"What! Those tiny insects rule thy lives!" It took him some time to comprehend the deadly nature of their stings, and the irresistible power of concerted effort; but in the end he commented: "Tis not so strange, now that I think on it. Mayhap life is only a matter of chance, anyway."
Presently he felt that he understood the Sanusian situation. He fell silent; and Rolla, after waiting as long as her patience would allow, finally put the question temporarily uppermost in her mind:
"It is true that I have crossed the edge of the world. And yet, I understand it not at all. Can ye explain the nature of this strange world we live upon, Somat?" There was infinite respect in the way Rolla used his name; had she known a word to indicate human infallibility, such as "your majesty," she would have used it. "There is a saying among our people that the world be round. How can this be so?"
"Yet it is true," answered Somat, "although ye must know that it be not round like a fruit or a pebble. No more is it flat, like this," indicating the lid of the stove, near which they sat. "Instead, 'tis shaped thus"—and he took from his finger a plain gold band, like an ordinary wedding ring—"the world is shaped like that!"
Rolla examined the ring with vast curiosity. She had never seen the like before, and was quite as much interested in the metal as in the thing it illustrated. Fortunately the band was so worn that both edges were nearly sharp, thus corresponding with the knifelike ridge over which she had crawled.
"Now," Somat went on, "ye and your people live on the inner face of the world," indicating the surface next his skin, "while I and my kind live on the outer face. Were it not for the difficulties of making the trip, we should have found you out ere this."
Rolla sat for a long time with the ring in her hand, pondering the great fact she had just learned. And meanwhile, back on the earth, four excited citizens were discussing this latest discovery.
"An annular world!" exclaimed the doctor, his eyes sparkling delightedly. "It confirms the nebular hypothesis!"
"How so?" Smith wanted to know.
"Because it proves that the process of condensation and concentration, which produces planets out of the original gases, can take place at uneven speeds! Instead of concentrating to the globular form, Sanus cooled too quickly; she concentrated while she was still a ring!"