Is it your opinion that the
stars are inhabited, Prentice?"
"What!" cried the minister, gaping.
"Stars--inhabited--living, sentient creatures."
"How should I know!"
"You'd be interested to know, though, wouldn't you?"
"Why, certainly. Any one would."
"Exactly the point. Any one would, and almost any one would pay
money to see, with his own eye the attested evidence of human, or
approximately human, life in other spheres. It was a big stake that
Tuxall, Farley and Company were playing for. Do you begin to see
the meaning of the big print now?"
"I've heard nothing about big prints," said the puzzled clergyman.
"Pardon me, you've heard but you haven't understood. However, to go
on, Tuxall and our friends here fixed up a plan on the prospects of
a rich harvest from public curiosity and credulity. Tuxall planted
a big rock under the barn, fixed it up appropriately with torch and
chisel and sent for the Farleys, who are expert firework and balloon
people, to counterfeit a meteor."
"Amazing!" cried the clergyman.
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