“I think they are so badly scared they will not again bother us;” said Harry.
“Perhaps so,” said Mr. Bruce, “but if they have a means of attacking us without running any risk of personal injury to themselves, you may remain assured they will do so.”
“They are a strange race of men,” said Onrai, “I thought, when I first looked upon your people, that you were small in stature, but these are very much smaller and are hideous. Do you think them human?”
“Human, yes,” said Mr. Bruce, “but of a very low order of humanity. The race has so long inhabited these underground dwellings that they have become wild and barbarous.”
“They must be,” said Onrai, “for they are so unlike your race. But do you suppose that they have always lived here or have they come from another world like yourselves? I cannot believe that they have been here, right under our fair Land of On, for long, for if they had we would have known it.”
“But how would you have known it, Onrai?” asked Mr. Graham. “You nor yours have ever investigated nor have you ever cared to, and you might have gone down to your graves and countless generations of those who follow you have done the same, without ever knowing that these strange people lived beneath your land, in the very bowels of the earth. And, we have said so frequently, Onrai, your people have no curiosity and take no heed of things which do not directly concern them.”
“It is better so, I think,” answered Onrai; “for surely you can find no happiness in an undertaking like this, can you?”
“Well, yes, we can,” answered Mr. Bruce, “for in the first place it is a pleasure to us to see and learn of new and strange things. That is where one’s curiosity comes in, you see; and then we enjoy, in a way, the excitement which such adventures always bring. But at the same time I would not recommend any such questionable pleasures to those who have never had any desire for them. But we are in a strange place and predicament now to be discussing this question. We must decide on which way we are going and how we are going to proceed.”
“What do you say, Mr. Graham?” asked Onrai.
“Well,” said Mr. Graham, “we have kept in one direction so far and I see no reason for returning now. Our friends will not worry about us if we do not return for two or three days and there are many things here which I would like to find out before going back. We have proceeded so far and it will be no more difficult for us to get back from a short distance beyond here than it would be from this point. So let us go ahead.”