King Lamus Intervenes 255
this; that they started taking the drugs because
life, in one way or another, was one too many for them.
And what is the result? The drugs have not in the
least relieved the monotony of life or whatever their
trouble was, and yet they have got into a state very
like that of death, in which they are impotent to struggle.
No, we must conquer life by living it to the full, and
then we can go to meet death with a certain prestige.
e can face that adventure as we've faced the others.”’
The personality of the man radiated energy. The
momentary contact with his mind had destroyed the
current of thought which had been obsessing ours.
Yet it was a fearful pang to be torn away from the
fixed idea which had imposed itself as the necessary
conclusion of a course of thought and action extending
over so long a peri
I can imagine a man reprieved at the foot of a scaffold
experiencing an acute annoyance at being wrenched
away from the logical outcome of his tendencies.
“Cowards die many times before their death.”
And those who have decided whether with their will
or against it, to put an end to their lives, must resent
interference. As Schopenhauer says, the will to die
is inherent in all of us, as much as the will to live.
I remember a lot of fellows in the trenches saying
that they dreaded being sent to the base; they would
rather have it over than take a temporary respite.
Life had ceased to be precious. They had become
accustomed to face death, and had acquired a fear of
life of just the same quality as the fear of death that
they had had at first. Life had become the unknown,
the uncertain, the dreadful.
A hot, fierce wave of annoyance went through me
like a flush of fever.
Damn the fellow,” I muttered, “why must he
always butt in like this?”
And then I noticed that Lou had taken the little
bottle from my waistcoat pocket, and handed it to
King Lamus.