“Well! Suppose you saw men designing to murder Siebenhaar, would you not raise a hand to defend him?” “Not if I saw there was not the remotest chance of saving him. But that is nonsense. No one would want to murder Siebenhaar.” “I don’t know about that. There are times when he is so exasperating that I hardly dare answer for myself.” “That is absurd,” replied Ultimus. “You know that I should destroy you at once if you did anything to Siebenhaar. The case might be different if you were in such a position that there would be consequences. But why deal with hypothesis when you are confronted with facts?” The simple sailor was no hand at an argument, and just at that moment there came the news of the loss of a Fattish fleet after an encounter with the Fatters, with an account of the heroic death of the Commander, Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Bich. Unfortunately the island was not yet in a position to transmit messages and the unhappy Bich had to rest inactive, crushed with the burden of the news of his own death and his inability to contradict it. “You see,” said Ultimus, “you _have_ died for your country, you are a hero, and you do not like it at all.” VI: BICH IS OBSTINATE The point was argued for many days. Bich would not withdraw from his assertion that it was glorious to die for his country, but at the same time he could not disguise his distress at having done so. “If I had died,” he said, “it would have been glorious.” “Only in the eyes of your countrymen,” said Siebenhaar. “You already have that, and if you had died you would not have known anything about it.” “There is a heaven above,” cried Bich. “Which you could never have entered. Has not Heaven enjoined you not to kill and not to resist evil?” “In the service of my country!” “What does heaven know of your country? Heaven is eternal. Its laws are for eternity. Your country, your Empire are mere temporary arrangements for the convenience of a few millions of men and women who wish to profit by the labours of people less fortunate than themselves. You are therefore contending that it is glorious to die for a man’s material advantage, or, in other words, for political and financial vested interests.” “I am prepared at any moment to die for my country.” “You _have_ died.” “I have not.” “You have died and been given the glory attaching to such death.” “That is what I cannot bear.” “Then,” said Ultimus, “I will give you a root which will procure you a perfectly painless death. I see that you do not mind dying for your country so long as you do not know about it.”