“How about it, Frank?” Billy said, turning to Merrill.
“Well,” said Frank slowly, “I don’t exactly know how to answer that question. I don’t know what you mean by the word—right. I take it that you mean what our right would be if these flying-maidens permitted themselves to become our friends. I would say, that, in such a case, you would have the only right that any man ever has, as far as women are concerned—the right to woo. If he wins, all well and good. If he loses, he must abide by the consequences.”
“You’re on, Frank,” said Billy Fairfax.
“You’ve said the last word.”
“In normal condition, I’d agree with you,” Ralph said. “But in these conditions I disagree utterly.”
“How?” Frank asked. “Why?” He turned to Ralph with the instinctive equability that he always presented to an opponent in argument.
“Well, in the first place, we find ourselves in a situation unparalleled in the world’s history.” Ralph had the air of one who is saying aloud for the first time what he has said to himself many times. At any rate, he proceeded with an unusual fluency and glibness. “Circumstances alter cases. We can’t handle this situation by any of the standards we have formerly known. In fact, we’ve got to throw all our former standards overboard. There are five of these girls. There are five of us. Voila! Following the laws of nature we have selected each of us the mates we prefer. Or, following the law that Bernard Shaw discovered, the ladies have selected, each of them, the mates that they prefer. They are now turning themselves inside out to prove to us that we selected them. Voila! The rest is obvious. If they come to terms, all right! If they don’t—” He paused. “I repeat that we are placed in, a situation new in the history of the world. I repeat the bromidion—circumstances alter cases. We may have to stay on this island as long as we live. I am perfectly willing to confess that just now I’d rather not be rescued. But it’s over our months that we’ve been here. We must think of the future. The future justifies anything. If these girls don’t come to terms, they must be made to come to terms. You’ll find I’m right.”
“Right!” exclaimed Billy hotly. “What are you talking about? Those are the principles of an Apache or a Hottentot.”
“Or a cave-man,” Pete added.
“Well, what are we under our skins but Hottentots and Apaches and cave-men?” said Ralph. “Now, I leave it to you. Look facts in the face. Use your common sense. Count out civilization and all its artificial rules. Think of our situation on this island, if we don’t capture these women soon. We can’t tell when they’ll stop coming. We don’t know what the conditions of their life may be. The caprice may strike them to-morrow to cut us out for good. Maybe their men will discover it—and prevent them from coming. A lot of things may happen to keep them away. What’s to become of us in that case? We’ll go mad, five men alone here. It isn’t as though we could tame them by any gentle methods. You can’t catch eagles by putting salt on their tails. In the first place, we can’t get close enough to them, because of their accursed wings, to prove that we wouldn’t harm them. They’ve sent us a challenge—it’s a magnificent one. They’ve thrown down the gage. And how have we responded? I bet they think we’re a precious lot of molly-coddles! I bet they’re laughing in their sleeves all the time. I’d hate to hear what they say about us. But the point I’m trying to make is not that. It’s this: we can’t afford to lose them. This place is a prison now. It will be worse than that if this keeps up—it’ll be a madhouse.”