For this reason the four strangers at supper were seated together,
with the candles grouped about them, and the long length of the table
cutting a white path through the outer gloom.
"I repeat," said the gentleman with the black pearl stud, "that the
days for romantic adventure and deeds of foolish daring have passed,
and that the fault lies with ourselves. Voyages to the pole I do not
catalogue as adventures. That African explorer, young Chetney, who
turned up yesterday after he was supposed to have died in Uganda, did
nothing adventurous. He made maps and explored the sources of rivers.
He was in constant danger, but the presence of danger does not
constitute adventure. Were that so, the chemist who studies high
explosives, or who investigates deadly poisons, passes through
adventures daily. No, 'adventures are for the adventurous.' But one
no longer ventures. The spirit of it has died of inertia. We are
grown too practical, too just, above all, too sensible. In this room,
for instance, members of this Club have, at the sword's point,
disputed the proper scanning of one of Pope's couplets. Over so
weighty a matter as spilled Burgundy on a gentleman's cuff, ten men
fought across this table, each with his rapier in one hand and a
candle in the other.
Pages:
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250