rolled up from his pipe.

"As to you, Lord John Roxton," he creaked, "your opinion upon a
matter of science is of as much value in my eyes as my views
upon a new type of shot-gun would be in yours.  I have my own
judgment, sir, and I use it in my own way.  Because it has misled
me once, is that any reason why I should accept without
criticism anything, however far-fetched, which this man may care
to put forward?  Are we to have a Pope of science, with
infallible decrees laid down _ex cathedra_, and accepted without
question by the poor humble public?  I tell you, sir, that I have
a brain of my own and that I should feel myself to be a snob and
a slave if I did not use it.  If it pleases you to believe this
rigmarole about ether and Fraunhofer's lines upon the spectrum,
do so by all means, but do not ask one who is older and wiser
than yourself to share in your folly.  Is it not evident that if
the ether were affected to the degree which he maintains, and if
it were obnoxious to human health, the result of it would
already be apparent upon ourselves?"  Here he laughed with
uproarious triumph over his own argument.  "Yes, sir, we should
already be very far from our normal selves, and instead of
sitting quietly discussing scientific problems in a railway
train we should be showing actual symptoms of the poison which
was working within us.  Where do we see any signs of this
poisonous cosmic disturbance?  Answer me that, sir!  Answer me
that!  Come, come, no evasion!  I pin you to an answer!"

I felt more and more angry.  There was something very irritating
and aggressive in Summerlee's demeanour.

"I think that if you knew more about the facts you might be less
positive in your opinion," said I.

Summerlee took his pipe from his mouth and fixed me with a stony stare.

"Pray what do you mean, sir, by that somewhat impertinent observation?"

"I mean that when I was leaving the office the news editor told
me that a telegram had come in confirming the general illness of
the Sumatra natives, and adding that the lights had not been lit
in the Straits of Sunda."

"Really, there should be some limits to human folly!" cried
Summerlee in a positive fury.  "Is it possible that you do not
realize that ether, if for a moment we adopt Challenger's
preposterous supposition, is a universal substance which is the
same here as at the other side of the world?  Do you for an
instant suppose that there is an English ether and a Sumatran
ether?  Perhaps you imagine that the ether of Kent is in some way
superior to the ether of Surrey, through which this train is now
bearing us.  There really are no bounds to the credulity and
ignorance of the average layman.  Is it conceivable that the
ether in Sumatra should be so deadly as to cause total
insensibility at the very time when the ether here has had no
appreciable effect upon us whatever?  Personally, I can truly say
that I never felt stronger in body or better balanced in mind in
my life."

"That may be.  I don't profess to be a scientific man," said I,
"though I have heard somewhere that the science of one
generation is usually the fallacy of the next.  But it does not
take much common sense to see that, as we seem to know so little
about ether, it might be affected by some local conditions in
various parts of the world and might show an effect over there
which would only develop later with us."

"With `might' and `may' you can prove anything," cried Summerlee
furiously.  "Pigs may fly.  Yes, sir, pigs _may_ fly--but they
don't.  It is not worth arguing with you.  Challenger has filled
you with his nonsense and you are both incapable of reason.  I
had as soon lay arguments before those railway cushions."

"I must say, Professor Summerlee, that your manners do not seem
to have improved since I last had the pleasure of meeting you,"
said Lord John severely.

"You lordlings are not accustomed to hear the truth," Summerlee
answered with a bitter smile.  "It comes as a bit of a shock,
does it not, when someone makes you realize that your title
leaves you none the less a very ignorant man?"

"Upon my word, sir," said Lord John, very stern and rigid, "if
you were a younger man you would not dare to speak to me in so
offensive a fashion."

Summerlee thrust out his chin, with its little wagging tuft of
goatee beard.

"I would have you know, sir, that, young or old, there has never
been a time in my life when I was afraid to speak my mind to an
ignorant coxcomb--yes, sir, an ignorant coxcomb, if you had as
many titles as slaves could invent and fools could adopt."

For a moment Lord John's eyes blazed, and then, with a
tremendous effort, he mastered his anger and leaned back in his
seat with arms folded and a bitter smile upon his face.  To me
all this was dreadful and deplorable.  Like a wave, the memory of
the past swept over me, the good comradeship, the happy,
adventurous days--all that we had suffered and worked for and
won.  That it should have come to this--to insults and abuse!