Suddenly a man among them began to talk.  The Mayor had not in the least exaggerated.  It appeared that our Planet lay sunk in slavery beneath the heel of the Aerial Board of Control.  The orator urged us to arise in our might, burst our prison doors and break our fetters (all his metaphors, by the way, were of the most mediaeval).  Next he demanded that every matter of daily life, including most of the physical functions, should be submitted for decision at any time of the week, month, or year to, I gathered, anybody who happened to be passing by or residing within a certain radius, and that everybody should forthwith abandon his concerns to settle the matter, first by crowd-making, next by talking to the crowds made, and lastly by describing crosses on pieces of paper, which rubbish should later be counted with certain mystic ceremonies and oaths.  Out of this amazing play, he assured us, would automatically arise a higher, nobler, and kinder world, based—­he demonstrated this with the awful lucidity of the insane—­based on the sanctity of the Crowd and the villainy of the single person.  In conclusion, he called loudly upon God to testify to his personal merits and integrity.  When the flow ceased, I turned bewildered to Takahira, who was nodding solemnly.

‘Quite correct,’ said he.  ’It is all in the old books.  He has left nothing out, not even the war-talk.’

’But I don’t see how this stuff can upset a child, much less a district,’ I replied.

‘Ah, you are too young,’ said Dragomiroff.  ’For another thing, you are not a mamma.  Please look at the mammas.’

Ten or fifteen women who remained had separated themselves from the silent men, and were drawing in towards the prisoners.  It reminded one of the stealthy encircling, before the rush in at the quarry, of wolves round musk-oxen in the North.  The prisoners saw, and drew together more closely.  The Mayor covered his face with his hands for an instant.  De Forest, bareheaded, stepped forward between the prisoners, and the slowly, stiffly moving line.

‘That’s all very interesting,’ he said to the dry-lipped orator.  ’But the point seems that you’ve been making crowds and invading privacy.’

A woman stepped forward, and would have spoken, but there was a quick assenting murmur from the men, who realised that De Forest was trying to pull the situation down to ground-line.

‘Yes!  Yes!’ they cried.  ’We cut out because they made crowds and invaded privacy!  Stick to that!  Keep on that switch!  Lift the Serviles out of this!  The Board’s in charge!  Hsh!’

‘Yes, the Board’s in charge,’ said De Forest.  ’I’ll take formal evidence of crowd-making if you like, but the Members of the Board can testify to it.  Will that do?’

The women had closed in another pace, with hands that clenched and unclenched at their sides.

‘Good!  Good enough!’ the men cried.  ’We’re content.  Only take them away quickly.’