At this sight the holy Mael shuddered through his whole body and poured
forth a flood of tears.

And in a voice stifled by horror and fear he addressed this prayer to
heaven:

"O Lord, my God, O thou who didst receive young Abel's sacrifices, thou
who didst curse Cain, avenge, O Lord, this innocent penguin sacrificed
upon his own field and make the murderer feel the weight of thy arm.
Is there a more odious crime, is there a graver offence against thy
justice, O Lord, than this murder and this robbery?"

"Take care, father," said Bulloch gently, "that what you call murder and
robbery may not really be war and conquest, those sacred foundations
of empires, those sources of all human virtues and all human greatness.
Reflect, above all, that in blaming the big penguin you are attacking
property in its origin and in its source. I shall have no trouble
in showing you how. To till the land is one thing, to possess it is
another, and these two things must not be confused; as regards ownership
the right of the first occupier is uncertain and badly founded. The
right of conquest, on the other hand, rests on more solid foundations.
It is the only right that receives respect since it is the only one that
makes itself respected. The sole and proud origin of property is force.
It is born and preserved by force. In that it is august and yields
only to a greater force. This is why it is correct to say that he
who possesses is noble. And that big red man, when he knocked down a
labourer to get possession of his field, founded at that moment a very
noble house upon this earth. I congratulate him upon it."

Having thus spoken, Bulloch approached the big penguin, who was leaning