things they took note of to test him
by--and of those he could see or tell nothing; and it was after the
failure of this attempt, and the ridicule they could not repress,
that he resorted to force. He thought of seizing a spade and
suddenly smiting one or two of them to earth, and so in fair combat
showing the advantage of eyes. He went so far with that resolution
as to seize his spade, and then he discovered a new thing about
himself, and that was that it was impossible for him to hit a blind
man in cold blood.

He hesitated, and found them all aware that he had snatched up
the spade. They stood all alert, with their heads on one side, and
bent ears towards him for what he would do next.

"Put that spade down," said one, and he felt a sort of
helpless horror. He came near obedience.

Then he had thrust one backwards against a house wall, and
fled past him and out of the village.

He went athwart one of their meadows, leaving a track of
trampled grass behind his feet, and presently sat down by the side
of one of their ways. He felt something of the buoyancy that comes
to all men in the beginning of a fight, but more perplexity. He
began to realise that you cannot even fight happily with creatures
who stand upon a different mental basis to yourself. Far away he
saw a number of men carrying spades and sticks come out of the
street of houses and advance in a spreading line along the several
paths towards him. They advanced slowly, speaking frequently to
one another, and ever and again the whole cordon would halt and
sniff the air and listen.

The first time they did this Nunez laughed. But afterwards he
did not laugh.

One struck his trail in the meadow grass and came stooping and
feeling his way along it.

For five minutes he watched the slow extension of the cordon,
and then his vague disposition to do something forthwith
became frantic. He stood up, went a pace or so towards the
circumferential wall, turned, and went back a little way. There
they all stood in a crescent, still and listening.

He also stood still, gripping his spade very tightly in both
hands. Should he charge them?

The pulse in his ears ran into the rhythm of "In the Country
of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King."

Should he charge them?

He looked back at the high and unclimbable wall
behind--unclimbable because of its smooth plastering, but withal
pierced with many little doors and at the approaching line of
seekers. B