And what could they answer, how could they refuse?
The son who was unprovided for took himself off; nothing could be more
logical or more sensible. Far beyond the fatherland there were vast
continents yet uninhabited, and the seed which is scattered by the
breezes of heaven knows no frontiers. Beyond the race there is mankind
with that endless spreading of humanity that is leading us to the one
fraternal people of the accomplished times, when the whole earth shall be
but one sole city of truth and justice.
Moreover, quite apart from the great dream of those seers, the poets,
Nicolas, like a practical man, whatever his enthusiasm, gayly gave his
reasons for departing. He did not wish to be a parasite; he was setting
off to the conquest of another land, where he would grow the bread he
needed, since his own country had no field left for him. Besides, he took
his country with him in his blood; she it was that he wished to enlarge
afar off with unlimited increase of wealth and strength. It was ancient
Africa, the mysterious, now explored, traversed from end to end, that
attracted him. In the first instance he intended to repair to Senegal,
whence he would doubtless push on to the Soudan, to the very heart of the
virgin lands where he dreamt of a new France, an immense colonial empire,
which would rejuvenate the old Gallic race by endowing it with its due
share of the earth.
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