...'
Firman was not alone in his incredulity. Not a man there who was not a
very amiable, reasonable, benevolent creature at bottom; some had been
born to power and some had happened upon it, some had struggled to get
it, not clearly knowing what it was and what it implied, but none was
irreconcilably set upon its retention at the price of cosmic disaster.
Their minds had been prepared by circumstances and sedulously cultivated
by Leblanc; and now they took the broad obvious road along which King
Egbert was leading them, with a mingled conviction of strangeness and
necessity. Things went very smoothly; the King of Italy explained the
arrangements that had been made for the protection of the camp from any
fantastic attack; a couple of thousand of aeroplanes, each carrying a
sharpshooter, guarded them, and there was an excellent system of relays,
and at night all the sky would be searched by scores of lights, and the
admirable Leblanc gave luminous reasons for their camping just where
they were and going on with their administrative duties forthwith. He
knew of this place, because he had happened upon it when holiday-making
with Madame Leblanc twenty years and more ago. 'There is very simple
fare at present,' he explained, 'on account of the disturbed state of
the countries about us.
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