Well, it would come in time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor Akron, Ohio, for that matter. And the place didn’t matter.

The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there… and still on your feet.

“Parlez-vous français? ”

No answer. They stared at him, fascinated.

He tried them in German, and then bellowed laughter at their stupid, sheepy faces. One of them began to sob helplessly, like a child.

They are simple folk. Primitive; simple; unlettered. But I can use them. Yes, I can use them perfectly well.

He advanced toward them, lineless palms still turned outward, still smiling. His eyes sparkled with warm and lunatic joy.

“My name is Russell Faraday,” he said in a slow, clear voice. “I have a mission.”

They stared at him, all eyes, all dismay, all fascination.

“I have come to help you.”

They began to drop on their knees and bow their heads before him, and as his dark, dark shadow fell among them, his grin widened.

“I’ve come to teach you how to be civilized!”

“Yun-nah! ” the chief sobbed in joy and terror. And as he kissed Russell Faraday’s feet, the dark man began to laugh. He laughed and laughed and laughed.

Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long.

And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again.

February 1975

December 1988