lemen.

One thing was quickly learned, however; namely, that Palgrave Island was
no myth. It was charted and well known to all navigators, lying on the
line of 160 west longitude, right at its intersection by the tenth
parallel north latitude, and only a few miles away from Diana Shoal.
Like Midway and Fanning, Palgrave Island was isolated, volcanic and coral
in formation. Furthermore, it was uninhabited. A survey ship, in 1887,
had visited the place and reported the existence of several springs and
of a good harbour that was very dangerous of approach. And that was all
that was known of the tiny speck of land that was soon to have focussed
on it the awed attention of the world.

Goliah remained silent till March 24. On the morning of that day, the
newspapers published his second letter, copies of which had been received
by the ten chief politicians of the United States--ten leading men in the
political world who were conventionally known as "statesmen." The
letter, with the same superscription as before, was as follows:

"DEAR SIR:

"I have spoken in no uncertain tone. I must be obeyed. You may
consider this an invitation or a summons; but if you still wish to
tread this earth and laugh, you will be aboard the yacht _Energon_,
in San Francisco harbour, not later than the evening of April 5. It
is my wish and my will that you confer with me here on Palgrave
Island in the matter of reconstructing society upon some rational
basis.

"Do not misunderstand me, when I tell you that I am one with a
theory. I want to see that theory work, and therefore I call upon
your cooperation. In this theory of mine, lives are but pawns; I
deal with quantities of lives. I am after laughter, and those that
stand in the way of laughter must perish. The game is big. There
are fifteen hundred million human lives to-day on the planet. What
is your single life against them? It is as naught, in my theory.
And remember that mine is the power. Remember that I am a scientist,
and that one life, or one million of lives, mean nothing to me as
arrayed against the countless billions of billions of the lives of
the generations to come. It is for their laughter that I seek to
reconstruct society now; and against them your own meagre little life
is a paltry thing indeed.

"Whoso has power can command his fellows. By virtue of that military