"I should like to go very much; but there will be no more visiting for me for some time to come, unless the tribe moves away. But if we can't tell what is before us in time of peace, in war it will be even more uncertain. And now I must say good-night if we are to walk to the pah tomorrow and the track is chiefly uphill." Warwick strolled down to the village, bent upon ascertaining the popular feeling on the subject of the war, and Mannering, having lighted his pipe and opened a fresh bottle of claret, invited his guest to take the comfortable armchair on the opposite side of the glowing wood fire, and "launched out into a wide sea of reasoning eloquence." His guest was not anxious to retire early, though having a fair amount of exercise to his credit. He was one of those lucky people who are capable of deferring sleep to a more convenient season if any specially exciting affair be on hand. Reflecting that he might never have the opportunity of enjoying such another symposium, or meeting so many-sided an entertainer, he resigned himself frankly to the occasion. The bottle of claret was finished, and perhaps another or two opened, the second of the small hours was near its close, when the _séance_ was concluded, and Massinger retired for the night, well pleased with himself as having had good value for a protracted _sederunt_. Hour after hour had he listened to the charmed converse of this extraordinary personage. Much had he seen, much read, deeply thought, in solitude revolving the social and scientific problems of all ages, bending a vigorous and original mind to the solution of the dread mysteries of life and death, with much solemn questioning of the Sphinx regarding the Here and the Hereafter. He could imagine him travelling onward through the dread solitudes of the Antarctic pole, sledge-borne, like the creation of Frankenstein, or turbaned and robed as an Arab, urging a camel through the arid wastes of the Western deserts. Of all inhabited lands south of the equator, his knowledge was complete and accurate, and in every clime or condition of life the guest could well believe that the analytical, all-comprehensive, unresting intelligence was testing scientific results or garnering knowledge. And yet, _Cui bono_? What contributions to the use and enjoyment of mankind could such a protagonist, in every contest between man and nature, have furnished? Would he bequeath such a treasure to posterity, or would his wisdom die with him? CHAPTER X