"Correct," said Cork. "On the dead level, we're goin' to get married."
XXI
THE VENTURERS
Let the story wreck itself on the spreading rails of the _Non Sequitur_
Limited, if it will; first you must take your seat in the observation
car "_Raison d'etre_" for one moment. It is for no longer than to
consider a brief essay on the subject--let us call it: "What's Around
the Corner."
_Omne mundus in duas partes divisum est_--men who wear rubbers and pay
poll-taxes, and men who discover new continents. There are no more
continents to discover; but by the time overshoes are out of date and
the poll has developed into an income tax, the other half will be
paralleling the canals of Mars with radium railways.
Fortune, Chance, and Adventure are given as synonymous in the
dictionaries. To the knowing each has a different meaning. Fortune is a
prize to be won. Adventure is the road to it. Chance is what may lurk
in the shadows at the roadside. The face of Fortune is radiant and
alluring; that of Adventure is flushed and heroic. The face of Chance is
the beautiful countenance--perfect because vague and dream-born--that we
see in our tea-cups at breakfast while we growl over our chops and
toast.
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