# A Conference explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Clark Ashton Smith.

## What happens

The mutineers, having been captured by pygmies, are led to a ravine settlement where they are forced to help process a strange food paste. After a meal and a night's rest, they wake to find a large assembly of pygmies engaged in a mysterious debate about their fate.

## Themes in this chapter

### Isolation and Desolation

The mutineers are trapped in a remote alien ravine, surrounded by incomprehensible beings, cut off from any hope of escape.

### Cosmic Horror and Estrangement

The pygmies' alien gestures, double mouths, and the narcotic black beverage create a sense of profound otherness and dread.

## Character check-ins

### James Roverton

Surmises the pygmies' gathering sounds like a caucus; feels growing disquietude and scientific interest.

### Chester Deming

Expresses unease, wondering if the pygmies will eat them or elect them as deities.

### Herbert Albert Adams

Speculates the white paste is the staff of life for the pygmies.

## Key lines

> Sounds like a caucus

Roverton compares the pygmies' chattering to a political meeting.

_Highlights the incomprehensible nature of the alien society._

> They give me the creeps

Deming expresses his fear and discomfort with the pygmies.

_Conveys the men's growing unease._

> I don't like this

Roverton voices his suspicion and alarm at the pygmies' changed attitude.

_Foreshadows potential danger._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/a-conference
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_9_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters