David choked when he ate with them that night.

But they were happy! That, after all, was the reward of things, even though people died slowly of something which they could not understand.

And there were, in the domain of Father Roland, many Metoosins, and many I-owas, who prayed for nothing more than enough to eat, clothes to cover them, and the unbroken love of their firesides.

And David thought of them, as the weeks passed, as the most terribly enslaved of all the slaves of Civilization--slaves of vain civilized women; for they had gone on like this for centuries, and would go on for other generations, giving into the hands of the great Company their life's blood which, in the end, could be accounted for by a yearly dole of food which, under stress, did not quite serve to keep body and soul together.
It was after a comprehension of these things that David understood Father Roland's great work.

In this kingdom of his, running approximately fifty miles in each direction from the Chateau--except to the northward, where the Post lay--there were two hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children.