thus
suddenly overmaster me and drive me into reformation was a
mystery beyond my power to explain.
While I stood there consumed with regret and hoping against
hope for the future, a voice hailed me from down the road.
"Did you say your name was Munn?"
Could that calm, contained voice have come from Emmet
Gilhooly? I looked in his direction and found him leaning against a
jutting spur of rocks, his right hand clutching convulsively the black
stone I had flung from me.
The crazed light had vanished from his eyes. An expression of
wonder was on his face, but it was a rational wonder developed by
an awakening as abrupt and complete as mine had been.
"You have it right, Mr. Gilhooly," I answered, the extreme
mildness of my voice surprising me. "My full name is James Peter
Munn and——"
"You are the thief who just came into the castle and relieved
myself and my friends of their valuables?"
Gilhooly's normal condition had come back to him at the point
where it had been dropped. I was not slow in reasoning how this
might be.
"I was a thief in the letter and spirit less than ten minutes
back," I humbly answered, "but now, sir, I have turned a leaf. I
promise you that the rest of the book shall read better than what
has gone before."
27. Gilhooly passed his left hand across his forehead.
"Where—where am I?" he faltered.
"In the kingdom of Baigadd," I returned, "some distance out of
the royal city."
"Baigadd? Royal city? You talk strangely, Mr. Munn. Where is the
castle? Where are Meigs, Markham, and Popham? And Professor
Quinn? Are we";—he started forward and looked wildly around—"still
in the castle? But no, that can't be. You just said we were
somewhere else. I beg your pardon, Mr. Munn. I am confused and
hardly know what I am saying."
I began an explanation, going patiently into every detail, and
when I finally finished Gilhooly knew as much about our situation as
I did.
For some time Gilhooly walked up and down the road, passing
and repassing the heap of gold. At last he paused beside it.
"We should return this treasure to its owner, Mr. Munn," said he,
and he dropped the black stone on the yellow pile. "From what you
tell me, this is a strange planet and strangely peopled. Yet there is
superstition here as well as in our native orb—as these wonder tales
about the Bolla will bear evidence."
"I think with you, sir," said I. "The Bolla is simply a fetish and its
miraculous powers are purely imaginary."
"That is the sensible way to look at it. Suppose we load our
pockets with the gold and start back with it to the city from whence
it was taken?"
I assented and suggested using our coats as improvised bags
for the easier transportation of the king's wealth, and we stripped to
our shirt sleeves and set about our work. In half an hour we had
28. collected all the scattered treasure, had bound it up in our coats and
had started back.
Gilhooly preserved a pensive silence. His thoughts were far
away and he seemed entirely oblivious of the fact that I was
trudging along at his side. It was only when we turned an angle in
the road and came face to face with Quinn, Meigs, Markham, and
Popham that Gilhooly showed any interest in our present situation.
CHAPTER XVII.
A CHANGE OF HEART.
The meeting between Gilhooly and his brother exiles was most
affecting. In the general joy at finding the ex-railway magnate
restored to reason the matter of the imperial exchequer was
temporarily lost sight of.
And I think the man who rejoiced most over Gilhooly's returned
sanity was Quinn. The professor's beady little eyes were fairly
glowing as he caught and clung to Gilhooly's hand after the others
had expressed their pleasure and tendered congratulations.
"This is a glad day for me, Mr. Gilhooly!" exclaimed the
professor. "I had taken myself very much to task on account of your
clouded mind."
"Your reproach of yourself was well merited," spoke up Meigs,
who always had a venomous shaft in his quiver for Quinn. "Small
thanks to you that our friend is himself again."
29. "Gently, Mr. Meigs, gently," came from Gilhooly. "I do not find
Professor Quinn in the wrong in any particular."
Popham, Meigs, and Markham regarded Gilhooly with open-
mouthed amaze. I think the professor also was startled; I know at
least that I was.
"Do you mean to say, Mr. Gilhooly," cried Meigs, "that you can
overlook Quinn's criminal folly in casting us adrift in the unknown?"
"I cannot only overlook it," was the quiet response, "but I can
forgive it. Almost I am of the opinion that it was justifiable."
"Faugh!" rasped Meigs. "You have not recovered your reason
after all or you would not talk that way."
"Let us not engage in useless disputes, gentlemen," put in the
professor. "There is another affair to engage us. It was thought,"
Quinn went on, with an expressive look at me, "that Mr. Gilhooly had
fled the realm and taken the imperial exchequer with him."
"It was I who took the exchequer," said I, "and it is I who hope
to return it to the king."
"What about the Bolla?" queried Quinn, giving me a sharp look.
"It is here," said I, touching the makeshift bundle I was carrying
under my arm. "At least," I added, "there is a strange looking black
stone among the gold coins and I suppose it must be King Golbai's
palladium."
"We were sent forth to look for Mr. Gilhooly and the stolen
treasure," remarked the professor. "Olox and his Gaddbaizets are
likewise on the road, but we have been able to leave them pretty
well in the rear."
"What was thought of my absence?" I asked.
30. "Very little, Mr. Munn. Every officer of the state seemed united
in fixing the blame upon Mr. Gilhooly. Since he was known to be
mentally unsound, no crime could be attached to his act."
"I shall tell the truth of it," I declared.
"And be condemned to death by zet," said the professor, gazing
at me fixedly.
"Let the king believe what he will," said Gilhooly. "I should
rather have it so since it means so much to Mr. Munn."
"Why did you not keep on to the other kingdom with the Bolla?"
inquired Quinn of me.
"Because I didn't think I should be doing the right thing," I
replied.
"Ah! And why this sudden change in your sentiments, Mr.
Munn?"
"I can't explain it, professor."
"I believe it is a theory of yours that one thief has the right to
take from another what does not belong to either of them."
"Two wrongs do not make a right."
"Indeed! The change in your sentiments is most sudden—and
remarkable. Will you please untie the sleeves of your coat and allow
me to have a look at that black stone?"
I lowered my bundle and opened it.
"There," said I, but poorly concealing the contempt I felt for the
black stone as I pointed to it. "You may take stock in the superstition
if you will, professor, but I will have none of it."
The professor gave me a queer smile, then picked up the Bolla
and surveyed it curiously.
"Would you like to look at it, Mr. Meigs?" he asked.
31. "A fetish like this is a sure sign of barbarism," observed Meigs,
taking the stone. "The creatures who inhabit this planet are not of a
very high order mentally."
He passed the Bolla to Popham and Popham handed it to
Markham. It was presently returned to me and I packed it away as
before.
The professor then asked me for an account of what had
happened during my flight toward Baigol with the exchequer.
Gilhooly was not able to help me much in the recital, as the most
important part of our adventures was a perfect blank to him.
I did not try to conceal anything from Quinn. I painted my
designs on the king's money as black as they really were and he
smiled as he listened.
"When did Mr. Gilhooly lay hands on the Bolla?" Quinn asked.
"How do you know that he did?" I returned.
"I am very sure that he did," was the quiet reply.
Thereupon I told the professor how I had thrown the stone
from the heap of gold and Gilhooly had picked it up, his reason
returning shortly afterward. Quinn wagged his head sagely and
mumbled something I could not understand, but which had to do
with the ridiculous pretensions of the Bolla.
I feared then for the mind of this great and good man. Was he
breaking under the tremendous responsibility incurred by removing
the plutocrats from Earth?
A chill of apprehension shot to my heart. I was about to say
something of a soothing nature to my patron—for I certainly looked
upon him as such—when Olox and his Gaddbaizets appeared.
32. Key seven of the high chief's word-box titillated with relief the
instant the officer got his eye on Gilhooly. The exuberance faded into
a note of foreboding and the foreboding into the words:
"Where is the king's treasure house? If that has not been
recovered, calamity threatens our expedition to the planet Terra!"
"The treasure house has been broken and wrecked," replied the
professor, "but my friends, Mr. Gilhooly and Mr. Munn, are returning
the gold to his majesty in their coats."
"Why should Mr. Gilhooly steal the gold and then help to return
it?" came incredulously from Olox. "Is it simply a vagary of his
unbalanced mind?"
"I am pleased to say, Chief Olox, that his mind is no longer
unbalanced," returned the professor, warning me to silence with a
look as I was about to operate my talking machine. "Mr. Gilhooly is
now as sane as you or I."
Olox looked worried.
"I declare," said he, "I don't know how the president and board
of directors of the Interplanetary will regard this unexpected
occurrence."
"They should feel overjoyed at the unclouding of so bright a
mind as Mr. Gilhooly's."
"But what if it interferes with the traffic of the road? They have
been running limited trains on a schedule heretofore beyond their
wildest dreams. His majesty farmed out the concession to the
management of the road for ninety-nine years, on a cash basis. If
the traction power proves unavailable, a demand will be made on
the king for a return of the money—and just now any depletion of
the imperial coffers might prove fatal to the projected expedition."
33. It was just as well that the ex-magnates could not comprehend
what was going on between the word-boxes. The utilitarian views of
the king, as exemplified in Gilhooly's case, would have jarred
somewhat on their conceit and self-esteem.
I noticed that a gleam of hope crossed Quinn's face when Olox
spoke of a possible failure of the king's plan of conquest through
lack of the sinews of war. But the hope died away almost instantly
when Quinn reflected, as I did, that the monarch was as
unscrupulous as he was resourceful.
No further conversation was indulged in. The royal troops
executed an about face and returned to the capital, convoying our
reunited party of aliens.
As we drew up in the square the two glittering soldiers
appeared in the turrets and sounded a call that drew the king to the
balcony.
His majesty listened to the report of Olox with a beaming face,
but his smiles fled when he learned how the traction interests of the
realm were threatened by Gilhooly's returning sanity.
While this momentous question was still up for debate, Meigs
plucked at the professor's sleeve.
"Tell the king, professor," said he, his eyes downcast, "that I see
the error of my way and frankly acknowledge it. If I am ever so
fortunate as to get back to Earth I shall be a reformer. Please ask
the king when I can have my clothes."
And this was Meigs! Had the heavens fallen I could not have
been more astounded.
"Tell him the same for me," spoke Hannibal Markham. "Make it
even stronger, if you will. I have not been starved into submission—I
34. should have withstood such a siege to the death—but the change
has been wrought here."
He struck a hand against his heart.
"And ask him, professor," added Markham plaintively, "to have
my wants supplied immediately from the palace kitchens."
"Allow me to join my honorable friends in this free
announcement of a change of heart," chimed in Augustus Popham.
"Look at my hands!"
He held his hands out to us and we found them calloused and
scarred.
"I can't go back to those mole burrows!" he supplemented.
Professor Quinn showed no signs of amazement. After grasping
the palm of each ex-magnate, he fairly electrified his word-box with
the supplications of the exiles.
"Are these acknowledgments freely made and do they come
from contrite hearts," said the king, "or do they merely cloak a
desire to escape further privation at the expense of truth?"
The professor indignantly repelled the insinuation. When he had
finished his vigorous remarks, I stepped to the front and made a
complete confession of my designs on the Bolla and the imperial
exchequer. Quinn tried to stop me, but I would suffer no
interference.
"Are you aware," said the king gravely, "that lèse majesté,
felony, and half a dozen other capital crimes are mixed up in your
confession?"
"Am I less courageous than an ex-trust magnate?" cried I
warmly.
35. "Their confessions free them from servitude and the
inconveniences of hunger and lack of raiment," responded the king;
"yours condemns you to a blast of zet that will consume and
dissipate your body as though it had never been."
Professor Quinn groaned and turned away with one hand over
his eyes. My affection reached out for the good man then as it had
never done before.
"Bring on the indexograph, Olox," commanded the king. "We
will see how much of truth or falsehood it registers in the cases of
these gentlemen."
The indexograph was brought and test was made of all of us
except the professor. The ideographs must have registered mightily
in our favor, for the king seemed more than convinced of our
sincerity.
"Restore to the clothing trust man the apparel that is rightfully
his," ordered his majesty; "allow the gentleman who would
monopolize food to partake of a sufficient supply to satisfy his
hunger; free the person who has been delving for my black blocks
from further duty—and incidentally confiscate the funds paid into the
royal treasury for his services, as well as for the services of the
B.&B. traction power—for Mr. Gilhooly's sanity precludes his further
use on the Interplanetary. Be happy, gentlemen! I feel that I must
do some worthy deeds to commemorate this the day that witnesses
our departure for the subjugation of Terra."
Quinn was rent with conflicting emotions, as was plainly
apparent. He was glad the ex-plutocrats had fallen into royal favor,
he was sorry to have me yet under that ban, and he was greatly
36. wrought up to learn that the king meditated such an early start on
his inter-stellar campaign.
"What of Mr. Munn, your highness?" he inquired.
"Oh, yes," returned the king, "I was forgetting him. Olox, let
him be decorated with the Order of the Open Hand and see that he
is inducted on the morrow into the office of executioner-general. We
need an executioner to fill the place of the late incumbent and I
should have to look far before I found so conscientious a person as
Mr. Munn. Leave orders with a subordinate, Olox. Neither you nor I
will be here to attend the ceremony. My royal will shall be conveyed
to the regent.
"And now," added the king as he rose from his seat, "while the
treasurer counts the kyicks and takes care of the Bolla, Olox, you
and I will proceed to the metal house, guarded by the Gaddbaizets
and accompanied by our alien friends."
Some preparations were necessary before a start for the car
could be made; and while these were going forward Meigs and
Markham were led away to receive the attention their condition
demanded.
In an hour we were on the road. Meigs and Markham were in
jubilant mood; Popham was optimistic but subdued, Gilhooly was
silent and thoughtful, and I was inclined to look at the future with
reckless indifference.
But Professor Quinn was bowed under a grievous load. If this
madcap monarch carried out his scheme of conquest, Quinn felt that
on him alone would rest the responsibility.
"I am making my plans, Mr. Munn," he whispered hoarsely to
me as we proceeded on our journey to the car. "If the king's
37. expedition gets away, I shall have to accompany it; and I shall take
care that neither he nor his Gaddbaizets ever reach our native
planet."
"But suppose we can outwit the king in some way," I returned,
"and escape in the car, leaving him and his subjects behind?"
"You and our other friends may go, if we can possibly manage
it," said Quinn, "but I have made up my mind to stay here."
I stopped short and stared at him.
"Surely you can't mean that!" I exclaimed.
"I do mean it," he said firmly. "For the good of Terra these
creatures of Njambai must be watched. We have only a surface
knowledge of them and their resources. What if they should bring
forward other means of spanning space besides our car?
"Can't you see," the professor went on passionately, "that my
misguided enthusiasm painted the wonders of Earth in such glowing
colors that King Gaddbai will strain every effort to gratify his cupidity
and lust for conquest? I must remain here to combat him and hold
him in check."
"Sir," said I in trepidation, "I think you take fright too easily.
Once we leave Njambai in the car, it will be impossible for any of the
Baigadds to follow us. You overestimate their possible resources."
"Whatever is possible cannot be overestimated. It may chance
that I alone shall stand between this resolute monarch and the
welfare and happiness of Terra. To desert my post would be
cowardice. Do not seek to argue with me, for I made up my mind to
this last night."
The reckless indifference with which I had fared forth from the
city gave place to deep sorrow. Professor Quinn observed this and
38. continued:
"Do not exercise yourself over my fate, Mr. Munn. I removed
four rabid enemies of the people from our planet and I give back to
it four eminent reformers. My end has been accomplished beyond
my fondest dreams if this is brought to pass.
"And then, too, there is a work that I can do here, even if my
dire imaginings prove unfounded. I can, after I know these
Mercurials better, lead them perhaps to a higher round in the ladder
of civilization. With the pattern of our earthly institutions before my
eyes, I can choose the good, eliminate the evil, and build a fabric
here that will be a glory to whatever resources the orb may possess.
Is it not a fair destiny for one who was laughed out of the
Astronomical Society because he dared to have convictions as I did?"
"It is a destiny, professor," said I, "which I intend to share with
you. You remain here, and so do I. Possibly you may become prime
minister; I will be executioner-general. Between us, we will have
control of the situation."
"That is not to be thought of," answered the professor hastily.
"If it is possible for the exiles to escape in the car, you must
accompany them as the one cool-headed, resourceful man capable
of guiding the car to its destination. I shall instruct you carefully and
fully.
"And besides," he added, as I was about to demur, "you are a
changed man, Mr. Munn. There is work for you on the home planet,
for your native worth is to retrieve itself on the very scene of your
unworthy exploits. I trust you follow me? Pardon me if I hurt your
feelings by being too frank."
39. He had, wittingly or unwittingly, touched the vital chord which
made me eager to regain the world I knew and loved. To stand fair
in the sight of men who had known me at my worst was now my
one consuming desire.
"Is this your wish, Professor Quinn?" I asked huskily.
"It is, Mr. Munn."
"Then I shall follow your instructions to the letter."
"Do so," he said, with one of his rare smiles. "And if our dear
desires compass fulfillment, open this packet when you have left
Njambai and are in the great void. It will be my last word to you and
your fellow voyagers in space."
He handed a sealed packet to me and I placed it carefully in my
breast pocket. Then a hand-clasp followed in which heart went out
to heart as it rarely does between man and man.
"Look, Mr. Munn!" exclaimed the professor, releasing my palm.
"We have reached the car."
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW WE OUTWITTED THE KING.
We had come to a point in the under-world which the reflected rays
of the sun reached but dimly. There would have been semi-gloom
but for an unreflected glow that fell upon us from above.
The car, as has been brought out in the course of this narrative,
had been blown into the crater of a dead volcano. This crater may
be likened to a deep basin, pierced with a huge hole at the bottom.
40. Through the hole fell daylight from the outer shell, bathing the
car in a soft radiance. The projectile-shaped house was standing
upright, and appeared to have suffered no injury by its fall.
Professor Quinn had already explained to me how this might be
possible. The screens of the anti-gravity cubes had been left open by
five decrees.
The energy of the cubes lightened the house to an extent that
made it offer less than normal resistance to the tempest, and it also
buoyed it to withstand the shock of a tumble from the upper crust of
the sphere.
How like an old friend that car looked! My heart labored at the
mere sight of it. It was to be our bridge through space, if so we
could contrive; although it might easily fall out to prove a bridge for
the king and the Gaddbaizets to the earth's undoing.
After we had halted at the base of the car, the king approached
the professor.
"Your metal house is intact and uninjured," said his majesty,
"save for the door that gives admittance to it. It was necessary to
burn out the lock with a draft of zet before the door could be
opened. The telescope and the tub of white pigment have both been
replaced, and you will, I think, find all your goods and chattels
intact. How long before we can start?"
"Let me first understand your arrangements, your majesty," the
professor answered. "Are you, or Olox, to guide the car through
space to your intended destination?"
"You are to do that. Neither I nor Olox could manage the car, I
fear."
"Then I am to accompany you?"
41. "I have so decided."
"What of my friends?"
"They are to be left here. You need not worry about them,
however, as they will be well cared for. I have already given proof of
my interest in them."
"Before I can give you an answer as to when it will be well to
start," Quinn remarked, after a little thought, "I shall have to go into
the car and make some calculations."
"We will go in with you," returned the king.
"I should prefer to take only Mr. Munn with me, sir."
The king became suspicious, and Olox got the royal ear and said
something in an undertone on his word-box.
"You and Munn may go in," the king said when Olox had
finished, "but we shall keep the rest of your friends with us while
you are making your calculations."
"Very well."
The professor and I thereupon entered the car, watched with
some apprehension by Meigs and the rest. Possibly they feared that
we were about to desert them; if so, the look the professor gave
them must have set their fears at rest.
A survey of the interior of the car showed everything to be
exactly as we had left it. The door at the top of the iron stairway had
been forced precisely as the other at the outside entrance had been,
but this was a matter of small importance.
The oxygen tank was intact, and the professor showed me how
to manipulate the lever that regulated the supply necessary for the
car; there was still plenty of water, of good quality, in the reservoir,
and of food, such as we were accustomed to, there was an
42. abundance. Everything appeared to be in proper order and just as it
should be.
"We are very fortunate, Mr. Munn," said Quinn, seating himself
on a box. "I brought you in here with me less to have your help in
examining the interior of the car than to seize an opportunity for
giving you a few directions which you will find of use.
"When we left Earth we started at an hour which gave us a
course that angled sunward; when you leave Njambai, however, you
must do so at an hour when this part of the planet is turned away
from the sun, and as far away as possible. That will cause the car to
be hurled toward the outer edge of the solar system and in the
direction of the earth's orbit.
"I wish I could inform you as to the exact position the earth will
be in when you cross its orbit, but the king's mad project was
sprung so suddenly, and he has acted upon his plan so quickly, that I
have had no time for calculations in that respect.
"Your business, however, will be to overhaul the Earth. The
telescope will inform you of the planet's position, and by properly
regulating the screens of the cubes you can hang in the orbit of
Terra until it reaches you; then, once within its influence, shut off
the energy of the cubes and suffer the car to fall to its surface. Do I
make myself plain?"
"Entirely so, professor," I replied.
"You understand the dangers of landing. All you can do is to
experiment with the atmosphere while you are falling, exactly as we
did when landing here. On your quickness and discretion will depend
the lives of yourself and the others who will be with you."
43. "It is a great responsibility, sir," said I, "but you can depend
upon me to do my utmost to avoid a disaster."
He pressed my hand to assure me of his confidence.
"Midnight to-night will be the hour to start. The crater of the
volcano will then be at its farthest from the sun. I shall so inform the
king when we leave the car."
"Have you thought of any plan whereby we may outwit his
majesty?" I inquired.
"I have thought of it. Prior to the moment, of embarking, I shall
request his majesty to allow you and the rest of our friends to come
aboard while I detain him and his followers outside for a few final
instructions. The king will suspect nothing, for he will not imagine
that I would allow you to escape and leave me behind."
"I shudder to think of that part of it," I murmured. "Will you not
reconsider your determination, professor?"
"No, Mr. Munn. On that point I am adamant. The instant you
enter the car, hurry aloft and set loose the oxygen. I will drop this bit
of rope near the door when we leave, and you will have to make use
of it to tie the door securely shut on the inside. Mind what I tell you
—do not pull the lever until the door is securely closed."
"I will remember."
"The car is exactly under the crater opening, and you will have a
clear path aloft. Therefore I would advise that you throw the lever to
ninety the instant the door is fastened."
I nodded.
"I think that is all. Your work is simple enough, for in order to
reach Terra you have only to reduce or expand the energy of the
anti-gravity cubes. We will now go below and rejoin the king."
44. "Just a few minutes more, professor," I begged. "This may be
our last opportunity for a private talk, and there is something I wish
to tell you."
He turned back from the top of the iron stairway.
"Go ahead, Mr. Munn," said he.
"All of us whom you brought to Njambai," I proceeded, "are
changed men. To you alone we owe this, and I wish to go on record,
here and now, for giving you credit. I see my past as I thought I
never should see it, and I realize how I have wasted a large part of
my life. I shall prove a worthy citizen, if we succeed in getting back
to Earth, and it is you who have brought about my reformation."
A glow came to the professor's face. He held up one hand
protestingly.
"It is the truth," I insisted. "You have argued with me constantly
ever since we were thrown together, and it was while on the road to
Baigol that the truth of your arguments suddenly came home to
me."
I stretched out my hand, but he held back.
"You are too shrewd a man, Mr. Munn," said he kindly, "to be so
deceived. There have been times when your artlessness made me
wonder, but you have never aroused my wonder quite so much as
you have now."
"Why is that?" I asked, puzzled.
"Answer me this, Mr. Munn," he went on. "How did it chance
that Mr. Gilhooly so suddenly recovered his reason?"
"He lost his wits suddenly, and crazed people have been known
to regain their sanity as quickly as they lost it. It must have been so
in Gilhooly's case."
45. "Indeed!" he said, smiling. "And was it merely a coincidence
that you found your conscience, and Gilhooly his reason, at the
same time?"
"Merely a coincidence," I replied.
He laughed, and it was his first happy laugh since King Gaddbai
had announced his coming campaign in the direction of Terra.
"Let us go further," he went on. "What caused Markham,
Popham and Meigs to change their points of view so miraculously?
Was it the coal mines, the lack of food and the need of decent
clothing?"
"All that merely paved the way," I averred. "Your arguments did
the rest."
"You are blind, Mr. Munn! It was not the sufferings our friends
endured, nor my arguments."
"Then what was it?" I demanded.
"The Bolla!"
I recoiled, staring blankly at the kindly face before me.
"Don't let me part from you, Professor Quinn," I whispered
hoarsely, "feeling that I have left behind a man of unsound mind! If
I thought that, I believe I should remain here with you at any cost."
"Unsound mind?" he returned. "My dear Munn! My brain was
never clearer, nor my reasoning more sound, than at the present
moment. You found the Bolla. The moment you picked it up, every
unworthy thought vanished from your mind and you became morally
the man you ought to be. You did not understand the cause of your
salvation, and you hurled the stone from you. Gilhooly picked it up.
What happened then? Did he not recover his senses and a true
outlook upon life at one and the same time? Yet, as if this were not
46. enough to prove a clear case for the Bolla, note the change in
Popham, Markham and Meigs when I asked them to examine the
stone. All this, sir, should prove my contention beyond all
peradventure. I am filled with wonder because you have gone so far
afield in trying to explain what has occurred."
The notion amazed, and, in a measure, disappointed me. A
black stone had turned me from my evil course—a mere bit of
insensate matter about which clustered the traditions and
superstitious veneration of all Njambians! My regeneration had come
from without, and not from within, and if there was no credit for the
professor in my awakening, then there was still less for myself.
Not the operations of my own mind, urged and guided by the
friendly counsels of the professor, but a stone which I had picked up
to cast away, had worked my transformation!
The fact still remained, and would always remain, but it was in
no way flattering to me. What was going on in my mind must have
been divined by the professor, for he stepped close and took the
hand which he had a moment before refused.
"The methods of Fate are inexplicable to us mortals, Mr. Munn,"
said he; "but what matters it how a thing is brought to pass so long
as it really happens? And why should we concern ourselves with a
failure to understand the underlying cause? Great is the Bolla, my
friend, even though its powers pass our comprehension! I shall
make it a point to see that it is returned to King Golbai, during my
probation here. To accomplish that, and at the same time keep
watchful eyes on King Gaddbai, will not let time hang heavy on my
hands."
"And you will not reconsider——"
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