CHAPTER 1
A Not Unnatural Enterprise
This is written from memory, unfortunately. If I could have brought
with me the material I so carefully prepared, this would be a very different
story. Whole books full of notes, carefully copied records, firsthand
descriptions, and the pictures--that\'s the worst loss. We had some bird\'seyes
of the cities and parks; a lot of lovely views of streets, of buildings,
outside and in, and some of those gorgeous gardens, and, most important
of all, of the women themselves.
Nobody will ever believe how they looked. Descriptions aren\'t
any good when it comes to women, and I never was good at descriptions
anyhow. But it\'s got to be done somehow; the rest of the world needs to
know about that country.
I haven\'t said where it was for fear some self-appointed
missionaries, or traders, or land-greedy expansionists, will take it upon
themselves to push in. They will not be wanted, I can tell them that, and
will fare worse than we did if they do find it.
It began this way. There were three of us, classmates and
friends--Terry O. Nicholson (we used to call him the Old Nick, with good
reason), Jeff Margrave, and I, Vandyck Jennings.
We had known each other years and years, and in spite of our
differences we had a good deal in common. All of us were interested in
science.
Terry was rich enough to do as he pleased. His great aim was
exploration. He used to make all kinds of a row because there was
nothing left to explore now, only patchwork and filling in, he said. He
filled in well enough--he had a lot of talents--great on mechanics and
electricity. Had all kinds of boats and motorcars, and was one of the best
of our airmen.
We never could have done the thing at all without Terry.