The Centaurians
they can and the whole row over a couple of women!"
Saxe.'s indignation gradually calmed in the soothing enthusiasm of explaining how he'd manage affairs were he the head of the nation, but when Sheldon and Saunders started in with a few suggestions his interest suddenly flagged and he decided the people over here knew pretty well what they were about, though things did not seem quite straight to him. Still the deep, far-sighted Centaurians were undoubtedly correct in their "aloofness," and the war was no concern of ours anyhow. He didn't believe the colored races would ever become civilized anyway, but Potolili was the shrewdest egotist he'd ever met, and Octrogona, the noblest ass.
"And," continued Saxe., "over civilized and savage alike glows the one great flaming religion; all worship the powerful, fiery God, and hostilities ceased the instant the sun went down. When we finally reached the Ocstas, it was glorious moonlight, but a glacial atmosphere; we had again invaded the frigid zone."
"The chill in the air was nothing compared to the killing frost nipping our reception," Sheldon blurted out; "our delight in carnage, Sally, me boy, made us lose prestige with the Centaurians."
"Yes, but a biting, raw indifference, produced a tremendous thaw," Saxe. hastened to add; "and I, for one, gazing at the weird grandeur of the rugged Ocstas, forgot these people and their advanced, but narrow theories. They seemed petty, inconsequen-
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