No more is it flat, like this,"
indicating the lid of the stove, near which they sat. "Instead, 'tis
shaped thus"--and he took from his finger a plain gold band, like an
ordinary wedding ring--"the world is shaped like that!"
Rolla examined the ring with vast curiosity. She had never seen the
like before, and was quite as much interested in the metal as in the
thing it illustrated. Fortunately the band was so worn that both
edges were nearly sharp, thus corresponding with the knifelike ridge
over which she had crawled.
"Now," Somat went on, "ye and your people live on the inner face of
the world," indicating the surface next his skin, "while I and my
kind live on the outer face. Were it not for the difficulties of
making the trip, we should have found you out ere this."
Rolla sat for a long time with the ring in her hand, pondering the
great fact she had just learned. And meanwhile, back on the earth,
four excited citizens were discussing this latest discovery.
"An annular world!" exclaimed the doctor, his eyes sparkling
delightedly.
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