Xanocles remained silent for a moment, staring abstractedly toward the romping fauns and mermaids on the seaweed tapestries of the opposite wall. Then slowly he resumed, “We hold--and in this we are violently combated by our friends of the Submergence Party--that there was one minor flaw in the plans of Agripides. In a thousand respects his projects were perfect; but we believe that in the thousandth and first he made an oversight--perhaps an unavoidable oversight. He did not leave room enough in Atlantis for adventure. Everything here is so well designed that there is little chance for daring courage, the unknown--little chance for sheer primitive rashness and hardihood. Our games and recreations, our art, our political contests, of course consume much of our surplus energy; but, after all, we are the children of savage ancestors, and among our young there is a craving for keener experience. And so we of the Emergence Party favor the increase of population, so that those who wish may enjoy the greatest adventure of all--may launch their vessels toward unknown worlds!” “You would find that adventure well worth taking,” I commented. “Then you--you perhaps agree with the Party of Emergence?” cried Xanocles, rising and coming toward me enthusiastically. “Perhaps I do,” I admitted, also rising, and taking his extended hands. And as I felt his hearty clasp, it seemed to me that I had not only gained a friend but found my political allegiance. CHAPTER XXIV What the Books Revealed Amid all the excitement of my return to Archeon, my establishment in new quarters and my meeting with Xanocles, I had not forgotten Aelios’ advice to visit the library at the first opportunity. Nor had I forgotten my official duties as Historian of the Upper World, nor the necessity for acquiring more, explicit knowledge of undersea customs before I could hope to interpret my own country to the Atlanteans. Hence I was determined to accomplish a double object: to prepare myself for my prescribed work and at the same time to gratify my curiosity by an extensive course of reading. As soon as I was fully settled in my new apartment, I set out for the main government library--and with highly interesting and even startling results. I found the building without difficulty: a many-domed edifice of granite and white chalcedony, located in a large flower-bordered square near the center of town. Had I not been able to identify it from the descriptions, I might have recognized it by the streams of people constantly filing in and out, giving me the feeling that it was the business heart of the city.