Page:The Works of H G Wells Volume 11.pdf/184

 But that queer power of slipping one's identity and losing oneself altogether which dreams will give, had come upon Mr. Huss. He answered with absolute conviction: "I am Man. Down there I was Huss, but here I am Man. I am every man who has ever looked up towards this light of God. I am everyone who has thought or worked or willed for the race. I am all the explorers and leaders and teachers that man has ever had."

The argument evaporated. He carried his point as such points are carried in dreams. The discussion slipped to another of the issues that had been troubling him.

"You would plumb the deep of knowledge; you would scale the heights of space There is no limit to either."

"Then I will plumb and scale for ever. I will defeat you."

"But you will never destroy me."

"I will fight my way through you to God."

"And never attain him."

It seemed as though yet another voice was speaking. For a while the veil of Satan was drawn aside. The thoughts it uttered ran like incandescent molten metal through the mind of Job, but whether he was saying these things to God or whether God was saying these things to him, did not in any way appear.

"So life goes on for ever. And in no other way could it go on. In no other way could there be such a being as life. For how can you struggle if there is a certainty of victory? Why should you struggle if the end is assured? How can you rise if there is no