touch with one of the English papers. Like a fool, I didn't believe him. After that the telegrams came in …"
Professor Higginson was watching his colleague; his head stood forward on his long neck. He was fascinated and a little frightened.
"Well," said Babcock, sitting down again and speaking with less apparent purpose, "that 's all. I think he was a charlatan. I don't know how he got the thing. I 've known news spread in Africa among savages a thousand miles in half a day. … Anyhow, that sort of thing might convince. To tell you the honest truth, Higginson, your story doesn't."
Poor Mr. Higginson flushed. He did not like to be talked to like that. Babcock waited for his reply. It came at last, and came in the expected form.
"I can tell you, Babcock," began Higginson slowly, "something I 've told no one else. You 've driven me to do it. You know—you 've heard—that … that, well, that I saw: that I not only heard singing, but saw? I saw a multitude of men—and women, Babcock."
He passed his hand over his face and wished
