Afterwards there came a rush of messages arising out of the declaration that strained him very much, and in the evening when he was relieved, he ate his scanty supper and then went out upon the little balcony before the station, to smoke and rest his brains after this sudden and as yet inexplicable press of duty.  It was a very beautiful, still evening.  He fell talking to a fellow operator, and for the first time, he declares, ’I began to understand what it was all about.  I began to see just what enormous issues had been under my hands for the past four hours.  But I became incredulous after my first stimulation.  “This is some sort of Bunkum,” I said very sagely.

’My colleague was more hopeful.  “It means an end to bomb-throwing and destruction,” he said.  “It means that presently corn will come from America.”

’"Who is going to send corn when there is no more value in money?” I asked.

’Suddenly we were startled by a clashing from the town below.  The cathedral bells, which had been silent ever since I had come into the district, were beginning, with a sort of rheumatic difficulty, to ring.  Presently they warmed a little to the work, and we realised what was going on.  They were ringing a peal.  We listened with an unbelieving astonishment and looking into each other’s yellow faces.

’"They mean it,” said my colleague.

‘"But what can they do now?” I asked.  “Everything is broken down...."’

And on that sentence, with an unexpected artistry, Barnet abruptly ends his story.

Section 6

From the first the new government handled affairs with a certain greatness of spirit.  Indeed, it was inevitable that they should act greatly.  From the first they had to see the round globe as one problem; it was impossible any longer to deal with it piece by piece.  They had to secure it universally from any fresh outbreak of atomic destruction, and they had to ensure a permanent and universal pacification.  On this capacity to grasp and wield the whole round globe their existence depended.  There was no scope for any further performance.

So soon as the seizure of the existing supplies of atomic ammunition and the apparatus for synthesising Carolinum was assured, the disbanding or social utilisation of the various masses of troops still under arms had to be arranged, the salvation of the year’s harvests, and the feeding, housing, and employment of the drifting millions of homeless people.  In Canada, in South America, and Asiatic Russia there were vast accumulations of provision that was immovable only because of the breakdown of the monetary and credit systems.  These had to be brought into the famine districts very speedily if entire depopulation was to be avoided, and their transportation and the revival of communications generally absorbed a certain proportion of the soldiery and more able unemployed.  The task of housing assumed gigantic dimensions, and from building camps