“It is curious how things do pile up,” said he, a little conscious of having employed an idiom.  “Our planet has gone along for hundreds of generations without anything especially remarkable happening, so that recently many prophets have foretold a number of startling events to take place on a single day.  And this seems to have come true.

“You have been with us scarcely ten hours,” and the visitors stared at each other in amazement that so much time had passed; “scarcely ten hours, and here comes an announcement which, for over a hundred years, has been looked forward to with—­”

He stopped abruptly.  The doctor gently took him up:  “’Looked forward to with’—­what, Estra?”

Estra and Myrin considered this for perhaps three seconds.  It was the woman who replied:  “The fact is, your approach to the planet has stimulated all sorts of research immensely.  Matters that had been hanging fire indefinitely were revived; this is one of them.  In that sense, you are to blame.”  But she smiled as reassuringly as she could, allowing for a certain anxiety which had now come to her face.

“Don’t you think you could make it clear to us?” asked Billie encouragingly.  At the same time all four noted that the air, which before had fairly thronged with machines, was now simply alive with them.  People were flitting here and there like swarms of insects, and with as little apparent aim.  Both Estra and Myrin were extra watchful; also, they displayed a certain eagerness to get away, setting their course in still another direction.  In a minute or two the congestion seemed relieved, and Myrin began to talk slowly: 

“You have doubtless guessed, by this time, that we Venusians have crossed what some call ‘the animal divide.’  We are predominatly intellectual, while you on the earth are, as a race, still predominantly animal.  Excuse me for putting it so bluntly.”

“It’s all right,” said the doctor, with an effort.  “What you say is true—­of most of us.”  He added:  “Most thinking people realize that when our civilization reaches the point where the getting of a living becomes secondary, instead of primary as at present, a great change is bound to come to the race.”

The Venusian nodded.  “Under the conditions which now surround us, you can see, we have vastly more time for what you would call spiritual matters.  Only, we label them psychological experiences.

“In fact, the ‘supernatural’ is the Venusian’s daily business!”

There was another pause, during which both Venusians, driving at high speed though they were, once more closed their eyes for a second or so.  Estra evidently thought it time to explain.

“For instance, ‘telepathy.’  With us it takes the place of wireless; for we have developed the power to such a point that any Venusian can ’call up’ any other, no matter where either may be.  That is why we need no signs or addresses.  There are certain restrictions; for instance, no one can read another’s thoughts without his permission.  Of course, we still have speech; speech and language are the ABC’s of the Venusian; and we still keep the telephone, for the sake of checking up now and then.  Just now, we are driving for my own house, where there is apparatus which will enable you to both hear and understand an announcement which is shortly to be made.”