I don't believe in the Empire growing until it reaches the
sky; I don't believe in the Union Jack going up and up eternally
like the Tower. But if you think I am going to let the Union Jack go
down and down eternally, like the bottomless well, down into the
blackness of the bottomless pit, down in defeat and derision, amid
the jeers of the very Jews who have sucked us dry--no I won't, and
that's flat; not if the Chancellor were blackmailed by twenty
millionaires with their gutter rags, not if the Prime Minister
married twenty Yankee Jewesses, not if Woodville and Carstairs had
shares in twenty swindling mines. If the thing is really tottering,
God help it, it mustn't be we who tip it over."
Boyle was regarding him with a bewilderment that was almost fear,
and had even a touch of distaste.
"Somehow," he said, "there seems to be something rather horrid about
the things you know."
"There is," replied Horne Fisher. "I am not at all pleased with my
small stock of knowledge and reflection. But as it is partly
responsible for your not being hanged, I don't know that you need
complain of it."
And, as if a little ashamed of his first boast, he turned and
strolled away toward the bottomless well.
V. THE FAD OF THE FISHERMAN
A thing can sometimes be too extraordinary to be remembered.
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