"And what is equally astonishing," added the eager reformer, "is the manner in which they are produced. The hand is moved to write or draw them spontaneously. The symbol comes first, the interpretation afterwards. Here is a vulture soaring away with a lamb. It has a meaning."
"A deep meaning!" I added. "We have known such a vulture!"
"Here," he cried,—too excited to heed any words but his own,—"are swine feeding upon golden fruit."
"Oh, the swine! Oh, the precious, wasted, golden fruit!"
"Here is one in words; it reads, Beware of falling from a balloon. It requires a peculiar experience," added Pendlam, with a smile, "to enable one to understand that beautiful symbol."
"Perhaps I have not had the requisite experience; but"—I laid my hand on
Pendlam's shoulder—"I know a man who has fallen from several balloons!"
"Here is one," said Pendlam, turning to the table, "which I have just drawn. I was trying to get at its meaning when you came in." He showed me a sketch consisting of a number of zigzag lines, joined one to another, and tending towards a circle.
"My dear John Henry," said I, "any person who has watched your course for the last four or five years will readily see the meaning of that symbol. It is a map of your voyage of discoveries."
"Such tacking and shifting?" queried Pendlam, with a smile commiserating my ignorance.
"Just such tacking and shifting. If you had possessed a good compass, it would have shown you."