The Equinox (Volume I, Number II)

II CONSIDERING the bulk of the MSS. trusted to the carrier-pigeon by my correspondent, I decided to send an extra porter with the first bird, in case of the next message being of an equal or superior volume, and as I know some- thing about pigeons, as before mentioned, I managed that in a very clever ‘way. I say clever because it is a very simple scheme in its cleverness, and nobody would say it if not I, but nevertheless it had to be found—like the egg of the late C.C. I bought a fine hen pigeon, and kept it with the Man-Cover’s messenger, so that they could rub acquaintance. WhenI noticed the first symptoms of love I blessed the new pair and let them go. The new wife—as I thought she would—followed her husband. They returned to me with the following strange document, and I think Imust warn the reader against a certain feeling of sympathy towards the writer. The wickedness and cruelty with which he carries out his logical tendencies are too repulsive to permit of any sentiment of pity. His sufferings appear to be simply the consequences of a wild and unhindered imagination, and the real victims— the only ones to be pitied—are his unhappy companions. That is, of course, in the case of the documents being an expression of reality. I am sure every one feels the necessity of clearing up this matter. Alas | there are no Radicals in this country—that is, persons acting in a radical manner—as I have written to the Man-Cover himself, and consequently I have little hope that H.M. Government will give any orders on the matter. I am afraid that if an expedition is sent over it will be commanded by some dis- tinguished foreign officer. However, should the expedition cover itself with ridicule by not finding the Man-Cover or his island, it is perhaps safer for the British reputation that it should be a foreign expedition. But to business, Considering our present advanced state of civilisation, and how the Torch of Science has been brandished and borne about, with more or less effect, for 5000 years and upwards, as 366