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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                              THE MAN WHO
+                             MASTERED TIME
+
+                             RAY CUMMINGS
+
+                               ACE BOOKS
+                     A Division of A. A. Wyn, Inc.
+                23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N. Y.
+
+                       THE MAN WHO MASTERED TIME
+
+                   Copyright, 1929, by Ray Cummings
+
+             An Ace Book, by arrangement with the author.
+
+                             TO GABRIELLE
+                     Who has given me affectionate
+                   assistance for a long, long time.
+
+                          Printed in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER ONE
+
+
+"Time," said George, "why I can give you a definition of time. It's what
+keeps everything from happening at once."
+
+A ripple of laughter went about the little group of men.
+
+"Quite so," agreed the Chemist. "And, gentlemen, that's not nearly so
+funny as it sounds. As a matter of fact, it is really not a bad
+scientific definition. Time and space are all that separate one event
+from another. Everything happens some_where_ at some_time_."
+
+"You intimated you had something vitally important to tell us," the Big
+
+Business Man suggested. "Something, Rogers, that would amaze us. Some
+project you were about to undertake--"
+
+Rogers raised his hand. "In a moment, gentlemen. I want to prepare you
+first--to some extent, at least. That's why I have led you into this
+discussion. I want you to realize that your preconceived ideas of time
+are wrong, inadequate. You must think along entirely different lines, in
+terms of, I shall say, the _new science_."
+
+"I will," agreed George, "only tell me how."
+
+"You said that time, space, and matter are not separate, distinct
+entities, but are blended together," the Doctor declared. "Just what do
+you mean?"
+
+Rogers gazed earnestly about the room. "This, my friends. Those are the
+three factors which make up our universe as we know it. I said they were
+blended. I mean that the actual reality underlying all the
+manifestations we experience is not temporal or spatial or material, but
+a blend of all three. It is we who, in our minds, have split up the
+original unity into three such supposedly different things as time,
+space and matter."
+
+"Take space and time," said the Big Business Man. "Those two seem wholly
+different to me. I shouldn't think they had the slightest connection."
+
+"But they have. Between the three planes of space--length, breadth and
+thickness--and time, there is no essential distinction. We think of them
+differently; we instinctively feel differently about them. But science
+is not concerned with our feelings--and science recognizes today that
+time is a property of space, just as are length, breadth and thickness."
+
+"That's easy to say," growled the Banker. "Any one can make statements
+that can't be proven."
+
+"It has been proven," Rogers declared quietly. "The mathematical
+language of science would bore you. Let me give you a popular
+illustration--an illustration, by the way, that I saw in print long
+before Einstein's theory was made public. For instance, think about
+this: A house has length, breadth and thickness. The house is matter,
+and it has three dimensions of space. But what else has it?"
+
+A blank silence followed his sudden question.
+
+"Hasn't it duration, gentlemen? Could a house have any real existence if
+it did not exist for any time at all?"
+
+"Well," said George, "I guess that's something to think about."
+
+Rogers went on calmly: "You must admit, my friends, that the existence
+of matter depends on time equally as on space. They are, as I said,
+blended together. A house must have length, breadth, thickness and
+duration, or it cannot exist. Matter, in other words, persists in time
+and space. Let me give you another illustration of this blending. How
+would you define motion?"
+
+Again there was a dubious silence.
+
+"Motion," said George suddenly, "why, that's when something--something
+material changes place." He was blushing at his own temerity, and he sat
+back in his leather chair, smoking furiously.
+
+"Quite so," smiled Rogers. "That, gentlemen, is about the way we all
+conceive motion. Something material, a railroad train, for instance,
+changes its position in space." He regarded the men before him, and this
+time there was a touch of triumph in his manner. "But, my friends,
+that's where our line of reasoning is inadequate. Time is involved
+equally with space. The train was there _then_; it is here _now_. That
+involves time."
+
+"In other words--" the Doctor began.
+
+"In other words, motion is the simultaneous change of the position of
+matter in time and space. You see how impossible it is to speak of one
+factor without involving the others? That is the mental attitude into
+which I'm trying to get you. I want you to think of time exactly as you
+think of length, breadth and thickness--as one of the properties of
+space. Isn't that clear?"
+
+The Big Business Man answered him. "I think so. I can understand now
+what you mean by a blending of--"
+
+"Oh, his words are clear enough," the Banker interjected testily. "But
+what's the argument about? He started in by saying--"
+
+George sat up suddenly. "Mr. Rogers, you said we were to come here for
+something vitally important to you. Something about time and space. You
+said--"
+
+Rogers interrupted him. "I did indeed. I asked you all to come here to
+the club tonight because you are my friends. Mine and Loto's. And the
+affair concerns him more directly than it does me."
+
+He glanced across the room. "Come, Loto. You're the one to tell them."
+
+The Chemist's son, a young man of twenty, rose reluctantly from his
+obscure seat in a corner of the room. He was tall, and slight of build,
+with thick, wavy chestnut hair and blue eyes; his delicate features were
+offset by a square firmness of chin. He came forward slowly, flushing as
+the eyes of the men were turned on him; a poetic-looking boy, with only
+the firm line of his lips and the set of his jaw to mark him for a man.
+
+"My son, gentlemen," Rogers added. "You all know Loto."
+
+"We do," said George enthusiastically. He vacated his own chair, shoving
+it forward, and selected another, more retired position for himself.
+
+Loto settled himself in the chair and then hesitated, as though in doubt
+how to begin. He was still flushing, and yet his manner was thoroughly
+poised. His forehead was wrinkled in thought.
+
+"Father and I were experimenting," he began abruptly, "about two years
+ago. We were interested in electrons. We were experimenting with the
+fluorescence in a Crookes tube--breaking down the atoms into electrons.
+Then we followed the experiments of Lenard and Roentgen. We darkened the
+tube and prepared a chemical screen, which grew luminous."
+
+Loto turned to Rogers: "They don't want to hear all this. These
+technicalities--"
+
+Rogers smiled. "We hit upon it quite by accident--an accident that we
+have never been able to duplicate. We had, that evening, an adaptation
+of the familiar Crookes tube. I do not know the exact conditions we
+secured; we had no idea we were on the threshold of any discovery and we
+kept no record of what we did. Nor am I sure just how I prepared the
+screen--what proportions of the chemicals I used--"
+
+"You're worse than Loto," the Banker growled. "If you'll just tell us
+what--"
+
+"I will," agreed Rogers good-naturedly. "We were working one night in my
+laboratory on Forty-third Street--only a few hundred yards from the
+Scientific Club here. The room was dark, and we had set up a small
+chemical screen. It grew luminous as the electrons from the tube struck
+it, but the glowing was not what we had expected--not what we had
+observed before. The difference is unexplainable to you, but we both
+noticed it. And then Loto noticed something else, something in the
+darkness behind the screen."
+
+Loto was sitting upright on the edge of his chair; his eyes were
+snapping with eagerness as he interrupted his father.
+
+"I'll tell them because it was I who saw it first. Behind the screen,
+the darkness of the room itself was growing luminous with a glowing
+radiance that seemed to spread out into rays that were not parallel, but
+divergent. It looked almost as though the screen were a searchlight
+sending a spreading beam out behind it.
+
+"Father saw it almost as soon as I did. It was a very curious light; it
+did not illuminate the room about us. Then we suddenly discovered that
+it went through the walls of the laboratory. We were looking into a
+space that seemed to be opening up for miles ahead of us. The walls of
+the room, the house itself, the city around us, were all blotted out. We
+were looking into an empty distance."
+
+"Empty?" echoed George tensely. "Didn't you see anything?"
+
+"Not at first." Loto had relaxed; his earnest gaze passed from one to
+the other of the intent faces of the men. "We were only conscious of
+empty distance. It was not darkness nor was it light. It was more a dim
+phosphorescence. We had forgotten the Crookes tube, the screen,
+everything but that glowing, empty scene before us.
+
+"After a moment, or it may have been much longer, the scene seemed to
+brighten. It turned to gleaming silver, and then we saw that we were
+looking out over a snow-covered waste. Miles of it. Snow reaching back
+to the horizon, and dull gray sky overhead. The ground seemed about
+sixty feet below us, and we were poised in the air above it."
+
+Loto paused a moment, and Rogers added, "You understand, gentlemen, that
+my laboratory is not on the ground floor of the building, but somewhat
+above the level of that part of the city."
+
+"But--" began the Big Business Man.
+
+"Let him go on," growled the Banker. "Go on, boy. Didn't you see
+anything but snow?"
+
+"No, not at once. It was all bleak and desolate. But it kept on
+brightening, losing its silvery, glowing look until at last we could
+see it was daylight. It was apparently late afternoon--or perhaps early
+morning. The sun wasn't showing--it must have been behind a cloud.
+
+"We sat staring down at this cold, snowy landscape, and then, almost
+from below us, something moving came into view. It had passed under
+us--under the laboratory--and was traveling on away from us."
+
+"What was it?" the Banker demanded.
+
+"Well, it seemed to be a huge sled, with fur covered figures on it, and
+pulled by an animal almost as large as a horse. But it wasn't a
+horse--it was a dog."
+
+Loto paused, but no one else spoke. After a moment he resumed:
+
+"The sled slackened and stopped about a quarter of a mile north of the
+laboratory--up toward where Central Park is now. And then we saw that
+there was a building there, a large, oval-shaped structure. It may have
+been built of snow, or ice--or perhaps some whitish stone. There seemed
+to be an enclosed space behind it. The whole thing blended into the
+landscape so that we had overlooked it before.
+
+"The sled stopped. We could see the figures climbing down from it. Then
+there was sudden darkness. The scene went black. We were sitting facing
+the side wall of the laboratory."
+
+"A wire in our apparatus had burned out," Rogers explained. "And that
+night I was taken sick. It developed into pneumonia and I was laid up
+for weeks. Loto was left alone to follow up our discovery."
+
+"Just a minute," the Banker interjected. "Do I understand you to imply
+that you actually saw all this? It was not a vision, or an electrical
+picture of some sort that you were reproducing?"
+
+"No, they mean it was an actual scene," the Big Business Man put in.
+"They were seeing New York City at some other time. Isn't that so?"
+
+Rogers nodded. "Exactly. And while I was sick, Loto went ahead and--"
+
+"Was it the past?" the Doctor interposed. "Were you looking back into
+the past?"
+
+"We were looking across countless centuries into the future," said Loto.
+
+"The future!"
+
+"Yes," declared Rogers. "Must you always think of the future as a
+wonderful civilization of marvelous inventions, mammoth buildings and
+airplanes like ocean steamships? All that lies ahead of us, no doubt. A
+hundred years--two hundred--a thousand--will bring all that. But further
+on? What about then, gentlemen? Ten thousand years from now? Or fifty
+thousand? Do you anticipate that civilization will always climb steadily
+upward? You are wrong. There must be a peak, and then a down grade--the
+decadence of mankind."
+
+"Please, let me go on," Loto said eagerly. "I need not tell you all now
+exactly how we knew we were looking into the future, and not the past.
+We, ourselves, did not know it that first evening. But later, when I
+studied the scene more closely, I could tell easily."
+
+"How?" the Banker demanded.
+
+"By the details I saw. The type of building. That animal that looked
+like a dog. The sun--I'll tell you about that in a moment. An artificial
+light in the house--I saw it once or twice when it was night there. And
+the girl. Her manner of dress--"
+
+"There was a girl?" said George quickly. "A girl! Tell us about her,
+Loto. Was she pretty? Was she--"
+
+"Go on, boy," growled the Banker. "Tell it from where you left off."
+
+"Yes, she was very pretty," said Loto gravely. "She--" He stopped
+suddenly, his gaze drifting off into distance.
+
+"Oh boy!" breathed George, but at the Banker's glare he sat back,
+abashed.
+
+Loto went on after a moment: "I won't go into details now. While my
+father was sick, I was able to examine the scene many times. I even
+think I--well, I sat watching it most of the time for a week at least.
+
+"The house had a sort of stable--or a kennel, if you want to call it
+that--behind it. And there was an open space, like a garden, with a wall
+around it. There was a little tree in the garden; a tree all covered
+with snow. But after a few days the sun came out and melted the snow on
+the tree branches.
+
+"The girl was a captive. I guess they were bringing her in on that sled
+the night we first saw them. There was another woman about the place,
+and an old man. And a younger man--the one who was holding the girl a
+prisoner."
+
+"You said the house looked about a quarter of a mile away," the Banker
+declared. "How could you see all these details?"
+
+"I had a small telescope, sir."
+
+"The scene actually was there," Rogers put in. "Loto used a telescope
+quite as he would have used one through the window to see Central Park.
+Go on, Loto."
+
+"The girl..." George prompted.
+
+"She was a small girl. Very slender--about sixteen, I guess. She had
+long, golden hair, but it was red when she stood outside with the sun on
+it. That's because the sun was red; an enormous glowing red ball, like
+the end of a cigar. It tinged the snow with blood, but there didn't seem
+to be much heat from it.
+
+"Sometimes I could see the girl through the doorway. There was a door,
+but it was transparent--glass, perhaps--and the house was lighted
+inside. She would sit on a low seat, with her hair in sort of braids
+down over her shoulders. Once she played on some little stringed
+instrument. And sang. I could see her so plainly it seemed curious not
+to hear her voice.
+
+"They appeared to treat her kindly, even though she was a captive. But
+once the man came in and tried to kiss her. She fended him off. Then he
+went out and got on his sled and drove away. He was gone several hours.
+
+"The girl cried that night. She cried for a long time. Once she ran
+outside, but one of those huge dogs came leaping out of the other
+building and drove her back. The dog's baying must have aroused the
+place. The old man and the woman appeared, and they locked the girl up
+in some other room. I never saw her again.
+
+"A week or two went by and father was better. But the next time I went
+to the laboratory, the apparatus wouldn't work. Perhaps the chemicals on
+the screen were worn out--We're not really sure. But we've never been
+able since to make a screen that would do more than glow. We've never
+had another that would affect the time-space behind it."
+
+"You mean," said the Big Business Man softly, "that after those brief
+glimpses into the future, it is closed again to you?"
+
+Rogers spoke. "Tell them the rest, Loto."
+
+The younger man was hesitant. "Perhaps you gentlemen wouldn't
+understand. We have seen nothing more, but I couldn't forget that girl."
+
+"_I_ understand," George murmured. But Loto went on unheeding:
+
+"It wasn't the scientific part of our discovery that impressed me most.
+We kept that secret because we had no proof of what we had done, and we
+couldn't seem to get any. It was the girl that bothered me. That girl--a
+captive--facing some danger.... You gentlemen will say she isn't living,
+that she won't be alive for thousands of years yet. But _I_ say your
+conception of it is wrong."
+
+Loto's voice had gained sudden power. He seemed abruptly years
+older--forceful, commanding.
+
+"_You_ say that girl _will_ be living in the future. I say she _is_
+living in the future. She is living just as you and I are living--right
+here in this exact space that we call New York--within a few hundred
+yards of this room. She is separated from us, not by space, but only by
+time.
+
+"You, gentlemen, perhaps cannot conceive of crossing that time. But if
+it were a mile of space, or a thousand miles, you could imagine crossing
+it very easily. Yet we know that time is a property of space; not one
+iota different from length, breadth and thickness except that we think
+of it differently."
+
+Loto's flashing eyes held his little audience. "Gentlemen, suppose
+you--with your human intelligence--were trees, rooted to one spot here
+in America. And suppose that the accustomed order of things was that
+Asia would come slowly and steadily toward you and pass before you. That
+is what time does for us. Do you suppose, under those circumstances,
+that you could readily conceive of going across space and reaching Asia?
+Think about that, gentlemen! It's easy for us to imagine moving through
+space, because we've always done it. But a tree with your intelligence
+would not feel that way about it. The tree would say: 'Asia will be
+here.' And if you said: 'That's true. But Asia exists just the same in a
+different part of space from you. If you go there, you will not have to
+wait for it to come to you,' the tree--even if it had your present
+intelligence in every other way--wouldn't understand that. Simply
+because the tree had always conceived space as we are accustomed to
+conceiving time. That conception of ours does not fit the real facts,
+for--except for the way space and time affect us personally--there is
+actually no distinction to be made between them. That is no original
+theory of mine; it is modern scientific thought--mathematically proven
+and accepted ever since Albert Einstein first made his theory public."
+
+A silence followed Loto's outburst. Rogers broke it:
+
+"We would like to have you gentlemen meet us here two weeks from
+tonight. We are not quite ready yet. Will you do that?"
+
+Every one in the room signified assent.
+
+"But what for?" George asked earnestly. "Of course we will, but has Loto
+discovered anything? Has he--"
+
+Loto interrupted him. "I have been working and experimenting for two
+years." He had fallen back to his quiet manner. "Father has helped me,
+of course. And given me money--more than he could afford."
+
+He smiled at Rogers, who returned it with a gaze of affection.
+
+"In two weeks I will be completely ready. Don't you think so, father?"
+
+"Yes," said Rogers, and a sudden cloud of anxiety crossed his face. He
+was a scientist, but he was a father as well, and even his scientific
+enthusiasm could not allay the fear for his son that was in his heart.
+
+"Yes," he repeated. "I think you will be quite ready, Loto."
+
+"Ready for what?" growled the Banker. He was mopping his forehead with a
+huge white handkerchief.
+
+Loto's glance swept across all the men in the room. "I have found a way
+to cross time, just as you are able to cross space. And two weeks from
+tonight, gentlemen, with, your assistance, I propose to start forward
+through the centuries that lie ahead of us. I'm going to find that
+girl--if I can--and release her--help her out of whatever danger,
+whatever trouble she is in!"
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER TWO
+
+
+"Honor to Loto," cried the Big Business Man. "The youngest and greatest
+scientist of all time!"
+
+"There's a double meaning in that," laughed the Doctor, amid the
+applause. "The greatest scientist of time! He is, indeed."
+
+It was outwardly a gay little gathering, having dinner in a small
+private room of the Scientific Club. But underneath the laughter there
+was a note of tenseness, and two of the people--a man and a
+woman--laughed infrequently with gayety that was forced.
+
+The man was Rogers; the woman, Lylda, his wife, mother of Loto. She was
+the only woman in the room. At first glance she would have seemed no
+more than thirty-five, though in reality she was several years older--a
+small, slender figure in a simple black evening dress that covered her
+shoulders, but left her throat bare. Her beauty was of a curious type;
+her face was oval, her features delicately molded and of pronounced
+Grecian cast. Yet there seemed about her, also, an indefinable touch of
+the Orient; her eyes, perhaps, which were slate gray, large and very
+slightly upturned at the corners. Her complexion was fair; her hair
+thick, wavy and coal-black.
+
+That she was a woman of intellect, culture and refinement was obvious.
+There was about her, too, a look of gentle sweetness, the air of a woman
+who could be nothing less than charming. Her eyes, as she met those of
+her men friends around her, were direct and honest. But when she
+regarded Loto this evening, a yearning melancholy sprang into them, with
+a mistiness as though the tears were restrained only by an effort.
+
+The laughter about the table died out. A waiter was removing the last of
+the dishes; the men were lighting their cigars.
+
+"Well," said the Banker, breaking the silence, "now let us hear it. If
+everyone is as curious as I am--"
+
+"More," put in George. "I'm more curious."
+
+"You're right," agreed Rogers. "We must get on."
+
+"First," the Big Business Man interrupted, "I want to know more about
+that screen behind which you saw that other time world of the future."
+
+"I know very little myself," Rogers answered. "So little that Loto and I
+could never duplicate it. But the theory is understandable. The space
+where Central Park now is has a certain time factor allied to its other
+properties. The light, the rays, from that screen, whatever may have
+been their character, altered the time factor of that space.
+
+"As Loto told you, the modern conception of the reality of things is
+that the future exists--but with a different time dimension. We have a
+familiar axiom, 'No two masses of matter can occupy the same space _at
+the same time_.' That is just another way of saying it. To reason
+logically from that, an infinite number of masses of matter can, and
+do, occupy the same space _at different times_."
+
+"I'd rather hear about this new experiment," the Banker said. "You made
+the statement--"
+
+"So would I," agreed George. "That girl--"
+
+"You shall," said Rogers. His grave, troubled glance went to his wife's
+face, but she smiled at him bravely. "You shall have all the facts as
+briefly as I can give them to you.
+
+"Loto became obsessed--I can hardly call it anything less--with the idea
+that he could alter the time factor of human consciousness. In theory it
+was perfectly possible--I had to admit that. And so I let him go ahead.
+He has worked feverishly, with an energy I feared would injure his
+health, for nearly two years. But, gentlemen, this is all that counts:
+he has succeeded. I'm sure of that; we have already made a test. The
+apparatus is ready upstairs now, and--"
+
+"Let Loto tell it," grumbled the Banker. "Go on, boy, can't you tell us
+how you did it?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I can in principle." Loto hesitated, then added with a
+mixture of sarcasm and deference: "I can explain it to you in a general
+way, but the details are very technical."
+
+He paused until the waiter had left the room; then he began speaking
+slowly, evidently choosing his words with the utmost care.
+
+"Matter, as we know it now, has four dimensions; the three so-called
+planes of space, and one of time. But what is matter? The new science
+tells us it is molecules, composed of atoms. And atoms? An atom is a
+ring of electrons, which are particles of negative, disembodied
+electricity, revolving at enormously high speeds around a central
+nucleus. Am I clear?"
+
+Loto's gaze rested on the Banker, who nodded somewhat dubiously.
+
+"Then," Loto went on, "we have resolved all matter to one common entity,
+that central nucleus of positive electricity which is sometimes called
+the proton. All this is now generally known and accepted. But of what
+substance, what character, is the proton? For years now, the theory has
+been fairly accepted that the proton is merely a vortex, or whirlpool.
+And the electron is conceived to be something very similar. Do you grasp
+the significance of that? It robs matter of what I, personally, always
+instinctively feel is its chief characteristic--substance. We delve into
+matter, resolving its complexities to find one basic substance, and we
+find not substance but a whirlpool--electrical, doubtless--in space!"
+
+"That makes you rather gasp!" the Big Business Man exclaimed, gazing
+about the table.
+
+"It is quite correct," affirmed Rogers. "It transforms our conception of
+substance to motion. Of what? Motion of something intangible--the ether,
+let us say. Or space itself."
+
+"I can't seem to get a mental grip on it," the Big Business Man
+declared. "You--"
+
+"Think of it this way," Rogers went on earnestly. "Motion can easily
+change our impression of solidity. This is not an analogous case,
+perhaps, but it will give you something to think about. Water is
+normally a fluid. You can pass your hand through a stream of water from
+a garden hose. But set that water in more rapid motion, and what
+physical impression do you get? At Fully, Switzerland, water for a
+turbine emerges from a nozzle at a speed of four hundred miles per hour.
+What would happen if you tried to pass your hand through that? I have
+seen a jet no more than three inches in diameter of such rapidly moving
+water, and you cannot cut through it with the blow of a crowbar! There
+you have a physical substance--an impression of solidity--derived from
+motion."
+
+"But what has all this to do with time?" the Banker objected, after a
+moment of silence.
+
+"Everything," said Loto quickly. "Since we are changing the
+time-dimension of matter, without altering its space-dimensions, you
+must have some conception of what matter really is. When once you
+realize the real intangibility of even our own bodies, or this house we
+are in, you will be able to understand us better."
+
+The Banker relaxed. "Go on, boy. Let's hear it."
+
+"Yes, sir. Changing the time-dimension of substance amounts merely to a
+change in the rate and character of the motion that constitutes the
+electrical vortex we call a proton."
+
+Loto looked at Rogers somewhat helplessly, with a faintly quizzical
+smile twitching at his lips.
+
+"I seem to be talking very ponderously tonight, father. I wonder if it
+wouldn't be easier for us to show them the apparatus?"
+
+Rogers rose from his chair. "By all means. Gentlemen, Loto has completed
+his apparatus on the roof of the club. You may have noticed for the past
+month that one end is boarded up, and has a canvas roof over it. That is
+where Loto has been working. Will you come up with us?"
+
+The building that houses the New York Scientific Club is a full block in
+depth and twenty stories high. Its flat roof is surrounded by a parapet
+of stone. One end of the roof is a garden, with pergolas, trellised
+vines, and beds of flowers with white gravel walks between. At the other
+end, on this particular evening, a twenty-foot, rough board wall
+enclosed a space about a hundred feet square, with a canvas roof above
+it.
+
+The night was calm and moonless, with a purple sky brilliantly studded
+with stars. At this height the hum of the great city was stilled. Near
+by, many buildings towered still higher, but for the most part the roofs
+lay below, with their chimneys and pot-bellied water tanks set upon
+spindly legs like huge, grotesque bugs on guard. A block away the roof
+garden of a great hotel blazed with red and green lights. Spots of light
+crawled through the streets below, with black blobs that were
+pedestrians scurrying between them. Occasionally the drone of a plane
+overhead broke the stillness.
+
+Rogers led the way across the roof top, and unlocked a tiny door that
+led into the temporary board enclosure. Lylda and Loto entered last,
+the woman clinging to her son's hand. The turn of a switch flooded the
+place with light.
+
+At first glance one would have said it was a modern passenger airplane
+that was standing there under the canvas--a huge, glistening dragonfly
+of aluminum color with a long, narrow cabin below.
+
+"There," said Rogers, "is the product of Loto's work. What you see from
+here is merely an adaptation of the Frazia plane--and the Frazia company
+built it for us. The apparatus flies as any other Frazia plane does; it
+has the same motors, the same equipment. Its other mechanism--by which
+the time-dimension, the basic electrical nature of the whole apparatus,
+and everything or everybody within its cabin can be changed at
+will--that mechanism Loto constructed and installed himself."
+
+"There you go again," growled the Banker. "Let Loto tell it, won't you?"
+
+Rogers bridled a little. "I'll tell you this, Donald. That is the
+apparatus in which Loto is going to cross time into the future. At least
+you can understand that--if you keep your mind on it."
+
+There was a general laugh at the Banker's expense. But Lylda did not
+laugh. She was leaning against a wooden post, clinging to her son's
+hand, and staring at that sleek, shining thing with wide, terrified
+eyes.
+
+"Come, Loto," said Rogers. "They want you to show it to them."
+
+The young man disengaged himself from his mother and went forward. In a
+moment the men were scattered about, examining the plane.
+
+"You may not understand the Frazia model," Loto was saying. "It was only
+put on the market recently. It's slightly larger than the average of the
+older types--more stable in the air, but no faster. The 'copter-type,
+variable-pitch propellers are powered by a Frazier atomic motor."
+
+The Banker called to them. He was standing on a box, looking into one of
+the cabin windows. "You've got different rooms in here."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Loto. "I've divided it into three small compartments
+according to my own needs."
+
+"Can we get inside?"
+
+"I think perhaps it would be better not to," said Rogers, coming
+forward. "At least, not tonight. Loto wants to get started. There is--"
+
+"You plan to operate this _tonight_?" the Doctor asked.
+
+"Yes," answered Loto. "I am going forward in time, to--"
+
+"To find that girl," George finished eagerly. "To rescue her. Don't you
+remember he saw her in that--"
+
+"Be quiet, boy," the Banker commanded. "Loto, what is this other
+mechanism your father mentioned?"
+
+"It is not particularly complicated," the young man answered readily.
+"In general principle, that is. The Frazia mechanism causes the machine
+to travel through space--to change its space-factors at the will of the
+operator. That's clear, isn't it?"
+
+"Of course it is," said the Banker impatiently.
+
+"It's clear because you've always been able to travel through space
+yourself," interjected the Big Business Man. "Don't be so
+self-satisfied, Donald. If you'd been rooted to one spot all your
+life--like a tree--you wouldn't have a chance on earth of understanding
+an airplane."
+
+"That's exactly what I mean," said Loto quickly. "My other mechanism
+changes the time-factor of the entire apparatus. I can explain it best
+this way: Every particle of matter in that machine--as well as my own
+body--is electrical in its basic nature. My mechanism circulates a
+current through every particle of that matter. Not an electrical
+current, but something closely allied to it. The nature of this I do not
+yet know. But it causes the inherent vibratory movements of the protons
+of matter to change their character. The matter changes its state. It
+acquires a different time-factor, in other words."
+
+"Is this change instantaneous?" the Doctor asked.
+
+"No, sir. It is progressive. To reach the time-factor of tomorrow night,
+take the first few minutes of time as it seems to us to pass. The
+time-factor of next week would be reached during the succeeding two or
+three minutes."
+
+"In other words, it picks up speed," said the Big Business Man.
+
+"Yes. How long the acceleration will last I do not know. I have a series
+of dials for registering the time-movement. By altering the strength,
+the intensity of the current, I can vary the speed, or check it
+entirely."
+
+"But why have this apparatus in the form of an airplane?" asked the
+Banker. "You're going through time, not space."
+
+Rogers answered: "In a hundred years from now this building will not be
+here. If we were to stop his time-movement at that point, he would drop
+twenty stories through space to the ground."
+
+"Why, of course!" exclaimed the Big Business Man. "But in the air..."
+
+"Exactly," said Loto. "I shall not start the propellers until later;
+until I am launched into future time, and need them."
+
+Rogers looked at his watch. "Have you much to do before you start,
+Loto?"
+
+"No, sir--nothing. I have food and water, clothing, and everything else
+I need. I filled our list very carefully, and checked over everything
+this afternoon. I could have started then; I've left nothing to do
+tonight."
+
+"Then you might as well get away at once. You'll remember everything
+I've told you, Loto? You'll come back here, as quickly as possible? Here
+to this rooftop?"
+
+The strain of anxiety under which Rogers was subconsciously laboring
+came out suddenly in his voice. "You'll be careful, lad?"
+
+"Yes, sir, of course. I--well, I might as well say good-by now, Father."
+
+They shook hands silently, and Rogers abruptly turned away.
+
+Loto shook hands with the others.
+
+The Banker had withdrawn to the farthest corner of the enclosure, where
+he stood regarding the airplane fearfully. Loto walked over to him.
+
+"Good-by, boy." The Banker's voice was gruff and a trifle unsteady.
+"Take it easy. Don't be a reckless fool just because you're young."
+
+"I'll be all right, sir." Silently they shook hands.
+
+Loto met his mother a few paces away. He stood head and shoulders above
+her, and her arms went around him hungrily as he bent down to kiss her.
+
+"You'll come back to me, little son?" she whispered. "You'll come back
+safely?"
+
+"Yes, Mother. Of course."
+
+He met her eyes, with the terror lurking in their gray depths.
+
+"Don't look like that, _mamita_. I'll be all right."
+
+Rogers was calling to them. Loto disengaged himself gently.
+
+"Good-by, _mamita_. I'll be back tomorrow or the next day. Don't
+worry--it's nothing."
+
+The last preparations took no more than a moment or two. Loto climbed to
+the cabin and disappeared within it.
+
+"Be sure and take off the canvas roof later tonight," he called down to
+them. "And leave it off so I can get back."
+
+"Yes," said Rogers, "we will. And one of us, at least, will be here
+watching all the time you're away. Good-by, Loto."
+
+"Good-by, Father." The cabin door closed upon him.
+
+At a distance of twenty feet the men stood in a solemn group, watching.
+
+"What will it look like going?" George whispered.
+
+But no one answered him.
+
+Presently a low hum became audible. It grew in intensity, until it
+sounded like the droning of a thousand winged insects. The airplane
+rocked gently on its foundation. It was straining, trembling in every
+fiber.
+
+A moment passed. Then the plane began to glow, seemingly phosphorescent
+even in the light of the electric bulbs on the scaffolding beside it.
+Another moment. There was a fleeting impression that the thing was
+growing translucent--transparent--vapory. For one brief instant the
+vision and sound of it persisted--_then it was gone_!
+
+The men stood facing a silent, empty space, where a few loose boards
+were lying, with a discarded hammer, a saw, and a keg of nails.
+
+They had forgotten the woman. In an opposite corner of the enclosure
+Lylda was seated alone, crying softly and miserably to herself.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+George sat alone on a little bench in the roof garden of the Scientific
+Club. On the ground beside him, stretched on a broad leather cushion,
+Rogers lay asleep. It was well after midnight. There was hardly a breath
+of air stirring, and only a few fleecy clouds to hide the stars. In the
+east, a flattened moon was rising.
+
+George sat with his chin cupped in his hands, staring out over the
+lights and the roofs of the city. The growing moonlight gleamed on his
+soft white shirt and white flannel trousers.
+
+Rogers stirred and sat up. "Are you awake, George?"
+
+"Go on to sleep. I'm good for nearly all night."
+
+But Rogers rose, stretching. "What time is it?"
+
+"Quarter of two. Go on to sleep, I tell you."
+
+"I've had enough." The older man sat down on the bench and lighted a
+cigar. "You'd better take a turn, George. You'll wear yourself out."
+
+"I can't. I'm too excited. How long has he been gone now?"
+
+Rogers calculated. "About twenty-eight hours."
+
+"Do you think he'll get back tonight?"
+
+"I don't know. Perhaps."
+
+"I wonder what he's doing right now," George persisted after a silence.
+
+Rogers did not answer.
+
+"You don't think anything could have happened to him, do you?"
+
+"No. I--I hope not."
+
+"I hope he brings that girl back with him," George said after another
+silence. "I certainly would like to meet her."
+
+Rogers plucked a flower from the trellis beside them, breaking it in his
+fingers idly. "He may get back tonight. It was our idea that--"
+
+He stopped abruptly, and simultaneously George gripped him by the arm.
+They both saw it; a little blob of radiance in the air just beyond the
+flower trellis; a shining spot small as a puff of tobacco smoke gleaming
+silvery in the moonlight.
+
+George murmured tensely, "Over there...something."
+
+A transparent radiance. But in a moment it was congealing, turning into
+a glistening, solid shape. The faint hum of it sounded as it hung in
+mid-air by the trellis.
+
+"Not the plane," George murmured. "Then what is it?"
+
+The humming ceased. They could see the little object clearly now; a
+metal cube, each of its faces some twenty inches in diameter. It hung
+for another moment, then dropped with a little thump to the rooftop.
+
+Both the men were on their feet. Rogers said, "A message from him. An
+emergency..." He picked up the cube.
+
+George stared wonderingly. "You know about this?"
+
+"We arranged it--only for an emergency. If he could not come, or felt
+it unwise, he was to send this. We did not want to worry
+anyone--particularly his mother--so we didn't mention this
+possibility."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a downstairs club room, the men and Lylda were gathered, all of them
+gazing mute and solemn as Rogers opened the cube. Much of its interior
+was filled with the intricate time-mechanisms. To one side a sheaf of
+manuscript pages was crowded, closely written with Loto's script.
+
+"His message," George murmured. "I do hope he found the girl, and that
+they're all right."
+
+"I'll read it to you." Rogers' fingers were trembling as he drew out the
+pages. He lighted a cigarette, steadied himself. "The first thing he
+says--he's all right--"
+
+"Of course he's all right," the Banker growled. "That boy is
+resourceful."
+
+"He wants us to know that he's safe and well. It says...."
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER THREE
+
+
+First I want you all to know, I'm quite safe and well. _Mamita_ dear,
+please try not to worry about me. Remember, Father we anticipated I
+might decide it best to send you a message. I do hope I have calculated
+the space-and time-factors correctly, and that I've set the mechanisms
+of the cube so that it will come back to you within a day or two after
+my departure. I'm assuming that is so.
+
+You will understand, of course, that as I have lived time, it has been
+far longer than that. Much has happened to me, and I want to tell you
+now what I can of it.
+
+You recall that night when I left you--to me now it seems so long ago. I
+remember your solemn faces as I closed the door of the cabin after me. I
+was in the forward one of the three compartments--you saw it when you
+inspected the plane the night I started.
+
+In this compartment are the controls for the Frazia motors and the
+flying controls. The controls of my own mechanism are there also. These
+are simple; merely a switch to regulate the proton current, as Father
+and I call it, and a series of small dials for recording the
+time-change. These dials are geared, with one for days, another for days
+in multiples of ten, one for years, and others for years in multiples of
+tens, hundreds, and thousands.
+
+I took my seat behind the Frazia controls. I was not going to use them
+at once, because there was no immediate need to raise the plane into
+the air. But I wanted to be seated; I could not tell what the shock of
+starting might be. The dials and switch were on the wall at my right. I
+moved the lever of the switch over to the first intensity. There was a
+low hum. The floor seemed to rock under me. The humming increased; it
+roared in my ears. Everything was vibrating with an infinitely tiny,
+trembling quiver that penetrated into my body, into my bones, even
+coursed through my blood.
+
+They were swift sensations, I suppose, lasting no more than a few
+seconds. I felt, as near as I can explain it, as though some force that
+holds my own body together, cell by cell, were being tampered with; as
+if, had the struggle continued, I might be shattered into a myriad of
+tiny fragments, like a puff of exploded powder.
+
+The humming grew still louder, and I remember trying to stand up. A wild
+impulse to throw back the switch and stop the thing came to me, but I
+resisted it. Then I was conscious of a sensation of falling headlong; a
+dizzy, sickening reeling of the senses, rather than the body.
+
+I lost consciousness--for only a moment or two, I think. I was sitting
+in my seat, uninjured. The humming was still in my ears, insistent. But
+it was not so loud as I had thought, and after a time I forgot it almost
+entirely.
+
+My first impression now was that everything about me was glowing,
+radiating a phosphorescent light. I looked down at my knees; my clothes
+were glowing. I could no longer distinguish color; my hands and my shoes
+were the same--all that same glowing phosphorescence. It gave a sense of
+unreality to everything. And then I saw that everything _was_ unreal;
+nothing had any substance. I could distinguish the side of the cabin
+through my hand, and beyond the cabin wall I could see the solidity of
+the board enclosure where the plane was resting. It was as though my
+body and the cabin interior were shimmering ghosts. But when I gripped
+my knee with my hand, I felt solid enough.
+
+I have given you details of my sensations as I remember them now, but I
+do not suppose that more than a minute or two had elapsed since I had
+first pulled the switch. I glanced at the dial recording the passage of
+days but there was no movement.
+
+I stood up, conscious of a nausea and a strong feeling of
+light-headedness. I peered through one of the side windows. Outside,
+everything looked at first glance as though I had not yet started. The
+walls of the enclosure were clear, solid and as distinct as before. Then
+I saw George staring directly at me, and I could tell by the expression
+of his face that he was looking, not at the plane, but at an empty space
+where the plane had been.
+
+It was all as real outside as though I had been part of it myself--until
+I saw the others move across the enclosure. They were walking extremely
+fast and their gestures were rapid; two or three times more rapid than
+normal.
+
+For what seemed like five or ten minutes I stood there watching you all.
+It was like a moving picture being run too fast--and being constantly
+accelerated. I saw you roll back the canvas roof, and then you went
+scurrying out through the door--the last of you so fast that the figure
+blurred in my sight.
+
+I was left alone. For a while I sat there, a little dazed. There is a
+small clock on the side wall of the cabin. It might have been completely
+radium-painted, by the look of it at that moment, but even though it
+glowed as intangible as a ghost, I could make out the hands. I was sure
+they would be traveling through space at their accustomed speed and thus
+give me the time of the world I had left. I had started at about ten
+minutes of ten; the clock now showed about five minutes after ten. I had
+been gone fifteen minutes. Above the enclosure, to the east, I saw the
+moon. It was about an hour up, I judged. And that gave me a basis to
+compute my starting acceleration. The moon an hour up would have made
+your time ten minutes of two--four hours after I started. I had passed
+through those first four hours in fifteen minutes!
+
+This was with my control at the weakest intensity of the current. There
+are twenty subdivisions of power. I pushed the handle around from one
+to the other of them quickly, pausing only an instant on each, and
+stopping at the tenth. There was no change of sensation, except that the
+humming seemed to grow, not louder exactly, but more powerful--more
+penetrating. The interior of the cabin and my own body lost visible
+density in appearance. You had switched off the electric lights outside,
+but in the moonlight I could still see the board walls, not only through
+the windows, but through the metallic sides of the cabin.
+
+I was tingling all over, but the sensation, now that I was used to it,
+was pleasant rather than the reverse; a feeling of lightness, buoyancy
+and strength.
+
+With the power increased tenfold, the acceleration of time-movement was
+enormous. The movement of the rising moon became visible; the heavens
+were turning over, the stars progressing from point to point with ever
+increasing speed.
+
+About ten minutes after ten by the clock, the moon was near the zenith,
+and the sun rose an instant later. I was conscious of a flash of
+twilight, and the sun's disk shot up from the horizon. The world was
+plunged into daylight.
+
+From my position inside the enclosure I could see nothing outside but
+the sky and one or two of the tallest buildings near at hand. There was
+no visible movement of anything but the sun. You can understand that, of
+course. Had any of you come into the enclosure, or had an airplane
+passed overhead, I would not have seen either one. The movement would
+have been too rapid for my vision.
+
+In perhaps a minute or two the sun was directly overhead, and in another
+fraction of a minute it had set. Darkness was upon me. Then the moon
+rose again and flashed across the heavens. Clouds formed and disappeared
+so quickly I could hardly see them.
+
+I glanced at the dial recording days. Its hand was moving. One day had
+passed, and the hand was traveling toward the next.
+
+For ten minutes or so I sat there, while day succeeded night and night
+came again, only to be followed almost instantly by the day light. Soon
+I could distinguish only thin streaks of light as the sun and moon
+crossed above me--streaks that came closer together, merged into one,
+and separated again as the month passed. And then the days became so
+brief that they blurred with the nights. A grayness settled upon
+everything; the mingled twilight of light and darkness.
+
+The hand of the day dial was sweeping around swiftly. I looked at the
+dial beside it, which recorded days in multiples of ten. Its pointer was
+also moving. Forty odd days were recorded and the movement was
+accelerating every instant.
+
+I thought then I had better leave the rooftop. I started the Frazia
+'copters, and rose about a thousand feet. Then I slowed them down until
+a balance with gravity was maintained, and I hung stationary. You may be
+surprised that the flying mechanism was effective while I was sweeping
+so swiftly through time. If our atmosphere did not persist in time, the
+propellers would have exerted no pressure against it. But the air does
+persist, and so does gravity.
+
+There was apparently no wind. The transient winds and storms of a few
+hours were all blended. The result, however, must have been a slight
+influence to the north, for I found myself drifting very slowly in that
+direction. After a few moments my time-velocity had so increased that
+even that drift was averaged. I hung motionless.
+
+From this height--a thousand feet above the southern boundary of Central
+Park--the scene below me was a strange one. At first glance, I might
+have been hanging in a balloon on a dull, soundless day very heavily
+overcast. Except that the sky, instead of showing dark clouds, was a
+queer, luminous gray blur that distinguished nothing.
+
+The city below me lay clear cut but absolutely shadowless, which gave it
+a very extraordinary look of flatness--a vista of buildings painted upon
+a huge, concave canvas. Colors were distinguishable, but they were
+abnormally grayish and drab. Vague, unreal pencil points of light dotted
+the scene--electric lights that were on every night in the same spots,
+and off in the daytime--the blended effect of which was visible. There
+was no sound. Nor was there motion. It looked like a dead, empty city.
+The streets seemed deserted, with not even a blur to mark those millions
+of transitory movements of humans and vehicles that I knew were taking
+place.
+
+I had been conscious of a brief period of chill, and for a moment or two
+the scene had assumed a whiter aspect, especially in the park. I
+conceived this as a blending of several heavy, lingering snowfalls of
+the winter.
+
+The lowest dial, marking days, now showed only a blur as its pointer
+swept around. And the year-dial pointer was visibly moving. I had passed
+one year and was well into the second. The clock showed ten thirty. I
+had been gone forty minutes!
+
+I said there was no visible movement in the scene beneath me. That was
+so, at first, but I soon began to see plenty of movement. The white look
+had come and gone again--far briefer this time--when my attention was
+caught by a building on Broadway, along in the Fifties somewhere. It was
+a broad but low building, no more than eight or ten stories high; the
+lowest in its immediate vicinity. It seemed now to be melting before my
+eyes! That is the only way I can describe it--melting. Parts of it were
+vanishing! It was dismembering, as though piece by piece it was being
+taken apart and carried away. Which, of course, is exactly what was
+happening.
+
+Can you form a mental picture of that? I hope so, for it was
+characteristic of all the movement that now began to assume visibility
+throughout the silent city. This building that melted--I come back to
+that word because it seems the only one suitable--was gone in a moment
+or two. Try to conceive that I did not see actual movement--not the
+physical movement we are accustomed to. They were tearing down that
+building--doubtless over a period of weeks. But I could not see any
+specific thing being done, any part of the building come off and move
+away. All such details were too rapid--far too rapid. What I saw,
+rather, was the _effect_ of movement; a change of aspect, not the
+movement itself. The building progressively looked smaller, until at
+last it was not there.
+
+Then another building began rising in its place. It grew steadily. It
+was as if I were blinking, and between each blink, with an unseen
+movement, it had leaped upward another story. It seemed a skeleton at
+first, and then it was clothed. I watched it, ignoring others further
+away, until it stood complete--a full block in depth and thirty or forty
+stories high.
+
+I began to realize now the tremendous acceleration of time velocity I
+was undergoing. The year-dial pointer very soon had moved to ten years;
+the pointer of the century-dial was stirring. Again I glanced at the
+clock. It was after eleven; I had been gone about an hour and a quarter.
+
+There was nothing that I had to do, and I moved about the cabin, looking
+out of each of the windows in turn. The city was rising; not one
+building, but hundreds. As my time velocity increased, I could no longer
+see them come and go individually. They were there--and then they were
+were gone, and others always larger and higher were in their stead.
+
+So I say the city was rising, coming up to meet me as I hung a thousand
+feet or more above it. Already one gigantic edifice to the south seemed
+to rear its spire far above me. The edges of the island stayed low, a
+fringe of the new and old mingled; but down the backbone, roughly
+following Broadway, great piles of steel and masonry were coming up.
+
+To the southeast I could make out the bridges over the river. There were
+others now, extraordinarily broad and high, dwarfing the older ones that
+stood neglected beside them.
+
+It was a period of tremendous activity. And suddenly I discovered that
+the southern half of Central Park was obliterated. I had drifted a
+little further north and was over it. A building was rising, coming up
+toward me so swiftly that its outlines were blurred and shadowy. I was
+gazing down through the window in the floor of the cabin, and caught a
+vague impression of a network of gigantic steel girders almost
+underneath the machine.
+
+I was too low. I ascended perhaps another thousand feet. When I was
+again hanging stationary, I found beneath me a tremendous terraced
+building--a pyramid with its apex sliced off. To the north and south it
+connected with others of its kind; giant structures generally of pyramid
+shape, with streets running along their steplike terraces. Innumerable
+bridges connected these mammoth buildings, so that north and south, and
+for a few blocks east and west of the center, there were continuous
+aerial streets, in some places as many as ten or fifteen, one above the
+other.
+
+I turned to the window facing the north. There was now nothing but
+buildings as far as my line of vision extended; buildings like a ridge
+down the center, shading off to the lower areas of the east and west.
+There were trees and parks in spots on the top, but the original ground
+was covered.
+
+Some of the upper street levels--those alternate sections of terraces
+and bridges over courtyards whose ground was merely the rooftops of
+lower edifices--were laid with gleaming rails. And rearing itself above
+everything, a skeleton structure of monorails stretched north and
+south--eight or ten single rails paralleled at widths of some fifty
+feet, which I realized must be carrying some system of aerial railroad.
+
+This towering pile was indeed the backbone of the city, extending
+roughly north and south like a mountain range that forms the backbone of
+a continent. The lower areas adjacent--five hundred feet above the
+ground, perhaps--were for the most part buildings with broad, flat
+roofs.
+
+In New Jersey, on Long Island, and north of Manhattan as far as I could
+see, lesser cities had appeared, with occasional giants among buildings
+that were lower. The whole was now welded into one, for the rivers on
+each side of me were spanned by a bridge at almost every street; a
+network of bridges under which the water flowed almost unnoticed.
+
+My time-velocity was still accelerating. I saw now, increasingly, many
+things about the city that were shadowy--structures that were erected
+and stood no more than twenty or thirty years, perhaps, which to my
+vision now was only a moment. I became aware, not only below me, but
+even above me, of occasional vague aerial structures; skeletons that
+reared themselves up a few thousand feet and dissipated into nothing
+before I could form a conception of their real nature.
+
+There was, indeed, everywhere this shadowy aspect as to detail. Changes
+were taking place; things were being done even the effect of which was
+too fleeting for my vision to grasp.
+
+I was constantly losing more details, but in general the growth of the
+city was outward and upward. Presently there came a pause, as though the
+city were resting. Occasional areas were blurred by their changing form;
+across the river in Jersey a tremendous tower was rising into the sky
+far above me. But as a whole the scene had quieted. My brain was
+confused by what I had tried to observe and comprehend. I found myself
+hungry and a little faint. I dropped into my seat.
+
+The dials beside me caught my attention. The century-dial pointer had
+passed eighteen. Eighteen hundred years, and approaching two thousand
+even as I sat staring at it. The clock marked one forty. I had been gone
+almost four hours. I said the city was resting. That is true. The growth
+of two thousand years had carried it to splendors of mechanical
+perfection that I could only guess at. But now it seemed to have reached
+its height; the summit of human achievement had been attained.
+
+I waited and watched through another period. There were changes, but
+they were minor. I suppose all the buildings and various structures
+decayed and were replenished. I do not know. The changes were too
+fleeting for me to see, and the general form remained the same.
+
+I was at what seemed the pinnacle of civilization, where mankind was
+resting and enjoying the results of its labors. Decadence was bound to
+come, as truly as death followed birth.
+
+The clock now recorded two fifty. I had been gone five hours. The
+century-dial was beyond thirty-seven hundred years. Two thousand years
+of growth upward from our own time-world, and only two thousand more of
+resting on the summit before the inevitable decline began. He who stands
+still, goes backward. And so it is with mankind as a whole. This
+triumphant city went down almost as quickly at it had come up. And
+through the windows of that cabin I watched it--neglected a little at
+first, then more and more as its softened masters, with nature turned
+against them, became unable to cope with it, until at last it broke up
+and sank back into ruin, decay and desolation.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER FOUR
+
+
+Occasionally, now, some brave effort seemed to be made to build the city
+on a different scale. There were other types of architecture, always
+smaller; little sections, newly built, stood heroically, surrounded by
+gigantic, moldy ruins. Suddenly I realized that it was a dead city at
+which I was staring. There were no longer changes, except those natural
+to the passing years. The city was deserted; its inhabitants had died or
+had fled--or both.
+
+It was after five o'clock. The dials registered just short of eight
+thousand years. I had less to see now, and I could give my attention to
+other things. The ruins of a dead city do not remain long in visible
+existence. Two thousand years more were recorded. Beneath me the
+vegetation seemed untouched by the hand of man; only in a few scattered
+places were there any remaining ruins: a tumbledown segment of
+building; the broken base of a tower; skeletons of crumbling steel here
+and there; headstones on the grave of what once had been a city.
+
+With these changes the contour of the landscape itself was forced to my
+attention. The rivers had changed; they were broader. South of Manhattan
+Island, and somewhat to the west, I could distinguish a great expanse of
+water. All the lowlands there--the "Meadows," as we call them--had sunk.
+To the north, the land seemed higher than normal, and an arm of the sea
+had crept in up there to lap the foothills.
+
+I have not told you of the temperature I was experiencing. When I
+started there was an almost immediate drop--a blending of day and night,
+winter and summer. It penetrated into the cabin, making the ship almost
+cold after the warm August evening of my departure.
+
+Now, however, at seven o'clock, when I had been gone some nine hours, I
+felt that it was growing noticeably colder. And the faintest suggestion
+of a vague whiteness began to creep into the scene below me. That is an
+odd way for me to phrase it. I was seeing each minute only the _effect_
+of the snowfalls of thirty winters, blended with all the other seasons.
+The snowfalls were increasing in severity; I became aware of that in the
+aspect of the scene, but I cannot describe it.
+
+It was after seven o'clock now. I had been gone about nine and a half
+hours. The dials showed eleven thousand four hundred and fifty odd
+years. I now faced a new problem: the landscape we had seen in our
+experiment had nothing in it of great duration. How could I find it, or
+tell when I had reached its time? That house in which the girl was held
+captive could stand no more than a hundred years, if that. And it was
+the only distinguishing mark in the whole scene. I would pass the
+lifetime of that house in a minute or two. I puzzled over this for quite
+a while. I had almost decided to stop and verify the actual, momentary
+conditions beneath me. And then I realized I still had far to go. There
+were trees, plenty of them, beneath me. They were constantly shifting
+and changing, but quite distinguishable, nevertheless. And in the
+enclosure about that house, Father and I had seen a tree--the only tree
+in the landscape. It was a curious looking tree, stunted, and with a
+look of the far north about it. These below me, at eleven and twelve
+thousand years ahead of our present, were more or less normal looking
+trees--or they probably would have been, had I stopped to examine them.
+
+I still had far to travel, so I increased the current from the tenth to
+the fifteenth intensity. Again I was conscious of that feeling of
+lightness in my head, and the humming and vibration of everything
+increased. I had almost forgotten my personal sensations; had quite
+forgotten them, in fact, for several hours past.
+
+I passed fifteen thousand years. I could see that the ocean to the north
+had come further inland. There was now, from my altitude, no evidence of
+mankind visible, nor anything to indicate that man had ever lived on
+this earth. The scene was more blurred now and grayer. I could still
+make out the bay to the south, with a range of hills on Staten Island
+and water behind it and to the west as far as I could see. The rivers
+bounding Manhattan were still there, but the Palisades along the Hudson
+had broken down.
+
+Directly beneath me was forest. I believed I had not drifted much from
+my original position. I was still over where Central Park had been some
+twenty thousand years before. The forest--it was more like
+woods--covered a narrow rolling country between the two rivers. I knew I
+was moving through time much more swiftly now, perhaps twice as fast as
+before. The vegetation was blurred, almost distorted. It was changing
+constantly and, on the whole, was growing sparser, more stunted. It was
+as though I were traveling northward, or ascending a mountain almost to
+the timber line. Another interval passed. My time-velocity had so
+increased that once I thought I could see a hill rising. But that
+probably was imagination.
+
+I had been gone some twelve hours--it was almost ten o'clock--when I
+realized I was about exhausted. My head was reeling; my eyes burned and
+watered. It was growing much colder--so cold that I switched on the
+electrical heating apparatus.
+
+That was when the dials recorded between twenty and thirty thousand
+years. I don't remember exactly. I was confused. The scene beneath me
+was noticeably whiter, and I was now drifting to the south. I felt
+perturbed. I was going too far.
+
+I had reached about forty-five thousand years when abruptly I realized
+that there was no vegetation in the scene! Just when it melted away I
+had not noticed. It was all a whitish blur, now, that suggested very
+snowy winters blended with a shorter summer season. I leaped to the
+control, and threw its handle back, pausing an instant at each intensity
+of current until I had come to the first. There I left it.
+
+These new sensations of decreasing my time-velocity so abruptly were
+almost equally as severe as those when I started. The humming slowed up.
+My whole body seemed to be turning to lead--or freezing. I was heavy,
+stiff, and cold. I was standing up, and I managed to grip the side of
+the cabin for support, and reaching down, I threw off the switch,
+cutting off the current completely. There came a tremendous, soundless
+clap in my head; I seemed tumbling headlong into an abyss of blackness.
+
+I do not think I lost consciousness. My senses reeled for what seemed an
+age, but was doubtlessly only a second or two. I fell into a chair and
+the horrible dizziness passed. I raised my head and looked about me.
+
+My first impression was of the extraordinary solidity of the cabin
+interior. I had not realized how shadowy it had been before. Two little
+electric bulbs were burning overhead. They illuminated the compartment.
+The windows were black rectangles; It was night outside.
+
+I was cold; I could see my breath in the chill of the room, even though
+one of the electric heaters was in operation. Everything close to me was
+oppressively silent; the humming still seemed to persist vaguely, but I
+knew it was only the reaction from it roaring in my ears. From the next
+compartment came the drone of the Frazia motors.
+
+When I had fairly recovered normality, I went to the nearest window. The
+sky was blue-black. There was no moon and the stars seemed a trifle
+hazy. Beneath me I could make out a barren expanse of snow. I checked my
+compass. Its needle had steadied now, and I saw that my drift was almost
+directly south. The ship was moving rapidly, and I was alarmed. I knew
+that, even with the compass, I could easily get lost--geographically, so
+to speak.
+
+My first action was to ascend. When I was up some six thousand feet I
+started back northward, against the wind.
+
+I was hopelessly lost, both in time and in space. I could distinguish
+nothing in the starlit, snowy landscape that seemed familiar. Whether or
+not I had passed the time world I was seeking, I had no idea. Then I
+flew low, skimming the snow no more than one or two hundred feet above
+it. There were houses! Huts would be a better word. I think they were
+built of snow, but I could not tell. It seemed an Arctic world.
+
+I knew then I had gone too far in time. I decided to stay near here in
+space until morning. Fortunately that proved only a short time away.
+Within half an hour the stars paled; twilight came and passed, and the
+sun rose--a huge, red, glowing ball.
+
+I was circling about, quite high--six or eight thousand feet possibly.
+By this reddish light of early morning I could see the bay south of me.
+There was no Long Island; the ocean had closed in to the north and east,
+and I was near its shore--a cold, snowy beach, with lazy rollers. But
+west of me there was a river--the Hudson, I was sure--double the breadth
+of one I had known. It seemed to come from a mountainous region in the
+northwest, and an arm of it north of Manhattan emptied into the sea.
+
+Everywhere there was snow. The bay was full of floating ice. Across the
+river was an area of stunted trees. I was over Manhattan Island, I was
+sure. I circled around, searching. It was not the time world I was
+seeking--that was obvious. Should I go on, or go back through the
+centuries I had passed? I decided on the latter.
+
+I had now been away from you nearly sixteen hours. I was worn out. I
+flew across the river, found a level plateau to the north. There was no
+sign of human habitation in the vicinity. Shutting off my Frazia motors
+completely, I descended and came to rest on the surface of the snow, in
+a time world forty-six thousand and eight years beyond our present. I
+ate a little and, dropping to the floor of the cabin, fell asleep.
+Unwise maybe, but I had to take a chance.
+
+At any rate, I awakened without having been disturbed. It was night
+again; I had slept some twelve hours. I flew upward, back over Manhattan
+Island, and threw the opposite proton current into its first intensity.
+
+I need not go into further details. My sensations were the same as
+before, though they bothered me less as I grew more accustomed to them.
+I came back through time. At intervals I stopped and examined the
+landscape.
+
+The wind was blowing almost continually from the north during all these
+centuries. I flew into it slowly, keeping my approximate position
+without great difficulty. I tried to hold myself near the south center
+of the island, and look northward. I was right in going back through
+time, I soon discovered. From close to the ground where I stopped once,
+I could see a rolling hill near by that had a familiar contour. I cannot
+describe it to you, but once I saw it from that angle, I knew it was in
+the landscape we had seen from the laboratory.
+
+Then I found the tree. There was no house. No snow, either, for I had
+chanced then to stop in a summer season. The tree was too small. I chose
+a ten years later time world, and watching the dials closely, descended
+at a period ten and a half years later. I had struck it exactly; it must
+have been within a week or two from the time world Father and I had
+observed.
+
+I had occupied some eight hours with this search. The dials had stopped
+now at twenty-eight thousand two hundred odd years. I was at that
+instant flying at an altitude of no more than a few hundred feet. It
+was again early morning, just after sunrise, and there was that
+familiar, snowy landscape we had seen from the laboratory.
+
+The house, with its enclosure and outbuildings, lay below me. I circled
+over it, staring down through the floor window. The Frazia motors are
+greatly muffled, as you know, but, even so, their sound carried down to
+the house. A figure came out into the enclosure, and stared upward at
+me. It was the girl--in a fur garment, but bareheaded--watching my
+plane. Before I could think what to do, three huge dogs, each of them
+the size of a pony, came leaping from one of the outbuildings and stood
+in a group, snarling at me with such volume and power that they made my
+blood run cold.
+
+I was circling slowly over the house, cursing my lack of caution and
+still too confused to do anything, when the figure of a man appeared in
+the enclosure, clad in furs and bareheaded like the girl. He stood head
+and shoulders over her. Evidently the noise of the dogs blotted out the
+sound of my motors. He did not look up into the air, but striding
+angrily to the girl, struck her in the face with the flat of his hand.
+Then he dragged her, cowering, into the house.
+
+I straightened out, and flew south. The howling of the dogs died away.
+Without realizing where I was going, I headed down the wind. Soon I was
+over the water. I had risen, and in the morning light could see the
+landlocked bay into which the main channel of the Hudson emptied. The
+bay itself had an entrance to the sea almost at the river's mouth.
+
+It was midwinter, I learned afterward. The river and the bay both seemed
+frozen over, with a mantle of snow on their ice. I passed above an
+island--Staten Island, no doubt--and mechanically swung to the west.
+
+What was I to do? I had several rifles in the plane, as you know, and
+one of the latest Collinger hand guns. My instinct was to land at the
+house boldly, overawe its inmates with my weapons, and carry off the
+girl. That was a fatuous thought. I very soon realized that for all I
+knew they might have the power to strike me dead with some weapon
+totally unknown.
+
+I was still flying west. I found myself far out over Jersey, and still I
+had decided nothing. There were houses beneath me and even a little
+village or two. But I did not heed them, though fortunately I had sense
+enough to ascend to a higher altitude where I could escape observation.
+
+The sun was rising above the sea behind me, and at last I swung about to
+face it. As it mounted higher--it was moving at about normal speed--some
+of the red, glowing look was lost; it assumed more of its familiar
+aspects of our own time world. But still an hour above the horizon as it
+was now, I could stare at it quite steadily without being blinded.
+
+I was heading east. In another ten minutes I would have been back in
+Manhattan. I decided that I would leave the plane secluded somewhere and
+approach the house on foot, quietly. If I could only elude the dogs and
+not arouse them, I hoped to be able to get into the house and get the
+girl out. I realize now it was a foolhardy plan.
+
+I flew very low up the Hudson from its mouth. I was afraid I might be
+seen. Then it suddenly occurred to me how easily I could avoid that with
+certainty. I threw the switch of the proton current into the first and
+then the second intensity, and began a slow time flight forward through
+the day simultaneously with my flight up the river.
+
+I found a good hiding place for the plane on the east bank of the
+river--a broad, flat sort of gully some two hundred feet wide. I figured
+this was about abreast of the house, and I lowered the plane into it. It
+was difficult to do because of my southward drift, but I managed it. As
+I neared the ground I shut off the proton current and came to rest in
+time and space almost at the same moment.
+
+The sun was just setting behind a line of hills across the river. As I
+had not eaten for several hours, I sat in the cabin now and ate,
+planning exactly what I should do to rescue the girl.
+
+You will not understand it, but as I sat there, alone, with no one to
+consult, it did not seem to me so desperate an enterprise. My
+Collinger, no bigger than your hand, would silently fire a dozen bullets
+in as many seconds, each capable of killing a human, or one of those
+dogs.
+
+It was the dogs I was most afraid of. And yet, as I had observed from
+the laboratory, they did not run loose about the grounds at night, but
+were trained to stay in the kennel, which was some distance from the
+dwelling...three or four hundred feet, perhaps.
+
+I decided to start about midnight. My clock gave a totally different
+hour, of course, from the correct one of that particular time world. But
+I was planning to leave the plane about six hours after sunset.
+
+It was a long evening, but the time finally arrived. I put on my fur
+coat and went bareheaded, because I wanted to look as rational to
+the girl as possible. At best she would be afraid of me, a
+stranger--probably more afraid of me than of her captors. I realized
+fully what a difficulty that would be. An outcry from her, or any
+resistance on her part, might lose me everything. But my intentions
+were the best, though she could not know it.
+
+I left the plane. Besides the Collinger, I had a hand compass and a
+small flashlight. It was very cold. I scrambled out through the snow, up
+the side of the gulley to the level land above--a climb of sixty or
+seventy feet. The snow was deep, with an underlying surface of ice that
+would support my weight. Up here on the higher land it was colder than
+ever. The north wind hit me full, and I had been walking no more than
+five minutes when it began to snow--tremendous flakes, that soon came in
+a thick, soft cloud, and blotted out everything around me. In my pocket
+I had my fur cap with ear tabs, and I soon found I would have to wear
+it.
+
+I was heading across the wind, plowing through the loose snow. I could
+see only a few feet ahead of me. It was a pathless waste. And suddenly
+the whimsical thought came over me that I was crossing Fifty-ninth
+Street, and soon I would be near Columbus Circle. It was the same space,
+the same location. Nothing was different but the time--the changes time
+had brought.
+
+I took out my compass and, by the light of the flashlight, I consulted
+it. I was heading as nearly as I could toward the house. So far as I had
+been able to tell before, there was no other habitation on the island. I
+suppose I struggled along for nearly an hour. I figured I must be in the
+vicinity of the house now, though I could see nothing but the snow
+covered ground a few feet ahead of me, the whirling flakes close at
+hand, and the blackness overhead. Without warning, through a rift in the
+clouds to the east, came moonlight; a gigantic, egg-shaped moon with a
+reddish tinge to it that gave the scene a lurid, extremely weird look.
+
+The house was in sight, ahead and to the left, on a slight rise of
+ground no more than a quarter of a mile away. I was faced now with the
+necessity for a definite course of action. From the laboratory, with my
+telescope, I had occasionally seen the girl late at night, sitting in
+the central living room of the house. I had seen her through the
+windows, and she had always left the living room in a southeast
+direction. The house faced south; I felt that her room was in the
+southeast end. The enclosure lay mostly behind the house, toward the
+north, with the dog kennel in its extreme northern wall.
+
+This was all advantageous to me. I knew I had to keep away from those
+dogs. With a wind of from twenty to thirty miles an hour blowing from
+them to me, I felt sure that they would not get my scent. My plan was to
+get into the house through either a sort of gateway in the southeast
+wall of the enclosure, or directly in through a window. I expected to
+locate the girl and carry here away--by force, I suppose. I was
+confident--absurdly so, I realize now. I think it was the
+enthusiasm--the excitement--of being actually engaged in what I had
+contemplated for two long years and had worked so hard to attain.
+
+My heart was beating fast as I crept forward, the Collinger in my gloved
+hand. It was still snowing hard, and presently the clouds swept back
+over the newly risen moon; but I was now so close up that I could see
+the dark outlines of the house, and the wall of the enclosure.
+
+The building was only one story, but quite high, with a queer looking
+overhanging roof. The wall of the enclosure was some ten feet high. I
+circled to the south, and was soon close up to the main doorway of the
+house. The whole place was piled with snow. There was not a sound, only
+the howling of the wind as it swept in gusts under the low eaves.
+
+The glass door--I suppose it was glass--was a single rectangular pane in
+a dark, narrow frame. It was no more than three feet broad, and at least
+twelve feet high. Behind it I could see the dimly lighted interior--a
+soft, blue-white light. I could not see where it came from.
+
+For quite a while I must have stood there motionless, peering in. A
+portion of a large room was in the line of my sight; It seemed
+unoccupied. I could see a back wall hung with something dark; a sort of
+low couch to one side; queerly shaped, low chairs and a table or two.
+And there was a floor covering of some thick, soft textile, and several
+furs lying about. A large fur rug covered the couch.
+
+To the right I could see a low archway, hung with a curtain. That was in
+the direction of the girl's room. There were two other archways with
+curtains, but evidently no interior doors to the house.
+
+I had been pressing against the glass pane; it seemed to give a little.
+I pushed. The motion was inward, and greater at the bottom. I knelt down
+and shoved it. The lower half swung silently and smoothly inward and
+upward, while the upper half came out and down. The whole twelve foot
+pane was pivoted at its center. When it paralleled the floor it stopped,
+and there was a six foot opening leading into the house.
+
+I took a cautious step, listening intently, peering around me--behind
+me--with the sudden feeling that something supernatural might leap forth
+and spring at me any instant.
+
+But the Collinger, my finger on the trigger, gave me courage. In my left
+hand I held the flashlight, and very slowly I crept toward the
+curtained archway behind which I hoped the girl might be. Suddenly I
+remembered my cap. I smiled at the absurdity of the detail, but,
+nevertheless, I pulled it off and stuffed it in my pocket. Then I went
+forward, pushed aside the curtain, and entered the space behind it.
+
+I was in darkness as the curtain dropped. It must have been a sort of
+anteroom, or a short hallway, for some twenty feet ahead of me I saw
+another curtain with a blue radiance beyond it.
+
+A moment more and I had pushed aside the second curtain and stood
+peering into the room beyond. It was more dimly lighted than the living
+room. Across it, in a angle of wall, the first thing my gaze caught was
+a low couch or divan, bathed in the blue radiance from a brazier beside
+it, which left the rest of the room in gloom. The girl lay there asleep.
+A soft, pure-white fur was covering her, but her bare arms and shoulders
+were above it. One arm was crooked under her head for a pillow; the
+other, almost as white as the rug, lay stretched out over the fur. On
+her breast, her golden hair lay in waves.
+
+I stood transfixed by the ethereal loveliness of the face, calm in deep
+slumber. It was a small oval face of seemingly perfect features, with
+soft, curving red lips, smooth, rosy cheeks and long, silken lashes that
+lay motionless as she slept.
+
+My emotion at the picture was short lived; other thoughts crowded up me.
+What was I to do? I could not awaken the girl and ask her to come with
+me. She would not understand the words, and if she did, she would
+probably have screamed before I could get them out. Seize her, stifle
+her cries and carry her off forcibly? Perhaps that is what I should have
+done; taken her to the plane and left explanations until afterward.
+
+But I could not bring myself to do that. Somehow, my whole instinct was
+to retreat from the room. I felt myself a gross intruder in a sanctified
+place, my very gaze an insult. What I would finally have done, I don't
+know. Events took the decision out of my hands. The wind outside roared
+with a sudden gust that must have pulled loose something under the
+eaves. There came a rattle, a thump, loud in the silence of the house.
+Then the wind died again.
+
+I glanced up to the ceiling, startled, with my heart pounding and the
+Collinger pointed toward the sound. I could see nothing but the dark
+rectangle of a window up there. My gaze fell again to the couch--and met
+the opened eyes of the girl. She was sitting up, her hair tumbling over
+her shoulders, one hand instinctively gripping the white fur to raise it
+more closely about her, the other pressed against her mouth. I think I
+could never imagine an expression of more utter terror than that on her
+face.
+
+I murmured something intended to be reassuring and made the mistake of
+taking a step forward. It was the worst thing I could have done, for her
+frightened scream rang out through the house. I guess by then I was
+thoroughly confused. I turned back toward the curtain. I would escape
+from the house--come back some other time. Or should I pick her up now,
+and run with her? She was small, frail. I could carry her easily; escape
+almost as quickly with her, perhaps, as by myself. And shoot back at
+anyone--anything--that followed.
+
+I found myself back at her couch. She had withdrawn to the further side
+of it, huddled against the wall. Her horrified eyes were on my face, but
+she did not scream again.
+
+There was a noise behind me, and I swung about. The curtain was parting.
+There was a figure there. I could not see it plainly; it was in the
+darkness, and I was in the light. I aimed the Collinger, pressed the
+trigger. Simultaneously, a tiny pencil-point of light seemed to spring
+at me from where the figure was standing. A brief, very tiny but
+horribly intense glare flashed in my eyes.
+
+I was in darkness; everything went black. I did not fall, but reeled
+sidewise. I heard a mocking laugh and footsteps coming toward me; a hand
+struck me across the mouth.
+
+It is terrible to fight in total darkness. I stumbled aimlessly
+somewhere, and felt the Collinger twisted from me. But when I lurched
+in that direction, my outflung arms met only empty air. Again a hand
+struck me across the mouth; again that mocking laugh. My assailant was
+playing with me.
+
+I was unhurt, and desperately I rushed to where I thought the room's
+exit might be. But strong fingers gripped my shoulder and I was flung
+violently sidewise. I must have struck my head against something as I
+went down. My senses faded; the last thing I remember was that jeering,
+mocking laughter floating out of the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER FIVE
+
+
+When I came to, I was still lying where I had fallen. Striking my head
+had knocked me out momentarily. I heard voices; some one was kneeling
+beside me. I opened my eyes, but everything was black. I remember
+feeling my head; It was not cut. I was unhurt, and I struggled to a
+sitting position. Whoever it was beside me, now stood up and moved away.
+The girl's voice came to me out of the darkness. The low words were
+unintelligible--yet they were words not wholly unfamiliar in ring.
+
+The darkness was full of little darting red spots. And my eyes pained
+me; the backs of my eyeballs were burning. I was blind. I had thought
+the light in the room had suddenly been extinguished, and a vague idea
+that my antagonist could see in the dark had possessed me. But it wasn't
+so. He had blinded me with the tiny flash of light that had struck into
+my eyes.
+
+My head was still reeling from the blow it had received when I fell.
+They carried me, half conscious, into some other room, and left me
+lying on something soft. I closed my eyes, but I could not shut out
+those darting red spots. At last, I must have drifted off to sleep.
+
+When I awoke it was morning. The red glow of the sunrise was coming in
+through a small aperture up near the ceiling. I could see it; the
+blindness had passed. My head was still ringing and my eyes still pained
+me, but I was uninjured. I was on a low couch, with a fur rug under me.
+My overcoat lay beside me on the floor. The whole thing seemed like a
+dream, but finally I got it straightened out in my mind.
+
+I was in a fairly large bedroom. Two windows of heavy transparent
+material were up near the ceiling. Opposite the windows was a doorway
+with a curtain. I slipped into my overcoat, searching its pockets. My
+cap was there, but the compass and the flashlight were gone and my
+Collinger had already been taken from me.
+
+The storm outside seemed to have passed. The house was dead silent. I
+went to the curtain; beyond it was a small hall, empty, and with another
+curtain at its further end. This I pushed aside cautiously. I was
+looking into the main living room of the house, and met the direct gaze
+of a man who was lounging there.
+
+I dropped the curtain hastily, but he had seen me and sprung to his
+feet--a powerful man, taller than myself, with gray, loose-fitting
+trousers and naked torso. I retreated back to the bedroom; the fear of
+what he might do to me, blind me or worse, made me anything but anxious
+to encounter him again.
+
+He followed and was upon me, twisting me by the shoulders to face him.
+He was a man of about thirty-five with black hair, long to the base of
+his neck; a smooth-shaven, strong, rugged face; keen gray eyes beneath
+black, bushy brows; a nose a little like a hawk, and a wide mouth with
+thin lips. It was the sort of face that bespoke power and cruelty--a
+nature born to dominate its fellows. His gaze was searching, puzzled. I
+knew he was trying to make me out--wondering what manner of man I was,
+and where I had come from. He spoke to me. I could not understand the
+words, but again I got the impression that they were familiar English
+words spoken differently. I answered him. I don't remember what I said,
+but he frowned and pushed me from him, toward the couch.
+
+I had decided to appear docile. I stumbled to the couch and sat down on
+it. He stood in the center of the room, regarding me, and I managed what
+I hoped might be an ingratiating smile. This seemed to appeal to him,
+for he smiled back. Then he swung about and left the room.
+
+For a while I sat quiet. The girl--where she was I did not know. I would
+have escaped without her if I could, but escape did not seem possible;
+at least, it was more of a risk than I cared to take. The feeling came
+to me that even now as I sat on the couch, I might be observed. How
+could I tell whether someone was watching me from behind some hidden
+orifice, through which, as I turned my gaze that way, that tiny,
+blinding beam of light would spring at me?
+
+It was too big a chance. I would wait, and when I knew better what I had
+to contend with, watch for an opportunity to escape.
+
+The room was fairly light now, with that queer, reddish light. I could
+see the sky, brilliant with a glorious red sunrise, through the little
+windows overhead. I moved the table and climbed on it; outside was snow,
+tinged with red. I was at an east end of the house, perhaps next to the
+girl's room.
+
+At a corner of the building nearby sat one of the dogs--like a gigantic
+shaggy wolf, quiet but alert. His head was fully six feet above the
+ground as he sat there, squatting on his haunches. He heard me open the
+window, and trotted quietly over to look at me. My fascinated stare met
+his eyes squarely--eyes that seemed to hold an almost uncanny human
+intelligence. He seemed satisfied with the situation, for he trotted
+back to the corner of the house and sat down again. But he was still
+watching me.
+
+I dropped to the floor. The incident had left me shuddering. What manner
+of brutes were these, with gleaming, tusk-like teeth, dripping jowls and
+a power in those tremendous muscles that must have far exceeded the
+strongest horse! And eyes that might have been human! At that moment,
+escape seemed further away than ever.
+
+For three days they fed me in that room. A woman came mostly. She wore a
+loose, shapeless robe of dark cloth. It was dowdy-looking. Her hair was
+iron-gray, long to her waist, twisted into a bundle and bound with
+strips of dark cloth. Her face was thin, careworn. She brought me my
+food; some kinds of cooked meats and starchy vegetables, like potatoes.
+She was kind enough, but grim, as though I were an unpleasant task that
+her conscience made her discharge punctiliously.
+
+I tried to talk to her, but she couldn't understand me, nor I her.
+Afterward, I learned she was the older man's old maid daughter. The old
+man himself came in a few times; a smooth-shaven, stalwart man of about
+seventy, dressed in wide, flowing trousers and naked above the waist.
+Sometimes he wore a short little house jacket. His name was Bool. The
+younger man--the master of the house--was named Toroh. He came in and
+sat by me a few times, always intent on seeing that I was properly cared
+for. But there was no mistaking the fact that he would have killed me
+without compunction had I annoyed him; and I could not forget his
+sardonic laughter when he had blinded me.
+
+I've been telling you about my first three days in the house. I did not
+see the girl except once, just for a moment. I was not held to the room,
+although I stayed there almost constantly. And one or the other of those
+dogs was outside all the time. After the first day, I grew bold enough
+to go into the living room.
+
+Once, when I was sitting alone in the main room, the girl entered. She
+stood in the doorway, and for the first time I realized how small and
+slight she was. She looked almost Egyptian--I mean her manner of dress.
+She was wearing a blue-colored cloth wound wide about her hips, with a
+dull red sash hanging knee-length down one side; sandals on her bare
+feet; breastplates of metal, and a broad, low-cut collar of cloth with
+little coins on it that widened to cover her shoulders. And her golden
+hair was parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with
+little tassels.
+
+She was standing there staring at me, and this time there was no fear in
+her eyes--only curiosity. My heart leaped; it was what I hoped for most.
+I could do nothing toward planning to get her out of the house as long
+as she continued to be afraid of me.
+
+I smiled at her in as inoffensive and friendly a fashion as I could. Her
+eyes fell, then came up and I could see she was wondering at my clothes;
+my shoes, trousers, shirt and tie. Abruptly I realized that, except for
+my garb, I probably did not look extraordinary or frightening to her.
+The thought gave me new courage. I stood up, and spoke. At once she
+turned and ran from the room.
+
+We were a strange household, but after a time, except for having my
+meals alone, I found I could move about pretty freely. Once Toroh
+brought me my electric torch, and, making sure I did not aim it at him,
+he made me light it. I knew he believed it a weapon. I thought this a
+good chance to convince him I was friendly. I smiled and shined it into
+my eyes, to show him it was harmless. He grunted and, taking the
+flashlight from me, tossed it across the room, indicating it was of no
+use or further interest.
+
+Then he produced my Collinger and made me show him how to operate it.
+But he was too clever to let me hold it; he did not let it get out of
+his hands. When he had fired it at a mark out the doorway, he grunted
+again and laid it on the snow. At a distance of twenty feet he stood
+with some object in his hand which he did not show me. Abruptly the
+Collinger flew into fragments! All its cartridges had been exploded
+simultaneously. The bullets whistled past us, startling Toroh as much as
+they did me. Later I learned he had exploded it by something akin to
+radio. He picked up the remains and when he got back into the house, he
+tossed my broken weapon away disdainfully. It was the attitude a soldier
+of today might have toward an Indian warrior and his bow and arrow.
+
+Toroh, I learned later, thought I had come from another planet. He had
+seen my plane the morning I hovered over the house. No one from another
+planet had been to the earth for centuries. But history told of them,
+and he thought I was one of them, come again. He treated me kindly
+enough--probably because I did not anger him or cross him in any way.
+But I had seen him strike the girl in the face, and one day he struck
+the woman. I have never seen such a look of sullen, repressed hatred as
+she gave him. She seemed to hate her father, too. Later, I often saw him
+cuff her when she annoyed him.
+
+I have so much to tell you. Toroh took two of his dogs and his sled and
+went away after about a week. He was gone a month, and during that time
+I stayed docilely in the house. I saw many opportunities when I might
+have escaped. But now I would not, without taking the girl--whose name,
+by the way, is Azeela--and I could not expose her to such danger as
+always seemed imminent.
+
+I must have convinced them all that I was harmless. No one paid me great
+attention except the woman, Koa. Often I would see her peering furtively
+at me from some distant doorway.
+
+Azeela soon became friendly, and since we both had nothing to do, she
+devoted herself to learning our language. I tried to learn hers and
+failed miserably. But she picked ours up with extraordinary
+rapidity--perhaps because her mind was quicker, her memory more
+retentive. And I think, also, because she has behind her the inherited
+instincts of knowledge through all the centuries from our own time-world
+forward.
+
+Anyway, within the month she could speak English freely enough for us to
+get along--with a quaint little accent that is wholly indescribable.
+
+I think her language was derived very nearly from the English we speak
+today. Ours was, to her, merely archaic; but hers, modern beyond my
+time, was too much for me. It was an extraordinary story that Azeela had
+to tell me--as extraordinary as mine must have seemed to her. We became
+friends, and with friendship came a renewed desire on both our parts to
+escape. Her people were many hundred miles away, and, when I told her of
+my plane, I very soon persuaded her to let me take her back to her own
+country.
+
+Quite evidently my plane had not been discovered. If it had not snowed
+so heavily that first night, the dogs would have led Toroh back over my
+trail to it. But it was still safe, though I did not know it then; and
+the thought that it might have been found bothered me a lot, I can tell
+you.
+
+We decided to try and escape. Toroh was expected back any day. We spent
+a morning discussing it, planning it in detail. My weapons were gone,
+and Azeela did not know where they were. Bool had a cylinder of the
+blinding-flash--I call it that because their name for it would mean
+nothing to you--but we could not get it; he always kept it about his
+person. The woman, Koa, we did not think was armed--though she might
+have been.
+
+Toroh had taken two of the dogs. There was one left, and almost
+continually it was pacing about the house outside. We realized that even
+if we succeeded in getting away from the place, the dog would follow and
+overtake us before we could reach the plane.
+
+Bool was in one of the outbuildings nearly all that morning. Koa was
+moving about the house. We did not think she was listening to us; but
+she was, and evidently she had picked up something of our
+language--enough to give her the import of what we were discussing.
+
+She appeared suddenly, and with a furtive glance around, told Azeela she
+would help us escape. Azeela translated it to me, and the woman nodded
+grimly in confirmation. She was sorry for Azeela, and she hated Toroh
+sufficiently to want the girl out of his clutches.
+
+Koa's plan was simple and it sounded eminently practical. She had no
+weapons, and did not know where any were, except for her father's, and
+that she would not dare try to secure. But late that afternoon Bool
+would be in his room dozing. Koa would lock the dog in the kennel. Then
+we would be free to depart.
+
+The sun was almost setting that day when Koa informed us that the time
+had come. We had restrained our excitement; Bool had apparently not
+noticed anything unusual in our outward appearance during the day. He
+had retired to his room as customary, and Koa had taken the dog away.
+
+I did not altogether trust Koa, and it made me shudder to think of
+taking Azeela outside and perhaps having the dog spring upon us from
+somewhere. But we had to chance it, and the woman seemed sincere.
+
+We had searched the house as best we could without arousing Bool, but we
+found no weapon of any kind. At last we were ready, I in my fur coat,
+Azeela in furs; shoes, trousers and coat all in one piece. She looked
+like a slender little Eskimo girl, and I smiled as she pulled up a fur
+hood and fitted it close about her face, tucking her hair up under it. I
+had been mistaken about headgear; it was just a coincidence that I had
+never seen anyone in this time-world wearing a cap.
+
+I put on my own cap and we were ready. As we met in the main room, Koa
+nodded sourly for us to be gone. At that instant the dog, outside in the
+kennel, gave a long mournful howl. I don't know why; I suppose it was
+just fate. Koa, waving us toward the doorway, hastened away to quiet the
+dog.
+
+For a moment I hesitated. Should we start? Had the dog gotten loose?
+That moment of hesitation was too long. Bool stood in the doorway,
+staring at our fur-covered figures. Astonishment, anger, rage swept over
+his face. His hand went to his belt; he jerked something loose. I heard
+Azeela give a sharp cry of warning. Bool's hand held an object like a
+little crescent of glass, with a tiny wire connecting its horns. Sparks
+darted from the wire.
+
+I was about to leap forward when suddenly I was stricken. I can only
+describe it as paralysis. I stood stock-still; my arms dropped to my
+sides. I felt no pain, but I was rooted to the spot, without power to
+lift my legs. Azeela, beside me, was evidently within the influence of
+the weapon, also. She was standing rigid. Bool's face held a leer of
+triumph. His left hand was fumbling at his belt for some other weapon.
+I knew that in another moment he would have killed us, and still I could
+not move. I tell you, it was a ghastly feeling. There was a numbness
+creeping all over me. My hands were turning cold. My feet felt wooden.
+My legs were giving way under me, and in a few seconds more I think I
+should have fallen.
+
+It all happened very quickly. Behind Bool, Koa had appeared. He did not
+hear her, and she darted forward and struck at his wrist. The little
+crescent of glass dropped to the floor and was shattered. A wave of heat
+swept over me--the blood rushing again to my limbs.
+
+Bool had turned furiously upon Koa, but my strength was coming back
+fast. I jumped at them, caught Bool unprepared. My body struck his and
+we went down. He fell backward with me on top of him. His hand now held
+a metal cylinder; he was trying to get it up to my face.
+
+Azeela came darting across the room, threw herself upon us, and twisted
+the weapon from Bool's fingers. I did not know she had done it. Bool was
+kicking, squirming, and his left hand had me by the forehead, pushing my
+head back to expose my face. Enraged, I flung myself down on him, my
+forearm striking his head against the floor. His hold relaxed; he lay
+still.
+
+When I got to my feet, Koa was stooping over Bool. She seemed frightened
+at what she had done, although I knew well enough that the man had
+mistreated her constantly, and that she could bear him no great love.
+She waved us away, still with that same stolid grimness.
+
+"Ask her if the dog is locked up, Azeela," I said.
+
+The woman nodded at me vehemently, and I gripped Azeela's hand and we
+hurried out. It was just sunset. The sky was like blood; the snowy
+ground was all tinted with it.
+
+We ran west, so fast that Azeela could hardly keep on her feet. I
+suppose we went a mile or two, then slowed up and walked a little, then
+went back to a run. There was nothing but that unbroken expanse of snow,
+with the drop that was the river ahead of us.
+
+At last I could make out the break in the plateau surface that marked
+the gully. We were running, and were no more than fifty feet from it,
+when from behind us we heard the loud baying of the dog--that eager
+baying of a dog following a trail and closing in on its quarry. I went
+cold all over. I knew what had happened. Bool had recovered, and, in
+spite of his daughter, had let the dog loose upon us!
+
+I caught a glimpse of Azeela's white, frightened face as I gripped her
+hand and jerked her forward. It was faster than carrying her. She
+stumbled, almost fell headlong, but I pulled her up and onward.
+
+We came upon the gully. For one agonized instant I wondered if the
+plane would still be there. The dog seemed almost upon us. I could
+hear its eager whine as it came leaping along. Then I saw the
+plane--snow-covered, but undisturbed.
+
+We flung ourselves down the gully side, sliding, falling to its bottom.
+The deep snow there broke our fall. The dog was at the top; I saw its
+huge head and bared fangs as it dashed along, selecting a place to
+descend.
+
+I jumped to the cabin platform of the plane and shoved open the door.
+Then I stooped, grasping Azeela under the armpits and lifting her. The
+dog came sliding into the gully, and gathering itself up, it leaped.
+
+But we were inside, and I slid the door closed just as the brute's great
+body struck the cabin with an impact that rocked the plane. The dog
+fell, but was up again with a snarl, standing on its hind legs, its huge
+paws scratching at the cabin wall.
+
+I had flung Azeela to the floor of the compartment. She shouted at me
+reassuringly, and I jumped to the Frazia controls.
+
+A moment later the 'copters were raising us out of the gully. The dog's
+baffled yelps grew fainter. As we rose into the air I saw Bool, a
+quarter of the way from the house, stumbling along through the snow,
+following the trail.
+
+I went up a thousand feet, dropped a little, and began horizontal
+flight. To the south, perhaps a mile away, Toroh's sled, with its two
+dogs, was swinging up toward the house. He saw the plane, and, as we
+swept over him at an altitude of some five hundred feet, he turned and
+followed us.
+
+It was amazing to see those two gigantic dogs run. They kept the sled
+almost under us. We came to the south of the island and they went down a
+declivity and out over the frozen, snow-covered water. Toroh was lashing
+them with a long whip.
+
+I put on more power, and we gradually drew ahead. When we had crossed
+the broad expanse of bay, the sled was no more than a black blob in the
+distance. It swung to the right, turned and went back--lost to our sight
+in the gathering darkness.
+
+We were alone, headed southward to Azeela's native country.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Azeela and her people live on an island which once was the mainland--the
+southeastern corner of the United States, as you know it. It's a narrow,
+crescent-shaped island, something like Cuba in outline, but smaller.
+It's separated from the mainland by a channel some ten miles at its
+greatest width. The climate, now, is vastly different from your
+time-world. Climate is the most potent factor of all that influences
+mankind. The change throughout ten thousand years was dramatic in its
+effects: it hastened decadence, it drove civilization toward the
+equator. And then, as though nature were bent upon destruction, disease
+sprang up in the only warm regions left--disease that could not be coped
+with. Insects, carrying and transmitting deadly bacteria, swarmed over
+what we call the torrid zone, making it almost uninhabitable. You must
+realize over how long a period this went on.
+
+Even that was thousands of years before Azeela's birth. This island had
+formed, and nature had seemed to hold it the one place where humanity
+could make its last stand. A volcano stood at each end; beneficent,
+treasured because they contained heat. The internal fires of the earth
+had broken through here. Hot springs and geysers dotted the land. A
+river just below the boiling point rose from subterranean depths, flowed
+for a hundred miles, and plunged down again. And a huge range of
+mountains running east and west on the mainland to the north offered
+shelter from the cold winds that were coming down.
+
+Anglo-Saxons with a strain of Latin had settled on this palm-covered,
+tropical island long before the conditions farther north had become so
+drastic. They kept to themselves and fought against the pollution of
+their blood by others; they were descendents of the highest type of
+Earth civilization.
+
+For centuries they were left to themselves, to drift along in their own
+fashion. But with the coming of the cold, the mixed races of the north
+began moving down--coveting the island. Then these island people
+suddenly sprang into activity. Defense of the homeland brought action;
+lost arts of war were revived. The Anglese--that is as near the sound of
+their word for themselves as I can get--repulsed all comers.
+
+To the north was now a climate that held snow from September to June.
+Only three brief months availed for agriculture. The mixed peoples there
+did not rise to master such rigors. Centuries of struggle turned them
+almost primitive, with arts and sciences and ways to conquer their
+environment lost and forgotten. They became barbarians.
+
+Such is the condition as I have found it. I can give you details only of
+our northern half of the western hemisphere. Transportation is back
+nearly to the primitive; the rest of the world is almost unknown to
+Azeela's race.
+
+Toroh, I've learned now, is an Anglese, but they banished him. He was
+plotting to overthrow the government. When he was banished, he went
+among the barbarians of the north and began organizing them for an
+attack on the island. Toroh has scientific knowledge; up there in the
+north he has been manufacturing weapons. Then he came back to the island
+secretly, and abducted Azeela. She's the daughter of Fahn, the leading
+scientist of the Anglese--he's the man who holds the reins of power.
+With Azeela as hostage, Toroh planned to make Fahn yield.
+
+But now that I have released Azeela, Toroh's attack will come swiftly.
+That is why I send you this message. Toroh is a menace--the greatest
+figure of evil in this time-world. There will be war, a struggle in
+which the Anglese may go down before the onslaught of Toroh and the
+hordes of barbarians with whom he has allied himself. Oh, I can't tell
+you all the details...I'm too tired.
+
+I'll stop now, and send this message back to you in the cube. And,
+Father, you know what we arranged--that you would come and join me if I
+needed you. Well, I do; I need you here now.
+
+As we agreed, I will raise a light-beam signal, which will mark the
+exact point in space and the exact moment in time at which I want you to
+be here.
+
+For me, that moment _is now_!
+
+So as soon as I dispatch this message off to you, I shall raise the
+signal. It will be at the southeastern tip of our island. For you
+geographically, it will be about Miami. From that point in space, you
+cannot fail to see it, if your time-flight is slow enough. I will hold
+it in the sky for as long as I can, so that it will have enough duration
+for you not to miss it.
+
+Please tell _Mamita_ not to worry about me, or about you either. We will
+both come back to her safely. You may bring one or two of our friends
+who wish to make the trip. I think that George will want to come and I
+would like to have him. You need bring no weapons; they would be worse
+than useless.
+
+_Please hurry, Father. I need you!_
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER SIX
+
+
+Roger's slow, solemn voice died away. He rustled the pages of Loto's
+message in his hand.
+
+"That's all, gentlemen. All of the message itself. The other pages give
+detailed instructions--data based on Loto's flight and memoranda for the
+construction of another plane, gathered from previous notes made by Loto
+and myself."
+
+There was complete silence when Rogers paused. George decided to speak,
+but checked himself and relaxed back in his chair.
+
+"I shall start the Frazia Company on another plane at once," Rogers
+added. "And working on Loto's mechanism simultaneously, I should be
+ready in ninety days."
+
+He waited, but again no one else spoke. Then he said:
+
+"I am going, of course. It is a great trial for my wife, but I know she
+is willing."
+
+George turned and flashed an admiring glance at Lylda; her face was
+strained, but she smiled at him gently.
+
+"Do not be hasty, my friends," Rogers went on quickly. "Any two of you
+are free to come--or to stay, all of you--as you think best."
+
+"I'm going," said George suddenly. "Loto said I could. And you say so.
+I'm going."
+
+He jumped to his feet and grasped Roger's hand. "You can count on me,
+Mr. Rogers."
+
+Rogers smiled. "Thank you, George. I knew I could."
+
+George sat down again. Then he got up and crossed to Lylda, shaking her
+hand also, and whispering to her. But in another instant he was pacing
+the room, smoking violently, and frowning.
+
+Rogers was saying to the others, "I will take one more. I realize it is
+a momentous question. Your lives may be at stake."
+
+The Big Business Man was deep in reverie. "I wonder," he murmured. "I
+wonder if I _do_ want to go."
+
+"Come on," urged George, stopping suddenly before him. "Take a chance."
+He did not wait for an answer, but went back to his pacing.
+
+The Banker said, half apologetically. "You don't really need me, do you,
+Rogers?"
+
+"Of course not," Rogers said heartily. "Use your own judgement. But I
+knew you'd be offended if I didn't give you the opportunity."
+
+The Banker nodded. "Yes, but you don't need me. I'm an old
+man--seventy-three, though I hope you'd never guess it. I think I'd
+better stay where I'm used to things."
+
+"Of course," agreed Rogers.
+
+"But if you need money," the Banker added hopefully, "and you will,
+naturally--everybody needs money--you'll call on me, won't you? I'm
+going to see this thing through."
+
+"I don't believe I'll go," the Business Man declared. He met the
+Doctor's glance, and the Doctor seemed relieved. "You don't really need
+us, Rogers. I think Frank would prefer to stay also."
+
+The Doctor nodded emphatic agreement.
+
+"Quite so," said Rogers. "I can understand perfectly how you feel."
+
+George stopped his pacing. "Then it's all settled, Mr. Rogers. You and I
+go; the others stay on guard here. Now listen, everybody, I've got some
+good ideas..."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two days before Christmas, another plane lay glistening on the roof of
+the Scientific Club, walled in from curious eyes by the board enclosure.
+Sleek, self-satisfied, its every line denoting latent power, it lay
+motionless, awaiting those human masters who soon were to launch it into
+another time world.
+
+Occasionally during the afternoon George visited it, anxiously
+verifying again and again that all was in readiness.
+
+Evening came. The others arrived, singly and in couples. For two hours a
+bustle of final preparations went on--things forgotten, last minute
+plans put into execution. But by nine o'clock the moment of departure
+was finally at hand.
+
+The Banker was in a fluster of excitement. He had appointed himself the
+leader of those who were to be left behind, and he felt the
+responsibility keenly.
+
+"Tell me exactly what we've got to do," he insisted. "I don't want
+anything to go wrong."
+
+Rogers slapped him on the back. "It's nothing to be alarmed over."
+
+"No. But I want to be sure I've got it straight. Tell me all over
+again."
+
+Rogers repressed a smile. "When we have gone you will all wait some ten
+minutes to be sure nothing has gone wrong to bring us immediately back.
+Then you will lock up the enclosure and leave. I have made arrangements
+with the club to have the enclosure left standing."
+
+"That's all?" asked the Banker anxiously. "We leave the roof open?"
+
+"Yes. In coming back we will want it open, and you cannot tell when we
+may return."
+
+"But no more than six months," the Banker insisted. "You promise that?"
+
+Rogers nodded.
+
+"Come on," George's voice called. "Let's get started." He had shaken
+hands with Lylda and climbed up to the doorway of the cabin. "Come on,
+Mr. Rogers. Let's get started."
+
+Lylda stood apart. Her farewell to her husband was brief. The others
+turned away, feeling that they should not intrude upon it. When Rogers
+joined George on the platform of the plane, the Doctor was with Lylda,
+comforting her.
+
+With a final good-by Rogers slid the door closed. The forward
+compartment, with its low arch ceiling and its concave walls, was small,
+but comfortably equipped. The side windows had upholstered seats running
+under them. In front, to the right, were the Frazia controls, a low seat
+for the pilot and a small window above the control panel. The time
+dials and the proton current switch were on the wall to the right. To
+the left of the seat was the main entrance door.
+
+The division wall between the forward compartment and the engine room
+behind it held a small doorway with a sliding door.
+
+"Are we ready?" Rogers asked. "I think we should be sitting. The shock
+of departure, new to us, may be more severe than we anticipate."
+
+His words were calm enough, but they sent a thrill of excitement through
+George. "All ready," he said. "Go ahead!"
+
+Rogers took a last look about. Then without hesitation, he moved the
+switch to the first intensity. To George, the humming seemed very
+different now than when he had heard it outside the plane. It was no
+louder, but it seemed to hum and vibrate inside his body. He was
+quivering inside, his head began reeling dizzily; then came that
+sickening, horrible sensation of falling headlong--a vertigo that turned
+everything to blackness.
+
+"Are you all right? We've started."
+
+It was Rogers's anxious voice. George opened his eyes; everything seemed
+glowing, unreal and ghostlike. But he was uninjured, and his head had
+steadied.
+
+"I'm all right," he managed to say.
+
+The sickness passed quickly. George stood up, steadying himself. "Gosh,
+how light I feel! Queer in the head--don't you? I never imagined--"
+
+He stopped abruptly. Through a side window the fur-coated figure of the
+Banker was standing against the wall with the others around him. They
+were staring toward the plane with an expression that clearly indicated
+they could not see it.
+
+"We've started all right," George added. "Look at them! We're already in
+future time to them. They can't see us!"
+
+Suddenly the Banker came forward walking with extraordinary swiftness,
+and seemingly with little jerks, like a manikin. George held his
+breath, for the Banker popped forward, his head and shoulders piercing
+the glowing phosphorescent walls and floor of the cabin. He stood
+motionless a brief instant, his face close to George's knees. Then, even
+more rapidly than he had advanced, he threw a swift glance around and
+retreated.
+
+George recovered himself. "Boy," he said. "Wasn't that weird though? But
+we're all right. I feel fine now."
+
+The droning of the Frazia motors sounded very faintly above the humming.
+It was a relief, a help toward normality. The plane was slowly raising
+into the air.
+
+As it mounted, the roof of the Scientific Club dwindled away below. It
+was a dark night, with heavy clouds and a cold wind from the east. The
+city, with snow on its rooftops, was sliding eastward beneath them;
+vague black shadows, dark buildings dotted with lights, and seemingly
+empty streets.
+
+They were still mounting diagonally upward, and carried sidewise by the
+wind, when the Hudson River slid into view.
+
+"Rotten weather, Mr. Rogers," George suggested.
+
+"Yes," Rogers agreed, "but that will not bother us for very long. Are
+you warm enough?"
+
+"One heater is going," George responded. "I'll switch on another." He
+had familiarized himself thoroughly with the various mechanical
+appliances of the plane, and he turned a switch that threw current into
+another of the small electric radiators.
+
+"Anything else?" he demanded.
+
+"No, I think I shall try the higher intensities of the proton current. I
+want our time-progress accelerating as much as possible right from the
+beginning."
+
+George selected a seat hastily.
+
+It was not much of an ordeal. The humming seemed to move up a scale to a
+higher pitch as Rogers pulled the lever around. The reeling of the
+senses came again, but passed almost at once.
+
+"There," said Rogers. "I'm glad that's accomplished."
+"We're at the fifteenth intensity--the highest that Loto used."
+
+George was staring down through the floor window. "I can see lights down
+here. Are you sure it's the highest speed Loto used? He didn't describe
+it this way."
+
+"Our acceleration will pick up over several hours," Rogers replied. "Our
+time-progress is still comparatively slow."
+
+The Frazia motors were still droning.
+
+"How high are we, do you suppose?" George demanded after a moment.
+
+"Possibly five thousand feet. We're blowing westward over New Jersey.
+And a little to the south, I think. Soon it will be day."
+
+His words were anticipated. The scene lighted swiftly. It was day; a
+dull, cold-looking, cloudy morning. Below them lay New Jersey, almost a
+network of villages on the fringe of lowlands. A more congested area of
+building was almost directly beneath and slid under them as they watched
+it.
+
+"Newark!" exclaimed George. "And we're into tomorrow. We're making
+it--we'll soon be with Loto."
+
+They were up higher than Rogers realized--ten thousand feet, at least.
+And their drift seemed constantly of a more southern trend. It was still
+uncomfortably cold in the cabin.
+
+"Perhaps we should stay at this level," Rogers remarked. "We seem to
+have caught a wind from the north."
+
+Night came again in a few moments. Lights dotted the landscape below,
+but they were vague, flickering lights. Then day, with sunlight. The
+wind sudsided. The plane's southern drift was stilled. And then came
+night with a moon plunging across the sky, and stars dizzily sweeping
+past. Then day again, until presently the daylight and the darkness were
+blended into gray. The drift was permanently passed. In a blending of
+all the diversified air currents, the plane remained almost stationary.
+
+The white, snowy hills of New Jersey soon turned to green. The cabin air
+warmed a little. Then autumn and winter came again--and passed in a
+moment or two.
+
+Rogers sighed with relief. "We're fairly started. One year out of
+twenty-eight thousand!"
+
+"And we've got eight hundred or a thousand miles of space to travel
+also," said George. "We're going to make that simultaneously, aren't
+we?"
+
+"Yes," agreed Rogers.
+
+George took a last look through the floor window at the blurring gray
+landscape beneath, and stood up to join him. "Let's talk things over,"
+he suggested. "I've got a lot of questions--plans and things."
+
+Rogers had taken a sheaf of script from his pocket.
+
+"Loto's notes to guide us," he explained. "I've followed them closely so
+far. We have a flight through time of something more than twenty-five
+thousand years at the fifteenth intensity, and then we slacken.
+Simultaneously, we must fly southward some thousand miles or more
+through space, directing our course for the southern tip of Florida.
+Loto specifies that we should, under all circumstances, reach the
+latitude of north Florida coincident with twenty-five thousand years of
+our time-progress. We will then--or perhaps a thousand years further
+along--see the island. We cannot miss it, of course. It is so large, and
+it must certainly endure over a great period of time."
+
+"How long did Loto take to reach twenty-five thousand years?"
+
+"About twelve hours," Rogers consulted the memoranda. "He computes his
+average speed as equivalent to the twelfth intensity. We are using the
+fifteenth continuously. Our clocks should register no more than ten
+hours for the time-flight.
+
+"Ten hours," he added thoughtfully. "And flying directly south at a
+hundred miles an hour we would reach the island in those ten hours."
+
+"But we haven't started south yet," George protested. "We're moving
+through time all right, but we're still right over Newark--and look at
+it!"
+
+The New Jersey metropolis was spreading west to the Orange Mountains,
+and eastward it seemed to be linked solid with Jersey City. Factories
+dotted the intervening meadows, which were drained of their stagnant
+water.
+
+"You're right," exclaimed Rogers. "We have barely nine hours left; we
+must start our horizontal flight."
+
+In a few moments more they were speeding south and slightly west, at an
+altitude of some five thousand feet, with their progress through time
+steadily accelerating.
+
+An hour, by their clocks, had passed. They were over Delaware Bay. Its
+shores, in the more congested areas, were lined almost solid with
+buildings. There was a great city on each side of the mouth of the
+river, with a gigantic bridge connecting them. The bridge rose into
+being under the eyes of the watchers in the flying plane, but they swept
+on past and in a moment left it far in the distance behind them.
+
+George was seated on the floor watching the changing landscape; a huge,
+concave gray surface, shadowless, stretching out and up to the circular
+horizon. Steadily, like a panorama unrolled, it slid sidewise beneath
+them. The motion was greatest directly below. To the west, the mountains
+seemed, by an optical illusion, to be following, speeding forward with
+them.
+
+The sea or its arms constantly occupied a portion of the scene, for they
+were still flying south and somewhat west, following the Atlantic coast.
+And of everything in sight, the sea alone seemed unchanging.
+
+In time-progressing, that height of civilization Loto had described lay
+under them. They were flying lower now.
+
+Rogers, in his seat at the controls, said: "I think we're making it as
+we should. That's the four thousand year mark just passed, and we're
+flying at a hundred and ten miles an hour."
+
+"Are you sure we'll hit it right?" George asked anxiously.
+
+"I think so. It's about as Loto figured so far. Those buildings--what a
+civilization that must be down there. It will fade presently...in
+three or four thousand years."
+
+George joined him at the forward window. "Where are we? Are we still
+over Virginia?"
+
+"Yes, at least I think we haven't crossed into North Carolina yet. That
+was Chesapeake Bay a while ago. Look! That city over there is
+melting--going down fast!"
+
+The cabin interior was unlighted and dark, except for that
+phosphorescence with which everything glowed. In their absorption in the
+scene below, the travelers had forgotten their own curious aspect, until
+George suddenly remarked:
+
+"Look at us! Ghosts flying through space! Doesn't it make you feel
+queer, Mr. Rogers?"
+
+The dim cabin interior, with its vague, luminous human figures, did
+indeed seem unreal. But the unreality was matched now by the scene
+beneath; their forward flight through space, combined with a
+time-progress now tremendously accelerated, made everything below a
+shifting, sliding kaleidoscope of changing effects. Details were
+transient things, blurred one into the other.
+
+The broad fundamentals, however, were obvious. The gray, concave land,
+ridged with mountains, the indented coast line, the gray, changeless
+sea--all were distinguishable. And overhead the sky was luminous with
+the mingled light of sun and moon and a myriad starry worlds, all
+blended darker by nights of rain and snow and storm.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They were over North Carolina when Rogers, at the Frazia controls, grew
+tired. The clock stood at two five. They had been gone some five hours.
+
+"I must rest," said Rogers. "George, can you take my place?"
+
+George hesitated. "I've flown a bit, but never in a Frazia. I think I'd
+better not experiment--not on this flight."
+
+"All right," Rogers agreed. "I'll use the automatic 'copters for a
+while. Half an hour will rest me up."
+
+In a few moments they were hovering, seemingly motionless, over North
+Carolina. Far away to the east, over a bulge in the coast line, they
+could just make out Cape Hatteras and the ocean beyond it.
+
+Rogers stretched himself out on one of the leather seats, and lighted a
+cigar. George sat beside him.
+
+"I figure we should be at least halfway to the northern coast of the
+island," the older man said. "We have flown some four hundred miles in
+four hours."
+
+"But Loto will be waiting at the southeastern tip of the island,"
+protested George. "That will be easily two or three hundred miles
+further, won't it? I wonder how far along we are in time."
+
+"Look at the dials."
+
+George bent over them. "About sixty-five hundred years. Some of the
+hands are going too fast to read."
+
+"More than I had thought," commented Rogers.
+
+"Do you figure we're still accelerating?"
+
+"I think we have just about reached our greatest speed," Rogers answered
+slowly. "Let us see. We've done an average of thirteen hundred years an
+hour. We must be progressing at double that now."
+
+George was figuring on the back of an old envelope. "Twenty-six hundred
+an hour. In five more hours at that rate we'll be close to twenty
+thousand. We can fly down to the north coast of the island easily by
+then."
+
+"Exactly. We're a little ahead in our space flight. I'm glad of it. We
+shall have to slow our time-progress to almost nothing at the end. We
+must take no chances of missing Loto's light signal."
+
+"Twenty-six hundred years an hour," mused George. "That's what we're
+making now. Forty-five years a minute. A century almost every two
+minutes!"
+
+The clock had registered thirty minutes more when Rogers declared he was
+sufficiently rested. At George's suggestion they ate a light meal; then
+they started their flight southward again.
+
+"How about looking at the dials now," George remarked. "They were at
+sixty-five hundred, thirty minutes ago."
+
+"Eight thousand," Rogers read. "That's fifteen hundred more. It figures
+out to three thousand an hour. That's our peak, I think."
+
+The flight now was passing through constantly changing conditions; every
+two minutes the plane was covering some three or four miles of space and
+a century of time. They crossed above North Carolina and came to the
+coast again. The cities of the civilization beneath them seemed to be
+breaking up. Here and there one stood in its glory; others were mere
+deserted piles of ruins over which the vegetation crawled, eager to
+devour. Still other cities and villages appeared over the southern
+horizon, sturdy and whole--and they melted as they slid beneath the
+plane, into crumbling piles that passed out of sight to the north.
+
+Soon desolate areas appeared. The scene grew vaguely whiter; the snow
+was coming down from the north faster than the plane was flying. Changes
+in the coast line became apparent; unfamiliar arms of the sea swept into
+view, and were crossed and left behind. A small, unfamiliar island lay
+close to the South Carolina coast. But as a whole, the land and sea held
+their own, even against the ravages of so many centuries.
+
+"The north wind is with us--the wind Loto described that blew southward
+almost all the year. What time is it?"
+
+"By the clock or the dials?"
+
+"The clock. I have the dials here. Eighteen thousand four hundred years
+is their reading."
+
+"Quarter of six," announced George.
+
+"We should sight the island shortly," Rogers said. "I'll fly a trifle
+slower. We must be nearly down to Georgia by now--to where Georgia used
+to be, I should say. I want to sight the island at twenty thousand
+years, or thereabouts."
+
+The land was growing white; the vegetation sparser. Small towns and
+hamlets that endured for no more than fifty or a hundred years were
+springing up everywhere, and melting into nothing in a moment or two.
+The vegetation was shifting, changing, but always the scene was growing
+whiter. The villages were sparser, smaller and shorter lived--the people
+struggling southward against the threatening, unrelenting cold, which
+spared nothing but the island of the Anglese.
+
+Rogers was first to notice a radical departure from the normal
+conformation of the landscape. They were, by their own calculation, over
+Georgia. George, watching the dials closely, had just noted twenty-two
+thousand years. Far ahead, over the rim of the southwestern horizon, a
+line of mountains was rising.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Rogers softly. "The mountain chain running east and
+west. The new mountains! The island must be just beyond them."
+
+He maneuvered the plane into a climb; the gray land and sea tilted and
+began dropping away. The mountains seemed to be following them up,
+higher and closer, until at last the plane was over them, barely a
+thousand feet above their rocky spires.
+
+It was a scene of wild grandeur that now spread out beneath their eyes:
+dark, craggy cliff faces, with snow capped summits, a pure white peak
+and a gray blue valley beside it. And the whole mass reared ten thousand
+feet above the sea.
+
+The plane swept forward; the jagged, tumbled land slid northward, close
+beneath it. Then, abruptly, the crags and peaks dropped away; it was as
+though the plane had leaped ten thousand feet into the air. Far below
+lay a narrow channel of gray water, stretching east and west. And beyond
+that lay another land, its outer coast curving to the south.
+
+"_The island!_" exclaimed Rogers softly. "What a cataclysm was here--a
+rift that let the sea in and buckled up the mountains!"
+
+"The island!" echoed George. "And we're at twenty-three thousand five
+hundred years! We've some distance yet to fly," he warned. "Hadn't we
+better slacken our time progress?"
+
+With their flight through space temporarily checked, the 'copters
+holding them motionless, Rogers cut down the proton current to the fifth
+intensity. Eagerly they looked below them.
+
+Beyond the channel lay the island, curving up in an arc from the south
+and out to the west. They could not see across it, but only to a ridge
+of mountains at its center. Huge palms grew everywhere, and the
+shoreline formed a broad, curving beach of white sand. An island
+paradise--though their time progress still laid a gray cast over the
+green, blurred the water into a formless haze along the beach and
+shifted the vegetation into a confusion of changing forms.
+
+"We must get started," Rogers said at last. "At twenty-eight thousand
+years we must be within sight of the southern tip."
+
+It was a flight almost due south. Lakes occasionally were visible, and
+two or three small rivers, one of which changed its course suddenly
+under their eyes; and everywhere that tropical verdure, mounting and
+melting, always shifting with its rapid growth and decay.
+
+In some three hours more--with another longer rest for Rogers, during
+which time the 'copters held them poised motionless--they sighted the
+southern tip of the island. It had narrowed here to a point no more than
+two miles wide, ending with a curving beach and the broad, empty ocean
+beyond; a beach with a palm-covered mountain slope close behind it.
+
+Rogers had made several changes of time progress during the latter part
+of the trip, and they were poised over the sea near the tip of the
+island for no more than a few moments when the dials recorded
+twenty-eight thousand two hundred years.
+
+Rogers consulted Loto's notes. "He landed in this time world at
+twenty-eight thousand two hundred and four years. We must stop at the
+beginning of that year and watch for his light."
+
+Using the fourth intensity, the daylight and darkness was separated into
+two brief, but distinguishable periods. Thus the voyagers sped through
+the days and nights, the weeks and months and forward into another year.
+At the beginning of the fourth year, Rogers changed to the third
+intensity. It was daylight--a yellow-red, swiftly mounting sun; flying
+blurs of white clouds close overhead; a blue sea, and a bright green
+island.
+
+The sun plunged across the sky and sank blood red, with an instant of
+glorious colors suffusing the western sky. Night came, with its deep,
+purple mystery. Then day again.
+
+Thus the days of that fourth year went by; each hardly a minute long,
+but slow to the two men so anxiously watching. They were tired to the
+point of exhaustion, but the excitement and anxiety kept them going.
+
+"He said from the tip of the island," Rogers murmured. "A blue-white,
+vertical beam of light shining for a day and a night...we couldn't
+miss it. A minute would show it to us plainly."
+
+"I haven't taken my eyes off that island for a second," commented George
+from his seat on the floor. "Why doesn't he hurry up? He's down there,
+why doesn't he give us the signal?"
+
+Rogers did not answer. The sun dropped below the horizon. The turning
+world, with its motion made so visible, was dizzying to one who watched
+the sky.
+
+The purple night was momentarily colored with a red moon; it rose and
+swiftly plunged into a thick bank of clouds that swept down upon it.
+
+Abruptly, from the tip of the island, a shaft of blue-white light shot
+into the sky. It wavered an instant, then stood motionless: _clear_,
+_distinct_, _unmistakable_!
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+
+The proton current had been entirely cut off. The interior of the cabin
+was solid in appearance once more. The Frazia motors were still droning
+and the plane hung motionless in a night that was without wind. Below
+it, now, lay a scene of complete normality: the sea was rolling up on
+the white sand and the moon, almost at its zenith, bathed the green
+island in a silvery, red-tinged light. And from the tip of the island,
+quite near its southern branch, Loto's narrow beam of blue-white light
+was flashing upward into the sky.
+
+They descended, in a gentle glide. The beach was broad and firm; they
+landed upon it, swooping along. It was like racing an automobile along
+the sand in the moonlight, with the ocean on one side--far out at low
+tide now--and a jungle of green, tropical vegetation on the other.
+
+Rogers, at the controls, saw a number of human figures standing on the
+beach ahead of him. They scattered hastily, and the plane, rapidly
+losing velocity, went past them and stopped a hundred yards farther.
+
+"_We're here!_" George cried. "Let's get out. Was that Loto we passed?
+Where's the light? Are we near it?"
+
+The light could be seen no more than a hundred feet away among the
+palms. They climbed hastily from the plane. A figure was coming forward
+along the beach at a run; a slight figure in wide trousers of white
+cloth, and a short, flapping jacket.
+
+"Loto!" shouted George. "That you, Loto?"
+
+From a distance came a faint, "Hello-o... George!" The runner increased
+his speed. It was Loto.
+
+"Well," he exclaimed, as he shook their hands. "You got here right away,
+didn't you? I've only had that light up two or three hours."
+
+"We're tired out," said Rogers, when the greetings were over. "Do we
+stay in the plane or can we leave it?"
+
+A man was standing fearfully at the edge of the green jungle nearby, and
+Loto called him forward. He was dressed in wide trousers, like Loto's
+except that they were smeared with dirt and sand, and his feet and torso
+were bare. He came, timidly, and Loto spoke to him apart. The man nodded
+his head, indicating that he understood his orders. Then he trotted
+away, joining three or four others of his kind, gesticulating toward the
+plane. They all approached it reluctantly.
+
+George plucked at the flaring sleeve of Loto's short jacket, his only
+garment above the waist. "How's Azeela, Loto? Is she...is everything
+all right?"
+
+"Yes, she's all right. But I needed you and father here. Wait! Not now.
+I'll tell you later."
+
+Rogers joined them. "We're about exhausted, Loto. We must have some
+sleep."
+
+"Yes, of course. I knew you'd be. I've a house near here--only a hundred
+yards or so. They'll guard the plane." His gesture indicated the men who
+were now on the sand, moving about the plane, but evidently afraid to
+touch it.
+
+"You can trust them?"
+
+"Implicitly."
+
+They followed Loto. George was tired, but so excited that he did not
+realize it. The night air was warm and heavy with moisture. It was
+oppressive; it reminded him somehow of the steam room of a Turkish bath.
+He found himself perspiring.
+
+They left the moonlit beach and, following a tiny, white-sand path,
+plunged into the depths of the jungle. Palms of every variety stood
+about, their graceful fronds interlacing overhead. There were huge trees
+loaded with fruit, bananas, mangoes, grapefruit. Some of the other fruit
+trees George dimly remembered having heard of but could not name, and
+still others he was sure were entirely new.
+
+It was dark in the jungle here, and very silent. The steamy air was
+redolent with perfume--orange blossoms, George thought. The light signal
+was nowhere to be seen. George wondered if it had burned out, or if Loto
+had ordered those men to extinguish it.
+
+"Here we are," said Loto abruptly.
+
+A house was standing at their right, in an open space with the moonlight
+gleaming on it--a large, tropical-looking bungalow. There was a broad
+veranda on three sides, with windows opening into the house. The house
+itself was raised some four feet off the ground on coconut posts, and a
+brown-thatched roof spread over everything like a mound.
+
+It seemed to be a house that would have ten rooms, at least. George
+wondered what made it look so peculiar. Then he realized that its board
+walls were not vertical, but sloped inward toward the top, so that its
+rooms would be smaller at the ceiling than the floor. It looked like a
+house of cards.
+
+Loto had turned into another path. A brown picket fence enclosed the
+house with perhaps an acre of ground. Inside was a flower garden, abloom
+with an extraordinary profusion of flowers.
+
+A short flight of wooden steps led to the veranda. There Loto stopped.
+
+"I think we should retire at once," Rogers said. "We have so much to
+talk of--but it will wait."
+
+"Yes," Loto agreed. "Come with me, Father. George, you stay here. I'll
+be right out."
+
+George sat down on the veranda, with his back against a round palm trunk
+that was supporting its roof. He realized now how tired he was, and this
+heavy air made him sleepy, he heard the others moving away, entering the
+house. He took off his coat, then his shirt and, using them for a
+pillow, stretched himself out at full length on the board flooring of
+the veranda.
+
+In a moment, when Loto returned to take him to the room they were to
+occupy together, he found George sleeping peacefully.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+George awakened with the morning sun streaming through a window. He was
+on a broad couch, and in a chair beside him, Loto was reclining
+comfortably, smoking his black brier pipe. He smiled.
+
+"Oh, you're awake, are you? You ought to be--it's hours after sunrise."
+
+A vague memory of being taken into the house by Loto the night before
+drifted back to George. He remembered being half-asleep and talking to
+his friend, but it was all like a dream.
+
+The room was small, queer-looking, with its walls sloping together
+toward the ceiling. But it was bright and clean, with brown fibre
+matting on the floor.
+
+The air was as moist and heavy as ever, and even warmer. George sat up,
+mopping his forehead with his shirt sleeve.
+
+"I've got your clothes," Loto said, indicating a stool with garments
+lying on it. "You don't need much in this heat. Get up and try them on."
+
+George was presently arrayed, like Loto, in low, tight slippers of soft
+hide--clipped dog-skin, Loto told him--with trousers of white material,
+bulging above the knees and tight at the ankles, and a brown and green
+cloth jacket, ornamented with little metal coins. The jacket was
+square-cut and short; it just covered the waist-band of the trousers in
+back. It was lined with something soft, thin and yet absorbent; it felt
+smooth and comfortable next to George's skin. But it would not meet in
+front; it left his chest and stomach bare. He stood regarding it
+ruefully until Loto showed him how to fasten it closed across his
+stomach.
+
+"Nice and cool--when you get used to it," George commented, staring down
+at his exposed chest. "How do I look? Kind of queer, don't I?" He
+twisted himself around, trying to see down over the side bulge of his
+trousers.
+
+Roger's voice, calling, interrupted them.
+
+"I've got a million things to talk to you about," George was telling
+Loto. "Hurry it up--I'll be out in the garden."
+
+They met, a few minutes later, on the side veranda where they were to
+have breakfast. George's self-consciousness vanished immediately; Rogers
+was dressed almost exactly as he was, and he flattered himself he looked
+at least as well as his companion.
+
+It seemed to the new arrivals, at this first glance, a primitive world
+indeed into which they had fallen, the heat, the palms, the thatched
+bungalow, and their costumes all might have existed in some
+out-of-the-way tropical land of their own time-world.
+
+During the meal George was insistent with questions, but Loto smilingly
+refused to talk. Instead, he led his father into a brief description of
+their flight forward through time and south through space. When the meal
+was over Loto took them out to the front veranda.
+
+"I've a great deal to tell you," he said, "and I know you're as
+impatient to hear it as I am to tell you. I've been here on the island
+five months--"
+
+"We realize it," George murmured. "Didn't I watch for that light through
+every day and night of 'em?"
+
+Loto smiled. "I put the signal up last night because I felt that I
+needed you. Before we do anything, I must tell you of our affairs here.
+You notice I say 'our affairs.' They are a part of me now. I don't
+exactly know why, but the thing here grips me. I want to help these
+people... I feel already that I am one of them."
+
+It was no mystery to George.
+
+"Where's Azeela?" he demanded with apparent irrelevancy.
+
+"In Anglese City, the capital and largest center of population on the
+island. It's north of here--on the channel. I've been living there; I
+came down here merely to meet you. The situation here is drastic,
+Father. War has been impending, and now it will not be postponed much
+longer. This Toroh--as I told you, he is an Anglese renegade--is
+organizing the barbarians of the north, the Noths, as they are called.
+They are a people of low intelligence--brutes of men with thick black
+hair on their bodies.
+
+"God knows how many Noths there are--hordes of them are scattered about
+the northern wastes. Toroh has been organizing them. He has a base up
+north where he is manufacturing scientific weapons. There is class
+hatred here on the island, but, thank Heaven, in the face of an outside
+invasion, the Anglese will stick together."
+
+"You're preparing for war," George interposed. "You--"
+
+"Yes, of course. The Anglese have had no warfare for several
+generations; they were totally unprepared, but now they're getting
+things in shape."
+
+Loto's tone was optimistic, but the anxiety of his expression belied it.
+"I wanted you here, Father--you and George. Without Toroh, we would not
+fear the Noths. But Toroh is a scientist, and what weapons he will have
+been able to manufacture we do not know. We can only--"
+
+A man came dashing up the garden path; a man in the familiar wide
+trousers, torn and dirty. His red-brown, naked torso gleamed with sweat;
+a white cloth was tied about his forehead to keep the damp hair from his
+eyes.
+
+Loto leaped to his feet, and the man, gazing at the strangers with one
+swift, surprised glance, flung himself prostrate on the steps.
+
+"What--" began Rogers.
+
+"Wait! A messenger from Azeela. Something has gone wrong."
+
+Loto raised the man up, and listened to his flood of frightened words
+with obvious concern. A sharp question from Loto, a crisp order, and the
+messenger was dashing away. Loto's gaze, following him, came back to his
+companions on the porch.
+
+"Bad news, Father. We must get up to Anglese City at once. Spies have
+appeared in Orleen--a city at the western end of the island--spies from
+Toroh, former Anglese, banished like himself. They're being put to death
+as fast as they can be caught. But meanwhile they're talking to the
+lower class--telling the people that Toroh is for them, and only against
+their government. There is class hatred here. The people are listening
+to the emissaries. We may be facing a revolution--an internal break--on
+the eve of fighting the Noths! We will lose if that happens--_lose to
+Toroh inevitably_!"
+
+They were down on the beach in five minutes more. The plane stood there,
+undisturbed. Half a dozen figures rose from the sand beside it and stood
+respectfully waiting for Loto to approach.
+
+Rogers took his seat beside the Frazia controls. They were presently in
+the air, flying northward over the palm-covered island that lay calm,
+serene in its false security and peacefulness.
+
+Loto sat close to his father, with George beside them.
+
+"I must tell you briefly the conditions here," Loto said. "Then you will
+be able to understand--be able to help with your advice and judgement as
+well as actions."
+
+He spoke briskly but carefully, and his manner regained its poise.
+George was gazing down through one of the side windows.
+
+"That's Azeela's messenger," Loto commented, "going back to Anglese
+City."
+
+They were flying hardly five hundred feet above the palms. A white road
+lay beneath them; along it a huge, shaggy dog was running, with the
+figure of a man on its back. The dog's neck was stretched forward, its
+body low to the ground as it ran with almost incredible speed, the man
+lashing its flanks with a leather thong. The plane passed very slowly
+and drew away.
+
+"We will not land in the heart of the city," Loto added. "He'll be with
+Azeela before we are."
+
+"Go on and tell us about things," George urged. "We've got the time now;
+maybe we won't have it later."
+
+Loto nodded. "I will. We have here on the island three social classes.
+How they developed throughout the centuries you will have to imagine for
+yourself. Ancient, almost prehistoric Egypt was no more than a quarter
+as far into the past of our time-world as we are now ahead of it.
+Considered in that light, the changes have been rather less radical than
+you would anticipate.
+
+"The lowest class--you would call them peons in our old Latin
+America--are now termed the Bas. They include more than nine-tenths of
+all the inhabitants of the island. Most of them are ignorant,
+uneducated; yet they include, also, many intelligent, learned
+individuals.
+
+"It is the lowest class which is now plunged into almost intolerable
+conditions. They are the workers. Through generations of working in the
+sun, their skin has become a reddish brown. The higher class--the
+nobility--are the Arans. As the governing class, the Arans live for the
+most part in idleness and luxury, while the Bas are held down to almost
+universal poverty.
+
+"You haven't seen the Arans yet. We will be in their chief city shortly.
+You will find them white-skinned, their women especially, for they
+shield themselves carefully from the sun. They are cultured, yet
+without great learning. Can you appreciate that condition? They're the
+ones who really show the decadence of this time-world."
+
+"Is there a third class?" Rogers prompted.
+
+"Yes. The Scientists--to me the most interesting of all. You will
+appreciate that in long past ages, science was supreme. In war it was
+everything. The Anglese came to this island and grew apathetic, but the
+Scientists, in some measure, clung to their learning. Gradually, their
+attitude must have changed to secrecy. They became a sect, holding
+knowledge for its own sake, keeping it among themselves.
+
+"The real power lay with them, and they knew it. But curiously enough,
+their science seemed all-sufficient. As a body, they never desired
+governing power; no individual rose among them with a yearning for
+conquest--except Toroh.
+
+"Foreign wars came. The Scientists offered their help, and when the wars
+were over, retired with their knowledge to themselves. The sect, as you
+will find it today, is on the downgrade. It has dwindled to a thousand
+or two individuals who are scattered throughout the island. They call
+themselves the League--I should say, a word that means about that. They
+have their own officers; a council of a hundred in Anglese City, and a
+lifetime president, Fahn, Azeela's father.
+
+"Thus, you understand, the League of Scientists really controls
+everything. But its members are content with the prestige their position
+gives them. The government itself has for centuries fostered this
+secrecy of all that pertains to science. In times of war, the Arans are
+helpless, and leave it all to the League. In times of peace they forget
+the possibility of war and go back to ruling the Bas in their own
+fashion."
+
+Loto glanced out one of the windows. "Look down there."
+
+The island was mountainous; a constant succession of green hills and
+valleys. A small lake came into view, with steam rising from it.
+Everywhere the scene was dotted with thatched huts and, occasionally, a
+more pretentious bungalow like the one in which the visitors had passed
+the previous night. As they flew low over the hills, they could see
+small brown and white patches of cultivated land scattered everywhere.
+
+"That is the way the Bas live," Loto commented. "Sometimes they bring
+their produce to the cities and sell it for ridiculously small sums. If
+there's a food shortage, the Arans come out and take it--paying for it
+nominally."
+
+"But their factories, their industries?"
+
+"In the cities, Father. Reduced to a minimum, and for the use and
+welfare of the Arans and Scientists almost exclusively. Skilled labor is
+performed by the higher types of the Bas. They are allowed to live in
+the cities, but are paid so little that they must live unpretentiously.
+Everything is done for the welfare of the Arans and the League of
+Scientists."
+
+"And the government?"
+
+"A monarchy. A king, his council of fifty and his personal cabinet of
+five. A hereditary monarch, wholly inefficient, except in forcing his
+laws upon the Bas."
+
+"I should think that would be somewhat difficult," Rogers commented.
+
+"There is a large police force made up of swaggering young men of the
+Arans. They serve for the joy of it; they're mostly arrogant individuals
+who take pleasure in the enforcement of the personal power they hold.
+And they abuse it, of course. Their task is easy, for they have the
+Scientists behind them. If one of them were killed, or even attacked by
+a Bas, it would mean the death of that Bas and all his family.
+
+"I said the Bas were under conditions almost intolerable. And that's
+exactly why these spies of Toroh's are dangerous to us just now. The
+whole social condition here is wretched, but, I suppose, logical enough
+under the circumstances of environment and racial development.
+Fundamentally, the difficulty has been a limited land area. The race
+cannot expand, hence numerically it must be restrained."
+
+"How?" demanded Rogers. "By birth control?"
+
+"Obligatory birth control--applicable only to the Bas. More Bas are not
+desired, hence births are limited. The desire just now--more than to
+hold the population even--is to cut it down. Hence, a Bas woman is
+allowed only two offspring."
+
+"But suppose she has three?" George suggested.
+
+"The mother and her child--illegitimate in a new sense--are banished
+from the island." Loto's voice rose to sudden vehemence. "Can you
+understand what that sometimes does? I have seen a mother with her
+newborn infant, two or three weeks old, pleading before the King's
+Council. She would not murder it at birth, as the Bas women sometimes
+do, and I saw her plead for its right to live on the island. And then,
+with her plea denied, she took it away into the frozen north. Her
+husband did not follow her. That is optional. This one stayed behind,
+keeping the other two children, and letting her take the infant alone.
+And she went, to save its life--her child, born without a birthright."
+
+There was a silence. Rogers was staring down at a hilltop where, as the
+plane swept past, a woman with two naked children at her side stood in
+front of a small shack.
+
+"And when you have seen the Arans, living their life of luxury and
+immorality," Loto went on, "you will wonder why the Bas have stood it so
+long. 'After us--the deluge,' has always been the Aran reasoning."
+
+The plane was climbing to pass over a jagged, volcanic-looking peak.
+Behind, nestled in a hollow, with a curving stretch of white sand and
+the blue waters of the channel beyond, lay the capital city of the
+Arans: reckless, pleasure-loving, secure in its beauty and supremacy,
+yet trembling from so many causes upon the brink of disaster.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+
+On the gently undulating floor of a valley, surrounded by three
+mountains and with the sea rolling up on its beach to the north, lay the
+Aran city. From an altitude of some three thousand feet, the travelers
+gazed down upon a scene of extraordinary color and beauty: low, pure,
+white buildings with many balconies and patios; gardens of vivid
+flowers; white pergolas trellised with scarlet blossoms; sunken pools of
+limpid water, with huge date palms curving over them. A grove of royal
+palms grew close to the beach, near a huge, rectangular bathing pool and
+a marble-white pavilion. A white palace stood on a rise of ground with a
+balconied tower, five hundred feet high, beside it. On the top of the
+tower was a beautiful flower garden. And everywhere was the romantic
+green foliage of the tropics, the blue-red sky, the soft, red-white
+clouds, and the azure waters of the channel.
+
+"Where do we land?" George asked.
+
+"To the west a little, Father," Loto directed. "See the cavern
+entrance?"
+
+He pointed for George, explaining: "We will not land directly in the
+city. I want the plane permanently guarded now, so we will leave it in
+the Cavern of Thunderbolts."
+
+"The what?" George demanded.
+
+"That's what the Bas picturesquely call it. You see the cavern mouth?"
+
+Across the city, a yawning black hole gaped in the mountainside near its
+base; an opening of irregularly circular shape, some two hundred feet in
+diameter. A gentle slope led up to it from the city.
+
+"We can fly directly in," Loto added. "It's the entrance to the
+subterranean chambers where the scientists work--and where they store
+their apparatus under guard. It's also a museum, where relics of the
+past are gathered."
+
+George relapsed into an awed silence, staring down at the city. In the
+streets and on the housetops, people were standing, gazing up at the
+plane curiously.
+
+The mouth of the cavern grew steadily larger as the plane swooped down
+upon it. The yawning hole seemed to have a level floor extending
+horizontally back into the mountain. Far back into the darkness, little
+blue lights twinkled.
+
+"You'd better take the controls, Loto," Rogers said anxiously. "I don't
+like the idea of flying into that."
+
+Loto slipped quietly into the seat. The Frazia motors stopped abruptly.
+Silently, with only the sound of the air rushing past, the plane glided
+swiftly downward.
+
+Around the cavern mouth was a small platform with a roof over it, built
+on an overhanging ledge of rock. The figures of three men seated there
+were visible. Abruptly one of the men rose, and from his upflung hand a
+tiny flash of blue-white light shot into the clouds overhead. Even in
+the daylight it was a plainly visible flash.
+
+"Lightning!" George exclaimed and, as though to confirm him, a little
+miniature crack of thunder sounded an instant later.
+
+"They know I'm coming," Loto said.
+
+It was a queer sensation, darting into that blackness. The cave mouth
+seemed to open and swallow them. The plane struck the ground with a
+bump, lifted, bumped again and rolled forward. Points of light swept
+past on either side; a blue-white glare lay ahead.
+
+The plane slackened its speed and came to a stop.
+
+"We're here," said Loto. "Take only what you will need at once. We can
+come back here later today or tomorrow."
+
+Quickly, they descended from the plane.
+
+The hum of dynamos sounded from far away in the mountain's depths. The
+roof high overhead was dimly visible, and great shadows, flickering
+blue-white lights, were everywhere. Near at hand, where the cave
+broadened, was a space more brightly lighted. Further along it narrowed
+again, forming a dozen branching passages. An incline fifty feet wide
+sloped down into blackness, with a faint pencil-point of blue light
+shining from far down within its recesses.
+
+"Why, the whole mountain is honeycombed!" Rogers exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, sir. Just stand here a minute and I'll be with you. Don't move
+about!"
+
+Figures were approaching, robed in black rubber garments, gloved and
+hooded. Loto turned to greet them, and they drew back their hoods,
+disclosing their heads and faces. There was a brief conversation, then
+Loto turned back to his companions.
+
+"Fahn is at home in the city," he said swiftly, and his tone was
+concerned. "We'll go there."
+
+The black-robed figures gazed at them curiously a moment; then went back
+to their work. Led by Loto, the three started off toward the mouth of
+the cave.
+
+"Is your plane in here, Loto?" Rogers asked.
+
+"No, sir. I left it at Orleen. There's a cavern there similar to this,
+but smaller. It's there--in the other cavern."
+
+"You're sure it's safe?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Where are we going?" George demanded after a moment.
+
+"To Fahn's home," Loto answered. "He'll be there with Azeela and
+Dianne."
+
+"Dianne?" George's voice took on a new note of interest. "Who is she?"
+
+"Azeela's younger sister," Loto explained briefly. He smiled. "I meant
+to tell you about her, George. She's a little daredevil--you'll like
+her."
+
+George just smiled, and for some time they walked on in silence. The
+ground was wet, like muddy clay. There were no lights ahead, but the
+daylight from the cave's mouth lighted their way.
+
+They emerged from the cave and came out onto a road of white sand and
+clay that led down the mountain slope. Palms lined it thickly. Further
+down, at the bottom of the quarter-mile descent, houses began; the
+outskirts of the city. The road soon took on the aspect of a street. It
+was broad, with narrow pedestrian paths on both sides. Flower gardens,
+often with hedges of thick, bayonet-like plants, lined the walks. The
+houses were for the most part almost obscured by palms and trellised
+vines that were laden with scarlet blossoms. Private, outdoor bathing
+pools occasionally showed through the garden foliage.
+
+It was obviously a residential section. As the party advanced,
+passers-by grew more numerous. The Bas men were distinguishable by their
+clipped, bullet-like heads, covered with broad, circular-brimmed hats of
+straw; their sun-tanned bodies naked above the waist, bare feet, and the
+wide trousers. The Bas women, also red-brown of skin, were usually
+clothed merely with a loin cloth and a white sash bound over the
+breasts, their hair twisted in plaits hanging down the back.
+
+The Bas walked always in the road itself. On the pedestrian paths, a few
+Arans passed by; men with long hair to the base of the neck, and dressed
+somewhat as Loto had garbed his father and friend. Most of them saluted
+Loto--a queer, flowing gesture of the left hand--and all of them stared
+with frank curiosity at the strangers. Occasionally an Aran woman came
+along--white-swathed, mysterious figures; a twinkle of tiny,
+black-slippered feet, a flash from alluring eyes veiled by lashes
+heavily darkened.
+
+An Aran man riding a dog went slowly down a side street. A dog pulling a
+small, three-wheeled cart piled high with merchandise passed in the
+opposite direction.
+
+George edged toward Loto. "Those dogs," he whispered. "They're friendly?
+Not vicious?"
+
+"Of course not," Loto laughed. "Just like regular dogs. Except...well,
+I'll tell you later."
+
+George sighed with relief. "All right. But they're not like any dogs I
+ever saw at home--they're nearly as big as a horse. And there's
+something else wrong about them--they're too intelligent. You can see
+that just by looking at them walk."
+
+Presently they turned into the gateway of a hedge solid with white and
+scarlet blossoms.
+
+"Fahn's home," Loto said. "We'll go right in."
+
+They passed through a garden, colorful with its mass of vivid flowers,
+and heavy with the languorous scent of magnolia and orange blossoms. The
+house stood well back from the road. It was a low, broad building, white
+in color, with, a low-hanging room--not thatched, but seemingly of blue
+tiling.
+
+Then they were on the veranda. The walls of the house sloped inward at
+the top. There was a window nearby--no glass--with a blue-white, silky
+curtain shrouding it. The door stood open; inside was a hall, with
+another door open to the sunlight of a patio banked with flowers.
+
+A girl came to the doorway. It was Azeela. George recognized her at
+once: a slight little creature of blue eyes, golden hair and milk-white
+skin; a pale blue sash wound wide about her hips and thighs,
+breastplates of metal, with the broad, circular collar above them, and
+her hair parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with
+little tassels. George decided she was the most beautiful girl he had
+ever seen; Loto's description did not half do her justice.
+
+She stood hesitantly in the doorway then, smiling, advanced to Loto and
+gave him both hands in a pretty gesture of welcome.
+
+George's decision that Azeela was the prettiest girl he had ever seen
+was short lived, for behind Azeela now came another girl, her younger
+sister, Dianne. Azeela might have been eighteen or nineteen; Dianne
+obviously was no more than sixteen--a black-haired, dark-eyed girl,
+dressed like Azeela, except that her sash was a deep red.
+
+"And this is Dianne," Loto was saying. "We call her Dee."
+
+"So will I," George answered promptly. He met the girl's eyes--snapping,
+laughing eyes with the spirit of deviltry in them.
+
+"Loto told me about you," she said demurely. Her intonation was that of
+a foreigner, but she spoke the ancient English with perfect ease and
+fluency. "Loto said he thought I would like you a lot."
+
+"He didn't tell me about _you_," George responded. "Not till ten minutes
+ago. But, anyway, he was right. No, what I mean is--"
+
+The rest of George's speech was lost, for they were inside the house and
+Fahn was advancing to meet them. The leader of the Scientists was a man
+of nearly seventy; a quiet, grave, dominating figure, tall and spare,
+but perfectly erect. His face was smooth-shaven, his iron-gray hair long
+to the base of the neck. He was dressed in a paneled robe of black, with
+a pleated white collar and cuffs.
+
+"I am glad, indeed, to have you with us," he said cordially to Rogers.
+He spoke precisely, slowly and carefully, as one speaks a language newly
+mastered. "I feel very close to you, now that my daughter Azeela is to
+marry Loto. It makes me--"
+
+Rogers stared blankly. "Loto engaged? Why, Loto, you--"
+
+"There was so much else to tell you, Father." Loto was covered with
+confusion. "Besides, I wanted to have you meet Azeela first."
+
+Azeela was trying to escape from the room, but Dee captured her and
+pushed her back.
+
+George was vigorously congratulating Loto, and Rogers, rising to the
+occasion, kissed Azeela heartily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was an ominous crisis into which the visitors from a time world
+twenty-eight thousand years previous had fallen. They discussed it with
+Fahn and his daughters during the remainder of that morning, and at the
+light noon meal, served in a shaded corner of the patio formed by the
+enclosing wings of the house. Banks of vivid flowers surrounded them;
+the quiet, warm air was redolent with perfume. A small fountain splashed
+musically. The world was calm, languorous.
+
+Fahn had little to add to what they already knew. Toroh and the Noths
+had not been expected to attack for a month or two at least, and the
+Anglese scientists were going forward with their own preparations for
+the war with utmost haste.
+
+But now these emissaries Toroh had smuggled to the island injected a new
+and alarming factor into the situation. They had appeared only in
+Orleen, but the Bas there were listening to them, and all over the
+island the news was spreading among the Bas that Toroh was a friend, not
+an enemy. The Bas might be incited to open revolt.
+
+"Morgruud is alarmed," Fahn said to Loto. He explained to the others
+that Mogruud was one of the most intelligent of the Bas in Anglese City,
+a leader of his people. Mogruud was not fooled by Toroh's emissaries,
+but he feared now that he could not prevent an uprising.
+
+"And the most terrible part is the Bas are right," Fahn added. "I do not
+mean in regard to Toroh--he is a scoundrel, of course. But the Bas must
+have some relief. Their children--ten mothers and infants were ordered
+exiled yesterday."
+
+"Why don't you fix it?" George asked.
+
+The Scientist leader shrugged slightly. "I do not make the laws; I obey
+them. I have remonstrated with the king and the council many times." He
+paused, then added thoughtfully:
+
+"The time may come when we of the League may be forced to act against
+the laws of our king. He is wrong, and we scientists all know it. But to
+take the law into our own hands--it is a very drastic thing...."
+
+During the meal, George was far more interested in the two sisters than
+in the men's talk. He had opportunity now to study the girls, compare
+them. In feature they were much alike; in expression and demeanor,
+totally different. Azeela was calm, thoughtful--femininely wise and
+patient. Dee was impulsive, vivacious--alternately demure and devilish.
+Yet, in spite of the differences in temperament, there seemed a strange
+bond between the sisters. Their regard for each other, the love between
+them, was obvious. But it was more than that--a bond of mind and spirit.
+George puzzled over it. Often when Azeela was about to speak, Dee would
+impulsively speak for her, as though interpreting her sister's thoughts.
+
+The afternoon was one of inactivity. A Toroh emissary appeared in
+Anglese City, but he was arrested before he had time to harangue the
+people.
+
+"I had thought he was one of Toroh's brothers," Fahn remarked, "but it
+is not so. I think now they would not dare come back to the island."
+
+He went on to explain that Toroh had two younger brothers, banished like
+himself.
+
+"They might come--Toroh himself might come," Loto declared. "He will
+dare anything that seems worth the risk."
+
+"If we take any one of them he will die," Fahn commented.
+
+It was at this juncture, in the late afternoon when the whole world was
+bathed in the glorious colors of a sunset sky, that Azeela returned from
+a short trip across the city.
+
+"The Aran Festival of the Flowers is tonight," she exclaimed excitedly.
+"It has not been postponed. The Arans say it is clever to hold it now,
+in spite of the news from Orleen. It will show the Bas how little they
+care--how secure is the Aran power!"
+
+It seemed to presage evil events--the holding of this festival wherein
+all the wanton luxury of the Arans could be flaunted in the faces of
+those whom they ruled. And it was with foreboding in their hearts that
+Fahn, his daughters and their friends, prepared that evening to go and
+witness it. It was midnight when they started. Dee and Azeela were
+swathed to the eyes in soft white robes, and the men carried tiny black
+masks.
+
+The city streets, even at midnight, bore a holiday aspect. The moon had
+risen but, in addition to its light, there were braziers strung above
+every street crossing and they cast a soft blue light downward.
+
+Arans were hurrying along, alone and in groups--the women all shrouded
+in white; the men, in clothes of gaudy colors, wearing masks, or
+dangling them in their hands. Little phaetons drawn by dogs rolled by,
+filled with gay figures in fancy dress; women leaned from them, waving
+at the pedestrians and tossing out flowers as they swept past.
+
+Loto and Azeela, with George and Dee close behind them, led the way
+swiftly in the direction that every one else was moving. Fahn and Rogers
+followed behind.
+
+It was a fairy tale city of unreality: gaudy men and white robed women
+hastening forward under the blue street lights; silent white houses
+flushed with the reddish tinge of the moon; warm, moist air, almost
+without a breath, heavy with sensuous perfume.
+
+And in the shadows of the streets, the brown skinned, half naked figure
+of a Bas, skulking here and there!
+
+Azeela had, for some time, been walking in silence. She looked up at the
+moon and, with a touch upon Loto's arm, indicated it.
+
+"You said the moon was blushing, my Loto--the blush of maiden modesty to
+look down upon such a city. But I do not see it so...to me it is
+stained with _blood_."
+
+The sweeping gesture of her white arm flashing from under the robe
+indicated a garden beside them.
+
+"_Blood--staining everything!_"
+
+The street topped a rise of ground, ahead, down another short slope, lay
+the sea. And even there the silver path upon the water was tinged with
+red.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER NINE
+
+
+A cordon of police stopped Fahn and his party at the edge of a grove of
+palms near the beach. A moment more and they were inside. It was dim
+under the palms; the white sand a lace pattern of shadow and moonlight.
+Gay figures were moving about, all the men masked now.
+
+The grove covered perhaps a quarter of a mile. To the right lay the
+gleaming white beach with the surf rolling up upon it. A tremendous pile
+of scarlet and white blossoms stood near by under the palm trees.
+Figures rushed to it, gathered up armfuls and darted away, shouting and
+laughing.
+
+"We must keep together," Fahn warned. "Come this way."
+
+Half a dozen men had whirled up, pelting Azeela and Dee with flower
+blossoms, and, under cover of the laughing attack, tried to separate the
+girls from their escorts and carry them off.
+
+They moved slowly forward, George gripping Dee's arm tightly. They
+passed a huge, rectangular swimming pool, deserted as yet--glassy,
+moonlit water a foot or two below the surface of the ground, reflecting
+the dark outlines of the date palms that curved above it.
+
+The whirling crowd constantly became thicker. There must have been
+several thousand people within the grove: the white shrouded figure of a
+woman flinging flowers against the attack of a man; a woman retreating,
+her ammunition exhausted, to the flower pile to replenish, and being
+caught in a smothering embrace before she could reach it; a group of
+laughing girls, their robes torn from them in the fray, pelting a
+defenseless man, flinging him finally into a huge pile of flower petals,
+burying him until some other quarry distracted their attention, or a
+stronger force of men separated them, sometimes carrying them off
+bodily.
+
+And in nooks behind the hedges of flowers, couples stole silent
+embraces, alone until marauding bands of men or girls found them out and
+drove them from their seclusion.
+
+The white sand was thick with trampled flowers. Music came drifting
+through the warm night air; music near at hand, but blurred by the
+shouts of the whirling throng. The rich contralto voice of a woman
+singing--a snatch cut off by laughter.
+
+A large white pavilion lay ahead, brilliant with flashing colored
+lights--a kaleidoscope of shifting color. It seemed crowded with people,
+and Fahn now led his little party toward it.
+
+They did not enter the pavilion, but stood in a group on its steps. The
+music came from within, music that welled and throbbed, unfamiliar in
+character, but with the age-old appeal to the senses--music sensuous,
+barbaric. And yet was it barbaric?
+
+Rogers voiced the question in a whisper to Loto, who stood beside him.
+Was it not rather supermodern, with the centuries of decadence that had
+put into it that fire of the soul abandoned to the body?
+
+The throng on the floor was battling with flowers, drinking wine from
+carved bowls of coconut shell, and dancing indiscriminately. The masked
+men were robed in black and women shrouded in white, but the swinging
+lights of vivid color stained everything, made the scene shift and blur
+into fantasy.
+
+At one end of the room a huge circular table was loaded with food and
+drink, fruits and confections. The table was slowly revolving; half of
+its circumference was behind a partition--a kitchen where it was
+constantly being replenished with other dainties.
+
+The visitors found it difficult to keep their place on the pavilion
+steps. Masked men attacked the two girls with flowers; a black robed
+figure in mock politeness and humility begged one or the other of them
+to dance. A trio of girls tore George away, and then, at his resistance,
+left him abruptly.
+
+"The king," whispered Loto, with a gesture.
+
+At one end of the pavilion, on a small raised platform, the king sat
+smiling down upon the scene. He was robed in paneled cloth of rich,
+gaudy colors--a man of middle age whose long, dark hair was shot through
+with gray.
+
+The scene, with its confusion of shifting incidents, held too much for
+the visitors to see or to understand. Half an hour went by, with the
+merrymaking steadily increasing. Abruptly, the music stopped. The throng
+stopped in its tracks, waiting expectantly. The swinging colored lights
+died out; others took their place--pure blue-white, and motionless. A
+solemn bell tolled out over the silence; with almost one motion the
+masks and the robes were discarded. A woman's laugh rang out, carrying
+in it the very essence of abandonment. Then the music began again and
+the throng sprang back into motion.
+
+The riotous color had been supplied by the lights; now with the lights a
+blue-white, steady glare, it was the riotous color of the costumes
+themselves. Was it the Baghdad of the Ancients--manikins, with turbaned
+headdresses, and flowing, vivid draperies with the gleaming white of
+limbs beneath them? Or were these slave girls, with their wares
+displayed for the bidders in the market? Or these others, were they
+desert women, dancing with a pagan lust?
+
+Watching with the others, George's impressions were confused. Yet the
+thought came to him that this was modern beyond his time--decadence, not
+barbarism.
+
+Again Rogers murmured something, but his words were lost. A score of
+figures came leaping from the pavilion, scattering the small group of
+onlookers on its steps.
+
+Rogers recovered himself, turning to follow them with his gaze; white
+nymphs with flowing hair, and draperies of gauze that bellowed behind
+them as they ran for the moonlit beach and the surf.
+
+Loto, pulling at his father's arm, brought his attention back to the
+pavilion. Through it, the palm grove on the other side was visible.
+
+The bathing pool was now a turmoil of splashing figures--slim white
+shapes dove into it from the palm-lined banks.
+
+But Loto was indicating the pavilion's interior. The crowd was standing
+motionless, gazing upward. A small dais was poised in mid-air above the
+floor in the center of the room. It floated there, seemingly with
+nothing to sustain it. Standing on tiptoe on the dais was a woman,
+wrapped to the eyes in scarlet draperies. She was facing the king over a
+distance of some twenty feet. The music, which had been stilled for a
+moment, murmured softly from its unseen niche.
+
+Fahn whispered to Rogers, "Our workmen of the League equipped that dais
+for the king. He begged us--and I feel now that it was a mistake."
+
+Loto added: "It is made from our newly invented war equipment. The dais
+is covered with a fabric--electrically charged, and repulsive to the
+earth. It's radio controlled, Father. A workman from the cavern is over
+there in the corner, behind that drape. We've kept the fabric a secret,
+but the king wanted to use it for the dais."
+
+The woman was singing in a throbbing contralto, very soft at first, then
+gradually louder. As she sang, slowly she unwound the draperies, letting
+them drop from her like quivering flame to a smoldering pile at her
+feet. Beneath it were other draperies, flame-colored like the rest, but
+her arms and face were bare--full, rounded, milk-white arms--a heavy
+face with scarlet lips.
+
+"Helene," Loto whispered. "The Bas call her what means 'Mme. Voluptua.'
+It is she who rules the king _and the nation_. Look at her!"
+
+The king was standing up. The music grew louder, fiercer, with a
+thrilling minor cadence. The woman's arms were extended; she stood
+poised, smiling as she sang to the king. From her outflung arms the
+gauze drapery hung like quivering wings, with the white of her body
+gleaming beneath it. The black hair piled high on her head held two
+spangles of gold trembling at the end of delicate golden wires. She
+stood, a great scarlet moth, hovering before flight.
+
+Staring in fascination, the king had left his seat and descended to the
+floor. The crowd parted to make way for him as he slowly moved toward
+the dais which floated down to meet him. Every eye was on him and on the
+woman, who now was extending her arms down in invitation.
+
+The music and the song were at their height. The dais reached the floor;
+the king stepped upon it and, as the woman's hand touched his shoulder,
+he dropped on one knee before her, his lips at the hem of her scarlet
+gauze.
+
+A leer of triumph on the woman's face; a murmur of applause from the
+watching throng. Then a black cloak fell from a figure close beside the
+dais; a man leaped upon it--the naked figure of a man in loin-cloth. A
+knife flashed--blue-white steel in the light from above. The song rose
+to a shuddering scream. The scarlet figure wilted and sank among its
+draperies at the feet of the kneeling king.
+
+For an instant the colorful throng seemed frozen; then chaos and the
+struggling, airless confusion of panic. The murderer had flung the king
+and the body of the woman from the dais. The little platform was rising
+into the air, carrying him with it. The movement was sidewise; in a
+moment it would have been outside the pavilion.
+
+Rogers, standing beside Fahn, heard the Scientist leader mutter an oath.
+Fahn's hand came up from his robe; a pencil-point of flame--a tiny
+shaft, yellow-red--shot from his weapon. The platform crashed to the
+floor of the pavilion; the murderer lay still, his body blackened and
+charred.
+
+In the center of the room, the king had climbed to his feet, trembling.
+He stood, staring down at the scarlet pile of gauze before him, the
+crumbled white body stained red as the draperies in which it lay.
+
+The pavilion was emptying. The music was stilled; shouts of men,
+terrified, hysterical cries of women filled the air. The visitors on the
+steps were swept back by the crowds from within. Loto, clinging to his
+father, struggled to hold them together.
+
+White figures were running from the beach; slim shapes were climbing
+from the bathing pool. A woman hastened by, long black hair plastered
+wet against her sleek white body. Her face, the allure gone from it, was
+a white mask of horror; a scarlet mouth with lips parted to yield
+babbling, terrified cries. She swept past, then disappeared into the
+confusion of the night.
+
+Loto was still clutching his father; all the rest of their party had
+disappeared. The pavilion now was empty of Arans, save for that huddled
+scarlet form, deserted by all its kind.
+
+Fahn came hastening up. "That is one of Toroh's brothers." He pointed
+to the motionless figure of the man his jet of flame had killed. "The
+other brother murdered my operator. They planned to steal the fabric, to
+duplicate it and use it against us in the war. I had no idea they would
+dare come to the island."
+
+Fahn had found his radio operator lying dead in his place behind the
+drape. Toroh's other brother had been there, trying to work the radio
+and get the dais out of the pavilion so that in the confusion they might
+escape with it. Fahn had caught a glimpse of the man running away as he
+approached. They had not known of Fahn's presence at the festival; had
+he not been there, the attempt probably would have succeeded.
+
+There was space around the three men now. The fleeing Aran figures were
+vanishing through the palms; the confused cries were growing fainter.
+But George and the two girls could not be found.
+
+"We must go back," Fahn said. "They must have tried to find us and could
+not. They would go home at once."
+
+With a last search around them, the three men started off through the
+now almost deserted grove. The cordon of police had disappeared. A few
+hastening figures were scattered along the streets.
+
+"Come on," Loto cried anxiously. "We have to hurry."
+
+Keeping close together they hastened along. Aran figures scurried here
+and there; lights twinkled in the houses, then were extinguished as
+though the concealing darkness might offer protection.
+
+"Curious," murmured Rogers. "The entire city is in terror."
+
+"The guilt that has been within them for generations," Fahn answered.
+"Toroh planned this well. The Bas will not know it was an attempt to
+steal the fabric. Instead they will think that one of their own people
+dared to murder Mme. Voluptua. The Arans think that now. They think the
+Bas have risen to rebellion at last. It is not this one murder, but the
+meaning of it that they fear--the confidence it will give the Bas."
+
+And as though to confirm his words, the figure of a Bas man stood
+motionless on the next street corner. He was partly in shadow, but he
+did not move as the three men came along; and as they passed, his body
+seemed to straighten, with the consciousness of his own power sweeping
+over it.
+
+They hurried across the city. As they went, they passed other Bas--Bas
+who no longer skulked in the shadows.
+
+At last they came to the shimmering, moonlit garden of Fahn's home. The
+house was dark. They called, but no one answered. A brief search
+revealed the truth; Azeela, George and Dee were not to be found. The
+place was undisturbed; there seemed no evidence of marauders.
+
+"We must wait," Fahn said. But his tone was anxious. "They have not yet
+arrived from the grove. I cannot believe it is anything but that."
+
+For a time they waited, but none of the missing three appeared. A hum
+had been growing in the city--a murmur of distant cries that now forced
+itself on their attention. The murmur grew, resolving itself into shouts
+and the scuffle of running feet. A mob of Bas rounded a nearby street
+corner and swept past the house. The crowd might have held a thousand
+persons. A giant, half-naked man with a curved sword-blade in his hand
+was leading the way; behind him came hordes of brown-skinned men and
+women. Most of the men carried curved swords; the women wielded
+sticks--the heavy butts of palm-fronds with the green stripped off--and
+a variety of agricultural implements.
+
+"The cane-cutters!" Loto exclaimed softly. "The knives with which they
+cut the sugar cane. They--"
+
+He broke off, watching the grim mob as it swept by. At every corner it
+was strengthened by others who joined it; Bas were springing up
+miraculously from the shadows everywhere.
+
+Fahn's hand had gone to his belt; then it dropped to his side. Rogers
+met the Scientist's glance with a nod of understanding.
+
+"It is what we of the League have feared for years," Fahn said
+anxiously. "I cannot kill my own people. I am armed and they are not,
+yet I cannot kill them--cannot look upon them as enemies. And I think,
+even in their frenzy, they realize that and play upon it."
+
+The last stragglers had passed; the shouts of the mob were growing
+fainter as it dashed across the city. The Aran houses were still dark
+and silent, with only an occasional inmate slinking out to gaze
+fearfully around. Directly across the street, the white figure of a
+woman just returned from the grove showed for an instant in a doorway.
+Then it fled inward, into the darkness.
+
+"_The palace!_" Loto explained abruptly. "_They're going to the
+palace!_"
+
+The words seemed to bring to Fahn the realization that action by him was
+needed. For the moment his anxiety over his daughters became secondary.
+
+"Come!" he cried. "We must protect the king."
+
+He hurried them through the garden and along the street. Almost running,
+the three men headed toward where the mob could still be heard, shouting
+in the distance.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER TEN
+
+
+George had been standing with his friends beside the pavilion, silently
+watching the festival reach its height. The bell tolled; the masks and
+cloaks were discarded. A bevy of nymphs draped in flowing gauze came
+dashing out. As they passed, one of them caught George by the arm,
+pulling him along a few steps; her eyes, half hidden by her tumbling
+hair, mocked him provocatively.
+
+He jerked away. A tide of other figures flowed from the pavilion,
+following the nymphs to the beach. George fought his way back, seeking
+to rejoin his friends; in that crowd they could get lost so easily.
+
+He was looking about, wondering just where they had been standing
+before, when he saw Dee. Her white cloak had fallen from her head to her
+shoulders. She was standing alone, apparently lost in reverie.
+
+George hastened to her. "Where are--"
+
+But her vehement gesture silenced him; again she seemed lost in thought.
+For a moment he stood wondering what was the matter with her. The music
+from the pavilion throbbed out into the moonlit grove; gaiety was
+surging all around them.
+
+Finally George could stand it no longer. "Dee, what is it? What's the
+matter?"
+
+She looked up with an anxious frown. "Something is wrong with Azeela.
+She's trying to tell me what's wrong."
+
+"Oh?" George glanced hastily about. "Where is Azeela? She was here a
+minute ago. Where are the rest of them? Let's tell them."
+
+What did Dee mean? The girl seemed to have forgotten him again. She was
+moving away, like one who walks under a spell.
+
+"Wait. Dee--_wait a minute_!"
+
+She kept on going. Figures were passing between them now. George hated
+to leave his place. He'd never find the others--never get back again.
+Even now he realized it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find
+them in all that crowd of masked figures. If he lost Dee, too... He had
+no choice; he darted after Dee.
+
+When he had overtaken her they were some distance from the pavilion. It
+was more secluded here. George darted up and caught her by the arm.
+
+"Dee! What's the matter with you?"
+
+Her hand went over her eyes and she shook herself slightly. "It's hard
+at first--getting Azeela's thoughts. I have them now." She spoke
+swiftly, anxiously. "Toroh was here a moment ago. He seized Azeela and
+took her out of the grove--right near here."
+
+Azeela's thoughts! George understood. He started forward, but she held
+him.
+
+"Too late! Toroh had two dogs waiting for him--they're mounting them
+now. He has tied Azeela. They're starting--the dogs are running."
+
+George stared at her blankly. "Where to? Where is he taking her? Can you
+ask her that? Can she tell you?"
+
+The girl was hastening forward now, with George after her. "Yes. She
+says to Orleen. I have told her we are coming."
+
+Abruptly, she stopped and faced him. "George, we have two dogs at home.
+Shall you and I get them and go after Azeela?"
+
+"Yes," he exclaimed impulsively.
+
+"And I know where father keeps his weapons."
+
+"Good. We can't find Loto and your father in this crowd. Had we better
+try, Dee?"
+
+They were hurrying forward again.
+
+"No, we'd lose too much time. Father forbade me touching his weapons,"
+she added as an afterthought, "but this is different, isn't it?"
+
+"Of course," he agreed excitedly. "You know how to work them, Dee?"
+
+"Yes, I experimented. He doesn't know it."
+
+They left the grove.
+
+"Dee, where's Azeela now?"
+
+"Crossing the city. West toward Orleen. We won't be far behind them."
+
+George was trembling with the excitement of it. "Is Toroh armed? Ask
+Azeela that."
+
+"I did. She doesn't know. She thinks he is."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"We'll do something. He won't know we're after him--that's our
+advantage. Hurry, George!"
+
+There were a few figures in the almost deserted streets, but George and
+Dee did not notice them. She was telling him of this branch of science
+for which she and her sister were distinguished--this telepathy they had
+developed. Bound in a union of thought by an unusual devotion, they had
+perfected it until they could know, always vaguely, and, with effort,
+quite distinctly, what was in the other's mind.
+
+"We mustn't waste any time getting started, Dee."
+
+They had entered the silent garden of Fahn's home. The city behind them
+was humming with confusion now, but they did not hear it, did not know
+that a murder had just been committed at the festival.
+
+Inside the house, Dee went at once to her father's room. George waited.
+When she returned she held two weapons out for his inspection. One was a
+crescent of transparent metal, with a tiny wire connecting its horns and
+a black bone handle by which to grasp it. There was a firing mechanism
+on the handle. It was the projector of the ray which caused muscular
+paralysis--the weapon Bool had used against Loto.
+
+Dee described its operation briefly.
+
+The other weapon was a small black globe the size of a man's fist. It
+also had a handle with a trigger; in the globe opposite was a tiny
+orifice like the muzzle of a revolver. This was one of the smallest
+models of the thunderbolt projectors. With it, a bolt of electrons could
+be thrown over a distance of some twenty feet.
+
+The former weapon Dee kept; the little thunderbolt globe she handed to
+George.
+
+Dee had discarded her white robe; a blue ribbon around her forehead held
+the hair from her eyes. She had another in her hand, and she tied it
+around George's head.
+
+"It's hot riding, even at night," she explained. "Your hair gets
+moist--gets in your eyes."
+
+They had been delayed only a moment.
+
+"This way," she added.
+
+They ran outside, across the patio, through a dark room and into the
+garden behind the house, where a small white outbuilding stood. A new
+misgiving overcame George.
+
+"Oh, Dee--these dogs of yours..."
+
+"Can you ride a dog?" she asked over her shoulder. Her expression was
+impish.
+
+"I can ride anything," he said stoutly, but his tone was dubious. "If
+the dog is--"
+
+She must have understood him, for she laughed.
+
+"Wait! You will find these dogs your friends."
+
+George said nothing more, and in a moment they were within the kennel.
+It was dark, very dimly lighted by the moon from outside. A gray-black
+shape came toward them; a shaggy dog whose shoulders stood nearly as
+high as his own. George's first instinct was to turn and run, but the
+dog padded up to Dee, and she put her arms up around it.
+
+"Good, Rotan. Will you run fast for Dee?"
+
+She called it toward George, and patted him to show the dog he was her
+friend. George impulsively put his hand up to the great shaggy neck,
+felt the dog's warm tongue as it turned to lick his hand. This huge
+brute was his friend.
+
+The other dog, Atal was a male, larger than its mate; and standing
+beside it, George marveled at the power that its great body must hold.
+The dogs knew they were going out. They whined with eagerness, and
+leaping across the kennel, they came back to Dee with saddles in their
+mouths with which she was to harness them.
+
+Rotan, which Dee was to ride, was saddled with a leather seat and a
+pommel with a small stirrup on one side. It was not unlike the
+sidesaddle for girls that had been in use just before George's time. On
+Atal she strapped a thick leather pad with a stirrup on each side; men
+rode astride. There were no bridles.
+
+"You tell Atal which way to go," she explained. "Right or left, slower
+or faster. If you want him to run or walk or stop, he will understand.
+Since Loto came we have taught them your way of saying it."
+
+It all took no more than a moment or two, for Dee was hurrying, and her
+eagerness seemed to communicate itself to the dogs. They had barked at
+first--barks of such volume that George was startled. But when Dee
+silenced them, they stood trembling with impatience, their heads turned
+to follow her as she adjusted the saddles.
+
+George mounted Atal. It was almost like mounting a horse; and yet not
+like a horse either, for the dog's huge body under him was springy,
+supple. As it moved toward the doorway, George was reminded of the lithe
+grace and strength of a tiger. He missed the reins, and in lieu of them,
+twisted up two handfuls of hair on the dog's neck and clung.
+
+Dee was ahead of him. "All right, George?"
+
+"Right," he said confidently. "But we might as well take it slow for a
+minute or two."
+
+They moved silently through the garden. George leaned forward and down
+to the dog's face.
+
+"Nice dog, Atal. You go slow till I tell you different."
+
+In the street, Dee was drawing away, and Atal broke into a run.
+
+George clung desperately. But it was unnecessary. The dog's strides were
+even and long; its padded paws made no sound as they hit the ground; its
+legs, all its muscles, seemed to give to the shock and absorb it.
+
+They were running faster now; the dog's body seemed to settle closer to
+the ground. The wind whistled by George's ears, but he felt curiously
+secure. There was no question of the dog stumbling, falling; and its
+gait, now at a steady run, was far easier to ride than any horse he had
+ever mounted.
+
+Dee was still ahead; the ends of the ribbon band about her head
+fluttered out behind her. The white road was a blur; the houses and
+gardens of the city were flying past.
+
+An exhilaration--a feeling of triumph and power--came over George. He
+was perfectly at home on the dog's back now. This little Dee was a
+daredevil, as Loto had said. Well, that was the sort of girl he liked.
+They'll overtake Toroh, kill him with a flash from the thunderbolt
+globes and rescue Azeela.
+
+George leaned forward over the dog's neck.
+
+"We might as well catch up with Dee," he said into the silky ear.
+"Faster, Atal!"
+
+At once the dog increased its pace, overtaking its mate. Side by side,
+they swept through the city.
+
+To George the ride soon became a blur: a white moonlit road passing
+under him, palm trees flashing by, occasional houses, thatched shacks;
+the wind whistling past his ears, and that lithe, powerful body beneath
+him, with its rippling muscles.
+
+Dee rode gracefully and easily, leaning slightly forward into the rush
+of air. Often she would draw ahead, but a whispered word from George to
+the brute beneath him, and again the dogs were running side by side.
+
+Presently Dee stopped them; the dogs stood panting, with tongues lolling
+out.
+
+"What is it?" George demanded. "Where are we?"
+
+The girl's face was drawn with anxiety. "Azeela had been trying to find
+out from Toroh why he takes her to Orleen."
+
+"Yes?" he prompted. "And I wondered--"
+
+"Toroh has told her now. Loto's old plane is there. He wants the plane!"
+
+"Oh!" George's heart sank with dismay. "But the plane is in the Orleen
+Cavern. How can they get to it? Isn't the cavern guarded?"
+
+"Yes. Wait. Toroh says he can get it. He has a spy there--a man whom we
+trust. One of the guards."
+
+"Good grief! Dee, where are they now?"
+
+"A few miles west of here. I can't tell how far--Azeela does not know
+just where we are, either."
+
+"Does Toroh know we're after him?"
+
+"No."
+
+George tried to think coherently. "Can't we overtake them, Dee? Before
+they reach Orleen?"
+
+"I don't know. Azeela says not. Their dogs are very fast--perhaps faster
+than ours."
+
+Suddenly George had an inspiration. The other plane--the one he and
+Rogers had come in! It was back in the cavern in Anglese City. He and
+Dee could get that, and he could operate it--he'd have to, now. Then
+they could fly to Orleen, and perhaps by that method get there before
+Toroh and Azeela.
+
+He explained this swiftly to Dee. "We're not so far from Anglese City,
+are we?"
+
+"No," she agreed. "It's the best thing to do."
+
+They turned the dogs, starting back over the road they had come.
+
+A new thought occurred to George. "Dee, what does Toroh want with that
+plane? Is he going to take Azeela north in it?"
+
+The dogs were already at a run, but he caught her answer.
+
+"No. He will take the plane back into time! He wants to get greater
+weapons with which to conquer us!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fahn, Loto and Rogers hurried through the city streets. The faint
+distant cries of the mob ahead drifted back to them. There were no Arans
+to be seen, but the Bas men and women were everywhere, most of them
+moving in the direction of the palace.
+
+As Fahn and his two companions advanced, the turmoil ahead grew louder.
+The palace stood on a rise of ground in the midst of a lavish garden,
+with its swimming pool, its trellised pergolas and its graceful palms.
+The building was a two story rectangular, with huge white columns from
+the ground to the roof. A broad balcony ran the length of the second
+story. The roof was flat, with palms growing upon it.
+
+A crowd of Bas was surging up the hill toward the palace; in the
+gardens, the armed mob was already massed, shouting, threatening, but
+lacking, as yet, the courage to advance upon the building.
+
+Fahn had turned into a side street at the foot of the hill.
+
+"Where are we going?" Rogers demanded.
+
+"We've got to get into the palace unseen, so we'll go through the
+tower," Loto explained. "There's a secret way into it that the Bas don't
+know."
+
+The tower, which rose like the skeleton of a lighthouse, stood close
+beside the main palace building; a covered bridge connecting the two as
+the level of the second floor of the palace.
+
+Swiftly Fahn led the two men to the beach that lay behind the bluff on
+which the palace and its tower stood. The moonlit strand was deserted.
+They came to a thick clump of palmettos in the heavy sand at the foot of
+the bluff--a green tangled clump higher than a man's head. Into this
+Fahn plunged unhesitatingly, forcing the fronds aside, pushing his way
+in with the others after him. Inside the palmetto thicket was a small
+tunnel mouth, leading downward.
+
+It seemed an endless journey through a black underground passageway not
+much higher than their heads and so narrow that they could always touch
+both its walls with their outstretched arms. The air was heavy and
+fetid. They went down a slope, across on a level, then up. Once they
+arrived at an iron grating barring the way. But Fahn opened it in some
+fashion and it swung on a central, horizontal pivot so that they might
+crawl under it.
+
+Ahead of them, up the incline, a tiny blue light shone. They reached it,
+found a small circular staircase and climbed upward into the tower.
+
+The whole process had taken perhaps fifteen minutes. The mob was still
+in the garden; its shouts and mutterings sounded loud and ominous as the
+little party ascended the interior of the tower and hastily crossed the
+covered bridge.
+
+Fahn was still leading the way. They pushed aside a curtained doorway
+and found themselves in a broad, second-floor corridor of the palace,
+dimly lighted. A white-bearded old man was crossing it hastily,
+disappearing into a room at its further end.
+
+Another room was near at hand, with a latticed grating in its doorway
+that now stood open. A soft, blue-white light flooded out through it to
+the hall. The castle's interior was evidently in confusion; cries
+sounded, mingled with the threatening shouts of the mob outside.
+
+A girl, shaking with fright, stood in the nearer doorway, the light from
+behind glowing through her soft draperies. Other girls crowded forward
+from the room--a dozen frightened young girls, no more than matured.
+They saw Fahn, and ran to him for protection.
+
+"The king's wives," Loto explained to his father.
+
+Fahn's face softened, and as the girls huddled round him, he tried to
+comfort them.
+
+"The guilt within them," muttered Rogers. "They think the Bas are coming
+to kill them--_only them_."
+
+Fahn caught the words and his eyes flashed. "There is no guilt here, my
+friend. They are women born to such as this."
+
+With the girls in a clinging group around him, the scientist proceeded
+down the hallway, followed by Loto and his father.
+
+The room at the end of the hall--it seemed a sort of audience room--was
+in confusion; most of the occupants of the palace were gathered there.
+The king was pacing up and down near the entrance, his frightened
+councilors and advisors around him.
+
+On a low divan sat the queen, a woman of forty, regal in a paneled robe,
+with her hair dressed high on her head. At her knees two children were
+huddled--the little prince and princess of the Arans. The queen was
+bending down over them as the strangers entered. When she saw Fahn with
+the girl-wives of her king, she frowned, stood up, and with an imperious
+gesture ordered the girls from the room. But Fahn, with a stern command,
+bade them stay. The queen seemed amazed at the scientist's defiance; the
+king looked undecided, but he did not interfere.
+
+With Fahn's arrival, the room quieted; its occupants gained confidence.
+The king seemed utterly relieved. He spoke a few placating words to the
+queen, but she had withdrawn haughtily to a corner, her eyes flashing at
+the frightened girls who were huddled across the room.
+
+The mob outside was shouting, surging about, but still lacking the
+courage for a concerted attack. Fahn went to a window, with Rogers and
+Loto after him. The moonlight outside showed the crowd plainly. The Bas
+were waving their weapons.
+
+"Look!" Loto exclaimed.
+
+A score or more of men were gathering in a group near the center of the
+garden. A man mounted the rim of a fountain, inciting the group with his
+shouts. His words had effect. The little knot of men waved their
+cane-knives and came surging toward the palace entrance. The crowd made
+way for them, following behind with shouts of triumph. Missiles were
+thrown upward at the palace windows; one or two at first, then a
+hailstorm.
+
+Fahn quietly stepped out on a balcony that ran along the entire front of
+the building. Loto and his father followed. The moonlight fell full upon
+them, and the crowd recognized the Scientists' leader.
+
+A great shout went up--a cry of defiance mingled with fear. The men
+rushing at the building wavered and stopped; the crowd near at hand
+began pressing backward.
+
+Slowly, Fahn advanced to the waist-high parapet; with his hands upon it
+he stood like an orator facing a friendly throng and calmly waited for
+silence. A stone whistled past his head, struck the building and
+clattered to the stone floor of the balcony, but he did not heed it.
+
+His calmness, the confident power of his demeanor, quieted the mob. In a
+little open space on the terrace, a leader of the Bas sprang into
+prominence--a giant man who shouted a brief sentence.
+
+"Mogruud," whispered Loto. "He tells them to listen to what Fahn has to
+say."
+
+Silence came at last, and then Fahn spoke, quietly, earnestly. He seemed
+to be winning them over, when from the palace behind the king suddenly
+appeared on the balcony. At the sight of him an angry shout rolled up
+from the crowd. A long, thin knife, with a tail of feathers on it, flew
+up from below and stuck, quivering, in the window casement beside the
+king's head. The king retreated.
+
+Fahn continued speaking, but now the mob would not listen to him. A
+woman's shrill laugh of derision floated upward.
+
+At once Fahn's tone changed. He rasped out a stern command, but a
+scattering hail of stones was his answer. Then, without warning, his
+hand went to his robe. He flung a little ball into the air. It burst
+fifty feet from his hand with a shrill whistling scream, and a shower of
+sparks scattered downward over the garden. They were harmless, but they
+sent a mild electric shock through every individual member of the mob.
+The Bas were frightened into silence.
+
+"He does not want to kill even one of them," Loto whispered. "Never
+before have the Bas been in open demonstration. It might spread to other
+cities--_anything might happen_."
+
+Fahn was now whispering into a tiny mouthpiece, talking to his guards at
+the cavern a mile or so away. From the cavern-mountain across the city,
+a blue-white shaft of light sprang into the sky. The Bas saw it and
+stared. And then suddenly the air seemed to be bursting with
+voices--four words, repeated by the audible radio that the cavern was
+sending out.
+
+"_Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!_"
+
+A million aerial voices were proclaiming it everywhere. And then the
+words changed.
+
+"_We must win against Toroh! The Bas must help us win against Toroh!_"
+
+The threat and its so swiftly following appeal were irresistible.
+Mogruud shouted an enthusiastic answer to Fahn, and the crowd applauded.
+
+The voices in the air were presently stilled; the light over the cavern
+disappeared. And, still with his hands quietly on the parapet, Fahn
+again addressed the people below him.
+
+"Mogruud says the laws should be changed," Loto whispered swiftly to his
+father. "The Bas women should have their children without exile."
+
+Fahn seemed to make a sudden decision. He spoke again into his
+mouthpiece. Again the light sprang over the cavern. From the air came
+the words:
+
+"_Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!_"
+
+Surprised, awed, then frantic with joy, the crowd in the palace gardens
+took up the cry, and all over the island the radio voices were
+proclaiming it:
+
+"_Bas children will be free! The Scientists promise Bas children will be
+free!_"
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+
+Still side by side, George and Dee rode back toward Anglese City. It was
+further than George had thought; then he realized that the girl had
+turned into a different road. He shouted a question at her.
+
+"A shorter way to the cavern," she explained.
+
+The wind whistling past them made conversation difficult. George
+understood that they were skirting the city to where the cavern stood on
+the other side. They were still in the open country; a road of white
+sand, palm lined, with a forest jungle all around, and only an
+occasional house.
+
+George's mind was in a turmoil. Toroh taking the other plane into time!
+Memory came to him of all those greater civilizations he and Rogers had
+seen though the centuries they had passed. Toroh was going back to those
+civilizations to secure weapons! The thought turned George cold all
+over. With the weapons from former, greater ages, Toroh and his army of
+Noths would be invincible.
+
+Words in the wind sweeping by startled George into sudden alertness.
+
+"_Death to disloyal Bas!_"
+
+It seemed as though some tiny voice had whispered it to him.
+
+Dee had checked both the dogs abruptly.
+
+"What's that?" George demanded.
+
+It came again:
+
+"_Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!_"
+
+The air was whispering it, then calling it; a myriad voices echoed it
+everywhere.
+
+"Look there!" cried Dee.
+
+Ahead of them, a mile or so away, a blue light was standing up into the
+sky. There was a house near at hand, a Bas shack. From it a woman and
+two naked children came running out into the moonlight, panic-stricken
+at the dread words with which the air resounded.
+
+And then the words changed:
+
+"_Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!_"
+
+The woman in front of the shack clutched her children, listening,
+rejoicing--almost unbelieving.
+
+Dee had started the dogs forward again. Swiftly she explained to George
+what she thought it might mean--a radio proclamation from Fahn. In a few
+moments the light over the cavern had vanished; the voices in the air
+died away.
+
+George's mind reverted to their own situation; the incident had given
+him an idea.
+
+"Dee, where are Azeela and Toroh now?"
+
+She thought an instant; momentarily the mental bond with her sister had
+been broken.
+
+"Very near Orleen, she thinks. They have heard the voices. Toroh is very
+angry. He had hoped much that the Bas would rebel. It would have helped
+him."
+
+"Near Orleen!" George echoed. "Can't we get to the Anglese Cavern
+first?"
+
+"I think so." She had started Rotan into a run, but George called her to
+stop. Even at the risk of losing more precious time, he questioned her.
+
+"Dee, listen. Are the caverns of Orleen and Anglese City connected by
+radio?"
+
+"Yes," she said.
+
+"Then listen. We'll get to Anglese City first and tell them to inform
+the guards at Orleen. When Toroh and Azeela arrive they can seize
+them--if we warn them ahead."
+
+She nodded with instant comprehension.
+
+"All radio isn't broadcast audibly, is it?" he added.
+
+"No," she said. The dogs were running faster. She called back over her
+shoulder. "We'll do that. I'll tell Azeela."
+
+They swept forward, the dogs settling low to the ground as they ran.
+
+A great weight seemed to have lifted from George. It would be simple
+enough, after all--merely notify the Orleen Cavern by radio, and Toroh
+would be seized when he presented himself with Azeela.
+
+George contemplated the outcome. With Toroh in their hands, the Noth
+attack would collapse. There would be no war.
+
+It was a race then; the only thing that could go wrong would be if Toroh
+got to the other cavern first. Rotan and Dee were ahead; the girl's
+slight figure clinging to the dog showed in the moonlight. George
+whispered to Atal, thumped the dog's flank with his hand.
+
+As they caught up with Dee, he shouted, "Where's Azeela now? Will we
+make it?"
+
+"Yes," she answered. "I think so."
+
+The mountain that housed the cavern loomed ahead through the palms;
+houses lay to the right, the outskirts of Anglese City. Half a mile more
+and they would be there.
+
+Atal's upflung head brought George out of another reverie. The dog,
+still running at full speed, was sniffing the air. George heard Rotan
+growl, and Dee's sharp command for silence.
+
+Another command from the girl, and both dogs stopped; Atal slid on his
+haunches, checking himself so abruptly that George was flung to the
+sand.
+
+He was unhurt. He picked himself up to find Dee beside him.
+
+"Someone is coming," she said sharply. "Someone the dogs know is not a
+friend."
+
+She spoke to the dog, and pulled George to the side of the road where a
+cluster of banana trees cast an inky shadow. Together they stood there
+in silence. Atal and Rotan had disappeared. The road was a white ribbon
+in the moonlight. George listened, but could hear nothing. He tried to
+question Dee, but she silenced him.
+
+Presently there came the thud of running feet; from the direction of
+Anglese City two running dogs with riders swept into view. The riders
+were men, black cloaked and wearing masks. Arans, from the festival,
+George thought.
+
+They would have passed without seeing the lurking figures under the
+banana trees had not Atal and Rotan, in spite of Dee's command, suddenly
+charged them from the shadows across the road.
+
+The two men, shouting in anger and alarm, tumbled from their mounts. The
+four dogs tangled in a snarling, biting mass.
+
+Still George and Dee were unseen in the shadows. One of the men in the
+road had lost his cloak and mask; the moonlight showed his face.
+
+"One of Toroh's brothers," Dee breathed into George's ear. In the
+dimness he could see she was raising the small, crescent-shaped weapon.
+Some noise that she or George made must have alarmed the men, who were
+no more than ten feet away. They looked sharply across the road, and
+then, evidently seeing nothing, they turned back to where the dogs were
+still fighting with a deadly fury.
+
+Sparks leaped suddenly from Dee's outstretched hand. The men turned. One
+of them cried out in terror, but they both stood stiff and motionless.
+
+"We've got 'em!" George shouted. "Good work, Dee!"
+
+He would have leaped forward, but her free hand gripped him.
+
+"_Quick! The globe!_"
+
+One of the men, supposedly stricken beyond the power to move, was, by
+some superhuman effort of will, slowly raising his hand; his fingers
+clutched a tiny black globe. It came up very slowly, as his almost
+paralyzed muscles struggled with its weight.
+
+But George recovered his wits. He snatched his own globe from his
+pocket, pointed it, pulled the trigger.
+
+The night was split by a flash, a tiny, sizzling snap of thunder; the
+globe recoiled in George's hand. Across the road the bodies of the two
+men lay motionless on the sand.
+
+Dee was leaning against a banana trunk panting. Her face had gone white,
+but she smiled as George turned to her.
+
+"They almost got us," she said.
+
+George himself was trembling, but he would not let her see it.
+
+"Almost, Dee. Next time I'll be ready. I didn't realize..."
+
+Among the trees across the road the dogs were still fighting. One of the
+Noth dogs lay motionless, torn and bleeding. Atal and Rotan together
+were attacking the other--the three rolling and tumbling as they bit and
+tore at each other, their huge bodies trampling down the banana trees as
+they fought.
+
+"Dee, could I use the thunderbolt on them?"
+
+She shook her head. "Wait."
+
+It lasted only a moment more; the second Noth dog was down, with Atal's
+fangs buried in its throat.
+
+The two dogs came leaping back to their mistress, their bodies torn, and
+matted with dirt and blood.
+
+Dee patted them affectionately as they stood licking their wounds. "But
+you should have minded me," she said.
+
+George had taken one look at the two charred figures lying in the road;
+he drew the girl away.
+
+"Come on. I wouldn't look over there. We must hurry, Dee."
+
+They mounted the dogs and started forward, more slowly this time, for
+the animals carried them with difficulty.
+
+Again George remembered. Toroh would be at the Orleen Cavern by this
+time. They had lost! This delay had been the one unexpected thing that
+could defeat them.
+
+"Dee--"
+
+But the girl had anticipated him.
+
+"They are in the plane." She half whispered the words. "Azeela has been
+trying to tell me for a long time. Toroh had a spy at the cavern
+entrance, a man whom we trust as a Scientist. He let them in--Azeela had
+no chance to make an outcry. They are in the plane now. Azeela telling
+Toroh she cannot operate it. Wait! Now he's trying the proton switch
+himself."
+
+A silence.
+
+"Dee! What is it?" George pleaded.
+
+She shook her head. "Nothing comes. Nothing!"
+
+The connection was broken! Azeela was carried back into time. Had
+something stopped her message? Would her thought-bond with her sister
+hold across the centuries that now separated them?
+
+George could only ask himself these questions with a sinking heart. If
+the bond would not hold, then Azeela was lost to them forever. Lost to
+Loto, who loved her. And Toroh would get his weapons and win the
+war--_inevitably_.
+
+"Nothing yet, Dee?"
+
+"No."
+
+They rode slowly onward. At last Dee gave a cry of joy.
+
+"It comes again! She is all right, George! _All right!_" Her voice rose
+in triumph and thankfulness.
+
+George thumped Atal to urge the dog forward. "Then we must hurry, Dee.
+They're going back into time?"
+
+"Yes. Azeela is looking at the dials. Twenty-five years back now. She
+tells us to hurry. She will watch the dials and let me know where they
+are. Toroh does not suspect anything. He is gloating. He thinks he has
+won everything."
+
+At last they were ascending the slope to the mouth of the cavern. The
+yawning hole showed black in the face of the cliff. On the small
+platform above the mouth, a single light disclosed the figures of three
+guards sitting there.
+
+In the moonlight the guards saw them coming. A bolt of lightning flashed
+downward across the black hole; a peal of thunder rolled out.
+
+They stopped, and Dee called to the guards. One of them descended from
+the platform, down a narrow flight of steps cut in the cliff face. He
+came forward in the moonlight, a black robed figure.
+
+Dee spoke with him, and, recognizing a daughter of Fahn, he saluted
+respectfully. There followed a brief colloquy, then the guard stood
+aside.
+
+A moment later they were in the cavern. The huge tunnel was dark and
+dank, but blue-white lights glimmered ahead in the darkness. The place
+was silent, seemingly deserted.
+
+Down the length of the main tunnel they hurried. The plane stood there
+in the open space, in the glare of blue-white light. They stood before
+it.
+
+"Dee, shall we send for your father?"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Where is he?" George persisted. "Did you ask the guard?"
+
+"Yes. He and Loto and Loto's father are at the palace. There has been
+rebellion and murder--the murder of Helene, Mme. Voluptua."
+
+She recounted succinctly the events of the night in Anglese City as the
+guard had told them to her.
+
+George whistled. "They've got their hands full. Dee, are you still in
+communication with Azeela?"
+
+"Yes. They are beyond fifty years."
+
+"Going how fast?"
+
+"Azeela says as fast as they can--the twentieth intensity."
+
+George made his decision.
+
+"Dee, we mustn't wait, mustn't stop for anything. You're willing to go?"
+
+"Yes," she declared soberly.
+
+She reached toward the platform. George locked his hands, and she put
+her small foot into them. He lifted her--she seemed no heavier than a
+child--and she swung herself up gracefully and easily to the platform.
+
+George followed and closed the cabin door after them. "Did you tell the
+guard what we were going to do?"
+
+"Yes," she said. "I told him to tell father later tonight when things
+were more quiet at the palace."
+
+"Good girl. Dee, have you ever been back into time?"
+
+"No. Azeela has. Just a little way--with Loto. He taught her to operate
+the plane."
+
+"How fast are they going, Dee? The twentieth intensity?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+George's hand was on the proton switch. He took a last look around.
+
+"Sit down, Dee. Hold the arms of your chair. Don't be frightened."
+
+The cabin was dark; through its windows the blue-white glare outside
+showed the jagged brown walls of the cavern. The twentieth intensity!
+_Toroh was going as fast as he possibly could!_
+
+George pulled the switch. There was a soundless clap in his head; a
+plunge, headlong into some bottomless abyss, falling for hours--an
+eternity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fahn's proclamation to the Bas had far-reaching effects. All over the
+island that night and the next day there was rejoicing. The radio
+proclaimed a national holiday, which the Bas gave over to festivities.
+
+The murder of Mme. Voluptua was forgotten; the rebellion in Anglese City
+was a thing of the past. The work of Toroh's spies was completely
+undone; everywhere they presented themselves they were seized by the Bas
+and delivered to the authorities, until by mid-morning none dared show
+himself. They remained in hiding in the mountains, and the following
+night fled the island.
+
+Fahn's object had been attained. Everywhere, enthusiasm for the war soon
+mounted to a patriotic frenzy.
+
+But it was not all smooth sailing for Fahn. Within an hour after the
+first radio proclamation--just before dawn that day--the king called the
+Scientist to his audience room and demanded that it be retracted. For
+the first time within generations, a Scientist defied his king.
+
+Fahn gravely refused. The king, with his councilors--brave now since the
+mob before the palace had dispersed--clustered around him, vigorously
+tried to overawe the Scientist. But Fahn was obdurate; respectful to the
+majesty of royalty--but obdurate nevertheless.
+
+The king was powerless, and he knew it. He raged, threatened, but to no
+avail.
+
+That afternoon the king's council met. The Scientists were declared
+outlaws; a call was issued for the Aran police, who were scattered
+throughout the island, to come at once to the Anglese City to defend
+their sovereign.
+
+It was a monarch struggling against all reason to defend what he
+considered his birthright. Royalty outraged!
+
+But the Aran police did not come. Worse than that, those near at hand in
+Anglese City prudently vanished.
+
+That same afternoon the Scientists met in Anglese City. Fahn's action
+was upheld, and from other cities came similar decisions. The government
+was taken over by the Scientists for the period of the war. Laws
+ratifying the new status of the Bas women and children were hurriedly
+passed, and made permanent.
+
+All that day the radio audibly proclaimed events as they transpired. The
+Arans were not to be molested; their relations with the Bas were to
+proceed as always, and the royal family was to be treated with the
+outward respect to which its birth and position entitled it.
+
+Three days passed--days that for those in Anglese City were full of
+activity and anxiety. The Arans kept sullenly to themselves; the king
+and his councilors shut themselves in the palace; the Bas went about
+their accustomed tasks feverishly, abstractedly, waiting for the call to
+war.
+
+The Scientists, trusting nothing to chance, sought out all the Aran
+police and disarmed them. All weapons were kept in the caverns, where
+the manufacturing and assembling went steadily forward.
+
+Fahn, Loto, and Rogers, during these three days, stayed at Fahn's home.
+Nothing had been heard from George and the two girls. They were days
+full of anxiety--almost despair--for the three men. The guards at the
+two caverns reported what had happened. Fahn cursed his inefficiency in
+allowing a Toroh spy to remain unsuspected in the League. The man who
+had given Toroh the plane was located and put to death, but that helped
+matters little.
+
+In the brief interims of inactivity, the three men discussed what George
+and Dee might be doing--what the outcome would be. The discussions were
+futile; there was nothing to do but wait.
+
+The character of the two Frazia planes, the identity of the visitors,
+had never been made public. Only Fahn, his two companions and a few of
+the Scientist leaders were aware of the momentous outcome for which they
+were so helplessly waiting.
+
+On the afternoon of the third day, Fahn took Loto and his father through
+the cavern. Loto was pale and tight-lipped, but he seldom mentioned
+Azeela, and never once had he given vent to his feelings. Rogers was
+curious to see the cavern; older, more philosophical than Loto, he could
+better withstand his anxiety over George and the girls. Yet he, too, was
+more worried than he would have cared to admit, even to himself. The
+war--the fate of the Anglese--was one thing; but that plane was all that
+could take him back to Lylda, his wife. He could probably never
+manufacture another plane in this time world; the materials were not
+available. He realized now how wrong he had been not to bring Lylda with
+him.
+
+It was late afternoon when they started. Work in the cavern now
+proceeded day and night.
+
+To Rogers the place was one of romantic mystery, with a sinister air to
+it that he could not shake off.
+
+The darkness of the cavern walls, the shadows, the flickering blue
+lights, and the yawning holes with which the interior of the mountain
+seemed honeycombed, awed and perturbed him.
+
+Far ahead, down a sharp slope, two blue lights shone. To the left a
+passageway glowed dull red.
+
+Fahn turned toward it. They went into the passageway, and from it
+emerged upon a narrow ledge with a metal railing. Before them spread a
+huge pit, a great pool of lava a thousand feet down--lava that boiled
+sluggishly, with tiny flames of burning gases licking upward from its
+surface. To one side, overhead, a rift through the mountain showed a
+patch of starlit sky.
+
+Visitors to an inferno, they stood clinging to the iron rail. The lurid
+red light cast monstrous shadows of their figures upward to the rocky
+ceiling. The sulphurous air was intolerably hot; it choked their
+breathing. After a moment they all stumbled back into the passageway,
+coughing, breathing deep of the purer air.
+
+"Fires of the earth so close!" murmured Rogers.
+
+Fahn was leading them forward again. "Yes, almost every mountain on the
+island is like that. The fires are even closer to the surface at Orleen;
+we use them in the cavern there."
+
+"And here is a room of medicine and surgery," he added. He had turned
+unexpectedly into a side cave, a room furnished and draped, and dimly
+lighted by braziers hanging from its low roof. Rows of bottles, cases of
+instruments, a long, low table, littered with a variety of strange
+objects; the room held a confusion of things, most of which were
+incomprehensible.
+
+Something made Rogers shudder. "What is that?" he demanded.
+
+"To create human life," said Fahn. "For thousands of years, science has
+tried to do that. We can make a man's body--but his soul and mind still
+elude us."
+
+Rogers was staring at a metal framework, where the organs of a man were
+hanging, joined together and with a network of blood vessels around
+them; the fundamental, simplified mechanism of man, without the body.
+And there was movement to the organs; the heart was beating, the lungs
+breathing.
+
+It was gruesome; it made Rogers' gorge rise.
+
+"They will function for a little time," Fahn explained. "But our
+surgeons have done better than that. They have made the living body--all
+but the mind and the soul."
+
+A small case was standing on a pedestal, illuminated by a dim blue light
+above it. A lump of living human flesh lay within, roughly fashioned
+into human form, with arms and legs that kicked.
+
+Rogers backed away.
+
+It seemed like a dream, this trip through the Scientists' cavern. From
+one room to another they wandered. Most of the caves were unoccupied;
+occasionally a lone worker or a group would stop their tasks
+momentarily to meet their leader and his visitors.
+
+From far away recesses, where the main work was going on, the hum of
+dynamos sounded.
+
+"We will not go into the workrooms tonight," Fahn said. "I'll show them
+to you later."
+
+They entered another inner cave, which was high-arched and unusually
+large. It held relics of bygone ages. Broken mechanisms, that
+inhabitants of other planets might have left on earth, had been dug
+up and stored here as in a museum. They meant nothing to Rogers, nor
+did Fahn offer to explain them. But this room more than any other in
+the cavern seemed to carry with it the power of science, the greater
+science that to Fahn's time world was in the prehistoric past. It
+showed Fahn and his contemporaries in their true light; they were
+archaeologists--imitators, reconstructors, not real creators.
+
+At last they reached a circular room equipped with the apparatus for
+taking voices and images from the air. Its side walls were paneled with
+huge crystals that mirrored distant scenes; and it was filled with
+millions of tiny voices.
+
+Fahn stood before one of the crystals: his hand was on a lever; the
+fingers of his other hand rested on a tiny row of buttons. Rogers
+noticed that there were scores of similar mechanisms dispersed about the
+room.
+
+"Let us look and listen, a mile away to the west," Fahn said.
+
+The crystal before them was some six feet square. It was gray and
+cloudy. Fahn pressed one of the small black buttons, and moved the lever
+over a notch; the crystal flooded with color. It was like looking
+through a huge window.
+
+"The viewpoint of our station a mile north of here," Fahn pointed out.
+
+"A thirty foot tower," Loto explained. "The lens on it swings in a
+circle. We are looking westward now toward Orleen."
+
+The scene in the crystal showed the red western sky; a white road in the
+foreground, disappearing seemingly at Rogers' feet; the green,
+palm-dotted island, with twilight shadows creeping upon it, and to the
+left, the island mountain range, its peaks rising in serrated ranks,
+with giant, snow-clad summits.
+
+"It was near here that day before yesterday they found the charred
+bodies of Toroh's brother and his Noth companion," Loto added. "A Bas
+woman--see that shack there by the road--she saw a girl and a man
+passing the night before. It may have been George and Dee."
+
+The shack at the roadside showed plainly. A Bas woman was sitting at its
+doorway, crooning to her infant. Her voice sounded almost as clearly as
+though the watchers had been sitting on the small tower where the lens
+and radio mechanism were perched.
+
+"We will turn," Fahn said.
+
+A panorama unfolding, the scene moved slowly sidewise: the sea to the
+north, with the mountain range beyond it, dim in the gathering darkness;
+east, back toward Anglese City, where the cavern-mountain itself showed
+behind the palms; to the south past a distant vista of city houses; and
+still swinging, it came back to the road and the house and stopped,
+again facing the west.
+
+"Another station," Fahn added.
+
+The crystal-face went dark, and then relighted. It was a viewpoint of a
+hundred feet in the air this time. Again it swung the points of the
+compass.
+
+For half an hour Fahn continued his demonstration. There might have been
+a hundred or more towers scattered over the island, and the scene from
+any one of them sprang at Fahn's will into the crystal window.
+
+"What are the other crystal mirrors for?" Rogers asked Loto.
+
+"The island can be searched by several operators simultaneously. Any
+viewpoint may be thrown into any crystal, and there are receivers for
+your ears, so that the sounds you hear will not confuse others in the
+room."
+
+The island was growing dark. The crystal showed a viewpoint from the
+channel coast halfway to Orleen. It must have been from a very high
+tower; the sea stretched several hundred feet beneath.
+
+"Those mountains across the water," Rogers remarked, "can't be over
+twenty or thirty miles from our shores. Is that where Toroh's army will
+gather?"
+
+"From behind them," said Loto. "To the east, nearer the Atlantic Coast,
+we think. We--"
+
+Fahn had given a slight cry. The room was dark, but the reflected light
+from the crystal showed the Scientist pointing into the mirrored scene.
+
+"Loto, what is that?"
+
+Above the mountains across the channel, the sky was rose-colored with
+the fading daylight. A tiny gray shape showed there, silhouetted against
+the clouds. It was moving. They watched it, breathlessly.
+
+"A Frazia plane!" Rogers murmured.
+
+It circled like a giant bird. A patch of lighter sky behind showed it
+more plainly after a moment. It _was_ a Frazia plane! It was closer than
+they had thought, but it seemed to be flying north, away from them.
+
+"Which one is it?" Loto whispered. "Father, which one is it?"
+
+But that they could not tell. George, or Toroh? One of them had
+returned. The plane was flying lower, circling again. The dimness
+absorbed it; then it reappeared. It seemed now to be flying crazily.
+
+"_Out of control!_" Loto whispered in horror. "_It's falling!_"
+
+The plane turned over, fluttered down, was swallowed by the shadows of
+the distant mountains.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+
+The interior of the plane was glowing. The familiar humming sounded.
+George and Dee had started back into time.
+
+"Dee! Dee! You all right?"
+
+Her wan smile reassured him. "Where are we?"
+
+"Going back into time," he said cheerfully. The dials were beside him.
+"Nearly forty years from where we started already. You'll feel all right
+soon."
+
+"I am all right," she persisted. "I mean, George, are we still in the
+cavern?"
+
+The question brought an idea to George that made his heart race. They
+_were_ still in the cavern, at a time forty years previous. What was the
+cavern like then? Suppose its entrance was closed? How could they get
+out?
+
+Through the windows nothing could be seen but blackness. George
+hesitated.
+
+"Dee, can your thoughts still reach Azeela?"
+
+"Yes," she said. "She was frightened for me. She knows now we are coming
+after her. She and Toroh are past one hundred years."
+
+"Still going?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Where are they in space?"
+
+"She says in the air, over the Orleen Cavern. She thought it best to
+show Toroh how to fly the plane; she was afraid to remain underground."
+
+"So am I," said George. "We'd better get out."
+
+There were headlights on the plane; their glare showed the tunnel.
+George started up the Frazia motors, slowly; they rolled forward,
+faster as they left the tunnel-mouth and took to the air.
+
+The scene was that familiar grayness, new to Dee. Beneath them lay the
+island with the blurred, gray city to one side.
+
+"Over Orleen," George mused. "We must get there quickly. Further back in
+time the city will not be there--we might get lost in space."
+
+At an altitude of perhaps a thousand feet they flew swiftly westward.
+Orleen was there when they reached its space; the dials were beyond two
+hundred years.
+
+"Azeela is here," Dee announced. "She says the city is dwindling."
+
+"What do her dials say? Will Toroh let her look at them?"
+
+"Yes. She is very careful. He suspects nothing. She says the dials are
+nearly two hundred and thirty years."
+
+"We're catching up with them," George exclaimed triumphantly. "We've got
+the faster plane. Where are they exactly? In space I mean."
+
+A brief pause.
+
+"Azeela says almost directly over the peak near the east edge of the
+city--the cavern peak."
+
+There were twin peaks, not over six hundred feet apart. The cavern peak
+was the northern one; through the floor window, George could see the
+summit of the other, directly beneath his plane.
+
+"How high is Toroh? They're using the 'copters?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How high up?"
+
+"She says about five hundred feet."
+
+It was the altitude at which George and Dee were hovering. George gazed
+through the side window. The other peak showed plainly. Above it was the
+exact space Toroh and Azeela were occupying. Their plane was invisible,
+of course--twenty-five years into the past.
+
+"They've passed three hundred years, George," the girl's voice informed
+him. "Three hundred years just now."
+
+"Two hundred and ninety," he read from their own dials. "Only ten years
+away! We'll overtake them shortly now."
+
+In the stress through which they had passed, and their excitement,
+neither of them had considered what they would do when they overtook
+Toroh. Indeed, it was Azeela who brought it to their minds with her
+anxious questions to Dee.
+
+They stared at each other in dismay.
+
+"How about my thunderbolt glove?" George suggested.
+
+"We can't use it," she reminded him. "If we destroy the other plane,
+Azeela would be killed."
+
+It was obvious. They could not attack the other plane under any
+circumstances. But Toroh was going to stop for weapons. They would have
+to stay near him, both in space and time, and when he stopped, and
+perhaps left the plane, they would rush up and rescue Azeela.
+
+It was all either of them could plan.
+
+"Keep as near them as we can," George decided. "That's the idea. And
+watch our chance. Tell Azeela to keep you posted on everything."
+
+They slowed their time-flight a trifle; it would have been foolish to
+let Toroh see them--merely put him on his guard. At a distance of about
+ten years they followed.
+
+At eight hundred years before the time they had left, the city of Orleen
+had disappeared. The island looked almost the same; the peaks were still
+there. But now among the palms there were only a few rude shacks--the
+earliest Bas settlers.
+
+The time-velocity of both planes was steadily increasing. Azeela's
+messages told them that the other plane was still hovering motionless.
+There was nothing to do. They waited, anxiously at first, and then,
+after an interval, fell into earnest conversation.
+
+"Suppose we can't rescue Azeela," George suggested once. "Toroh will use
+her as a hostage against your father, won't he? Offer her life, perhaps,
+if your father will help him in the war?"
+
+She nodded soberly.
+
+"That's why he abducted her before, Loto said. Did he make the offer
+then?"
+
+"No. But he was going to."
+
+"Why didn't you go after her?" he suggested. "Didn't she send back
+messages to you, Dee?"
+
+"Yes. But he took her north into the snow. She did not know where she
+was. Father sent out an expedition, but they couldn't find her. The
+Noths attacked them and they came back. They were going to start out
+again when Loto returned her to us."
+
+"Oh," said George. He thought a moment. "I wonder what your father would
+have done--what he would do now if Toroh holds Azeela and offers her
+life against the war. Would your father let Toroh kill her?"
+
+She hesitated. "I think he would," she said at last. "It would be a
+nation against one life. He would sacrifice himself, I know. And I think
+he would even sacrifice Azeela."
+
+George met her earnest dark eyes, so sparkling, usually, but now so
+sombre.
+
+"Would you, Dee?"
+
+"No," she said impulsively.
+
+"Neither would I," he declared. "I wouldn't let harm come to Azeela for
+all the Anglese,--or harm to--to you, either."
+
+She did not answer. Presently he said:
+
+"I was thinking about that Aran Festival, Dee. You know you oughtn't to
+go to affairs like that. _Do_ you know it?"
+
+Her gaze met his again, questioningly. "It is part of life," she said.
+"My father thinks Azeela and I should know what life is. In your
+time-world was it wrong?"
+
+George felt himself flushing. "Wrong? What, the festival?"
+
+"No. I mean my going there--a girl of the Scientists, who is not like
+the Aran women?"
+
+"Yes," George said stoutly. "_I_ didn't want you to be there." His hand
+impulsively touched hers. "I didn't like it, Dee. You're too nice a
+girl. And I don't think Loto liked Azeela being there, either."
+
+Instead of answering, she gave a sudden cry.
+
+"What is it?" George demanded in alarm.
+
+She had no opportunity to reply. Through the side window the other
+plane showed less than a thousand feet away; a shimmering ghost that was
+gone as soon as they had seen it!
+
+George leaped to the proton switch, but Dee checked him.
+
+"Wait! Wait till Azeela tells me what happened."
+
+In the absorption of their conversation, Azeela's messages had been
+ignored. Toroh had slackened his time-flight; he was preparing to land.
+It was an unfortunate occurrence, for Toroh had seen the other plane. He
+still did not guess that Azeela herself was guiding the pursuit.
+
+Again, without warning, the other plane appeared. This time it was
+flying, coming directly toward them. George held his breath. Toroh's
+plane was so close he had no opportunity even to move from his seat. It
+was running level with them in time; _it was charging them! Had Toroh
+gone mad? He would kill them all!_
+
+It was no more than a second or two. Through the window George caught a
+brief glimpse of the shimmering thing rushing at them. Then it swerved
+upward.
+
+"_He's going to fire a thunderbolt!_" Dee gasped.
+
+George was aware of a flash; but he had not seen it, only imagined it.
+
+The attacking plane swept overhead and vanished-dissolved into
+nothingness!
+
+Toroh had fired a thunderbolt. The rush of electrons traveling at the
+speed of light from Toroh's plane to George's had been too slow. The
+mark was gone into a different time before the thunderbolt could reach
+it!
+
+The incident left George and Dee shuddering; but confident now that, so
+long as they kept moving through time, Toroh could not harm them.
+
+George's dials now registered the passage of some sixty-eight hundred
+years. He was amazed. Then he realized how long he and his companion had
+been talking, and the time-velocity at the twentieth intensity had been
+accelerating tremendously. He had forgotten to look beneath him; he did
+so now, and the island was not there. The channel was gone; the
+mountain range had disappeared. The cataclysm that had formed the island
+had been passed.
+
+Azeela's messages told that her plane was now nearly a hundred years
+nearer the Anglese time-world. Toroh, finding his attack ineffective,
+had given it up. He had started a horizontal flight; he was looking for
+a city in which he could land.
+
+George and Dee sat helpless, for Azeela could not describe which way she
+was flying.
+
+"Lost!" George exclaimed. "We've lost them! Of course, she can't tell us
+which way they're going when there's nothing down there but gray
+forests--and blurred gray sky overhead."
+
+It seemed probable that they would never see Toroh's plane again.
+Already it was many miles away from them in space, though in what
+direction they could not guess.
+
+The two planes swept back through time, invisible to each other, yet no
+more than a few hundred years apart. The rescue of Azeela--for the
+present at least--was certainly impossible. Toroh was looking for a
+civilization, some gigantic city where he might secure weapons. George
+decided he must do the same. He discussed it earnestly with Dee, and
+again, temporarily, Azeela's thought messages were ignored.
+
+At fifteen thousand years--more than halfway back to the time-world of
+the New York City of George's birth--structures began rising out of the
+forests. By retrograded changes made visible, at first they seemed
+moldering ruins; then, broken, neglected areas of deserted cities; then
+the inhabited cities themselves.
+
+At eighteen thousand years George and Dee were poised no more than a few
+miles from where Orleen stood so many centuries later. A huge river with
+a delta emptied into the open gulf; a broad expanse of lake was near by.
+And on both sides of the river and around the lake a gigantic city rose
+in terraced buildings of masonry and steel. Dee stared in awe at its
+towers, bridges, aerial streets with the monorail structures stretching
+above.
+
+"We might land here," George suggested. "Shall we, Dee? You'd think
+they'd have _something_ to help your father in the Anglese war."
+
+She nodded, and he prepared to land on an open space a few miles north
+of the city outskirts. They came to the ground at the third intensity of
+proton current. Everything was gray, soundless.
+
+"All ready, Dee?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+He flung over the switch. When the shock had passed, George stood up;
+Dee was already on her feet beside him. It was night outside; lights
+were flashing. They rushed to the window. The sky was lurid with
+bursting colored bombs; an inferno of noise sounded, an intermittent
+pounding that seemed to shake the earth.
+
+From-almost directly overhead a red rocket exploded. Its light
+persisted, illuminating the scene for miles around with a vivid red
+glare. The giant city buildings were visible. As George stared, a great
+flame seemed to leap from the sky. One of the buildings fell.
+
+Nearer at hand a cloud of swarming mechanisms burst out of the air,
+swooping down, circling. Beams of light from them and from the city
+crossed like swords in the sky. The earth under the plane was rocking.
+Beside it, a green flash struck and sent rocks, boulders, and dirt
+flying up like a waterspout.
+
+"George! _George!_"
+
+Dee's terrified cry in his ear was almost drowned by the scream of
+dynamos; the whistling, bursting, and pounding.
+
+George's trembling fingers found the proton switch; he pulled it. The
+inferno of the night melted, slipped away into a gray, soundless blur.
+
+War! They had fallen into the midst of a battle--that giant Earth city
+defending itself, perhaps against invaders from another planet.
+
+"We won't try that again," George murmured.
+
+"Azeela," said the girl suddenly. "She tells me that Toroh has secured
+weapons! He is returning to our time-world!"
+
+Toroh had landed at another city, in another time, but still in that
+same greater civilization. He had chosen a night, bound Azeela, left her
+in the plane and stolen weapons.
+
+George listened blankly. "What sort of weapons?"
+
+"Azeela does not know. One large piece of apparatus. He has it in the
+plane covered by a black bag. He will not let her touch it. And there
+are other things--a pile of disks or something. White--like steel. She
+can't see them well--he has covered them also. He is filled with
+triumph. His plane is speeding toward Anglese City."
+
+"In space or time?"
+
+"In time. They are hovering in space. Azeela does not know where they
+are. Toroh says he will wait, and when the time-world of the island is
+reached they will recognize the land. Then Toroh will take Azeela to the
+Noths. He says if our father does not yield, he will _kill her_. And
+then he and the Noths will conquer the Anglese."
+
+George had lost. But still there seemed nothing that they could do but
+try and keep as close to the other plane in time as they could.
+
+Toroh's plane was sweeping forward. He had released Azeela, commanding
+her to instruct him in more detail in the handling of the Frazia motors.
+Azeela's dials now read some fifty-five hundred years behind the Anglese
+time-world. George's read about six thousand.
+
+They came to the cataclysm that formed the island. George had forgotten
+it, but he chanced to be gazing down. The gray forests suddenly blurred;
+vague chaos passed over the earth, the air, and the sky; then there were
+the familiar mountains, the channel, the island! The myriad details of
+those hours of upheaval had been compressed, blended into a fraction of
+a second. The eye and the mind could not grasp it. The thing was past,
+done and away, with only its _effect_ left as evidence that it had
+occurred.
+
+George and Dee were above the channel and west of Orleen. No more than a
+hundred years now separated the planes.
+
+"What shall we do?" George demanded for the tenth time. And then an
+idea came to him. They could not attack Toroh until he reached his
+destination. He would be among his own army then, and rescue of Azeela
+would be impossible. But if Azeela could separate herself from Toroh
+now, he could never find her in time and probably wouldn't try.
+
+George explained it to Dee. Azeela was not bound; could she persuade
+Toroh on some pretext to land on the ground--then leap from the plane?
+The shock of stopping in time should be no different than when the plane
+itself stopped.
+
+Azeela had already thought of it; the idea had been prompted by the fact
+that Toroh's plane was running out of fuel. He would have to conserve
+it, not use the 'copters, or else he would have none left with which to
+get up north.
+
+George was trembling with excitement. "Tell her to suggest that they
+land."
+
+Toroh was, at that instant, landing. It was a familiar spot to Azeela;
+she described it exactly to Dee, and the younger sister recognized it.
+
+Toroh's plane had entered the second century before Fahn's time-world
+when George--some fifty years further back--arrived at the spot in space
+Azeela was describing. There was the little rise of ground, with the
+channel beyond. The vegetation was different, but the level rock was
+there. And Toroh's plane was resting on that level rock.
+
+Dee's voice was shaking so that she could hardly talk. "Will it--kill
+her, George?"
+
+He was white faced, tense. "Tell her to read the dials as exactly as she
+can."
+
+Azeela read them. George held his watch in his hand; he noted the hour
+and minute it gave.
+
+"She has called Toroh's attention to something outside," Dee's voice
+translated swiftly. "She opens the cabin door. He is behind her but he
+does not suspect."
+
+George kept his eyes on his watch. Two minutes since Azeela gave them
+her dial-reading, and he knew the approximate time-velocity of the other
+plane.
+
+Three minutes!
+
+"She is on the platform. The blurred rock is only a few feet below her.
+Azeela is pretending something is wrong under the plane. Toroh is beside
+her--but he does not touch her. He does not suspect she would dare...."
+
+Three minutes and a half.
+
+"She jumps--"
+
+George waited. "Is she all right? Is she all right?"
+
+Silence.
+
+"Can't you get her? Oh, Dee, can't you get her?"
+
+The communication was broken.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+
+"It fell," Rogers murmured. "Was that Toroh's plane, or George's?"
+
+Loto did not answer; he stared with set face at the crystal mirror,
+which was turning purple with the deepening shadows of nightfall. The
+mountains into which the plane had fallen were a vague silhouette
+against a sky of stars.
+
+"If we could only see over there," Rogers added wistfully. "Is this
+tower we're looking from now the nearest to the mountains, Loto?"
+
+It was the nearest. But Fahn was talking swiftly into a small mouthpiece
+beside him.
+
+"We may be able to see into the mountains," he said in a moment. "We
+must find out which plane it was. Perhaps Toroh fell and was killed."
+
+The anxiety on his face belied the calmness of his tone. His two
+daughters were out there; possibly one or both had met death in that
+falling plane.
+
+A man entered the cave-room hurriedly, a solitary worker whom Fahn had
+summoned from another part of the cavern. A youngish man, he wore dark
+glasses, a black robe and gloves.
+
+Fahn questioned him briefly; he brightened, nodded, and hastened away
+again.
+
+Loto explained: "He's been working on a new invention, Father. We hoped
+to use it in the war, but now we fear the attack may come before it's
+ready. There is only one small model constructed--finished today."
+
+The man returned with a small mechanism--a black circular disk, an inch
+thick and two feet in diameter. On it was mounted a cone-shaped lens a
+foot high. It looked something like a tiny model of the lighthouse lens.
+An operating mechanism was fastened behind the lens; it was an open box
+with tiny coils of wire inside. And near this was what looked like a
+miniature searchlight.
+
+Fahn inspected the apparatus. His assistant made some connections,
+adjusting another mechanism on the table. Then, turning the disk over
+and holding it in the air above his head, he released it. The thing
+floated, motionless, its lens-tower hanging downward. The small
+searchlight also pointed downward and from it a beam of blue-white light
+struck the cave-floor with a circle of brilliant illumination.
+
+Fahn smiled his approval; the young assistant seemed gratified.
+
+"It's a development of the communication towers, combined with the
+levitation dais you saw at the Festival--the apparatus Toroh's brothers
+tried to steal," Loto said to his father.
+
+A moment later the young scientist had disappeared with his flying lens,
+taking it outside the cavern to release it into the air.
+
+Fahn sat at the table with the newly installed mechanism under his
+fingers. In a few moments the assistant was back, empty-handed; he stood
+before the now blank crystal mirror with the other men, anxiously
+watching for the success of his work.
+
+"This was greatly used a few centuries ago," Fahn said. He sighed. "Our
+ancestors knew so much; it is so hard to keep up with them."
+
+The crystal mirror presently became illumined. The scene was the
+darkness of night; stars reflected moonlight from a moon just outside
+the line of vision. Below--a thousand feet, perhaps--a vague palm-dotted
+landscape was sliding into view.
+
+To the watchers, the illusion was like flying through the night, looking
+downward.
+
+"I shall light the searchlights," Fahn said.
+
+A broad circle of blue-white illumination fell upon the shifting land.
+Across it, the palms of the island were moving backward. The viewpoint
+of the whole scene was unsteady. The horizon bobbed up and down, like
+the horizon viewed from a plunging ship. The moon showed momentarily,
+them swung sidewise out of sight.
+
+Soon the channel appeared; the dark mountains were coming nearer; they
+tilted downward, almost out of sight, as the lens mounted an incline to
+pass above them.
+
+"Can we find where the plane fell?" Loto asked anxiously.
+
+Fahn did not answer at once. At last he said: "It will be difficult. It
+may have fallen behind the mountains, or into them. I do not know."
+
+In the mirror, the shifting viewpoint presently showed the mountains
+from above; the searchlight circle was sweeping across a tumbled land of
+crags, plateaus and ravines--a white band of snow lying thick on the
+higher peaks. The lens was circling now; the turning, swaying viewpoint
+made the watchers dizzy.
+
+Finally they saw it--a broken plane lying on its crumbled wing. The
+searchlight clung to it; the lens lowered until the image of the plane
+seemed more than a hundred feet below.
+
+"_Toroh's plane!_" Rogers exclaimed.
+
+There were figures moving about the plane, men and dogs. The men were
+dragging some apparatus from it, loading it onto a sled. One of the men
+was Toroh! The viewpoint was close enough now to distinguish
+him--_alive!_
+
+But the flying lens had descended too close; the Noths were staring
+upward. A flash mounted from below; the crystal mirror turned a blinding
+white--then went black.
+
+Toroh's thunderbolt had struck the flying lens and destroyed it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+George and Dee gazed from their hovering plane at the empty surface of
+the level rock face below them. Somewhere in time Azeela was lying
+there, unconscious, killed perhaps; the thought messages from her were
+stilled. Had Toroh gone on? Or had he stopped to try and find her?
+
+They were anxious moments for George and Dee--moments that by George's
+watch stretched into an hour or more. They were both at the point of
+exhaustion. They had eaten a little--the plane was provisioned--but they
+had not slept throughout the trip. George made a close calculation. He
+knew the time-speed of Toroh's plane; he could estimate closely what
+Toroh's dials must have read at the instant Azeela jumped.
+
+They found her at last, lying on the rock, unconscious. They stopped,
+carried her into the plane, and, before they started again, revived her.
+There was a heart stimulant among the plane's medicines; she drank it
+gratefully. She was not injured, though badly bruised by her fall. She
+had been knocked unconscious as she left the plane. The instant her body
+parted contact with its vibrations, blackness had come to her; she did
+not remember striking the rock.
+
+George was jubilant. Had he been able to rest, he would have wanted to
+go on after Toroh. But he did not dare rest.
+
+"We'll go on home," he decided. "You're a brave girl, Azeela." He smiled
+down at her as she lay stretched out on the leather seat. "I'll start
+slowly; you've had all the shock you can stand."
+
+That same night in which the flying lens had been destroyed found George
+piloting his plane into the cavern at Anglese City. Fahn and Rogers
+were there to greet them. George handed down the girls, and descended
+with a flourish. In the excitement of his triumphant return, he forgot
+how tired and sleepy he was.
+
+At the moment Loto was in another part of the cavern. He came running
+forward. He did not see Azeela at first.
+
+"George!"
+
+"Hello, Loto! Here we are. Were you worried?"
+
+Then Loto saw Azeela.
+
+"I brought her back to you," George said softly. "There she is, old
+man--all safe and sound."
+
+But Loto did not hear him; his arms were around Azeela.
+
+George turned to Dee. "You think he'd sacrifice her for the whole nation
+of the Anglese? I should say not!"
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+
+A month went by in days and weeks of activity throughout the island. To
+the Scientists it was a time of unparalleled stress and anxiety. The
+government was in their hands for the first time in history, and a
+war--the first that anyone of that time-world had ever faced--was
+impending.
+
+With Toroh's return his attack would not be long postponed. Fahn knew
+it. The radio proclaimed it to the Bas everywhere. An army must be
+trained at once; the Bas, Arans and Scientists were appealed to for
+volunteers.
+
+It was Fahn's plan not to wait for the Noths to land on the island; but
+to anticipate the attack and send an army to meet it. The nation
+responded to the appeal. Conscription had been considered, but within a
+day the Bas had offered themselves in such numbers that it was obvious
+any form of conscription would be unnecessary.
+
+The second day after the radio appeal for volunteers, the fact became
+evident that the Arans were refusing to go to war. In every village
+recruiting stations were listing the names of the young men of the Bas
+who presented themselves, but no Arans came. By the audible broadcasting
+Fahn called them severely to account; but still they remained in hiding.
+They were sought out. Cowardice, sullenness, declaration that their
+birthright made it unnecessary--they seemed to have a score of reasons,
+but the fact remained they would not willingly serve.
+
+Scenes of violence were reported the next day. A Bas father, giving two
+sons to the coming war, had struck down an Aran youth whom he
+encountered; a party of Bas, angered into unlawfulness, had entered an
+Aran household in Orleen and beaten a group of Arans who were holding
+festivities; an Aran woman had been killed.
+
+"Serves them right," George exclaimed indignantly. "I'd kill them all."
+
+Fahn was perturbed, but then he shrugged. "We have far more young men
+from the Bas than we can use. I shall tell them to ignore the Arans. And
+in warfare such as this, an unwilling fighter is worse than none."
+
+"Damned cowards," George muttered. "We'll save their hides for 'em,
+while they stay home and have parties."
+
+The Scientist had caught the words. "Yes, George, because now that is
+easiest for us. I want no trouble here on the island. But
+afterward--when we have won--_then_ we can deal with the Arans."
+
+"I wouldn't have 'em on the island," George declared. It would have been
+an unfortunate Aran youth who encountered George during the days that
+followed.
+
+The recruiting, hand in hand with the manufacturing activities of the
+cavern, went steadily on. In every principal village the Bas youths were
+registered and drilled, as yet without weapons. Officered by older men
+of the Bas, they waited for the equipment and orders to come to them
+from Anglese City.
+
+The information Fahn had regarding Toroh and his Noth army was vague,
+unsatisfactory; its very meagerness seemed to forecast disaster.
+Somewhere beyond the mountains the Noths were gathering along the
+Atlantic Coast. Hordes of men and fighting dogs were coming southward.
+But their scientific weapons were practically unknown. The thunderbolt
+globes--of what power Fahn could not say--were all that he was positive
+they possessed.
+
+It was Toroh's trip back into time that seemed to hold the greatest
+menace. He had secured some apparatus. What was it? Something
+invincible, perhaps; something so completely different from anything
+with which the Anglese were familiar that they could not hope to cope
+with it.
+
+There were no answers to these questions.
+
+The flying lens--the only one the Anglese possessed--had been destroyed.
+Others were now being hastily constructed, and with them Fahn intended
+to reconnoiter extensively over the Noth territory. The information thus
+attained would be immensely valuable.
+
+The principle of this radio-controlled flying platform, as Fahn had
+said, was newly invented. It was not yet wholly practical. The dais at
+the Festival was the first crude model; the flying lens was the second.
+It had been so successful a model for a beginning that Fahn was
+encouraged to use it with a broader scope. Larger platforms were now
+being built, and thunderbolt projectors were to be mounted on
+them--projectors with an effective radius of a thousand feet. A number
+of these flying platforms would constitute a mechanical army. Controlled
+by radios whose operators stayed safely at home, it could be sent forth
+to battle--with the human army to follow behind it.
+
+The perfecting of the electric fabric repulsive to the earth--an
+invention revived out of the past and brought to practicability only
+within the last few months--was the basis of the equipment for the
+Anglese army now being mobilized. It was kept secret until the last
+moment.
+
+Two weeks after George's return, the first flying organization was
+equipped. Two hundred young men selected from the ranks of the
+Scientists began drilling secretly at night in an open space near
+Anglese City. Among them were George and Loto. For the men from our
+time-world, the experience was the most extraordinary they had ever
+undergone. The fabric was like thin black gauze. A loose suit of it
+encased each man, bound tightly at his wrists, throat and ankles. About
+his waist was strapped a broad, cloth belt with several pockets in which
+to carry various weapons. There was some sort of a battery attached to
+the belt, from which a current was turned into the gauze suit.
+
+One of Fahns assistants came over to George and adjusted the current to
+his normal weight, while George stood eyeing the man fearsomely. He
+could feel the current as it was turned on. It was not unpleasant; it
+made him tingle all over.
+
+In another moment George was ready. Thin cloth slippers were on his
+feet; by the pressure against the soles he felt as though he weighed not
+more than five pounds. Involuntarily, he clutched at Loto, who stood
+beside him. He felt that a breath of wind would blow him away.
+
+"Let go," Loto grinned. "Make a leap, George."
+
+Obediently George leaped gingerly into the air. He floated upward,
+turned over, arms and legs flying, and floated downward, landing gently
+on his face in the sand. But after a few trials he could hold his
+balance; the air seemed fluid, like water. With wings fastened to his
+arms and legs, he could have swum through it.
+
+He suggested that to Loto. "Why, with practice, a man could swim through
+the air, darting about like a fish through water."
+
+Loto laughed. "You'd make a fine inventor, George. That probably was the
+first crude way it was used. But later they developed a much better way
+of propulsion, and we have revived it now."
+
+The motive power consisted of a single metal cylinder to be held in the
+left hand--an apparatus which in weight and shape was not unlike an
+ordinary flashlight. As George understood its fundamental principle, the
+thing altered the density of the air in whatever direction it was
+pointed.
+
+Loto tried to explain it with as few technical words as he could. A
+spreading, invisible ray from the cylinder penetrated the air for a
+distance of some ten feet. It separated the molecules of the air, drove
+them apart. Its action was incredibly swift.
+
+"Well?" demanded George.
+
+"The atmosphere exerts a pressure here of some sixteen pounds to the
+square inch," Loto said. "The air immediately in advance of this
+cylinder mouth is almost instantly thinned out. The ray charges the
+molecules of air and makes them slightly repellent. The result is,
+George, that immediately in advance of your body the atmospheric
+pressure is somewhat lessened. Thus, your body moves forward, pushed by
+the air pressure from behind."
+
+The cylinder had a sliding lever by which its ray was turned on or off.
+George held it over his head and moved the lever. His body left the
+ground and shot straight up at increasing speed. There was no rush of
+wind toward him; instead the air from below seemed to be wafting him
+upward.
+
+The ground was dropping away. Fifty feet! A hundred feet! Panic struck
+George; all he could think of to do was shut off the cylinder power. At
+once he floated down, turning over helplessly. He landed quite gently,
+several hundred feet from where he had started, with Loto running there
+to meet him, laughing at his discomfiture.
+
+You couldn't very well get hurt, that was the beauty of the thing.
+George plunged enthusiastically into learning how to handle himself in
+the air.
+
+With a week this organization of two hundred Scientist young men were
+fairly expert with the new flying apparatus. There were several thousand
+Bas youths now registered in different parts of the island; but the
+suits and air cylinders for them were not ready. Finally, another
+hundred were released, and at Anglese City, Mogruud, the Bas leader, and
+a hundred selected Bas young men began learning to use them.
+
+In spite of the indignant protests of Loto and George, both Fahn's
+daughters urged that they be allowed to try the apparatus, and Fahn gave
+his permission.
+
+"I have no sons to give," he said quietly. "And this warfare is of
+skill, not strength or endurance. If my girls can help their country, it
+is their duty--and mine--to make the sacrifice."
+
+With this precedent, other Scientist girls--several at Orleen, and
+twenty at Anglese City--enthusiastically volunteered. Without exception,
+the girls proved superior to the men. The new art demanded a deft
+agility, a quickness of thought and movement, which seemed to come to
+the girls more naturally.
+
+Within a few days, Azeela and Dee could dart through the air with
+incredible dexterity. The cylinder held in the left hand could be
+pointed quickly in any direction and the body would be drawn that way.
+Dee, especially, became proficient. She could dart upward, turn, come
+swooping down head-first or with slow somersaults, graceful as a dancer,
+to right herself a few feet above the ground and land on tiptoe.
+
+The result of the girls' proficiency was that they were organized into a
+separate squad. There were twenty-eight girls in all; thirteen commanded
+by Azeela, and thirteen by Dee.
+
+During all this time, the Arans had remained in seclusion, keeping off
+the streets as much as possible. The Bas, drilling without weapons, were
+eager to be equipped. The king and his council confined themselves to
+the palace at Anglese City.
+
+There were no boats on the island except crude sailing canoes. A few of
+the newly equipped flying corps went northward; but Fahn, anticipating
+the completion of other flying lenses, ordered them not to cross the
+channel. In the cavern, day and night, operators watched the mirrors,
+flashing the viewpoints from every coast tower on the island, to guard
+against a surprise attack.
+
+A month had passed since George's return in the plane. He had suggested
+several times that the plane might be used in the war. But Rogers
+refused this. George had exhausted the proton current to the point where
+there was barely enough left for a return to Roger's time-world. And the
+plane in itself, as a means of flying through space, would have been of
+little value in this warfare.
+
+The flying discs, mounted with observing lenses and thunderbolt
+projectors, were now ready. They were sent out one night, controlled
+from the cavern.
+
+It was the first aggressive act of the war; a mechanical army sweeping
+northward to attack the enemy.
+
+In the cavern room, Fahn and his friends sat watching the mirrors, which
+showed the scene from the viewpoint of the flying mechanisms.
+
+The discs swept northward, following the coastline. Beyond the
+mountains, far ahead, loomed a great encampment close to the shore, dim
+and vague in the moonlight. In a few minutes the mechanisms would be
+there.
+
+Suddenly, one of the mirrors in operation went black. In the others, the
+scene showed that Toroh was sending up some opposing mechanisms. Dots of
+silver were mounting from the encampment. They floated slowly upward,
+but they seemed to seek out the Anglese flying platforms, pursuing them
+as though with human intelligence.
+
+One by one the mirrors were going black, as the flying lenses were being
+destroyed. In a moment only one was left. It was almost over Toroh's
+encampment--almost in range where it could have discharged its bolt.
+
+In the mirrored scene, a white dot was growing as it came closer to the
+lens. Its image grew; it resolved itself from a dot, so what Fahn saw
+was a thin, gleaming disc. It looked as though it might be whirling. The
+thing turned, pursued the lens, overtook it--the last mirror went dark.
+
+The operators, greatly upset, left their instruments and gathered around
+Fahn. Toroh had sent up some unknown mechanisms; the flying thunderbolt
+platforms had crashed to the ground before any of them had come within
+range of the enemy.
+
+It was during this same night that Toroh first used his audible
+broadcasting beams. Fahn's audible voices in the air had constantly been
+encouraging his people. Now, abruptly, the air burst forth with other
+voices. Somewhere in the mountains across the channel, Toroh had erected
+a broadcasting station. He was sending threats through the air to the
+Anglese!
+
+It was a surprise, and it disturbed Fahn greatly. Everywhere on the
+island aerial voices of the enemy were leering, threatening, boasting of
+the coming triumph of the Noths. Would the Bas be intimidated? It might
+be disastrous; with the defeat of the flying discs, Fahn was depending
+more than ever now upon the Bas army.
+
+All that night and next day, the sender from the cavern sent forth its
+cheering messages.
+
+By the following noon information began coming to Anglese City that the
+Bas were apparently not alarmed. They were jeering back at Toroh's
+aerial voices; but they were demanding vigorously that the Scientists
+give them weapons.
+
+"In a week we shall be ready," Fahn told Rogers. "Five thousand
+air-pressure cylinders are now in the last process of manufacture. The
+other weapons are ready. One week more is all we need."
+
+Amid Toroh's aerial threats that day had come the reiterated, triumphant
+statement that in two weeks more his attack would come. Two weeks still!
+It was more than Fahn had hoped for.
+
+The statement was Toroh's trickery. Eighteen hours later--the next
+morning at dawn--a member of the aerial patrol over the channel returned
+hurriedly to Anglese City with the news that Toroh's expedition had
+started by water. Huge barges were coming down the coast, pulled by the
+giant dogs swimming before them--_barges crowded with men and dogs and
+apparatus_.
+
+That morning was one of almost complete chaos. The invaders would enter
+the channel near Anglese City. The thunderbolt projectors which had been
+distributed thinly about the coast were rushed eastward and
+concentrated at the channel-mouth. There was no time now to equip the
+main Bas army. The attack would have to be repelled by the coast
+defense, and by the small aerial army already formed: one hundred Bas
+led by Mogruud; two hundred Scientists with whom Loto and George were to
+serve, and the twenty-six Scientist girls, led by Azeela and Dee.
+
+That morning the aerial voices ordered every able-bodied Bas man on the
+island to come toward Anglese City with every dog that could be
+procured. If the invaders landed, the dogs could best oppose them.
+
+It was at this juncture that the king announced the change of his royal
+capital to Orleen. The royal family, the councilors, their
+retainers--all fled in their dog carriages from Anglese City. Orleen,
+much further down the channel, would be safe. News of the king's action
+spread over the island. Arans from everywhere fled after him, huddling
+in Orleen.
+
+In the confusion of those hours, the contempt for the Arans passed
+almost without comment. Orleen was the safest place, and the Bas
+there--men and women both--scornful of remaining among the cowards, came
+eastward.
+
+By noon the flying army was fully accoutered and waiting in a field near
+Anglese City. Loto, equipped to remain in constant telephonic
+communication with Fahn, was virtually the leader. George, with his
+several weapons in his belt, stood beside Loto. Mogruud had his hundred
+Bas around him. The girls were in two small groups apart.
+
+At a signal from Fahn, the little army rose swiftly into the sunlit sky.
+The watching throng was stricken silent with awe. The figures in the air
+arranged themselves in a broad arc, with the officers in front, and then
+swept forward, over the channel toward the mountains and the distant
+sea.
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+
+The palm-dotted island fell silently away. Ahead lay the blue channel;
+to the right the open sea. To George the flight--the first of any
+duration he had taken--was exhilarating. It was soundless; the absence
+of any rush of air against him made it totally unlike flying in a plane.
+He seemed to be wafting forward as though the air were his native
+element.
+
+Loto was just ahead of him. Behind him came the army, maintaining its
+arc-like formation. A little in front, and at a slightly lower level,
+were the two squads of girls. They were all slim, graceful creatures,
+most of them under twenty. The black gauze--loose trousers and
+blouse--showed the white of their limbs beneath. Their heads were bound
+in deep-red rubber cloth, tight over the forehead and tied in back with
+flowing ends. With cylinders extended from the left hand they slid
+gracefully forward through the air.
+
+Though George felt no rush of air, he found he could not talk to Loto,
+even though no more than twenty feet separated them. The rushing wind
+between them tore away the words.
+
+Soon they were over the channel. The girls were drifting much lower now.
+Loto darted down a few feet; then as though he had changed his mind, he
+came up again. He reached for a mouthpiece that dangled under his chin
+and fitted it to his lips. His voice, magnified to a stentorian roar,
+rolled out.
+
+"_Azeela! Dee! Come higher! You must not go so low!_"
+
+Obediently the two girls rose to the higher level, their little squads
+following them. When they were over the mouth of the channel, George saw
+Toroh's barges--tiny dark smudges on the water some miles up the coast
+and a mile or so off shore. His heart leaped, began pounding in spite of
+his efforts to quiet it.
+
+Following Loto he swept diagonally upward and forward. Presently he
+could count six barges. They were tremendous things, crowded with men
+and dogs and mechanical apparatus. Spread over each was a huge caging of
+flashing silver metal. One barge was some distance in the lead; the
+others straggled out irregularly behind it for about a mile. All the
+Noth vessels were being drawn slowly through the water by ranks of
+harnessed dogs.
+
+Loto momentarily shut off his cylinder; his speed was slackening. George
+overtook him, put an arm on his shoulder. The nearest of the barges was
+now less than a mile ahead.
+
+An upward flash from the leading barge was followed in a few seconds by
+a crack of thunder. The bolt dissipated harmlessly into the air. But
+obviously it was powerful, with an effective range of two thousand
+feet--twice that of the Anglese defense.
+
+Toroh's plan now became apparent. He would batter the Anglese coast
+projectors while still beyond reach of them, and then make his landing.
+The cages over the barges were for protection from the smaller
+thunderbolts of the attacking aerial army.
+
+George knew the cages were only partially effective. A bolt was
+difficult to aim, but it did queer things when it struck. From a short
+distance--a hundred feet or less--the barges could be set on fire and
+sunk. Their thin metal hulls were not protected. They could be pierced.
+The wooden super-structure could be fired; the swimming dogs struck and
+killed.
+
+In hurried whispers Loto was constantly talking with Fahn back in the
+cavern. The Scientist's orders he repeated with his electrically
+magnified voice that could be heard easily by every one of the little
+aerial army.
+
+For a time they circled about, above the barges, but keeping well
+beyond the two-thousand foot range. Against the blue of the sky their
+figures must have shown plainly to the Noths. Occasionally a bolt would
+flash up, but they were harmless at that distance. And the barges pushed
+steadily forward.
+
+At last Fahn decided the moment for attack had arrived. Loto repeated
+the order. George's division and Mogruud's separated from the rest. One
+hundred turned seaward, the others toward land. They dropped swiftly;
+straight down, like divers, heavily laden with lead, dropping through
+water. And then a darting, twisting swarm of insects--from every side at
+once they attacked the leading barge.
+
+In the depths of the cavern at Anglese City, Fahn sat in his room of
+mirrors. A metal band about his head held a receiver to his ear. A black
+mouthpiece hung against his chest and by lowering his head he could
+bring his lips to it. Rogers was at his side. The mirrors in every part
+of the room were lighted, giving the viewpoints of the coast towers near
+the mouth of the channel. In several of the mirrored scenes, over the
+distant water and in the air, black specks were visible; the enemy and
+Fahn's army above them.
+
+But these were not the vital crystal mirrors. A small one--a foot square
+perhaps--stood on the table before Fahn. He and Rogers were gazing into
+it intently. The mirror was connected with a tiny lens strapped to
+Loto's forehead; it gave Loto's viewpoint of the battle, showed the
+scene exactly as Loto saw it.
+
+Fahn was silent; a stern, anxious old man, with all his science around
+him, sitting in seclusion to direct this warfare upon which the fate of
+his people depended. Occasionally he would murmur something to Rogers,
+and the other man would speak into a mouthpiece--an order for the
+operator of the broadcasted aerial voices, controlled from another part
+of the cavern. Then throughout the island, cheering words to the Bas
+would resound, news of the progress of the battle. But Fahn's gaze never
+wavered from the little mirror.
+
+George's and Mogruud's divisions descended upon the leading barge. The
+barge spat forth its bolts, but it could discharge only one or two
+against a hundred of the tiny ones from its attackers. Looking down,
+from Loto's viewpoint overhead, the barge was assailed on every side by
+the pencils of electrical flame. Figures dropped, inert, into the water;
+others, wounded, wavered upward. The wire cage over the barge was
+sizzling and crackling; the swimming dogs, a dozen or more of them,
+crumpled in the water and were dragged forward in their harness by the
+others.
+
+The engagement had lasted no more than a minute when the air about the
+barge was suddenly plunged into blackness. Everything down there was
+blotted out--a patch of solid ink on the sea. The Noth vessel had
+exploded a bomb whose etheric vibration absorbed all light over a radius
+of five hundred feet.
+
+Fahn smiled grimly. The darkness there would pass presently. His own
+leaders, Loto, George, Mogruud and the two girls, had the same
+equipment. Each of them could discharge such a bomb; a puff of darkness,
+cloaking everything around them in temporary invisibility.
+
+Fahn heard his own orders roared by Loto. The attacking figures came up.
+But there were not two hundred of them now: about twenty lay down there
+in the water; a dozen more were wounded; a few were moving slowly
+homeward through the air.
+
+The darkness still hung around the attacked Noth vessel. But it was
+thinning out; now the vague outlines of the barge could be seen. Within
+a minute the dark patch was gone. One end of the barge was blazing, but
+the Noths were extinguishing the flames. Other figures were cutting
+loose the dead dogs in the water, while new dogs were leaping overboard
+to take their places.
+
+The attacked barge presently moved onward; slowly, inexorably, they were
+all coming down the coast. They were no more than a mile or two now from
+the estuary of the channel-mouth.
+
+Three times more Fahn ordered a division down at the same barge. The
+Noth tactics were repeated. The barge discharged a few of its bolts and
+then enveloped itself in blackness--an absence of light that even the
+thunderbolts could not illumine.
+
+These brief engagements were largely a matter of individual action.
+Warfare was new to the Anglese, but they were learning. The huge bolts
+from the barge could not parallel the water level for long; inevitably
+they turned downward to discharge themselves. Close to the water the
+attackers were comparatively safe.
+
+When the Anglese came up after these attacks and reformed themselves in
+orderly array, there were only ten more of their number missing. But it
+was fifty in all, and a score of wounded.
+
+The attacked barge was blazing end to end. Its crowded deck was a
+turmoil of figures. They were plunging overboard--men and dogs--to avoid
+the flames. In a moment the barge tilted upward at its stern. Its torn
+bow was admitting the water; it slid downward, hissing, and disappeared
+beneath the surface. Figures bobbed up from the swirl, inert, charred
+figures; others among them, still alive, swam about in aimless
+confusion.
+
+One barge! But there were five more. And these others had all pushed
+forward until now they were almost down to the channel. Fahn realized
+that there were five hundred Noths and as many dogs crowded into each of
+them. They could take to the water while they were still beyond range of
+his coast projectors and come forward individually, each man mounted
+upon his swimming dog. The coast defense could strike down no more than
+a few of them if they came in that fashion. Twenty-five hundred men and
+their giant brutes, landing on the island.
+
+Azeela and Dee were hovering close to Loto; they were asking their
+father's permission to try a new plan. The battle could not be
+maintained as it was going; the hand thunderbolt globes held but ten
+charges each, and the equipment of each individual was only three
+globes. A third of the thunderbolts were already exhausted in sinking
+one barge.
+
+Fahn's expression did not change; only the grip of his fingers as he
+clenched them and the rising muscles under his thin cheeks betokened his
+emotion. His voice was steady, grim as always, when he ordered his
+daughters to their desperate venture.
+
+Azeela and Dee, with their twenty-six comrades, selected the barge that
+had replaced the leader. In a closely knit group they hovered above it.
+Thunderbolts shot up, but could not reach them. The girls aimed a
+pure-white beam of light downward--twenty-six tiny rays blending into
+one. Rogers, bending over Fahn to gaze into the little mirror, was
+amazed. Unlike any beam of light he had ever seen, this one was curved;
+It descended in a slightly bent bow, ending at the barge.
+
+Fahn whispered a swift explanation to Rogers. To the Noths, looking
+upward along the beam, it would not appear curved, but straight. The
+figures of the girls, by an optical illusion, would be seen, not where
+they actually were, but to one side.
+
+The girls held their curved ray steady. And plunging down the beam,
+following its slightly curved path, were the figures of Azeela and Dee.
+
+The Noths saw them coming; a dozen bolts leaped into the air, one upon
+the other, but they flashed harmlessly to one side of their mark.
+
+Within twenty seconds the two girls were close to the barge; yellow-red
+spurts of flame leaped from their weapons--flame that could be hurled
+thirty feet but no farther. It enveloped the barge with licking,
+seething, burning liquid gases that withered everything they touched. A
+puff of darkness, which the retreating girls had left behind them,
+blotted out the scene. An instant later Azeela and Dee emerged from the
+darkness, safe. The shaft of light from the girls above was extinguished
+as the two rose to join them.
+
+When light shone again around the barge, it was sinking. Soon the
+swirling water held nothing but black, twisted figures.
+
+The maneuver could not be repeated successfully. From the other barges
+the Noths would have seen the curved beam, understood it and made
+allowances for it. Azeela and Dee, triumphant and flushed with their
+success, pleaded to try it again, but Fahn would not let them.
+
+The afternoon was waning; the western sky was red and overhead clouds
+were gathering. And then Fahn ordered a general attack on all the
+barges.
+
+The sun had set; the twilight deepened into night--a night of flashing
+lights, crackling, artificial thunder, spurts of lurid flame and the
+hissing of fire against water. At intervals, rockets came up; bursting,
+they cast a blue-white glare that for the space of a minute clearly
+outlined the menacing, darting figures for the Noths.
+
+The atmospheric disturbance of the past hours suddenly brought forth an
+electrical storm. Nature, more powerful than man, shot forth her own
+bolts to add to the din. They were, in character, very different from
+the harnessed, man-made lightning; forked, jagged, crackling with their
+nearness, they leaped downward out of the low-hanging clouds.
+
+The storm was as brief as it was severe. It swept away and the moon
+rose, blood-red, casting its lurid light over the water.
+
+Another Noth vessel had been sunk. There were only three barges left
+afloat, and they were in distress. Many of their swimming dogs lay dead
+in harness. Aboard all three of them, figures were fighting the flames.
+They clustered in a group near the center of the channel.
+
+Loto had withdrawn his forces, reduced now to half their original
+number. With ammunition almost exhausted, they hovered out of range
+above their adversaries. The wounded were still straggling back through
+the air; a few of them had already arrived at the cavern.
+
+Again Fahn ordered his army down. It would be the last attempt.
+
+In the cavern room, Fahn had not moved from his seat for hours. Often he
+could not see the battle plainly, for Loto, disobeying orders, had many
+times cast himself into the thick of it.
+
+But now Loto was aloft; by the moonlight and the glare of the rockets
+and bombs, Fahn saw that another Noth vessel had appeared--a very small
+barge. It was close to shore, coming swiftly forward and little objects
+of gleaming silver were mounting from it. One after the other they came
+sailing up.
+
+Fahn rasped an order; Loto's voice roared it out. The men and girls who
+were descending to the attack halted, circling about, wondering what had
+happened.
+
+The first of the white objects came sailing slowly horizontally across
+the channel. It seemed to be a whirling white disc some foot or two in
+diameter.
+
+Loto was still some distance away from it when a group of girls passed
+between him and the disc. The thing seemed to turn toward them. One of
+the girls became confused; it struck her and she fell. The disc, its
+rotation halted, fell also. Loto saw then what it was: broad, thin,
+crossed blades of steel, inclined to each other like the blades of a
+propeller. It had risen up and sustained itself in the air by rotation.
+Loto remembered the defeat of the flying thunderbolt platforms which
+Fahn had sent northward to Toroh's encampment. These whirling knives
+were what had destroyed them!
+
+The newly arrived barge was now sending up, in every direction, a slow
+but steady stream of the whirling knives. They seemed so easy to avoid
+that the aerial army at first paid them little heed. Loto's warning from
+Fahn rang out, but it came almost too late. The knives sought out the
+figures in the air. They began falling--cut, mangled by the whirling
+blades. There was confusion. The army mounted higher, but other knives
+had been sent straight upward and were floating down. Uncannily, they
+seemed to single out their victims.
+
+Fahn understood now. This was the weapon Toroh had procured from that
+time-world of the past. These whirling knives were strangely, powerfully
+magnetized; they followed the human bodies passing near them, seeking
+contact.
+
+The Scientist leader had ordered his fighters to the sea level; the
+knives, as they came lower, seemed to have spent themselves. They could
+be avoided. But nearly forty of the Anglese had met death before the
+lesson was learned.
+
+The three larger barges were again advancing toward the Anglese coast.
+Without warning, without orders from Fahn, the little remnant of girls
+led by Azeela and Dee, darted at them. It was a movement, not foolhardy,
+but well and swiftly planned. The girls, holding close to the surface,
+got themselves between two of the barges. The Noths could not fire, for
+they would have struck each other. A puff of inky darkness spread over
+the ships, and out of it, at close range, jets of fire sprang at the
+Noths; then the girls came back. One of the Noth vessels was a mass of
+flames; the other two wavered--and began retreating.
+
+For a moment there was silence and darkness, lighted only by the moon
+and the flickering light from the blazing barge. The whirling blades
+were no longer being launched; the Anglese were again poised in the air.
+
+Fahn had ordered that the small barge be attacked when, abruptly, a low
+hum sounded from it. George and Loto were hovering together at the
+moment; the barge was some five hundred feet below them and slightly off
+to one side. There didn't seem to be any dogs on it; only a few men
+under its wire cage, and a single large piece of apparatus.
+
+The hum grew louder, more intense, as though some gigantic dynamo had
+been set into motion.
+
+"What's that?" George demanded.
+
+But Loto did not know.
+
+Mogruud, with the remains of his division, was in the air half a mile
+away. He was on the other side of the small barge; his men, moving in
+scattered groups, began passing over it.
+
+The hum was rising in pitch, up the scale until it became a shrill
+electrical scream. Mogruud's men wavered--struggled as though to avoid
+being pulled downward.
+
+Then Loto realized that it must be the rest of the apparatus Toroh had
+secured out of the past--a giant electromagnet of some unknown variety.
+It was pulling at every figure in the air, drawing them irresistibly
+toward it.
+
+Loto and George could feel the pull; invisible fingers were snatching at
+them. The girls near at hand were fighting against it. Mogruud was
+moving forward with an effort, like a swimmer struggling with the clutch
+of an undertow. Several of his men, closer to the barge, had been drawn
+to it, flattened helplessly against its wire caging. Fire was leaping
+through their bodies...they were electrocuted.
+
+In the cavern Fahn sat tense, impotent. He could hear, as plainly as
+though he were out there over the sea, the scream of that uncanny thing
+that was reaching out its invisible electrical fingers to gather in its
+victims.
+
+At his side, for the past hour, Rogers had been operating the larger
+mirrors, flashing into them scenes from the various towers along the
+coast. Now Fahn heard him give a sharp, horrified exclamation.
+
+Rogers was staring at a mirrored scene from a coast tower near Orleen:
+moonlight, purple, starry sky and the deep purple of the channel; to one
+side, the dim outlines of the Orleen houses. And from the channel off
+Orleen, lights were flashing; a bomb burst and its glare shone on
+crowded barges close inshore! One of them, already at the beach, was
+disgorging its men and brutes!
+
+
+
+
+                            CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+
+Once again, Toroh's trickery was disclosed. To Fahn, the tactics of the
+Noths were now understandable. The Noth attack on Anglese City, at which
+Fahn had hurled all his armed forces, had been no more than a ruse to
+cover up Toroh's main offensive at Orleen.
+
+Toroh's orders, doubtless, had been to prolong the engagement until,
+under cover of night, his main forces could effect their landing at the
+other end of the island. This small barge with the magnet had probably
+been ordered to slip by, hugging the north shore of the channel, and
+proceed to Orleen. But its commander had, at what he must have
+considered a decisive moment, used it against the remnant of the little
+aerial army.
+
+Toroh's landing at Orleen was taking place; the channel expedition had
+served its purpose. The two remaining barges off Anglese City were in
+full retreat toward the open sea. The smaller barge, with its screaming
+magnet, was heading swiftly down the channel toward Orleen. The figures
+in the air were struggling against its pull. Some were losing, being
+hurled forward with control of themselves lost; others were forcing
+their way down to the water-level where the attraction seemed less.
+Still others had succeeded in escaping upward beyond its range. They
+circled high overhead, seeking some way of helping their unfortunate
+comrades.
+
+The double disaster was more than Fahn could cope with, or even watch
+closely in the two mirrors. Orleen lay on a peninsula some ten miles
+broad, with water on three sides of the city. The Noths were landing,
+spreading around the shores; across the land from shore to shore they
+were massed, but as yet they had not entered the city. Thousands of
+Arans were there--the king and his royal family--penned like rats in a
+trap. And there was only the small cavern with its meager garrison of
+Scientists to defend them.
+
+George found himself near the outer edge of the magnetic attraction. He
+could see the figures in the air nearer the barge struggling to escape
+from it. He did not know where Loto was, or Azeela or Dee. He saw
+Mogruud, with fifteen or twenty of the Bas about him. They were passing
+swiftly below.
+
+George wondered what he should do. The two larger barges were
+withdrawing. Some of the aerial figures were following them, and George
+started moving that way. The figures were attacking the barges from down
+near the surface of the water. Mogruud and his men were there now.
+George hastened.
+
+This last attack of the Anglese was one of desperate fury. George could
+see the flash of the bolts close to the water. One of the barges must
+have fired through its own darkness and struck its mate. As the
+blackness cleared, George saw that both the Noth vessels were blazing.
+One of them sank a moment later; from the flames on the other, figures
+were plunging into the water.
+
+The Anglese--one of them mounting--cast loose a light-bomb. In the
+brilliant glare, the aerial figures were darting about over the surface
+of the water, seeking out the Noth men and dogs who were swimming toward
+the island and striking them with the little thunderbolts, or with
+spurts of yellow-red flame at closer range. George arrived to join them.
+It was ghastly but necessary work. He used his weapons until they were
+exhausted.
+
+The battle was won--all but the giant magnet. In the distance its
+blood-curdling scream still sounded.
+
+And then George saw Dee. She had been several thousand feet up, flying
+with another girl, when the magnet was first put into operation. They
+were not close enough to feel its pull. A whirling knife had approached
+them; struck the other girl, killed her. It was spent, but a corner of
+it had knocked Dee's motor-cylinder from her hand. She had begun
+floating down. Ever since, she had been trying to swim through the air;
+with arms and legs kicking, she had fought to sustain herself.
+
+She was almost at the surface when George saw her struggling,
+ineffectually, like a swimmer exhausted. He darted to her and gathered
+her in his arms. His cylinder drew them both upward.
+
+"Dee," he whispered. "My little Dee You're safe!"
+
+Loto had dropped close to the surface. The magnet was pulling him, but
+with his cylinder held against it, he could make headway. By now the
+magnet had done most of its work; those in the air had either succumbed
+or escaped beyond range.
+
+To one side, Loto could see the attack on the other two barges. Fahn's
+voice in his ear told him of the landing at Orleen. The Scientist
+ordered them all back. They were needed at Orleen; they must return.
+
+But the magnetic barge was heading down the channel. It would be used at
+Orleen. It must be stopped--_destroyed now_. Loto disobeyed Fahn. He
+headed for the little barge.
+
+It was a plunge of no more than a few minutes. Soon Loto was well within
+the field of magnetism; he could not withdraw now. He tried to think
+clearly. Those others of the Anglese who had met this death had lost
+control of themselves in the air. They had plunged forward, struggling,
+whirling so that they had not been able to use their weapons.
+
+Loto had no thunderbolts left. His only weapon was the flaming liquid
+gas which he could project some fifty feet.
+
+Just above the surface, head first, like an arrow, he slid forward
+through the air. He did not fight against the magnet; he used his
+cylinder only to keep himself from turning sidewise.
+
+He was conscious of the dark outlines of the barge rushing up at him. He
+fired his jet of flame; though he did not know it then, he had fired too
+soon. The flames fell short. A downward thrust of his cylinder power
+forced him upward. He barely missed the wire caging as his body shot
+over it, past it.
+
+The magnet's scream was deafening. The Noths on the barge had fired a
+small thunderbolt between the wires, but had missed the swiftly passing
+mark.
+
+Loto's momentum carried him a hundred feet or more beyond the barge. The
+magnet stopped him, drew him swiftly back. He was turning over now; he
+had lost control of himself. The sea, the sky, the approaching barge
+were mingled in whirling confusion. He knew he could never escape; he
+must strike the magnet with his flame, this time or never. A moment more
+and he would be electrocuted against the cage.
+
+A tiny bolt cracked past him. He turned over again, righted himself
+momentarily, and fired. The electrical scream died into abrupt silence;
+the flames had caught the magnet, burned out its coils.
+
+Released suddenly, Loto's body shot upward with the pull of his
+cylinder. The cage, with flames spreading under it, dropped away beneath
+him.
+
+He righted himself, and at a distance of about three hundred feet, hung
+poised in the air. The flames spread over the barge; a few Noth figures
+plunged frantically into the water.
+
+Loto mounted upward to join his comrades. Barely seventy-five of the
+original three hundred and twenty-eight, were left. Ten of them were
+girls. Loto found Azeela safe. George still carried Dee in his arms.
+
+The flames from the burning barges died out; the silent moonlit channel
+was strewn with floating bodies. It seemed almost futile to search for
+their wounded, but they descended, and for a time moved about near the
+surface. They found two still alive--one burned, the other, a girl,
+mangled by a flying knife.
+
+Silently, with their burdens, they took their way back through the air
+to the cavern.
+
+It was a night of confusion. The Noths were clustered around Orleen,
+waiting for the dawn before they entered the city. They were still
+coming across the channel on swimming dogs. All night they came. The
+puny garrison at the Orleen cavern was powerless to stop them. It
+exhausted its bolts and began sending out calls for help.
+
+The Bas around Anglese City were mobilizing with their dogs. Hastily,
+Fahn equipped them with weapons--hand thunderbolts and flame projectors.
+An hour-and-a-half before dawn, they were ready to start their almost
+hopeless attempt to stem the horde of invaders who now held the entire
+western end of the island.
+
+The little rag-end of the aerial army that returned from the battle was
+exhausted, but in a few hours, it too, was ready to start.
+
+Fahn, with his two daughters, and Rogers, Loto and George, took the
+Frazia plane. On its platform Fahn mounted a single projector, the most
+powerful he possessed.
+
+They started an hour before dawn--silent as they gazed down at the
+island of palms that was passing beneath them. They overtook their Bas
+army and left it behind them. In the air, back over Anglese City, tiny
+specks showed that the aerial army was starting. Above the hum of the
+Frazia motors they hear the aerial voices of Anglese City telling the
+Bas peasants who lived between the two cities to come eastward. They
+were obeying; little groups of refugees--old men, women and
+children--were moving along all the roads. In the sky ahead, occasional
+flashes shot up from Orleen.
+
+"The Arans went there to avoid the deluge," Rogers said suddenly, and
+his laugh was grim.
+
+No one answered him.
+
+Behind them the eastern sky was brightening. Loto was piloting the
+plane, with Rogers beside him. The daylight grew, began reddening.
+
+"Look, Father, there's Orleen!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The second largest city on the island, Orleen lay in a hollow, with twin
+peaks close behind it, the mouth of the channel and the gulf in front
+and to the sides. It was an Aran city, more beautiful even than the
+capital.
+
+The plane, flying high, was circling. Loto's gaze went to the dawn. The
+sun came up a huge, distorted ball of crimson fire, with lines of flame
+radiating from it to the zenith. A dark mass of rain cloud, hanging low
+above Orleen, lost its blackness as it soaked up the crimson light. The
+sky, even to the western horizon, was steeped in blood; the water
+reflected it; the air itself seemed to hold it suspended.
+
+"The day of deluge," murmured Loto. "The blood that will be spilled
+today--"
+
+As though in answer to his words, the clouds above Orleen began spilling
+rain. And as the water fell, it caught the crimson sunlight--myriad
+drops of blood falling upon the Aran city.
+
+The storm was transitory the rain cloud swept past, but the blood in the
+sky remained.
+
+In the hours that had passed since the plane left Anglese City, the
+Noths had occupied Orleen. Its cavern was taken. The Noth men and dogs
+stood in solid ranks around the mountain base; the beaches were black
+with them. They were still coming across the channel--riders mounted
+upon swimming dogs, an occasional barge.
+
+There were no sounds of thunderbolts in the city, no flashes. But as the
+plane descended, human sounds were heard--faint screams. And the city
+streets were in confusion.
+
+Fahn was staring down into the city through lenses mounted in short
+black tubes. He murmured something that his companions did not catch.
+His face was white and set; he was struggling to hold his composure.
+
+"Descend, Loto. They are not armed with thunderbolts; those are all with
+Toroh and his men in the cavern."
+
+The plane glided down, circling low above the city. The scene of carnage
+there became a series of brief, fragmentary pictures. Above the drone of
+the Frazia motors, they could hear the snarling of fighting dogs, the
+screams of men and women, the shrill treble of children--human screams
+of agony as the fangs of the brutes tore at them.
+
+The plane passed low above a city street, following its length to the
+blue water that lapped the white sand at its end. The street was full of
+dogs. A Noth rider--sinister, animal-like, with his black-bound head and
+his naked torso covered with black hair--arrived at a silent white
+house, with its white columns, splashing fountain, and vivid trellised
+flowers. The Noth dismounted, rushed into the house. He came out
+dragging an Aran woman--flung her white body to the eager, snarling
+brute. At the beach, hundreds of terrified Arans sprang into the water;
+the dogs followed them, pulled them under, released them at last, and
+the surf flung their mangled bodies up on the sand.
+
+There was a public square where a hundred or more Arans had gathered.
+The dogs charged them, tore at them, flung them into the air--fought
+over their broken bodies long after life had gone.
+
+The dogs spread to every corner of the city. A child climbed a
+pergola--a little Aran boy, white skinned, with long golden curls and a
+plump baby face. The dogs could not reach him; a Noth man climbed up,
+pulled him down.
+
+Loto had given the Frazia controls to his father. With a small
+thunderbolt globe at his belt he went to the platform outside the cabin.
+Presently he found Azeela beside him. Her arm was around him; together
+they clung to their insecure footing, watching the scenes below as the
+plane made its swift circle over the city.
+
+What could Fahn do? The thunderbolt projector, here on the platform,
+could kill a few Noths, a few dogs here and there. But of what avail
+would that be among these hordes? The Orleen Cavern? Could they attack
+that? Toroh was probably there in the cavern. If they could kill him,
+these Noth barbarians, without a leader...
+
+Confused and sick from what he was seeing, Loto tried to force Azeela
+into the cabin, but the white lipped girl would not go. The plane
+approached a house where an Aran woman crouched on the roof top with two
+little girls huddled at her feet. A Noth appeared from below, dashed at
+them across the roof. Beneath the eaves a dozen dogs stood with bared,
+drippings fangs pointed upward.
+
+The plane was almost over the house. Loto pointed his globe downward,
+pressed its lever. There was a flash, a miniature crack of thunder and
+the globe recoiled in his hand. On the roof top the Noth man and the
+Aran woman and her children lay dead. The woman's white robe was
+blackened, the children's bodies were burned, shriveled; a cornice of
+the building was ripped off and the woodwork was blazing.
+
+It was so useless! Loto flung the globe from him, loathing it for having
+killed that woman and her little girls. He drew Azeela back with him
+into the cabin.
+
+The king's palace in Orleen stood near the waterfront, in the midst of
+broad, magnificent gardens. A mob of Noths surged around it, into the
+lower doors, on the balconies and roof top. As the plane passed
+overhead, its occupants caught a fleeting glimpse of the queen and her
+children, the girl wives of the king and the king himself--in the face
+of death with petty barriers at last broken down--all huddled together
+in a corner of the roof. The Noths rushed at them, broad, heavy swords
+flashing.
+
+The plane swept past.
+
+The twin peaks of Orleen stood six hundred feet apart, just behind the
+city. The one that housed the cavern had a broad, circular base, with a
+ragged, volcanic looking cone above. The other peak was considerably
+higher; it looked down upon its fellow.
+
+Fahn had directed Rogers to fly the plane to the higher of the peaks.
+The Scientist had hardly spoken. He was pale, grim as ever, but his
+gaze, when he looked upon his daughters held a curious softness. What
+were his plans. What were they going to do? George asked the questions,
+but Fahn ignored them.
+
+The little aerial army approaching from Anglese City was now in sight.
+Fahn radioed them to move back, descend, and stop the Bas army and its
+dogs. All of them were to return to the capital.
+
+The plane landed on a small level rock near the summit of the higher
+peak. On top of the cavern, six hundred feet away, a solitary male
+figure stood. The blood light of the sunrise fell full upon it. _Toroh!_
+He was standing there, regarding the city.
+
+Fahn leaped to the projector, but Toroh had disappeared.
+
+"Hurry!" exclaimed the Scientist. He still would not let them question
+him. He unlashed the projector and they helped him lower it to the
+ground. He leaped down after it, adjusting it, swinging it to bear down
+upon the lower peak.
+
+"We must hurry," he repeated. He was back on the cabin platform. "They
+will be out of the cavern, firing upon us."
+
+The Noths down there were gazing up at the plane; others were now
+pouring out of the cavern entrance.
+
+Fahn's projector was trained on the crater of the lower mountain. From
+this greater height its depths were visible.
+
+In the cabin of the plane the Scientist's arms went around his
+daughters. "Good-by, my girls--for a little time," he whispered in their
+own tongue.
+
+They were frightened; suddenly Dee was crying. But he pushed them from
+him. He would attack the cavern; they must all stay in the plane--rise
+high--very high.
+
+Something in the man's look, the command in his voice, struck them all
+silent. They obeyed. He climbed down to the rock. The plane mounted
+swiftly into the air.
+
+The sun was above the eastern horizon; the sky was an inverted bowl of
+blood. Beneath the plane Fahn's figure, standing beside his projector,
+showed clear-cut against the black rock under him. At the base of the
+cavern mountain Noths had appeared with apparatus. They were adjusting
+it hurriedly.
+
+A blue-white flash from Fahn's projector spat downward across the six
+hundred feet and into the crater mouth. Thunder rolled out. Another
+flash, another--until they became almost continuous. Far down in the
+earth within the crater, the slumbering forces began to answer. A
+rumbling sounded--a low, ominous muttering, pregnant with infinite
+power. Steam hissed upward; a puff of smoke....
+
+The plane had been ascending rapidly; it was thousands of feet up now.
+Fahn's thunderbolts persisted, and at last the angered fires of the
+earth were unleashed. The mountain seemed to split apart; the report was
+deafening; flaming gases, cinders and ashes were hurled upward and
+outward.
+
+The main force of the explosion was sidewise toward the city, but even
+so the plane barely avoided the torrent of molten rock and blazing gas
+that mounted from below.
+
+The city was engulfed in flames over which a heavy smoke hung like a
+pall. A tremendous lake of viscous liquid fire lay where the peaks and
+the cavern once had been. The earth was rumbling, shaking, splitting
+apart. The scene was vague--dulled by a lurid red glare that struggled
+with the blackness of the smoke.
+
+A moment, and a rift appeared. The smoke seemed to part, roll aside.
+Through the rift, the burning city showed for an instant clear and
+distinct--the crowded city in which no single human or beast could have
+remained alive.
+
+Still not content, the earth was heaving over the whole western end of
+the island. And from the sea a great tidal wave came rolling up over the
+sinking land, hissing, quenching the fires, obscuring everything in a
+cloud of steam. Like a mist, the steam presently dissipated. The turgid
+waters lashed themselves into furious waves that gradually were stilled.
+
+And then it was daylight, sullen red day, with only the wreckage on the
+waters--charred fragments of bodies, thousands of them floating for
+miles around--mute evidence of what had gone before.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+
+Once again the plane hung like a shimmering ghost above the towering
+piles of steel and masonry--New York City at the peak of its
+civilization. For Azeela and Dee, it had been a brief trip of awe and
+wonder; a trip northward through space and back through time.
+
+After the cataclysm, they had stayed but a week back in Anglese City.
+The entire western end of the island had sunk into the gulf, carrying
+Toroh and his Noths and the Arans and their King to destruction. In
+Anglese City a new government was formed--a democracy of the Bas, with
+Mogruud at its head.
+
+Rogers was impatient to return to his wife in New York City. Azeela and
+Dee, left orphans, had no wish to stay. Unobtrusively as it had come,
+the Frazia plane departed.
+
+In the humming, glowing cabin of the plane the voyagers were waiting for
+the dials to reach the time world for which they were headed. On one of
+the side benches, the ghostlike figures of Loto and Azeela sat a little
+apart from the others; they were talking softly as they gazed down
+through the window beside them.
+
+"You think Mogruud will make a good leader?" she asked. "My father would
+have been so strong, so stern, but always just and fair...." Her eyes
+had filled with tears.
+
+He pressed her hand sympathetically. "I know, Azeela. But you mustn't
+grieve. He gave his life for his people."
+
+"Yes. And he said 'Good-by--for a little time.' Oh, Loto--I did not
+realize then what he meant."
+
+"He knew--someday--you would be with him again. And you will." His arm
+went around her tenderly. "I shall always try to make you happy. I
+promise it, Azeela. Always, as long as we live."
+
+"Beloved," she murmured. "Beloved, who always understands."
+
+Rogers had been talking to George and Dee. He left them to attend to the
+motors. Dee was watching the scene beneath the plane; as they fled back
+through the centuries the great city was melting away.
+
+"Your city that we're going to," she said after a long silence. "George,
+is it like this? Are we almost to its time now?"
+
+"No," he laughed. "It's a very little, puny city I have to show you,
+Dee. I used to think it was wonderful. But it's only a conceited
+child--learning as fast as it can and thinking it knows everything. I
+used to be like that myself. But this sort of trip changes one."
+
+She did not answer.
+
+"I'm glad you're coming back with us, Dee."
+
+"Yes," she said abstractedly.
+
+"Dee," he persisted out of another silence, "I wonder if you know how
+happy it makes me to have you--here where we're going. I've wanted to
+tell you for a long time--maybe you don't know how I feel. I--"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On this return journey, the plane had now reached the height of its time
+velocity. The swiftly changing form of the city blurred the scene into a
+confusion of shifting details, among which only the broadest
+fundamentals were discernible. The northern section of Central Park
+presently lay open. Then the great building that covered its southern
+end melted into nothingness, and trees and water were in its stead.
+
+George was at the dials. "One hundred years! We're almost into our own
+century!"
+
+Through decreasing intensities of the proton current, they slackened
+their time velocity. The park, whitened with winter, turned green again
+as the previous summer was reached. Soon the days separated from the
+nights. The sun came up from the west, plunged swiftly across the sky,
+and dropped into the east.
+
+It was spring, but the retrogression soon brought winter again. A
+January snowfall lay white beneath the naked trees of the park. But it
+was autumn in a moment.
+
+Rogers was watching the dials closely. Summer again; then spring. In one
+of the brief periods of night he threw the switch to the first
+intensity. The plane began drifting to the south. The dim stars were
+swinging eastward in a murky sky. The city lights shone yellow.
+
+The roof of the Scientific Club came into view among the buildings south
+of the plane. Rogers threw off the current completely.
+
+"Look, Dee!" cried George. "Look, Azeela! There it is at last! See the
+board enclosure?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An evening in March. In the large living room of the Banker's Park
+Avenue apartment, a group of his friends were gathered. Dinner was over;
+a butler was serving coffee and the men were lighting their cigars.
+
+A woman and four men--all in evening dress--were sitting in a group;
+mingled with their voices came the soft, limpid tones of a piano. It
+stood in a secluded alcove--a grand piano of carved mahogany. On a bench
+before its keyboard, a young man in a Tuxedo was playing. George. Dee
+stood beside him, leaning against the instrument. She was gazing first
+at the page of music with a puzzled frown, then at his fingers as they
+roamed the keys, and then, in admiration, at his face.
+
+On a high-back davenport before an open fireplace, Loto sat with Azeela.
+There was an artificial black flower in her spun-gold hair; the mourning
+custom of her time world. Her milk-white throat was bare, and the blue
+of her dress was mirrored in her eyes. She was silent, staring into the
+flames licking upward from the huge logs.
+
+"That's very pretty music," she said finally. "So big an
+instrument--this piano as you call it--you never would think one could
+play it."
+
+"Chopin," he answered. "A piece by Chopin. George plays Chopin mighty
+well. Azeela, there is so much I have to show you. Just that one little
+thing--Chopin, for instance. I want you to hear the music of some of the
+great composers and pianists."
+
+"And the opera," she prompted. "And you promised you would take me to a
+theater."
+
+"I will, of course. There are so many things for you to see. Why, it
+will be just like a new world, a new life that you're just beginning,
+Azeela."
+
+"Yes," she murmured. "A new life in a new world. It seems like that
+already."
+
+"And wait till you ride in the subways! You'll be surprised how--"
+
+But she shuddered. "I do not believe I want to do that. It would bring
+back memory of the cavern...other things."
+
+George and Dee left the piano and walked over to the fireplace. Azeela
+moved over on the davenport. Loto stood up, but George shook his head.
+
+"Thanks. Dee and I thought we'd try the window seat."
+
+Across the room the Big Business Man, the Doctor, and the Banker were
+demanding additional details from Rogers.
+
+"That Toroh and his Noths were in the cavern at Orleen" the Banker said
+gruffly. "Can't you keep the thing straight? I want to hear it
+consecutively--not jumped around in this way."
+
+Ensconced in the window seat, George and Dee gazed out at the yellow
+lights of the city around them--a city so different from anything Dee
+could have even imagined.
+
+There was a soft, rose-shaded light beside the girl. George was not
+looking out of the window, but at her. He had seen Dee in many costumes,
+but never, he thought, was she so beautiful as right now.
+
+A girl of his own time world. He had not realized that this was the way
+he had always wanted her to look. Her dress, dropping to a few inches
+above her ankles, was soft and clinging. Her black hair, like Azeela's,
+was dressed high on her head. Like Azeela, too, she wore the dark
+mourning flower. The soft light beside her cast a flush on her
+milk-white throat and cheeks.
+
+Feeling his gaze, she turned.
+
+"You like the way Lylda has clothed me? It feels very strange."
+
+"Yes," he said. "You look beautiful, Dee."
+
+She turned back to the window in confusion. From below, the hum of the
+city floated up to them; the raucous sirens of automobiles.
+
+"Yes," he repeated. "I do like it very much, Dee."
+
+Abruptly his arms were around her; he was kissing her.
+
+"George! Some one will see us!"
+
+"No," he protested. "No, they won't. Anyway suppose they do? I don't
+care--do you?"
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 ***
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+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 ***</div>
+
+<h1><i>THE MAN WHO MASTERED TIME</i><br /><br /></h1>
+
+
+<h3>RAY CUMMINGS<br /><br /><br /></h3>
+
+
+<h3>ACE BOOKS</h3>
+<h4>A Division of A. A. Wyn, Inc.<br />
+23 West 47th Street, New York 36, N. Y.
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></h4>
+
+
+
+
+<h4>THE MAN WHO MASTERED TIME<br /></h4>
+
+<h4>Copyright, 1929, by Ray Cummings<br /><br />
+
+An Ace Book, by arrangement with the author.<br /><br /><br /><br /></h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">To Gabrielle</span><br />
+Who has given me affectionate<br />
+assistance for a long, long time.<br /><br /></h4>
+
+<h4>Printed in U. S. A.<br /></h4>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER ONE</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Time," said George, "why I can give you a definition of time. It's what
+keeps everything from happening at once."</p>
+
+<p>A ripple of laughter went about the little group of men.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so," agreed the Chemist. "And, gentlemen, that's not nearly so
+funny as it sounds. As a matter of fact, it is really not a bad
+scientific definition. Time and space are all that separate one event
+from another. Everything happens some<i>where</i> at some<i>time</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"You intimated you had something vitally important to tell us," the Big
+Business Man suggested. "Something, Rogers, that would amaze us. Some
+project you were about to undertake&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers raised his hand. "In a moment, gentlemen. I want to prepare you
+first&mdash;to some extent, at least. That's why I have led you into this
+discussion. I want you to realize that your preconceived ideas of time
+are wrong, inadequate. You must think along entirely different lines, in
+terms of, I shall say, the <i>new science</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I will," agreed George, "only tell me how."</p>
+
+<p>"You said that time, space, and matter are not separate, distinct
+entities, but are blended together," the Doctor declared. "Just what do
+you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers gazed earnestly about the room. "This, my friends. Those are the
+three factors which make up our universe as we know it. I said they were
+blended. I mean that the actual reality underlying all the
+manifestations we experience is not temporal or spatial or material, but
+a blend of all three. It is we who, in our minds, have split up the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>original unity into three such supposedly different things as time,
+space and matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Take space and time," said the Big Business Man. "Those two seem wholly
+different to me. I shouldn't think they had the slightest connection."</p>
+
+<p>"But they have. Between the three planes of space&mdash;length, breadth and
+thickness&mdash;and time, there is no essential distinction. We think of them
+differently; we instinctively feel differently about them. But science
+is not concerned with our feelings&mdash;and science recognizes today that
+time is a property of space, just as are length, breadth and thickness."</p>
+
+<p>"That's easy to say," growled the Banker. "Any one can make statements
+that can't be proven."</p>
+
+<p>"It has been proven," Rogers declared quietly. "The mathematical
+language of science would bore you. Let me give you a popular
+illustration&mdash;an illustration, by the way, that I saw in print long
+before Einstein's theory was made public. For instance, think about
+this: A house has length, breadth and thickness. The house is matter,
+and it has three dimensions of space. But what else has it?"</p>
+
+<p>A blank silence followed his sudden question.</p>
+
+<p>"Hasn't it duration, gentlemen? Could a house have any real existence if
+it did not exist for any time at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said George, "I guess that's something to think about."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers went on calmly: "You must admit, my friends, that the existence
+of matter depends on time equally as on space. They are, as I said,
+blended together. A house must have length, breadth, thickness and
+duration, or it cannot exist. Matter, in other words, persists in time
+and space. Let me give you another illustration of this blending. How
+would you define motion?"</p>
+
+<p>Again there was a dubious silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Motion," said George suddenly, "why, that's when something&mdash;something
+material changes place." He was blushing at his own temerity, and he sat
+back in his leather chair, smoking furiously.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Quite so," smiled Rogers. "That, gentlemen, is about the way we all
+conceive motion. Something material, a railroad train, for instance,
+changes its position in space." He regarded the men before him, and this
+time there was a touch of triumph in his manner. "But, my friends,
+that's where our line of reasoning is inadequate. Time is involved
+equally with space. The train was there <i>then</i>; it is here <i>now</i>. That
+involves time."</p>
+
+<p>"In other words&mdash;" the Doctor began.</p>
+
+<p>"In other words, motion is the simultaneous change of the position of
+matter in time and space. You see how impossible it is to speak of one
+factor without involving the others? That is the mental attitude into
+which I'm trying to get you. I want you to think of time exactly as you
+think of length, breadth and thickness&mdash;as one of the properties of
+space. Isn't that clear?"</p>
+
+<p>The Big Business Man answered him. "I think so. I can understand now
+what you mean by a blending of&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, his words are clear enough," the Banker interjected testily. "But
+what's the argument about? He started in by saying&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>George sat up suddenly. "Mr. Rogers, you said we were to come here for
+something vitally important to you. Something about time and space. You
+said&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers interrupted him. "I did indeed. I asked you all to come here to
+the club tonight because you are my friends. Mine and Loto's. And the
+affair concerns him more directly than it does me."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced across the room. "Come, Loto. You're the one to tell them."</p>
+
+<p>The Chemist's son, a young man of twenty, rose reluctantly from his
+obscure seat in a corner of the room. He was tall, and slight of build,
+with thick, wavy chestnut hair and blue eyes; his delicate features were
+offset by a square firmness of chin. He came forward slowly, flushing as
+the eyes of the men were turned on him; a poetic-looking boy, with only
+the firm line of his lips and the set of his jaw to mark him for a man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My son, gentlemen," Rogers added. "You all know Loto."</p>
+
+<p>"We do," said George enthusiastically. He vacated his own chair, shoving
+it forward, and selected another, more retired position for himself.</p>
+
+<p>Loto settled himself in the chair and then hesitated, as though in doubt
+how to begin. He was still flushing, and yet his manner was thoroughly
+poised. His forehead was wrinkled in thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Father and I were experimenting," he began abruptly, "about two years
+ago. We were interested in electrons. We were experimenting with the
+fluorescence in a Crookes tube&mdash;breaking down the atoms into electrons.
+Then we followed the experiments of Lenard and Roentgen. We darkened the
+tube and prepared a chemical screen, which grew luminous."</p>
+
+<p>Loto turned to Rogers: "They don't want to hear all this. These
+technicalities&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers smiled. "We hit upon it quite by accident&mdash;an accident that we
+have never been able to duplicate. We had, that evening, an adaptation
+of the familiar Crookes tube. I do not know the exact conditions we
+secured; we had no idea we were on the threshold of any discovery and we
+kept no record of what we did. Nor am I sure just how I prepared the
+screen&mdash;what proportions of the chemicals I used&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You're worse than Loto," the Banker growled. "If you'll just tell us
+what&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I will," agreed Rogers good-naturedly. "We were working one night in my
+laboratory on Forty-third Street&mdash;only a few hundred yards from the
+Scientific Club here. The room was dark, and we had set up a small
+chemical screen. It grew luminous as the electrons from the tube struck
+it, but the glowing was not what we had expected&mdash;not what we had
+observed before. The difference is unexplainable to you, but we both
+noticed it. And then Loto noticed something else, something in the
+darkness behind the screen."</p>
+
+<p>Loto was sitting upright on the edge of his chair; his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> eyes were
+snapping with eagerness as he interrupted his father.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell them because it was I who saw it first. Behind the screen,
+the darkness of the room itself was growing luminous with a glowing
+radiance that seemed to spread out into rays that were not parallel, but
+divergent. It looked almost as though the screen were a searchlight
+sending a spreading beam out behind it.</p>
+
+<p>"Father saw it almost as soon as I did. It was a very curious light; it
+did not illuminate the room about us. Then we suddenly discovered that
+it went through the walls of the laboratory. We were looking into a
+space that seemed to be opening up for miles ahead of us. The walls of
+the room, the house itself, the city around us, were all blotted out. We
+were looking into an empty distance."</p>
+
+<p>"Empty?" echoed George tensely. "Didn't you see anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at first." Loto had relaxed; his earnest gaze passed from one to
+the other of the intent faces of the men. "We were only conscious of
+empty distance. It was not darkness nor was it light. It was more a dim
+phosphorescence. We had forgotten the Crookes tube, the screen,
+everything but that glowing, empty scene before us.</p>
+
+<p>"After a moment, or it may have been much longer, the scene seemed to
+brighten. It turned to gleaming silver, and then we saw that we were
+looking out over a snow-covered waste. Miles of it. Snow reaching back
+to the horizon, and dull gray sky overhead. The ground seemed about
+sixty feet below us, and we were poised in the air above it."</p>
+
+<p>Loto paused a moment, and Rogers added, "You understand, gentlemen, that
+my laboratory is not on the ground floor of the building, but somewhat
+above the level of that part of the city."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;" began the Big Business Man.</p>
+
+<p>"Let him go on," growled the Banker. "Go on, boy. Didn't you see
+anything but snow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not at once. It was all bleak and desolate. But it kept on
+brightening, losing its silvery, glowing look until at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> last we could
+see it was daylight. It was apparently late afternoon&mdash;or perhaps early
+morning. The sun wasn't showing&mdash;it must have been behind a cloud.</p>
+
+<p>"We sat staring down at this cold, snowy landscape, and then, almost
+from below us, something moving came into view. It had passed under
+us&mdash;under the laboratory&mdash;and was traveling on away from us."</p>
+
+<p>"What was it?" the Banker demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it seemed to be a huge sled, with fur covered figures on it, and
+pulled by an animal almost as large as a horse. But it wasn't a
+horse&mdash;it was a dog."</p>
+
+<p>Loto paused, but no one else spoke. After a moment he resumed:</p>
+
+<p>"The sled slackened and stopped about a quarter of a mile north of the
+laboratory&mdash;up toward where Central Park is now. And then we saw that
+there was a building there, a large, oval-shaped structure. It may have
+been built of snow, or ice&mdash;or perhaps some whitish stone. There seemed
+to be an enclosed space behind it. The whole thing blended into the
+landscape so that we had overlooked it before.</p>
+
+<p>"The sled stopped. We could see the figures climbing down from it. Then
+there was sudden darkness. The scene went black. We were sitting facing
+the side wall of the laboratory."</p>
+
+<p>"A wire in our apparatus had burned out," Rogers explained. "And that
+night I was taken sick. It developed into pneumonia and I was laid up
+for weeks. Loto was left alone to follow up our discovery."</p>
+
+<p>"Just a minute," the Banker interjected. "Do I understand you to imply
+that you actually saw all this? It was not a vision, or an electrical
+picture of some sort that you were reproducing?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, they mean it was an actual scene," the Big Business Man put in.
+"They were seeing New York City at some other time. Isn't that so?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers nodded. "Exactly. And while I was sick, Loto went ahead and&mdash;"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Was it the past?" the Doctor interposed. "Were you looking back into
+the past?"</p>
+
+<p>"We were looking across countless centuries into the future," said Loto.</p>
+
+<p>"The future!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," declared Rogers. "Must you always think of the future as a
+wonderful civilization of marvelous inventions, mammoth buildings and
+airplanes like ocean steamships? All that lies ahead of us, no doubt. A
+hundred years&mdash;two hundred&mdash;a thousand&mdash;will bring all that. But further
+on? What about then, gentlemen? Ten thousand years from now? Or fifty
+thousand? Do you anticipate that civilization will always climb steadily
+upward? You are wrong. There must be a peak, and then a down grade&mdash;the
+decadence of mankind."</p>
+
+<p>"Please, let me go on," Loto said eagerly. "I need not tell you all now
+exactly how we knew we were looking into the future, and not the past.
+We, ourselves, did not know it that first evening. But later, when I
+studied the scene more closely, I could tell easily."</p>
+
+<p>"How?" the Banker demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"By the details I saw. The type of building. That animal that looked
+like a dog. The sun&mdash;I'll tell you about that in a moment. An artificial
+light in the house&mdash;I saw it once or twice when it was night there. And
+the girl. Her manner of dress&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There was a girl?" said George quickly. "A girl! Tell us about her,
+Loto. Was she pretty? Was she&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, boy," growled the Banker. "Tell it from where you left off."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she was very pretty," said Loto gravely. "She&mdash;" He stopped
+suddenly, his gaze drifting off into distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh boy!" breathed George, but at the Banker's glare he sat back,
+abashed.</p>
+
+<p>Loto went on after a moment: "I won't go into details now. While my
+father was sick, I was able to examine the scene many times. I even
+think I&mdash;well, I sat watching it most of the time for a week at least.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The house had a sort of stable&mdash;or a kennel, if you want to call it
+that&mdash;behind it. And there was an open space, like a garden, with a wall
+around it. There was a little tree in the garden; a tree all covered
+with snow. But after a few days the sun came out and melted the snow on
+the tree branches.</p>
+
+<p>"The girl was a captive. I guess they were bringing her in on that sled
+the night we first saw them. There was another woman about the place,
+and an old man. And a younger man&mdash;the one who was holding the girl a
+prisoner."</p>
+
+<p>"You said the house looked about a quarter of a mile away," the Banker
+declared. "How could you see all these details?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had a small telescope, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"The scene actually was there," Rogers put in. "Loto used a telescope
+quite as he would have used one through the window to see Central Park.
+Go on, Loto."</p>
+
+<p>"The girl..." George prompted.</p>
+
+<p>"She was a small girl. Very slender&mdash;about sixteen, I guess. She had
+long, golden hair, but it was red when she stood outside with the sun on
+it. That's because the sun was red; an enormous glowing red ball, like
+the end of a cigar. It tinged the snow with blood, but there didn't seem
+to be much heat from it.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes I could see the girl through the doorway. There was a door,
+but it was transparent&mdash;glass, perhaps&mdash;and the house was lighted
+inside. She would sit on a low seat, with her hair in sort of braids
+down over her shoulders. Once she played on some little stringed
+instrument. And sang. I could see her so plainly it seemed curious not
+to hear her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"They appeared to treat her kindly, even though she was a captive. But
+once the man came in and tried to kiss her. She fended him off. Then he
+went out and got on his sled and drove away. He was gone several hours.</p>
+
+<p>"The girl cried that night. She cried for a long time. Once she ran
+outside, but one of those huge dogs came leaping out of the other
+building and drove her back. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> dog's baying must have aroused the
+place. The old man and the woman appeared, and they locked the girl up
+in some other room. I never saw her again.</p>
+
+<p>"A week or two went by and father was better. But the next time I went
+to the laboratory, the apparatus wouldn't work. Perhaps the chemicals on
+the screen were worn out&mdash;We're not really sure. But we've never been
+able since to make a screen that would do more than glow. We've never
+had another that would affect the time-space behind it."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean," said the Big Business Man softly, "that after those brief
+glimpses into the future, it is closed again to you?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers spoke. "Tell them the rest, Loto."</p>
+
+<p>The younger man was hesitant. "Perhaps you gentlemen wouldn't
+understand. We have seen nothing more, but I couldn't forget that girl."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> understand," George murmured. But Loto went on unheeding:</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't the scientific part of our discovery that impressed me most.
+We kept that secret because we had no proof of what we had done, and we
+couldn't seem to get any. It was the girl that bothered me. That girl&mdash;a
+captive&mdash;facing some danger.... You gentlemen will say she isn't living,
+that she won't be alive for thousands of years yet. But <i>I</i> say your
+conception of it is wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Loto's voice had gained sudden power. He seemed abruptly years
+older&mdash;forceful, commanding.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> say that girl <i>will</i> be living in the future. I say she <i>is</i>
+living in the future. She is living just as you and I are living&mdash;right
+here in this exact space that we call New York&mdash;within a few hundred
+yards of this room. She is separated from us, not by space, but only by
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"You, gentlemen, perhaps cannot conceive of crossing that time. But if
+it were a mile of space, or a thousand miles, you could imagine crossing
+it very easily. Yet we know that time is a property of space; not one
+iota different from length, breadth and thickness except that we think
+of it differently."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Loto's flashing eyes held his little audience. "Gentlemen, suppose
+you&mdash;with your human intelligence&mdash;were trees, rooted to one spot here
+in America. And suppose that the accustomed order of things was that
+Asia would come slowly and steadily toward you and pass before you. That
+is what time does for us. Do you suppose, under those circumstances,
+that you could readily conceive of going across space and reaching Asia?
+Think about that, gentlemen! It's easy for us to imagine moving through
+space, because we've always done it. But a tree with your intelligence
+would not feel that way about it. The tree would say: 'Asia will be
+here.' And if you said: 'That's true. But Asia exists just the same in a
+different part of space from you. If you go there, you will not have to
+wait for it to come to you,' the tree&mdash;even if it had your present
+intelligence in every other way&mdash;wouldn't understand that. Simply
+because the tree had always conceived space as we are accustomed to
+conceiving time. That conception of ours does not fit the real facts,
+for&mdash;except for the way space and time affect us personally&mdash;there is
+actually no distinction to be made between them. That is no original
+theory of mine; it is modern scientific thought&mdash;mathematically proven
+and accepted ever since Albert Einstein first made his theory public."</p>
+
+<p>A silence followed Loto's outburst. Rogers broke it:</p>
+
+<p>"We would like to have you gentlemen meet us here two weeks from
+tonight. We are not quite ready yet. Will you do that?"</p>
+
+<p>Every one in the room signified assent.</p>
+
+<p>"But what for?" George asked earnestly. "Of course we will, but has Loto
+discovered anything? Has he&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Loto interrupted him. "I have been working and experimenting for two
+years." He had fallen back to his quiet manner. "Father has helped me,
+of course. And given me money&mdash;more than he could afford."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled at Rogers, who returned it with a gaze of affection.</p>
+
+<p>"In two weeks I will be completely ready. Don't you think so, father?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Rogers, and a sudden cloud of anxiety crossed his face. He
+was a scientist, but he was a father as well, and even his scientific
+enthusiasm could not allay the fear for his son that was in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he repeated. "I think you will be quite ready, Loto."</p>
+
+<p>"Ready for what?" growled the Banker. He was mopping his forehead with a
+huge white handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>Loto's glance swept across all the men in the room. "I have found a way
+to cross time, just as you are able to cross space. And two weeks from
+tonight, gentlemen, with, your assistance, I propose to start forward
+through the centuries that lie ahead of us. I'm going to find that
+girl&mdash;if I can&mdash;and release her&mdash;help her out of whatever danger,
+whatever trouble she is in!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER TWO</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Honor to Loto," cried the Big Business Man. "The youngest and greatest
+scientist of all time!"</p>
+
+<p>"There's a double meaning in that," laughed the Doctor, amid the
+applause. "The greatest scientist of time! He is, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>It was outwardly a gay little gathering, having dinner in a small
+private room of the Scientific Club. But underneath the laughter there
+was a note of tenseness, and two of the people&mdash;a man and a
+woman&mdash;laughed infrequently with gayety that was forced.</p>
+
+<p>The man was Rogers; the woman, Lylda, his wife, mother of Loto. She was
+the only woman in the room. At first glance she would have seemed no
+more than thirty-five,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> though in reality she was several years older&mdash;a
+small, slender figure in a simple black evening dress that covered her
+shoulders, but left her throat bare. Her beauty was of a curious type;
+her face was oval, her features delicately molded and of pronounced
+Grecian cast. Yet there seemed about her, also, an indefinable touch of
+the Orient; her eyes, perhaps, which were slate gray, large and very
+slightly upturned at the corners. Her complexion was fair; her hair
+thick, wavy and coal-black.</p>
+
+<p>That she was a woman of intellect, culture and refinement was obvious.
+There was about her, too, a look of gentle sweetness, the air of a woman
+who could be nothing less than charming. Her eyes, as she met those of
+her men friends around her, were direct and honest. But when she
+regarded Loto this evening, a yearning melancholy sprang into them, with
+a mistiness as though the tears were restrained only by an effort.</p>
+
+<p>The laughter about the table died out. A waiter was removing the last of
+the dishes; the men were lighting their cigars.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the Banker, breaking the silence, "now let us hear it. If
+everyone is as curious as I am&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"More," put in George. "I'm more curious."</p>
+
+<p>"You're right," agreed Rogers. "We must get on."</p>
+
+<p>"First," the Big Business Man interrupted, "I want to know more about
+that screen behind which you saw that other time world of the future."</p>
+
+<p>"I know very little myself," Rogers answered. "So little that Loto and I
+could never duplicate it. But the theory is understandable. The space
+where Central Park now is has a certain time factor allied to its other
+properties. The light, the rays, from that screen, whatever may have
+been their character, altered the time factor of that space.</p>
+
+<p>"As Loto told you, the modern conception of the reality of things is
+that the future exists&mdash;but with a different time dimension. We have a
+familiar axiom, 'No two masses of matter can occupy the same space <i>at
+the same time</i>.' That is just another way of saying it. To reason
+logically from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> that, an infinite number of masses of matter can, and
+do, occupy the same space <i>at different times</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather hear about this new experiment," the Banker said. "You made
+the statement&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"So would I," agreed George. "That girl&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall," said Rogers. His grave, troubled glance went to his wife's
+face, but she smiled at him bravely. "You shall have all the facts as
+briefly as I can give them to you.</p>
+
+<p>"Loto became obsessed&mdash;I can hardly call it anything less&mdash;with the idea
+that he could alter the time factor of human consciousness. In theory it
+was perfectly possible&mdash;I had to admit that. And so I let him go ahead.
+He has worked feverishly, with an energy I feared would injure his
+health, for nearly two years. But, gentlemen, this is all that counts:
+he has succeeded. I'm sure of that; we have already made a test. The
+apparatus is ready upstairs now, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let Loto tell it," grumbled the Banker. "Go on, boy, can't you tell us
+how you did it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. I can in principle." Loto hesitated, then added with a
+mixture of sarcasm and deference: "I can explain it to you in a general
+way, but the details are very technical."</p>
+
+<p>He paused until the waiter had left the room; then he began speaking
+slowly, evidently choosing his words with the utmost care.</p>
+
+<p>"Matter, as we know it now, has four dimensions; the three so-called
+planes of space, and one of time. But what is matter? The new science
+tells us it is molecules, composed of atoms. And atoms? An atom is a
+ring of electrons, which are particles of negative, disembodied
+electricity, revolving at enormously high speeds around a central
+nucleus. Am I clear?"</p>
+
+<p>Loto's gaze rested on the Banker, who nodded somewhat dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," Loto went on, "we have resolved all matter to one common entity,
+that central nucleus of positive electricity which is sometimes called
+the proton. All this is now generally known and accepted. But of what
+substance, what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> character, is the proton? For years now, the theory has
+been fairly accepted that the proton is merely a vortex, or whirlpool.
+And the electron is conceived to be something very similar. Do you grasp
+the significance of that? It robs matter of what I, personally, always
+instinctively feel is its chief characteristic&mdash;substance. We delve into
+matter, resolving its complexities to find one basic substance, and we
+find not substance but a whirlpool&mdash;electrical, doubtless&mdash;in space!"</p>
+
+<p>"That makes you rather gasp!" the Big Business Man exclaimed, gazing
+about the table.</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite correct," affirmed Rogers. "It transforms our conception of
+substance to motion. Of what? Motion of something intangible&mdash;the ether,
+let us say. Or space itself."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't seem to get a mental grip on it," the Big Business Man
+declared. "You&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Think of it this way," Rogers went on earnestly. "Motion can easily
+change our impression of solidity. This is not an analogous case,
+perhaps, but it will give you something to think about. Water is
+normally a fluid. You can pass your hand through a stream of water from
+a garden hose. But set that water in more rapid motion, and what
+physical impression do you get? At Fully, Switzerland, water for a
+turbine emerges from a nozzle at a speed of four hundred miles per hour.
+What would happen if you tried to pass your hand through that? I have
+seen a jet no more than three inches in diameter of such rapidly moving
+water, and you cannot cut through it with the blow of a crowbar! There
+you have a physical substance&mdash;an impression of solidity&mdash;derived from
+motion."</p>
+
+<p>"But what has all this to do with time?" the Banker objected, after a
+moment of silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything," said Loto quickly. "Since we are changing the
+time-dimension of matter, without altering its space-dimensions, you
+must have some conception of what matter really is. When once you
+realize the real intangibility of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> even our own bodies, or this house we
+are in, you will be able to understand us better."</p>
+
+<p>The Banker relaxed. "Go on, boy. Let's hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. Changing the time-dimension of substance amounts merely to a
+change in the rate and character of the motion that constitutes the
+electrical vortex we call a proton."</p>
+
+<p>Loto looked at Rogers somewhat helplessly, with a faintly quizzical
+smile twitching at his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"I seem to be talking very ponderously tonight, father. I wonder if it
+wouldn't be easier for us to show them the apparatus?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers rose from his chair. "By all means. Gentlemen, Loto has completed
+his apparatus on the roof of the club. You may have noticed for the past
+month that one end is boarded up, and has a canvas roof over it. That is
+where Loto has been working. Will you come up with us?"</p>
+
+<p>The building that houses the New York Scientific Club is a full block in
+depth and twenty stories high. Its flat roof is surrounded by a parapet
+of stone. One end of the roof is a garden, with pergolas, trellised
+vines, and beds of flowers with white gravel walks between. At the other
+end, on this particular evening, a twenty-foot, rough board wall
+enclosed a space about a hundred feet square, with a canvas roof above
+it.</p>
+
+<p>The night was calm and moonless, with a purple sky brilliantly studded
+with stars. At this height the hum of the great city was stilled. Near
+by, many buildings towered still higher, but for the most part the roofs
+lay below, with their chimneys and pot-bellied water tanks set upon
+spindly legs like huge, grotesque bugs on guard. A block away the roof
+garden of a great hotel blazed with red and green lights. Spots of light
+crawled through the streets below, with black blobs that were
+pedestrians scurrying between them. Occasionally the drone of a plane
+overhead broke the stillness.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers led the way across the roof top, and unlocked a tiny door that
+led into the temporary board enclosure. Lylda<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> and Loto entered last,
+the woman clinging to her son's hand. The turn of a switch flooded the
+place with light.</p>
+
+<p>At first glance one would have said it was a modern passenger airplane
+that was standing there under the canvas&mdash;a huge, glistening dragonfly
+of aluminum color with a long, narrow cabin below.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said Rogers, "is the product of Loto's work. What you see from
+here is merely an adaptation of the Frazia plane&mdash;and the Frazia company
+built it for us. The apparatus flies as any other Frazia plane does; it
+has the same motors, the same equipment. Its other mechanism&mdash;by which
+the time-dimension, the basic electrical nature of the whole apparatus,
+and everything or everybody within its cabin can be changed at
+will&mdash;that mechanism Loto constructed and installed himself."</p>
+
+<p>"There you go again," growled the Banker. "Let Loto tell it, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers bridled a little. "I'll tell you this, Donald. That is the
+apparatus in which Loto is going to cross time into the future. At least
+you can understand that&mdash;if you keep your mind on it."</p>
+
+<p>There was a general laugh at the Banker's expense. But Lylda did not
+laugh. She was leaning against a wooden post, clinging to her son's
+hand, and staring at that sleek, shining thing with wide, terrified
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Loto," said Rogers. "They want you to show it to them."</p>
+
+<p>The young man disengaged himself from his mother and went forward. In a
+moment the men were scattered about, examining the plane.</p>
+
+<p>"You may not understand the Frazia model," Loto was saying. "It was only
+put on the market recently. It's slightly larger than the average of the
+older types&mdash;more stable in the air, but no faster. The 'copter-type,
+variable-pitch propellers are powered by a Frazier atomic motor."</p>
+
+<p>The Banker called to them. He was standing on a box, looking into one of
+the cabin windows. "You've got different rooms in here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Loto. "I've divided it into three small compartments
+according to my own needs."</p>
+
+<p>"Can we get inside?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think perhaps it would be better not to," said Rogers, coming
+forward. "At least, not tonight. Loto wants to get started. There is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You plan to operate this <i>tonight</i>?" the Doctor asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Loto. "I am going forward in time, to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To find that girl," George finished eagerly. "To rescue her. Don't you
+remember he saw her in that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Be quiet, boy," the Banker commanded. "Loto, what is this other
+mechanism your father mentioned?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not particularly complicated," the young man answered readily.
+"In general principle, that is. The Frazia mechanism causes the machine
+to travel through space&mdash;to change its space-factors at the will of the
+operator. That's clear, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is," said the Banker impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"It's clear because you've always been able to travel through space
+yourself," interjected the Big Business Man. "Don't be so
+self-satisfied, Donald. If you'd been rooted to one spot all your
+life&mdash;like a tree&mdash;you wouldn't have a chance on earth of understanding
+an airplane."</p>
+
+<p>"That's exactly what I mean," said Loto quickly. "My other mechanism
+changes the time-factor of the entire apparatus. I can explain it best
+this way: Every particle of matter in that machine&mdash;as well as my own
+body&mdash;is electrical in its basic nature. My mechanism circulates a
+current through every particle of that matter. Not an electrical
+current, but something closely allied to it. The nature of this I do not
+yet know. But it causes the inherent vibratory movements of the protons
+of matter to change their character. The matter changes its state. It
+acquires a different time-factor, in other words."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this change instantaneous?" the Doctor asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. It is progressive. To reach the time-factor of tomorrow night,
+take the first few minutes of time as it seems<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> to us to pass. The
+time-factor of next week would be reached during the succeeding two or
+three minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"In other words, it picks up speed," said the Big Business Man.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. How long the acceleration will last I do not know. I have a series
+of dials for registering the time-movement. By altering the strength,
+the intensity of the current, I can vary the speed, or check it
+entirely."</p>
+
+<p>"But why have this apparatus in the form of an airplane?" asked the
+Banker. "You're going through time, not space."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers answered: "In a hundred years from now this building will not be
+here. If we were to stop his time-movement at that point, he would drop
+twenty stories through space to the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course!" exclaimed the Big Business Man. "But in the air..."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," said Loto. "I shall not start the propellers until later;
+until I am launched into future time, and need them."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers looked at his watch. "Have you much to do before you start,
+Loto?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir&mdash;nothing. I have food and water, clothing, and everything else
+I need. I filled our list very carefully, and checked over everything
+this afternoon. I could have started then; I've left nothing to do
+tonight."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you might as well get away at once. You'll remember everything
+I've told you, Loto? You'll come back here, as quickly as possible? Here
+to this rooftop?"</p>
+
+<p>The strain of anxiety under which Rogers was subconsciously laboring
+came out suddenly in his voice. "You'll be careful, lad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, of course. I&mdash;well, I might as well say good-by now, Father."</p>
+
+<p>They shook hands silently, and Rogers abruptly turned away.</p>
+
+<p>Loto shook hands with the others.</p>
+
+<p>The Banker had withdrawn to the farthest corner of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> enclosure, where
+he stood regarding the airplane fearfully. Loto walked over to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, boy." The Banker's voice was gruff and a trifle unsteady.
+"Take it easy. Don't be a reckless fool just because you're young."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be all right, sir." Silently they shook hands.</p>
+
+<p>Loto met his mother a few paces away. He stood head and shoulders above
+her, and her arms went around him hungrily as he bent down to kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll come back to me, little son?" she whispered. "You'll come back
+safely?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mother. Of course."</p>
+
+<p>He met her eyes, with the terror lurking in their gray depths.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't look like that, <i>mamita</i>. I'll be all right."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers was calling to them. Loto disengaged himself gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, <i>mamita</i>. I'll be back tomorrow or the next day. Don't
+worry&mdash;it's nothing."</p>
+
+<p>The last preparations took no more than a moment or two. Loto climbed to
+the cabin and disappeared within it.</p>
+
+<p>"Be sure and take off the canvas roof later tonight," he called down to
+them. "And leave it off so I can get back."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Rogers, "we will. And one of us, at least, will be here
+watching all the time you're away. Good-by, Loto."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, Father." The cabin door closed upon him.</p>
+
+<p>At a distance of twenty feet the men stood in a solemn group, watching.</p>
+
+<p>"What will it look like going?" George whispered.</p>
+
+<p>But no one answered him.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a low hum became audible. It grew in intensity, until it
+sounded like the droning of a thousand winged insects. The airplane
+rocked gently on its foundation. It was straining, trembling in every
+fiber.</p>
+
+<p>A moment passed. Then the plane began to glow, seemingly phosphorescent
+even in the light of the electric bulbs on the scaffolding beside it.
+Another moment. There was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> fleeting impression that the thing was
+growing translucent&mdash;transparent&mdash;vapory. For one brief instant the
+vision and sound of it persisted&mdash;<i>then it was gone</i>!</p>
+
+<p>The men stood facing a silent, empty space, where a few loose boards
+were lying, with a discarded hammer, a saw, and a keg of nails.</p>
+
+<p>They had forgotten the woman. In an opposite corner of the enclosure
+Lylda was seated alone, crying softly and miserably to herself.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>George sat alone on a little bench in the roof garden of the Scientific
+Club. On the ground beside him, stretched on a broad leather cushion,
+Rogers lay asleep. It was well after midnight. There was hardly a breath
+of air stirring, and only a few fleecy clouds to hide the stars. In the
+east, a flattened moon was rising.</p>
+
+<p>George sat with his chin cupped in his hands, staring out over the
+lights and the roofs of the city. The growing moonlight gleamed on his
+soft white shirt and white flannel trousers.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers stirred and sat up. "Are you awake, George?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go on to sleep. I'm good for nearly all night."</p>
+
+<p>But Rogers rose, stretching. "What time is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quarter of two. Go on to sleep, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"I've had enough." The older man sat down on the bench and lighted a
+cigar. "You'd better take a turn, George. You'll wear yourself out."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't. I'm too excited. How long has he been gone now?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers calculated. "About twenty-eight hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think he'll get back tonight?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what he's doing right now," George persisted after a silence.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers did not answer.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't think anything could have happened to him, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I&mdash;I hope not."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I hope he brings that girl back with him," George said after another
+silence. "I certainly would like to meet her."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers plucked a flower from the trellis beside them, breaking it in his
+fingers idly. "He may get back tonight. It was our idea that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He stopped abruptly, and simultaneously George gripped him by the arm.
+They both saw it; a little blob of radiance in the air just beyond the
+flower trellis; a shining spot small as a puff of tobacco smoke gleaming
+silvery in the moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>George murmured tensely, "Over there...something."</p>
+
+<p>A transparent radiance. But in a moment it was congealing, turning into
+a glistening, solid shape. The faint hum of it sounded as it hung in
+mid-air by the trellis.</p>
+
+<p>"Not the plane," George murmured. "Then what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>The humming ceased. They could see the little object clearly now; a
+metal cube, each of its faces some twenty inches in diameter. It hung
+for another moment, then dropped with a little thump to the rooftop.</p>
+
+<p>Both the men were on their feet. Rogers said, "A message from him. An
+emergency..." He picked up the cube.</p>
+
+<p>George stared wonderingly. "You know about this?"</p>
+
+<p>"We arranged it&mdash;only for an emergency. If he could not come, or felt
+it unwise, he was to send this. We did not want to worry
+anyone&mdash;particularly his mother&mdash;so we didn't mention this
+possibility."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>In a downstairs club room, the men and Lylda were gathered, all of them
+gazing mute and solemn as Rogers opened the cube. Much of its interior
+was filled with the intricate time-mechanisms. To one side a sheaf of
+manuscript pages was crowded, closely written with Loto's script.</p>
+
+<p>"His message," George murmured. "I do hope he found the girl, and that
+they're all right."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll read it to you." Rogers' fingers were trembling as he drew out the
+pages. He lighted a cigarette, steadied himself. "The first thing he
+says&mdash;he's all right&mdash;"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Of course he's all right," the Banker growled. "That boy is
+resourceful."</p>
+
+<p>"He wants us to know that he's safe and well. It says...."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER THREE</h2>
+
+
+<p>First I want you all to know, I'm quite safe and well. <i>Mamita</i> dear,
+please try not to worry about me. Remember, Father we anticipated I
+might decide it best to send you a message. I do hope I have calculated
+the space-and time-factors correctly, and that I've set the mechanisms
+of the cube so that it will come back to you within a day or two after
+my departure. I'm assuming that is so.</p>
+
+<p>You will understand, of course, that as I have lived time, it has been
+far longer than that. Much has happened to me, and I want to tell you
+now what I can of it.</p>
+
+<p>You recall that night when I left you&mdash;to me now it seems so long ago. I
+remember your solemn faces as I closed the door of the cabin after me. I
+was in the forward one of the three compartments&mdash;you saw it when you
+inspected the plane the night I started.</p>
+
+<p>In this compartment are the controls for the Frazia motors and the
+flying controls. The controls of my own mechanism are there also. These
+are simple; merely a switch to regulate the proton current, as Father
+and I call it, and a series of small dials for recording the
+time-change. These dials are geared, with one for days, another for days
+in multiples of ten, one for years, and others for years in multiples of
+tens, hundreds, and thousands.</p>
+
+<p>I took my seat behind the Frazia controls. I was not going to use them
+at once, because there was no immediate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> need to raise the plane into
+the air. But I wanted to be seated; I could not tell what the shock of
+starting might be. The dials and switch were on the wall at my right. I
+moved the lever of the switch over to the first intensity. There was a
+low hum. The floor seemed to rock under me. The humming increased; it
+roared in my ears. Everything was vibrating with an infinitely tiny,
+trembling quiver that penetrated into my body, into my bones, even
+coursed through my blood.</p>
+
+<p>They were swift sensations, I suppose, lasting no more than a few
+seconds. I felt, as near as I can explain it, as though some force that
+holds my own body together, cell by cell, were being tampered with; as
+if, had the struggle continued, I might be shattered into a myriad of
+tiny fragments, like a puff of exploded powder.</p>
+
+<p>The humming grew still louder, and I remember trying to stand up. A wild
+impulse to throw back the switch and stop the thing came to me, but I
+resisted it. Then I was conscious of a sensation of falling headlong; a
+dizzy, sickening reeling of the senses, rather than the body.</p>
+
+<p>I lost consciousness&mdash;for only a moment or two, I think. I was sitting
+in my seat, uninjured. The humming was still in my ears, insistent. But
+it was not so loud as I had thought, and after a time I forgot it almost
+entirely.</p>
+
+<p>My first impression now was that everything about me was glowing,
+radiating a phosphorescent light. I looked down at my knees; my clothes
+were glowing. I could no longer distinguish color; my hands and my shoes
+were the same&mdash;all that same glowing phosphorescence. It gave a sense of
+unreality to everything. And then I saw that everything <i>was</i> unreal;
+nothing had any substance. I could distinguish the side of the cabin
+through my hand, and beyond the cabin wall I could see the solidity of
+the board enclosure where the plane was resting. It was as though my
+body and the cabin interior were shimmering ghosts. But when I gripped
+my knee with my hand, I felt solid enough.</p>
+
+<p>I have given you details of my sensations as I remember them now, but I
+do not suppose that more than a minute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> or two had elapsed since I had
+first pulled the switch. I glanced at the dial recording the passage of
+days but there was no movement.</p>
+
+<p>I stood up, conscious of a nausea and a strong feeling of
+light-headedness. I peered through one of the side windows. Outside,
+everything looked at first glance as though I had not yet started. The
+walls of the enclosure were clear, solid and as distinct as before. Then
+I saw George staring directly at me, and I could tell by the expression
+of his face that he was looking, not at the plane, but at an empty space
+where the plane had been.</p>
+
+<p>It was all as real outside as though I had been part of it myself&mdash;until
+I saw the others move across the enclosure. They were walking extremely
+fast and their gestures were rapid; two or three times more rapid than
+normal.</p>
+
+<p>For what seemed like five or ten minutes I stood there watching you all.
+It was like a moving picture being run too fast&mdash;and being constantly
+accelerated. I saw you roll back the canvas roof, and then you went
+scurrying out through the door&mdash;the last of you so fast that the figure
+blurred in my sight.</p>
+
+<p>I was left alone. For a while I sat there, a little dazed. There is a
+small clock on the side wall of the cabin. It might have been completely
+radium-painted, by the look of it at that moment, but even though it
+glowed as intangible as a ghost, I could make out the hands. I was sure
+they would be traveling through space at their accustomed speed and thus
+give me the time of the world I had left. I had started at about ten
+minutes of ten; the clock now showed about five minutes after ten. I had
+been gone fifteen minutes. Above the enclosure, to the east, I saw the
+moon. It was about an hour up, I judged. And that gave me a basis to
+compute my starting acceleration. The moon an hour up would have made
+your time ten minutes of two&mdash;four hours after I started. I had passed
+through those first four hours in fifteen minutes!</p>
+
+<p>This was with my control at the weakest intensity of the current. There
+are twenty subdivisions of power. I pushed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> the handle around from one
+to the other of them quickly, pausing only an instant on each, and
+stopping at the tenth. There was no change of sensation, except that the
+humming seemed to grow, not louder exactly, but more powerful&mdash;more
+penetrating. The interior of the cabin and my own body lost visible
+density in appearance. You had switched off the electric lights outside,
+but in the moonlight I could still see the board walls, not only through
+the windows, but through the metallic sides of the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>I was tingling all over, but the sensation, now that I was used to it,
+was pleasant rather than the reverse; a feeling of lightness, buoyancy
+and strength.</p>
+
+<p>With the power increased tenfold, the acceleration of time-movement was
+enormous. The movement of the rising moon became visible; the heavens
+were turning over, the stars progressing from point to point with ever
+increasing speed.</p>
+
+<p>About ten minutes after ten by the clock, the moon was near the zenith,
+and the sun rose an instant later. I was conscious of a flash of
+twilight, and the sun's disk shot up from the horizon. The world was
+plunged into daylight.</p>
+
+<p>From my position inside the enclosure I could see nothing outside but
+the sky and one or two of the tallest buildings near at hand. There was
+no visible movement of anything but the sun. You can understand that, of
+course. Had any of you come into the enclosure, or had an airplane
+passed overhead, I would not have seen either one. The movement would
+have been too rapid for my vision.</p>
+
+<p>In perhaps a minute or two the sun was directly overhead, and in another
+fraction of a minute it had set. Darkness was upon me. Then the moon
+rose again and flashed across the heavens. Clouds formed and disappeared
+so quickly I could hardly see them.</p>
+
+<p>I glanced at the dial recording days. Its hand was moving. One day had
+passed, and the hand was traveling toward the next.</p>
+
+<p>For ten minutes or so I sat there, while day succeeded night and night
+came again, only to be followed almost in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>stantly by the day light. Soon
+I could distinguish only thin streaks of light as the sun and moon
+crossed above me&mdash;streaks that came closer together, merged into one,
+and separated again as the month passed. And then the days became so
+brief that they blurred with the nights. A grayness settled upon
+everything; the mingled twilight of light and darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The hand of the day dial was sweeping around swiftly. I looked at the
+dial beside it, which recorded days in multiples of ten. Its pointer was
+also moving. Forty odd days were recorded and the movement was
+accelerating every instant.</p>
+
+<p>I thought then I had better leave the rooftop. I started the Frazia
+'copters, and rose about a thousand feet. Then I slowed them down until
+a balance with gravity was maintained, and I hung stationary. You may be
+surprised that the flying mechanism was effective while I was sweeping
+so swiftly through time. If our atmosphere did not persist in time, the
+propellers would have exerted no pressure against it. But the air does
+persist, and so does gravity.</p>
+
+<p>There was apparently no wind. The transient winds and storms of a few
+hours were all blended. The result, however, must have been a slight
+influence to the north, for I found myself drifting very slowly in that
+direction. After a few moments my time-velocity had so increased that
+even that drift was averaged. I hung motionless.</p>
+
+<p>From this height&mdash;a thousand feet above the southern boundary of Central
+Park&mdash;the scene below me was a strange one. At first glance, I might
+have been hanging in a balloon on a dull, soundless day very heavily
+overcast. Except that the sky, instead of showing dark clouds, was a
+queer, luminous gray blur that distinguished nothing.</p>
+
+<p>The city below me lay clear cut but absolutely shadowless, which gave it
+a very extraordinary look of flatness&mdash;a vista of buildings painted upon
+a huge, concave canvas. Colors were distinguishable, but they were
+abnormally grayish and drab. Vague, unreal pencil points of light dotted
+the scene&mdash;electric lights that were on every night in the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> spots,
+and off in the daytime&mdash;the blended effect of which was visible. There
+was no sound. Nor was there motion. It looked like a dead, empty city.
+The streets seemed deserted, with not even a blur to mark those millions
+of transitory movements of humans and vehicles that I knew were taking
+place.</p>
+
+<p>I had been conscious of a brief period of chill, and for a moment or two
+the scene had assumed a whiter aspect, especially in the park. I
+conceived this as a blending of several heavy, lingering snowfalls of
+the winter.</p>
+
+<p>The lowest dial, marking days, now showed only a blur as its pointer
+swept around. And the year-dial pointer was visibly moving. I had passed
+one year and was well into the second. The clock showed ten thirty. I
+had been gone forty minutes!</p>
+
+<p>I said there was no visible movement in the scene beneath me. That was
+so, at first, but I soon began to see plenty of movement. The white look
+had come and gone again&mdash;far briefer this time&mdash;when my attention was
+caught by a building on Broadway, along in the Fifties somewhere. It was
+a broad but low building, no more than eight or ten stories high; the
+lowest in its immediate vicinity. It seemed now to be melting before my
+eyes! That is the only way I can describe it&mdash;melting. Parts of it were
+vanishing! It was dismembering, as though piece by piece it was being
+taken apart and carried away. Which, of course, is exactly what was
+happening.</p>
+
+<p>Can you form a mental picture of that? I hope so, for it was
+characteristic of all the movement that now began to assume visibility
+throughout the silent city. This building that melted&mdash;I come back to
+that word because it seems the only one suitable&mdash;was gone in a moment
+or two. Try to conceive that I did not see actual movement&mdash;not the
+physical movement we are accustomed to. They were tearing down that
+building&mdash;doubtless over a period of weeks. But I could not see any
+specific thing being done, any part of the building come off and move
+away. All such details were too rapid&mdash;far too rapid. What I saw,
+rather, was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> <i>effect</i> of movement; a change of aspect, not the
+movement itself. The building progressively looked smaller, until at
+last it was not there.</p>
+
+<p>Then another building began rising in its place. It grew steadily. It
+was as if I were blinking, and between each blink, with an unseen
+movement, it had leaped upward another story. It seemed a skeleton at
+first, and then it was clothed. I watched it, ignoring others further
+away, until it stood complete&mdash;a full block in depth and thirty or forty
+stories high.</p>
+
+<p>I began to realize now the tremendous acceleration of time velocity I
+was undergoing. The year-dial pointer very soon had moved to ten years;
+the pointer of the century-dial was stirring. Again I glanced at the
+clock. It was after eleven; I had been gone about an hour and a quarter.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing that I had to do, and I moved about the cabin, looking
+out of each of the windows in turn. The city was rising; not one
+building, but hundreds. As my time velocity increased, I could no longer
+see them come and go individually. They were there&mdash;and then they were
+were gone, and others always larger and higher were in their stead.</p>
+
+<p>So I say the city was rising, coming up to meet me as I hung a thousand
+feet or more above it. Already one gigantic edifice to the south seemed
+to rear its spire far above me. The edges of the island stayed low, a
+fringe of the new and old mingled; but down the backbone, roughly
+following Broadway, great piles of steel and masonry were coming up.</p>
+
+<p>To the southeast I could make out the bridges over the river. There were
+others now, extraordinarily broad and high, dwarfing the older ones that
+stood neglected beside them.</p>
+
+<p>It was a period of tremendous activity. And suddenly I discovered that
+the southern half of Central Park was obliterated. I had drifted a
+little further north and was over it. A building was rising, coming up
+toward me so swiftly that its outlines were blurred and shadowy. I was
+gazing down through the window in the floor of the cabin, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> caught a
+vague impression of a network of gigantic steel girders almost
+underneath the machine.</p>
+
+<p>I was too low. I ascended perhaps another thousand feet. When I was
+again hanging stationary, I found beneath me a tremendous terraced
+building&mdash;a pyramid with its apex sliced off. To the north and south it
+connected with others of its kind; giant structures generally of pyramid
+shape, with streets running along their steplike terraces. Innumerable
+bridges connected these mammoth buildings, so that north and south, and
+for a few blocks east and west of the center, there were continuous
+aerial streets, in some places as many as ten or fifteen, one above the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>I turned to the window facing the north. There was now nothing but
+buildings as far as my line of vision extended; buildings like a ridge
+down the center, shading off to the lower areas of the east and west.
+There were trees and parks in spots on the top, but the original ground
+was covered.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the upper street levels&mdash;those alternate sections of terraces
+and bridges over courtyards whose ground was merely the rooftops of
+lower edifices&mdash;were laid with gleaming rails. And rearing itself above
+everything, a skeleton structure of monorails stretched north and
+south&mdash;eight or ten single rails paralleled at widths of some fifty
+feet, which I realized must be carrying some system of aerial railroad.</p>
+
+<p>This towering pile was indeed the backbone of the city, extending
+roughly north and south like a mountain range that forms the backbone of
+a continent. The lower areas adjacent&mdash;five hundred feet above the
+ground, perhaps&mdash;were for the most part buildings with broad, flat
+roofs.</p>
+
+<p>In New Jersey, on Long Island, and north of Manhattan as far as I could
+see, lesser cities had appeared, with occasional giants among buildings
+that were lower. The whole was now welded into one, for the rivers on
+each side of me were spanned by a bridge at almost every street; a
+network of bridges under which the water flowed almost unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>My time-velocity was still accelerating. I saw now, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>creasingly, many
+things about the city that were shadowy&mdash;structures that were erected
+and stood no more than twenty or thirty years, perhaps, which to my
+vision now was only a moment. I became aware, not only below me, but
+even above me, of occasional vague aerial structures; skeletons that
+reared themselves up a few thousand feet and dissipated into nothing
+before I could form a conception of their real nature.</p>
+
+<p>There was, indeed, everywhere this shadowy aspect as to detail. Changes
+were taking place; things were being done even the effect of which was
+too fleeting for my vision to grasp.</p>
+
+<p>I was constantly losing more details, but in general the growth of the
+city was outward and upward. Presently there came a pause, as though the
+city were resting. Occasional areas were blurred by their changing form;
+across the river in Jersey a tremendous tower was rising into the sky
+far above me. But as a whole the scene had quieted. My brain was
+confused by what I had tried to observe and comprehend. I found myself
+hungry and a little faint. I dropped into my seat.</p>
+
+<p>The dials beside me caught my attention. The century-dial pointer had
+passed eighteen. Eighteen hundred years, and approaching two thousand
+even as I sat staring at it. The clock marked one forty. I had been gone
+almost four hours. I said the city was resting. That is true. The growth
+of two thousand years had carried it to splendors of mechanical
+perfection that I could only guess at. But now it seemed to have reached
+its height; the summit of human achievement had been attained.</p>
+
+<p>I waited and watched through another period. There were changes, but
+they were minor. I suppose all the buildings and various structures
+decayed and were replenished. I do not know. The changes were too
+fleeting for me to see, and the general form remained the same.</p>
+
+<p>I was at what seemed the pinnacle of civilization, where mankind was
+resting and enjoying the results of its labors.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> Decadence was bound to
+come, as truly as death followed birth.</p>
+
+<p>The clock now recorded two fifty. I had been gone five hours. The
+century-dial was beyond thirty-seven hundred years. Two thousand years
+of growth upward from our own time-world, and only two thousand more of
+resting on the summit before the inevitable decline began. He who stands
+still, goes backward. And so it is with mankind as a whole. This
+triumphant city went down almost as quickly at it had come up. And
+through the windows of that cabin I watched it&mdash;neglected a little at
+first, then more and more as its softened masters, with nature turned
+against them, became unable to cope with it, until at last it broke up
+and sank back into ruin, decay and desolation.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER FOUR</h2>
+
+
+<p>Occasionally, now, some brave effort seemed to be made to build the city
+on a different scale. There were other types of architecture, always
+smaller; little sections, newly built, stood heroically, surrounded by
+gigantic, moldy ruins. Suddenly I realized that it was a dead city at
+which I was staring. There were no longer changes, except those natural
+to the passing years. The city was deserted; its inhabitants had died or
+had fled&mdash;or both.</p>
+
+<p>It was after five o'clock. The dials registered just short of eight
+thousand years. I had less to see now, and I could give my attention to
+other things. The ruins of a dead city do not remain long in visible
+existence. Two thousand years more were recorded. Beneath me the
+vegetation seemed untouched by the hand of man; only in a few scattered
+places<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> were there any remaining ruins: a tumbledown segment of
+building; the broken base of a tower; skeletons of crumbling steel here
+and there; headstones on the grave of what once had been a city.</p>
+
+<p>With these changes the contour of the landscape itself was forced to my
+attention. The rivers had changed; they were broader. South of Manhattan
+Island, and somewhat to the west, I could distinguish a great expanse of
+water. All the lowlands there&mdash;the "Meadows," as we call them&mdash;had sunk.
+To the north, the land seemed higher than normal, and an arm of the sea
+had crept in up there to lap the foothills.</p>
+
+<p>I have not told you of the temperature I was experiencing. When I
+started there was an almost immediate drop&mdash;a blending of day and night,
+winter and summer. It penetrated into the cabin, making the ship almost
+cold after the warm August evening of my departure.</p>
+
+<p>Now, however, at seven o'clock, when I had been gone some nine hours, I
+felt that it was growing noticeably colder. And the faintest suggestion
+of a vague whiteness began to creep into the scene below me. That is an
+odd way for me to phrase it. I was seeing each minute only the <i>effect</i>
+of the snowfalls of thirty winters, blended with all the other seasons.
+The snowfalls were increasing in severity; I became aware of that in the
+aspect of the scene, but I cannot describe it.</p>
+
+<p>It was after seven o'clock now. I had been gone about nine and a half
+hours. The dials showed eleven thousand four hundred and fifty odd
+years. I now faced a new problem: the landscape we had seen in our
+experiment had nothing in it of great duration. How could I find it, or
+tell when I had reached its time? That house in which the girl was held
+captive could stand no more than a hundred years, if that. And it was
+the only distinguishing mark in the whole scene. I would pass the
+lifetime of that house in a minute or two. I puzzled over this for quite
+a while. I had almost decided to stop and verify the actual, momentary
+conditions beneath me. And then I realized I still had far to go. There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+were trees, plenty of them, beneath me. They were constantly shifting
+and changing, but quite distinguishable, nevertheless. And in the
+enclosure about that house, Father and I had seen a tree&mdash;the only tree
+in the landscape. It was a curious looking tree, stunted, and with a
+look of the far north about it. These below me, at eleven and twelve
+thousand years ahead of our present, were more or less normal looking
+trees&mdash;or they probably would have been, had I stopped to examine them.</p>
+
+<p>I still had far to travel, so I increased the current from the tenth to
+the fifteenth intensity. Again I was conscious of that feeling of
+lightness in my head, and the humming and vibration of everything
+increased. I had almost forgotten my personal sensations; had quite
+forgotten them, in fact, for several hours past.</p>
+
+<p>I passed fifteen thousand years. I could see that the ocean to the north
+had come further inland. There was now, from my altitude, no evidence of
+mankind visible, nor anything to indicate that man had ever lived on
+this earth. The scene was more blurred now and grayer. I could still
+make out the bay to the south, with a range of hills on Staten Island
+and water behind it and to the west as far as I could see. The rivers
+bounding Manhattan were still there, but the Palisades along the Hudson
+had broken down.</p>
+
+<p>Directly beneath me was forest. I believed I had not drifted much from
+my original position. I was still over where Central Park had been some
+twenty thousand years before. The forest&mdash;it was more like
+woods&mdash;covered a narrow rolling country between the two rivers. I knew I
+was moving through time much more swiftly now, perhaps twice as fast as
+before. The vegetation was blurred, almost distorted. It was changing
+constantly and, on the whole, was growing sparser, more stunted. It was
+as though I were traveling northward, or ascending a mountain almost to
+the timber line. Another interval passed. My time-velocity had so
+increased that once I thought I could see a hill rising. But that
+probably was imagination.</p>
+
+<p>I had been gone some twelve hours&mdash;it was almost ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> o'clock&mdash;when I
+realized I was about exhausted. My head was reeling; my eyes burned and
+watered. It was growing much colder&mdash;so cold that I switched on the
+electrical heating apparatus.</p>
+
+<p>That was when the dials recorded between twenty and thirty thousand
+years. I don't remember exactly. I was confused. The scene beneath me
+was noticeably whiter, and I was now drifting to the south. I felt
+perturbed. I was going too far.</p>
+
+<p>I had reached about forty-five thousand years when abruptly I realized
+that there was no vegetation in the scene! Just when it melted away I
+had not noticed. It was all a whitish blur, now, that suggested very
+snowy winters blended with a shorter summer season. I leaped to the
+control, and threw its handle back, pausing an instant at each intensity
+of current until I had come to the first. There I left it.</p>
+
+<p>These new sensations of decreasing my time-velocity so abruptly were
+almost equally as severe as those when I started. The humming slowed up.
+My whole body seemed to be turning to lead&mdash;or freezing. I was heavy,
+stiff, and cold. I was standing up, and I managed to grip the side of
+the cabin for support, and reaching down, I threw off the switch,
+cutting off the current completely. There came a tremendous, soundless
+clap in my head; I seemed tumbling headlong into an abyss of blackness.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think I lost consciousness. My senses reeled for what seemed an
+age, but was doubtlessly only a second or two. I fell into a chair and
+the horrible dizziness passed. I raised my head and looked about me.</p>
+
+<p>My first impression was of the extraordinary solidity of the cabin
+interior. I had not realized how shadowy it had been before. Two little
+electric bulbs were burning overhead. They illuminated the compartment.
+The windows were black rectangles; It was night outside.</p>
+
+<p>I was cold; I could see my breath in the chill of the room, even though
+one of the electric heaters was in operation. Everything close to me was
+oppressively silent; the humming still seemed to persist vaguely, but I
+knew it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> only the reaction from it roaring in my ears. From the next
+compartment came the drone of the Frazia motors.</p>
+
+<p>When I had fairly recovered normality, I went to the nearest window. The
+sky was blue-black. There was no moon and the stars seemed a trifle
+hazy. Beneath me I could make out a barren expanse of snow. I checked my
+compass. Its needle had steadied now, and I saw that my drift was almost
+directly south. The ship was moving rapidly, and I was alarmed. I knew
+that, even with the compass, I could easily get lost&mdash;geographically, so
+to speak.</p>
+
+<p>My first action was to ascend. When I was up some six thousand feet I
+started back northward, against the wind.</p>
+
+<p>I was hopelessly lost, both in time and in space. I could distinguish
+nothing in the starlit, snowy landscape that seemed familiar. Whether or
+not I had passed the time world I was seeking, I had no idea. Then I
+flew low, skimming the snow no more than one or two hundred feet above
+it. There were houses! Huts would be a better word. I think they were
+built of snow, but I could not tell. It seemed an Arctic world.</p>
+
+<p>I knew then I had gone too far in time. I decided to stay near here in
+space until morning. Fortunately that proved only a short time away.
+Within half an hour the stars paled; twilight came and passed, and the
+sun rose&mdash;a huge, red, glowing ball.</p>
+
+<p>I was circling about, quite high&mdash;six or eight thousand feet possibly.
+By this reddish light of early morning I could see the bay south of me.
+There was no Long Island; the ocean had closed in to the north and east,
+and I was near its shore&mdash;a cold, snowy beach, with lazy rollers. But
+west of me there was a river&mdash;the Hudson, I was sure&mdash;double the breadth
+of one I had known. It seemed to come from a mountainous region in the
+northwest, and an arm of it north of Manhattan emptied into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere there was snow. The bay was full of floating ice. Across the
+river was an area of stunted trees. I was over Manhattan Island, I was
+sure. I circled around, searching. It was not the time world I was
+seeking&mdash;that was obvious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Should I go on, or go back through the
+centuries I had passed? I decided on the latter.</p>
+
+<p>I had now been away from you nearly sixteen hours. I was worn out. I
+flew across the river, found a level plateau to the north. There was no
+sign of human habitation in the vicinity. Shutting off my Frazia motors
+completely, I descended and came to rest on the surface of the snow, in
+a time world forty-six thousand and eight years beyond our present. I
+ate a little and, dropping to the floor of the cabin, fell asleep.
+Unwise maybe, but I had to take a chance.</p>
+
+<p>At any rate, I awakened without having been disturbed. It was night
+again; I had slept some twelve hours. I flew upward, back over Manhattan
+Island, and threw the opposite proton current into its first intensity.</p>
+
+<p>I need not go into further details. My sensations were the same as
+before, though they bothered me less as I grew more accustomed to them.
+I came back through time. At intervals I stopped and examined the
+landscape.</p>
+
+<p>The wind was blowing almost continually from the north during all these
+centuries. I flew into it slowly, keeping my approximate position
+without great difficulty. I tried to hold myself near the south center
+of the island, and look northward. I was right in going back through
+time, I soon discovered. From close to the ground where I stopped once,
+I could see a rolling hill near by that had a familiar contour. I cannot
+describe it to you, but once I saw it from that angle, I knew it was in
+the landscape we had seen from the laboratory.</p>
+
+<p>Then I found the tree. There was no house. No snow, either, for I had
+chanced then to stop in a summer season. The tree was too small. I chose
+a ten years later time world, and watching the dials closely, descended
+at a period ten and a half years later. I had struck it exactly; it must
+have been within a week or two from the time world Father and I had
+observed.</p>
+
+<p>I had occupied some eight hours with this search. The dials had stopped
+now at twenty-eight thousand two hundred odd years. I was at that
+instant flying at an altitude<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> of no more than a few hundred feet. It
+was again early morning, just after sunrise, and there was that
+familiar, snowy landscape we had seen from the laboratory.</p>
+
+<p>The house, with its enclosure and outbuildings, lay below me. I circled
+over it, staring down through the floor window. The Frazia motors are
+greatly muffled, as you know, but, even so, their sound carried down to
+the house. A figure came out into the enclosure, and stared upward at
+me. It was the girl&mdash;in a fur garment, but bareheaded&mdash;watching my
+plane. Before I could think what to do, three huge dogs, each of them
+the size of a pony, came leaping from one of the outbuildings and stood
+in a group, snarling at me with such volume and power that they made my
+blood run cold.</p>
+
+<p>I was circling slowly over the house, cursing my lack of caution and
+still too confused to do anything, when the figure of a man appeared in
+the enclosure, clad in furs and bareheaded like the girl. He stood head
+and shoulders over her. Evidently the noise of the dogs blotted out the
+sound of my motors. He did not look up into the air, but striding
+angrily to the girl, struck her in the face with the flat of his hand.
+Then he dragged her, cowering, into the house.</p>
+
+<p>I straightened out, and flew south. The howling of the dogs died away.
+Without realizing where I was going, I headed down the wind. Soon I was
+over the water. I had risen, and in the morning light could see the
+landlocked bay into which the main channel of the Hudson emptied. The
+bay itself had an entrance to the sea almost at the river's mouth.</p>
+
+<p>It was midwinter, I learned afterward. The river and the bay both seemed
+frozen over, with a mantle of snow on their ice. I passed above an
+island&mdash;Staten Island, no doubt&mdash;and mechanically swung to the west.</p>
+
+<p>What was I to do? I had several rifles in the plane, as you know, and
+one of the latest Collinger hand guns. My instinct was to land at the
+house boldly, overawe its inmates with my weapons, and carry off the
+girl. That was a fatuous thought. I very soon realized that for all I
+knew they might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> have the power to strike me dead with some weapon
+totally unknown.</p>
+
+<p>I was still flying west. I found myself far out over Jersey, and still I
+had decided nothing. There were houses beneath me and even a little
+village or two. But I did not heed them, though fortunately I had sense
+enough to ascend to a higher altitude where I could escape observation.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was rising above the sea behind me, and at last I swung about to
+face it. As it mounted higher&mdash;it was moving at about normal speed&mdash;some
+of the red, glowing look was lost; it assumed more of its familiar
+aspects of our own time world. But still an hour above the horizon as it
+was now, I could stare at it quite steadily without being blinded.</p>
+
+<p>I was heading east. In another ten minutes I would have been back in
+Manhattan. I decided that I would leave the plane secluded somewhere and
+approach the house on foot, quietly. If I could only elude the dogs and
+not arouse them, I hoped to be able to get into the house and get the
+girl out. I realize now it was a foolhardy plan.</p>
+
+<p>I flew very low up the Hudson from its mouth. I was afraid I might be
+seen. Then it suddenly occurred to me how easily I could avoid that with
+certainty. I threw the switch of the proton current into the first and
+then the second intensity, and began a slow time flight forward through
+the day simultaneously with my flight up the river.</p>
+
+<p>I found a good hiding place for the plane on the east bank of the
+river&mdash;a broad, flat sort of gully some two hundred feet wide. I figured
+this was about abreast of the house, and I lowered the plane into it. It
+was difficult to do because of my southward drift, but I managed it. As
+I neared the ground I shut off the proton current and came to rest in
+time and space almost at the same moment.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was just setting behind a line of hills across the river. As I
+had not eaten for several hours, I sat in the cabin now and ate,
+planning exactly what I should do to rescue the girl.</p>
+
+<p>You will not understand it, but as I sat there, alone, with no one to
+consult, it did not seem to me so desperate an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> enterprise. My
+Collinger, no bigger than your hand, would silently fire a dozen bullets
+in as many seconds, each capable of killing a human, or one of those
+dogs.</p>
+
+<p>It was the dogs I was most afraid of. And yet, as I had observed from
+the laboratory, they did not run loose about the grounds at night, but
+were trained to stay in the kennel, which was some distance from the
+dwelling...three or four hundred feet, perhaps.</p>
+
+<p>I decided to start about midnight. My clock gave a totally different
+hour, of course, from the correct one of that particular time world. But
+I was planning to leave the plane about six hours after sunset.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long evening, but the time finally arrived. I put on my fur
+coat and went bareheaded, because I wanted to look as rational to
+the girl as possible. At best she would be afraid of me, a
+stranger&mdash;probably more afraid of me than of her captors. I realized
+fully what a difficulty that would be. An outcry from her, or any
+resistance on her part, might lose me everything. But my intentions
+were the best, though she could not know it.</p>
+
+<p>I left the plane. Besides the Collinger, I had a hand compass and a
+small flashlight. It was very cold. I scrambled out through the snow, up
+the side of the gulley to the level land above&mdash;a climb of sixty or
+seventy feet. The snow was deep, with an underlying surface of ice that
+would support my weight. Up here on the higher land it was colder than
+ever. The north wind hit me full, and I had been walking no more than
+five minutes when it began to snow&mdash;tremendous flakes, that soon came in
+a thick, soft cloud, and blotted out everything around me. In my pocket
+I had my fur cap with ear tabs, and I soon found I would have to wear
+it.</p>
+
+<p>I was heading across the wind, plowing through the loose snow. I could
+see only a few feet ahead of me. It was a pathless waste. And suddenly
+the whimsical thought came over me that I was crossing Fifty-ninth
+Street, and soon I would be near Columbus Circle. It was the same space,
+the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> location. Nothing was different but the time&mdash;the changes time
+had brought.</p>
+
+<p>I took out my compass and, by the light of the flashlight, I consulted
+it. I was heading as nearly as I could toward the house. So far as I had
+been able to tell before, there was no other habitation on the island. I
+suppose I struggled along for nearly an hour. I figured I must be in the
+vicinity of the house now, though I could see nothing but the snow
+covered ground a few feet ahead of me, the whirling flakes close at
+hand, and the blackness overhead. Without warning, through a rift in the
+clouds to the east, came moonlight; a gigantic, egg-shaped moon with a
+reddish tinge to it that gave the scene a lurid, extremely weird look.</p>
+
+<p>The house was in sight, ahead and to the left, on a slight rise of
+ground no more than a quarter of a mile away. I was faced now with the
+necessity for a definite course of action. From the laboratory, with my
+telescope, I had occasionally seen the girl late at night, sitting in
+the central living room of the house. I had seen her through the
+windows, and she had always left the living room in a southeast
+direction. The house faced south; I felt that her room was in the
+southeast end. The enclosure lay mostly behind the house, toward the
+north, with the dog kennel in its extreme northern wall.</p>
+
+<p>This was all advantageous to me. I knew I had to keep away from those
+dogs. With a wind of from twenty to thirty miles an hour blowing from
+them to me, I felt sure that they would not get my scent. My plan was to
+get into the house through either a sort of gateway in the southeast
+wall of the enclosure, or directly in through a window. I expected to
+locate the girl and carry here away&mdash;by force, I suppose. I was
+confident&mdash;absurdly so, I realize now. I think it was the
+enthusiasm&mdash;the excitement&mdash;of being actually engaged in what I had
+contemplated for two long years and had worked so hard to attain.</p>
+
+<p>My heart was beating fast as I crept forward, the Collinger in my gloved
+hand. It was still snowing hard, and presently the clouds swept back
+over the newly risen moon; but I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> now so close up that I could see
+the dark outlines of the house, and the wall of the enclosure.</p>
+
+<p>The building was only one story, but quite high, with a queer looking
+overhanging roof. The wall of the enclosure was some ten feet high. I
+circled to the south, and was soon close up to the main doorway of the
+house. The whole place was piled with snow. There was not a sound, only
+the howling of the wind as it swept in gusts under the low eaves.</p>
+
+<p>The glass door&mdash;I suppose it was glass&mdash;was a single rectangular pane in
+a dark, narrow frame. It was no more than three feet broad, and at least
+twelve feet high. Behind it I could see the dimly lighted interior&mdash;a
+soft, blue-white light. I could not see where it came from.</p>
+
+<p>For quite a while I must have stood there motionless, peering in. A
+portion of a large room was in the line of my sight; It seemed
+unoccupied. I could see a back wall hung with something dark; a sort of
+low couch to one side; queerly shaped, low chairs and a table or two.
+And there was a floor covering of some thick, soft textile, and several
+furs lying about. A large fur rug covered the couch.</p>
+
+<p>To the right I could see a low archway, hung with a curtain. That was in
+the direction of the girl's room. There were two other archways with
+curtains, but evidently no interior doors to the house.</p>
+
+<p>I had been pressing against the glass pane; it seemed to give a little.
+I pushed. The motion was inward, and greater at the bottom. I knelt down
+and shoved it. The lower half swung silently and smoothly inward and
+upward, while the upper half came out and down. The whole twelve foot
+pane was pivoted at its center. When it paralleled the floor it stopped,
+and there was a six foot opening leading into the house.</p>
+
+<p>I took a cautious step, listening intently, peering around me&mdash;behind
+me&mdash;with the sudden feeling that something supernatural might leap forth
+and spring at me any instant.</p>
+
+<p>But the Collinger, my finger on the trigger, gave me courage. In my left
+hand I held the flashlight, and very slow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>ly I crept toward the
+curtained archway behind which I hoped the girl might be. Suddenly I
+remembered my cap. I smiled at the absurdity of the detail, but,
+nevertheless, I pulled it off and stuffed it in my pocket. Then I went
+forward, pushed aside the curtain, and entered the space behind it.</p>
+
+<p>I was in darkness as the curtain dropped. It must have been a sort of
+anteroom, or a short hallway, for some twenty feet ahead of me I saw
+another curtain with a blue radiance beyond it.</p>
+
+<p>A moment more and I had pushed aside the second curtain and stood
+peering into the room beyond. It was more dimly lighted than the living
+room. Across it, in a angle of wall, the first thing my gaze caught was
+a low couch or divan, bathed in the blue radiance from a brazier beside
+it, which left the rest of the room in gloom. The girl lay there asleep.
+A soft, pure-white fur was covering her, but her bare arms and shoulders
+were above it. One arm was crooked under her head for a pillow; the
+other, almost as white as the rug, lay stretched out over the fur. On
+her breast, her golden hair lay in waves.</p>
+
+<p>I stood transfixed by the ethereal loveliness of the face, calm in deep
+slumber. It was a small oval face of seemingly perfect features, with
+soft, curving red lips, smooth, rosy cheeks and long, silken lashes that
+lay motionless as she slept.</p>
+
+<p>My emotion at the picture was short lived; other thoughts crowded up me.
+What was I to do? I could not awaken the girl and ask her to come with
+me. She would not understand the words, and if she did, she would
+probably have screamed before I could get them out. Seize her, stifle
+her cries and carry her off forcibly? Perhaps that is what I should have
+done; taken her to the plane and left explanations until afterward.</p>
+
+<p>But I could not bring myself to do that. Somehow, my whole instinct was
+to retreat from the room. I felt myself a gross intruder in a sanctified
+place, my very gaze an insult. What I would finally have done, I don't
+know. Events<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> took the decision out of my hands. The wind outside roared
+with a sudden gust that must have pulled loose something under the
+eaves. There came a rattle, a thump, loud in the silence of the house.
+Then the wind died again.</p>
+
+<p>I glanced up to the ceiling, startled, with my heart pounding and the
+Collinger pointed toward the sound. I could see nothing but the dark
+rectangle of a window up there. My gaze fell again to the couch&mdash;and met
+the opened eyes of the girl. She was sitting up, her hair tumbling over
+her shoulders, one hand instinctively gripping the white fur to raise it
+more closely about her, the other pressed against her mouth. I think I
+could never imagine an expression of more utter terror than that on her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>I murmured something intended to be reassuring and made the mistake of
+taking a step forward. It was the worst thing I could have done, for her
+frightened scream rang out through the house. I guess by then I was
+thoroughly confused. I turned back toward the curtain. I would escape
+from the house&mdash;come back some other time. Or should I pick her up now,
+and run with her? She was small, frail. I could carry her easily; escape
+almost as quickly with her, perhaps, as by myself. And shoot back at
+anyone&mdash;anything&mdash;that followed.</p>
+
+<p>I found myself back at her couch. She had withdrawn to the further side
+of it, huddled against the wall. Her horrified eyes were on my face, but
+she did not scream again.</p>
+
+<p>There was a noise behind me, and I swung about. The curtain was parting.
+There was a figure there. I could not see it plainly; it was in the
+darkness, and I was in the light. I aimed the Collinger, pressed the
+trigger. Simultaneously, a tiny pencil-point of light seemed to spring
+at me from where the figure was standing. A brief, very tiny but
+horribly intense glare flashed in my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>I was in darkness; everything went black. I did not fall, but reeled
+sidewise. I heard a mocking laugh and footsteps coming toward me; a hand
+struck me across the mouth.</p>
+
+<p>It is terrible to fight in total darkness. I stumbled aimlessly
+somewhere, and felt the Collinger twisted from me. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> when I lurched
+in that direction, my outflung arms met only empty air. Again a hand
+struck me across the mouth; again that mocking laugh. My assailant was
+playing with me.</p>
+
+<p>I was unhurt, and desperately I rushed to where I thought the room's
+exit might be. But strong fingers gripped my shoulder and I was flung
+violently sidewise. I must have struck my head against something as I
+went down. My senses faded; the last thing I remember was that jeering,
+mocking laughter floating out of the darkness.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER FIVE</h2>
+
+
+<p>When I came to, I was still lying where I had fallen. Striking my head
+had knocked me out momentarily. I heard voices; some one was kneeling
+beside me. I opened my eyes, but everything was black. I remember
+feeling my head; It was not cut. I was unhurt, and I struggled to a
+sitting position. Whoever it was beside me, now stood up and moved away.
+The girl's voice came to me out of the darkness. The low words were
+unintelligible&mdash;yet they were words not wholly unfamiliar in ring.</p>
+
+<p>The darkness was full of little darting red spots. And my eyes pained
+me; the backs of my eyeballs were burning. I was blind. I had thought
+the light in the room had suddenly been extinguished, and a vague idea
+that my antagonist could see in the dark had possessed me. But it wasn't
+so. He had blinded me with the tiny flash of light that had struck into
+my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>My head was still reeling from the blow it had received when I fell.
+They carried me, half conscious, into some other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> room, and left me
+lying on something soft. I closed my eyes, but I could not shut out
+those darting red spots. At last, I must have drifted off to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>When I awoke it was morning. The red glow of the sunrise was coming in
+through a small aperture up near the ceiling. I could see it; the
+blindness had passed. My head was still ringing and my eyes still pained
+me, but I was uninjured. I was on a low couch, with a fur rug under me.
+My overcoat lay beside me on the floor. The whole thing seemed like a
+dream, but finally I got it straightened out in my mind.</p>
+
+<p>I was in a fairly large bedroom. Two windows of heavy transparent
+material were up near the ceiling. Opposite the windows was a doorway
+with a curtain. I slipped into my overcoat, searching its pockets. My
+cap was there, but the compass and the flashlight were gone and my
+Collinger had already been taken from me.</p>
+
+<p>The storm outside seemed to have passed. The house was dead silent. I
+went to the curtain; beyond it was a small hall, empty, and with another
+curtain at its further end. This I pushed aside cautiously. I was
+looking into the main living room of the house, and met the direct gaze
+of a man who was lounging there.</p>
+
+<p>I dropped the curtain hastily, but he had seen me and sprung to his
+feet&mdash;a powerful man, taller than myself, with gray, loose-fitting
+trousers and naked torso. I retreated back to the bedroom; the fear of
+what he might do to me, blind me or worse, made me anything but anxious
+to encounter him again.</p>
+
+<p>He followed and was upon me, twisting me by the shoulders to face him.
+He was a man of about thirty-five with black hair, long to the base of
+his neck; a smooth-shaven, strong, rugged face; keen gray eyes beneath
+black, bushy brows; a nose a little like a hawk, and a wide mouth with
+thin lips. It was the sort of face that bespoke power and cruelty&mdash;a
+nature born to dominate its fellows. His gaze was searching, puzzled. I
+knew he was trying to make me out&mdash;wondering what manner of man I was,
+and where I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> had come from. He spoke to me. I could not understand the
+words, but again I got the impression that they were familiar English
+words spoken differently. I answered him. I don't remember what I said,
+but he frowned and pushed me from him, toward the couch.</p>
+
+<p>I had decided to appear docile. I stumbled to the couch and sat down on
+it. He stood in the center of the room, regarding me, and I managed what
+I hoped might be an ingratiating smile. This seemed to appeal to him,
+for he smiled back. Then he swung about and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>For a while I sat quiet. The girl&mdash;where she was I did not know. I would
+have escaped without her if I could, but escape did not seem possible;
+at least, it was more of a risk than I cared to take. The feeling came
+to me that even now as I sat on the couch, I might be observed. How
+could I tell whether someone was watching me from behind some hidden
+orifice, through which, as I turned my gaze that way, that tiny,
+blinding beam of light would spring at me?</p>
+
+<p>It was too big a chance. I would wait, and when I knew better what I had
+to contend with, watch for an opportunity to escape.</p>
+
+<p>The room was fairly light now, with that queer, reddish light. I could
+see the sky, brilliant with a glorious red sunrise, through the little
+windows overhead. I moved the table and climbed on it; outside was snow,
+tinged with red. I was at an east end of the house, perhaps next to the
+girl's room.</p>
+
+<p>At a corner of the building nearby sat one of the dogs&mdash;like a gigantic
+shaggy wolf, quiet but alert. His head was fully six feet above the
+ground as he sat there, squatting on his haunches. He heard me open the
+window, and trotted quietly over to look at me. My fascinated stare met
+his eyes squarely&mdash;eyes that seemed to hold an almost uncanny human
+intelligence. He seemed satisfied with the situation, for he trotted
+back to the corner of the house and sat down again. But he was still
+watching me.</p>
+
+<p>I dropped to the floor. The incident had left me shuddering. What manner
+of brutes were these, with gleaming, tusk-like teeth, dripping jowls and
+a power in those tre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>mendous muscles that must have far exceeded the
+strongest horse! And eyes that might have been human! At that moment,
+escape seemed further away than ever.</p>
+
+<p>For three days they fed me in that room. A woman came mostly. She wore a
+loose, shapeless robe of dark cloth. It was dowdy-looking. Her hair was
+iron-gray, long to her waist, twisted into a bundle and bound with
+strips of dark cloth. Her face was thin, careworn. She brought me my
+food; some kinds of cooked meats and starchy vegetables, like potatoes.
+She was kind enough, but grim, as though I were an unpleasant task that
+her conscience made her discharge punctiliously.</p>
+
+<p>I tried to talk to her, but she couldn't understand me, nor I her.
+Afterward, I learned she was the older man's old maid daughter. The old
+man himself came in a few times; a smooth-shaven, stalwart man of about
+seventy, dressed in wide, flowing trousers and naked above the waist.
+Sometimes he wore a short little house jacket. His name was Bool. The
+younger man&mdash;the master of the house&mdash;was named Toroh. He came in and
+sat by me a few times, always intent on seeing that I was properly cared
+for. But there was no mistaking the fact that he would have killed me
+without compunction had I annoyed him; and I could not forget his
+sardonic laughter when he had blinded me.</p>
+
+<p>I've been telling you about my first three days in the house. I did not
+see the girl except once, just for a moment. I was not held to the room,
+although I stayed there almost constantly. And one or the other of those
+dogs was outside all the time. After the first day, I grew bold enough
+to go into the living room.</p>
+
+<p>Once, when I was sitting alone in the main room, the girl entered. She
+stood in the doorway, and for the first time I realized how small and
+slight she was. She looked almost Egyptian&mdash;I mean her manner of dress.
+She was wearing a blue-colored cloth wound wide about her hips, with a
+dull red sash hanging knee-length down one side; sandals on her bare
+feet; breastplates of metal, and a broad, low-cut collar of cloth with
+little coins on it that widened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> to cover her shoulders. And her golden
+hair was parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with
+little tassels.</p>
+
+<p>She was standing there staring at me, and this time there was no fear in
+her eyes&mdash;only curiosity. My heart leaped; it was what I hoped for most.
+I could do nothing toward planning to get her out of the house as long
+as she continued to be afraid of me.</p>
+
+<p>I smiled at her in as inoffensive and friendly a fashion as I could. Her
+eyes fell, then came up and I could see she was wondering at my clothes;
+my shoes, trousers, shirt and tie. Abruptly I realized that, except for
+my garb, I probably did not look extraordinary or frightening to her.
+The thought gave me new courage. I stood up, and spoke. At once she
+turned and ran from the room.</p>
+
+<p>We were a strange household, but after a time, except for having my
+meals alone, I found I could move about pretty freely. Once Toroh
+brought me my electric torch, and, making sure I did not aim it at him,
+he made me light it. I knew he believed it a weapon. I thought this a
+good chance to convince him I was friendly. I smiled and shined it into
+my eyes, to show him it was harmless. He grunted and, taking the
+flashlight from me, tossed it across the room, indicating it was of no
+use or further interest.</p>
+
+<p>Then he produced my Collinger and made me show him how to operate it.
+But he was too clever to let me hold it; he did not let it get out of
+his hands. When he had fired it at a mark out the doorway, he grunted
+again and laid it on the snow. At a distance of twenty feet he stood
+with some object in his hand which he did not show me. Abruptly the
+Collinger flew into fragments! All its cartridges had been exploded
+simultaneously. The bullets whistled past us, startling Toroh as much as
+they did me. Later I learned he had exploded it by something akin to
+radio. He picked up the remains and when he got back into the house, he
+tossed my broken weapon away disdainfully. It was the attitude a soldier
+of today might have toward an Indian warrior and his bow and arrow.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Toroh, I learned later, thought I had come from another planet. He had
+seen my plane the morning I hovered over the house. No one from another
+planet had been to the earth for centuries. But history told of them,
+and he thought I was one of them, come again. He treated me kindly
+enough&mdash;probably because I did not anger him or cross him in any way.
+But I had seen him strike the girl in the face, and one day he struck
+the woman. I have never seen such a look of sullen, repressed hatred as
+she gave him. She seemed to hate her father, too. Later, I often saw him
+cuff her when she annoyed him.</p>
+
+<p>I have so much to tell you. Toroh took two of his dogs and his sled and
+went away after about a week. He was gone a month, and during that time
+I stayed docilely in the house. I saw many opportunities when I might
+have escaped. But now I would not, without taking the girl&mdash;whose name,
+by the way, is Azeela&mdash;and I could not expose her to such danger as
+always seemed imminent.</p>
+
+<p>I must have convinced them all that I was harmless. No one paid me great
+attention except the woman, Koa. Often I would see her peering furtively
+at me from some distant doorway.</p>
+
+<p>Azeela soon became friendly, and since we both had nothing to do, she
+devoted herself to learning our language. I tried to learn hers and
+failed miserably. But she picked ours up with extraordinary
+rapidity&mdash;perhaps because her mind was quicker, her memory more
+retentive. And I think, also, because she has behind her the inherited
+instincts of knowledge through all the centuries from our own time-world
+forward.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, within the month she could speak English freely enough for us to
+get along&mdash;with a quaint little accent that is wholly indescribable.</p>
+
+<p>I think her language was derived very nearly from the English we speak
+today. Ours was, to her, merely archaic; but hers, modern beyond my
+time, was too much for me. It was an extraordinary story that Azeela had
+to tell me&mdash;as extraordinary as mine must have seemed to her. We be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>came
+friends, and with friendship came a renewed desire on both our parts to
+escape. Her people were many hundred miles away, and, when I told her of
+my plane, I very soon persuaded her to let me take her back to her own
+country.</p>
+
+<p>Quite evidently my plane had not been discovered. If it had not snowed
+so heavily that first night, the dogs would have led Toroh back over my
+trail to it. But it was still safe, though I did not know it then; and
+the thought that it might have been found bothered me a lot, I can tell
+you.</p>
+
+<p>We decided to try and escape. Toroh was expected back any day. We spent
+a morning discussing it, planning it in detail. My weapons were gone,
+and Azeela did not know where they were. Bool had a cylinder of the
+blinding-flash&mdash;I call it that because their name for it would mean
+nothing to you&mdash;but we could not get it; he always kept it about his
+person. The woman, Koa, we did not think was armed&mdash;though she might
+have been.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh had taken two of the dogs. There was one left, and almost
+continually it was pacing about the house outside. We realized that even
+if we succeeded in getting away from the place, the dog would follow and
+overtake us before we could reach the plane.</p>
+
+<p>Bool was in one of the outbuildings nearly all that morning. Koa was
+moving about the house. We did not think she was listening to us; but
+she was, and evidently she had picked up something of our
+language&mdash;enough to give her the import of what we were discussing.</p>
+
+<p>She appeared suddenly, and with a furtive glance around, told Azeela she
+would help us escape. Azeela translated it to me, and the woman nodded
+grimly in confirmation. She was sorry for Azeela, and she hated Toroh
+sufficiently to want the girl out of his clutches.</p>
+
+<p>Koa's plan was simple and it sounded eminently practical. She had no
+weapons, and did not know where any were, except for her father's, and
+that she would not dare try to secure. But late that afternoon Bool
+would be in his room dozing. Koa would lock the dog in the kennel. Then
+we would be free to depart.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun was almost setting that day when Koa informed us that the time
+had come. We had restrained our excitement; Bool had apparently not
+noticed anything unusual in our outward appearance during the day. He
+had retired to his room as customary, and Koa had taken the dog away.</p>
+
+<p>I did not altogether trust Koa, and it made me shudder to think of
+taking Azeela outside and perhaps having the dog spring upon us from
+somewhere. But we had to chance it, and the woman seemed sincere.</p>
+
+<p>We had searched the house as best we could without arousing Bool, but we
+found no weapon of any kind. At last we were ready, I in my fur coat,
+Azeela in furs; shoes, trousers and coat all in one piece. She looked
+like a slender little Eskimo girl, and I smiled as she pulled up a fur
+hood and fitted it close about her face, tucking her hair up under it. I
+had been mistaken about headgear; it was just a coincidence that I had
+never seen anyone in this time-world wearing a cap.</p>
+
+<p>I put on my own cap and we were ready. As we met in the main room, Koa
+nodded sourly for us to be gone. At that instant the dog, outside in the
+kennel, gave a long mournful howl. I don't know why; I suppose it was
+just fate. Koa, waving us toward the doorway, hastened away to quiet the
+dog.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment I hesitated. Should we start? Had the dog gotten loose?
+That moment of hesitation was too long. Bool stood in the doorway,
+staring at our fur-covered figures. Astonishment, anger, rage swept over
+his face. His hand went to his belt; he jerked something loose. I heard
+Azeela give a sharp cry of warning. Bool's hand held an object like a
+little crescent of glass, with a tiny wire connecting its horns. Sparks
+darted from the wire.</p>
+
+<p>I was about to leap forward when suddenly I was stricken. I can only
+describe it as paralysis. I stood stock-still; my arms dropped to my
+sides. I felt no pain, but I was rooted to the spot, without power to
+lift my legs. Azeela, beside me, was evidently within the influence of
+the weapon, also. She was standing rigid. Bool's face held a leer of
+triumph. His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> left hand was fumbling at his belt for some other weapon.
+I knew that in another moment he would have killed us, and still I could
+not move. I tell you, it was a ghastly feeling. There was a numbness
+creeping all over me. My hands were turning cold. My feet felt wooden.
+My legs were giving way under me, and in a few seconds more I think I
+should have fallen.</p>
+
+<p>It all happened very quickly. Behind Bool, Koa had appeared. He did not
+hear her, and she darted forward and struck at his wrist. The little
+crescent of glass dropped to the floor and was shattered. A wave of heat
+swept over me&mdash;the blood rushing again to my limbs.</p>
+
+<p>Bool had turned furiously upon Koa, but my strength was coming back
+fast. I jumped at them, caught Bool unprepared. My body struck his and
+we went down. He fell backward with me on top of him. His hand now held
+a metal cylinder; he was trying to get it up to my face.</p>
+
+<p>Azeela came darting across the room, threw herself upon us, and twisted
+the weapon from Bool's fingers. I did not know she had done it. Bool was
+kicking, squirming, and his left hand had me by the forehead, pushing my
+head back to expose my face. Enraged, I flung myself down on him, my
+forearm striking his head against the floor. His hold relaxed; he lay
+still.</p>
+
+<p>When I got to my feet, Koa was stooping over Bool. She seemed frightened
+at what she had done, although I knew well enough that the man had
+mistreated her constantly, and that she could bear him no great love.
+She waved us away, still with that same stolid grimness.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask her if the dog is locked up, Azeela," I said.</p>
+
+<p>The woman nodded at me vehemently, and I gripped Azeela's hand and we
+hurried out. It was just sunset. The sky was like blood; the snowy
+ground was all tinted with it.</p>
+
+<p>We ran west, so fast that Azeela could hardly keep on her feet. I
+suppose we went a mile or two, then slowed up and walked a little, then
+went back to a run. There was nothing but that unbroken expanse of snow,
+with the drop that was the river ahead of us.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At last I could make out the break in the plateau surface that marked
+the gully. We were running, and were no more than fifty feet from it,
+when from behind us we heard the loud baying of the dog&mdash;that eager
+baying of a dog following a trail and closing in on its quarry. I went
+cold all over. I knew what had happened. Bool had recovered, and, in
+spite of his daughter, had let the dog loose upon us!</p>
+
+<p>I caught a glimpse of Azeela's white, frightened face as I gripped her
+hand and jerked her forward. It was faster than carrying her. She
+stumbled, almost fell headlong, but I pulled her up and onward.</p>
+
+<p>We came upon the gully. For one agonized instant I wondered if the
+plane would still be there. The dog seemed almost upon us. I could
+hear its eager whine as it came leaping along. Then I saw the
+plane&mdash;snow-covered, but undisturbed.</p>
+
+<p>We flung ourselves down the gully side, sliding, falling to its bottom.
+The deep snow there broke our fall. The dog was at the top; I saw its
+huge head and bared fangs as it dashed along, selecting a place to
+descend.</p>
+
+<p>I jumped to the cabin platform of the plane and shoved open the door.
+Then I stooped, grasping Azeela under the armpits and lifting her. The
+dog came sliding into the gully, and gathering itself up, it leaped.</p>
+
+<p>But we were inside, and I slid the door closed just as the brute's great
+body struck the cabin with an impact that rocked the plane. The dog
+fell, but was up again with a snarl, standing on its hind legs, its huge
+paws scratching at the cabin wall.</p>
+
+<p>I had flung Azeela to the floor of the compartment. She shouted at me
+reassuringly, and I jumped to the Frazia controls.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the 'copters were raising us out of the gully. The dog's
+baffled yelps grew fainter. As we rose into the air I saw Bool, a
+quarter of the way from the house, stumbling along through the snow,
+following the trail.</p>
+
+<p>I went up a thousand feet, dropped a little, and began horizontal
+flight. To the south, perhaps a mile away, Toroh's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> sled, with its two
+dogs, was swinging up toward the house. He saw the plane, and, as we
+swept over him at an altitude of some five hundred feet, he turned and
+followed us.</p>
+
+<p>It was amazing to see those two gigantic dogs run. They kept the sled
+almost under us. We came to the south of the island and they went down a
+declivity and out over the frozen, snow-covered water. Toroh was lashing
+them with a long whip.</p>
+
+<p>I put on more power, and we gradually drew ahead. When we had crossed
+the broad expanse of bay, the sled was no more than a black blob in the
+distance. It swung to the right, turned and went back&mdash;lost to our sight
+in the gathering darkness.</p>
+
+<p>We were alone, headed southward to Azeela's native country.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Azeela and her people live on an island which once was the mainland&mdash;the
+southeastern corner of the United States, as you know it. It's a narrow,
+crescent-shaped island, something like Cuba in outline, but smaller.
+It's separated from the mainland by a channel some ten miles at its
+greatest width. The climate, now, is vastly different from your
+time-world. Climate is the most potent factor of all that influences
+mankind. The change throughout ten thousand years was dramatic in its
+effects: it hastened decadence, it drove civilization toward the
+equator. And then, as though nature were bent upon destruction, disease
+sprang up in the only warm regions left&mdash;disease that could not be coped
+with. Insects, carrying and transmitting deadly bacteria, swarmed over
+what we call the torrid zone, making it almost uninhabitable. You must
+realize over how long a period this went on.</p>
+
+<p>Even that was thousands of years before Azeela's birth. This island had
+formed, and nature had seemed to hold it the one place where humanity
+could make its last stand. A volcano stood at each end; beneficent,
+treasured because they contained heat. The internal fires of the earth
+had broken through here. Hot springs and geysers dotted the land.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> A
+river just below the boiling point rose from subterranean depths, flowed
+for a hundred miles, and plunged down again. And a huge range of
+mountains running east and west on the mainland to the north offered
+shelter from the cold winds that were coming down.</p>
+
+<p>Anglo-Saxons with a strain of Latin had settled on this palm-covered,
+tropical island long before the conditions farther north had become so
+drastic. They kept to themselves and fought against the pollution of
+their blood by others; they were descendents of the highest type of
+Earth civilization.</p>
+
+<p>For centuries they were left to themselves, to drift along in their own
+fashion. But with the coming of the cold, the mixed races of the north
+began moving down&mdash;coveting the island. Then these island people
+suddenly sprang into activity. Defense of the homeland brought action;
+lost arts of war were revived. The Anglese&mdash;that is as near the sound of
+their word for themselves as I can get&mdash;repulsed all comers.</p>
+
+<p>To the north was now a climate that held snow from September to June.
+Only three brief months availed for agriculture. The mixed peoples there
+did not rise to master such rigors. Centuries of struggle turned them
+almost primitive, with arts and sciences and ways to conquer their
+environment lost and forgotten. They became barbarians.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the condition as I have found it. I can give you details only of
+our northern half of the western hemisphere. Transportation is back
+nearly to the primitive; the rest of the world is almost unknown to
+Azeela's race.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh, I've learned now, is an Anglese, but they banished him. He was
+plotting to overthrow the government. When he was banished, he went
+among the barbarians of the north and began organizing them for an
+attack on the island. Toroh has scientific knowledge; up there in the
+north he has been manufacturing weapons. Then he came back to the island
+secretly, and abducted Azeela. She's the daughter of Fahn, the leading
+scientist of the Anglese&mdash;he's the man who holds the reins of power.
+With Azeela as hostage, Toroh planned to make Fahn yield.</p>
+
+<p>But now that I have released Azeela, Toroh's attack will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> come swiftly.
+That is why I send you this message. Toroh is a menace&mdash;the greatest
+figure of evil in this time-world. There will be war, a struggle in
+which the Anglese may go down before the onslaught of Toroh and the
+hordes of barbarians with whom he has allied himself. Oh, I can't tell
+you all the details...I'm too tired.</p>
+
+<p>I'll stop now, and send this message back to you in the cube. And,
+Father, you know what we arranged&mdash;that you would come and join me if I
+needed you. Well, I do; I need you here now.</p>
+
+<p>As we agreed, I will raise a light-beam signal, which will mark the
+exact point in space and the exact moment in time at which I want you to
+be here.</p>
+
+<p>For me, that moment <i>is now</i>!</p>
+
+<p>So as soon as I dispatch this message off to you, I shall raise the
+signal. It will be at the southeastern tip of our island. For you
+geographically, it will be about Miami. From that point in space, you
+cannot fail to see it, if your time-flight is slow enough. I will hold
+it in the sky for as long as I can, so that it will have enough duration
+for you not to miss it.</p>
+
+<p>Please tell <i>Mamita</i> not to worry about me, or about you either. We will
+both come back to her safely. You may bring one or two of our friends
+who wish to make the trip. I think that George will want to come and I
+would like to have him. You need bring no weapons; they would be worse
+than useless.</p>
+
+<p><i>Please hurry, Father. I need you!</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER SIX</h2>
+
+
+<p>Roger's slow, solemn voice died away. He rustled the pages of Loto's
+message in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"That's all, gentlemen. All of the message itself. The other pages give
+detailed instructions&mdash;data based on Loto's flight and memoranda for the
+construction of another plane, gathered from previous notes made by Loto
+and myself."</p>
+
+<p>There was complete silence when Rogers paused. George decided to speak,
+but checked himself and relaxed back in his chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall start the Frazia Company on another plane at once," Rogers
+added. "And working on Loto's mechanism simultaneously, I should be
+ready in ninety days."</p>
+
+<p>He waited, but again no one else spoke. Then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am going, of course. It is a great trial for my wife, but I know she
+is willing."</p>
+
+<p>George turned and flashed an admiring glance at Lylda; her face was
+strained, but she smiled at him gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be hasty, my friends," Rogers went on quickly. "Any two of you
+are free to come&mdash;or to stay, all of you&mdash;as you think best."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going," said George suddenly. "Loto said I could. And you say so.
+I'm going."</p>
+
+<p>He jumped to his feet and grasped Roger's hand. "You can count on me,
+Mr. Rogers."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers smiled. "Thank you, George. I knew I could."</p>
+
+<p>George sat down again. Then he got up and crossed to Lylda, shaking her
+hand also, and whispering to her. But in another instant he was pacing
+the room, smoking violently, and frowning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rogers was saying to the others, "I will take one more. I realize it is
+a momentous question. Your lives may be at stake."</p>
+
+<p>The Big Business Man was deep in reverie. "I wonder," he murmured. "I
+wonder if I <i>do</i> want to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," urged George, stopping suddenly before him. "Take a chance."
+He did not wait for an answer, but went back to his pacing.</p>
+
+<p>The Banker said, half apologetically. "You don't really need me, do you,
+Rogers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," Rogers said heartily. "Use your own judgement. But I
+knew you'd be offended if I didn't give you the opportunity."</p>
+
+<p>The Banker nodded. "Yes, but you don't need me. I'm an old
+man&mdash;seventy-three, though I hope you'd never guess it. I think I'd
+better stay where I'm used to things."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," agreed Rogers.</p>
+
+<p>"But if you need money," the Banker added hopefully, "and you will,
+naturally&mdash;everybody needs money&mdash;you'll call on me, won't you? I'm
+going to see this thing through."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I'll go," the Business Man declared. He met the
+Doctor's glance, and the Doctor seemed relieved. "You don't really need
+us, Rogers. I think Frank would prefer to stay also."</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor nodded emphatic agreement.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so," said Rogers. "I can understand perfectly how you feel."</p>
+
+<p>George stopped his pacing. "Then it's all settled, Mr. Rogers. You and I
+go; the others stay on guard here. Now listen, everybody, I've got some
+good ideas..."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Two days before Christmas, another plane lay glistening on the roof of
+the Scientific Club, walled in from curious eyes by the board enclosure.
+Sleek, self-satisfied, its every line denoting latent power, it lay
+motionless, awaiting those human masters who soon were to launch it into
+another time world.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally during the afternoon George visited it, an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>xiously
+verifying again and again that all was in readiness.</p>
+
+<p>Evening came. The others arrived, singly and in couples. For two hours a
+bustle of final preparations went on&mdash;things forgotten, last minute
+plans put into execution. But by nine o'clock the moment of departure
+was finally at hand.</p>
+
+<p>The Banker was in a fluster of excitement. He had appointed himself the
+leader of those who were to be left behind, and he felt the
+responsibility keenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me exactly what we've got to do," he insisted. "I don't want
+anything to go wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers slapped him on the back. "It's nothing to be alarmed over."</p>
+
+<p>"No. But I want to be sure I've got it straight. Tell me all over
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers repressed a smile. "When we have gone you will all wait some ten
+minutes to be sure nothing has gone wrong to bring us immediately back.
+Then you will lock up the enclosure and leave. I have made arrangements
+with the club to have the enclosure left standing."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all?" asked the Banker anxiously. "We leave the roof open?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. In coming back we will want it open, and you cannot tell when we
+may return."</p>
+
+<p>"But no more than six months," the Banker insisted. "You promise that?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," George's voice called. "Let's get started." He had shaken
+hands with Lylda and climbed up to the doorway of the cabin. "Come on,
+Mr. Rogers. Let's get started."</p>
+
+<p>Lylda stood apart. Her farewell to her husband was brief. The others
+turned away, feeling that they should not intrude upon it. When Rogers
+joined George on the platform of the plane, the Doctor was with Lylda,
+comforting her.</p>
+
+<p>With a final good-by Rogers slid the door closed. The forward
+compartment, with its low arch ceiling and its concave walls, was small,
+but comfortably equipped. The side windows had upholstered seats running
+under them. In front, to the right, were the Frazia controls, a low seat
+for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> the pilot and a small window above the control panel. The time
+dials and the proton current switch were on the wall to the right. To
+the left of the seat was the main entrance door.</p>
+
+<p>The division wall between the forward compartment and the engine room
+behind it held a small doorway with a sliding door.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we ready?" Rogers asked. "I think we should be sitting. The shock
+of departure, new to us, may be more severe than we anticipate."</p>
+
+<p>His words were calm enough, but they sent a thrill of excitement through
+George. "All ready," he said. "Go ahead!"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers took a last look about. Then without hesitation, he moved the
+switch to the first intensity. To George, the humming seemed very
+different now than when he had heard it outside the plane. It was no
+louder, but it seemed to hum and vibrate inside his body. He was
+quivering inside, his head began reeling dizzily; then came that
+sickening, horrible sensation of falling headlong&mdash;a vertigo that turned
+everything to blackness.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all right? We've started."</p>
+
+<p>It was Rogers's anxious voice. George opened his eyes; everything seemed
+glowing, unreal and ghostlike. But he was uninjured, and his head had
+steadied.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm all right," he managed to say.</p>
+
+<p>The sickness passed quickly. George stood up, steadying himself. "Gosh,
+how light I feel! Queer in the head&mdash;don't you? I never imagined&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He stopped abruptly. Through a side window the fur-coated figure of the
+Banker was standing against the wall with the others around him. They
+were staring toward the plane with an expression that clearly indicated
+they could not see it.</p>
+
+<p>"We've started all right," George added. "Look at them! We're already in
+future time to them. They can't see us!"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the Banker came forward walking with extraordinary swiftness,
+and seemingly with little jerks, like a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> manikin. George held his
+breath, for the Banker popped forward, his head and shoulders piercing
+the glowing phosphorescent walls and floor of the cabin. He stood
+motionless a brief instant, his face close to George's knees. Then, even
+more rapidly than he had advanced, he threw a swift glance around and
+retreated.</p>
+
+<p>George recovered himself. "Boy," he said. "Wasn't that weird though? But
+we're all right. I feel fine now."</p>
+
+<p>The droning of the Frazia motors sounded very faintly above the humming.
+It was a relief, a help toward normality. The plane was slowly raising
+into the air.</p>
+
+<p>As it mounted, the roof of the Scientific Club dwindled away below. It
+was a dark night, with heavy clouds and a cold wind from the east. The
+city, with snow on its rooftops, was sliding eastward beneath them;
+vague black shadows, dark buildings dotted with lights, and seemingly
+empty streets.</p>
+
+<p>They were still mounting diagonally upward, and carried sidewise by the
+wind, when the Hudson River slid into view.</p>
+
+<p>"Rotten weather, Mr. Rogers," George suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Rogers agreed, "but that will not bother us for very long. Are
+you warm enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"One heater is going," George responded. "I'll switch on another." He
+had familiarized himself thoroughly with the various mechanical
+appliances of the plane, and he turned a switch that threw current into
+another of the small electric radiators.</p>
+
+<p>"Anything else?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I think I shall try the higher intensities of the proton current. I
+want our time-progress accelerating as much as possible right from the
+beginning."</p>
+
+<p>George selected a seat hastily.</p>
+
+<p>It was not much of an ordeal. The humming seemed to move up a scale to a
+higher pitch as Rogers pulled the lever around. The reeling of the
+senses came again, but passed almost at once.</p>
+
+<p>"There," said Rogers. "I'm glad that's accomplished.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>"
+"We're at the fifteenth intensity&mdash;the highest that Loto used."</p>
+
+<p>George was staring down through the floor window. "I can see lights down
+here. Are you sure it's the highest speed Loto used? He didn't describe
+it this way."</p>
+
+<p>"Our acceleration will pick up over several hours," Rogers replied. "Our
+time-progress is still comparatively slow."</p>
+
+<p>The Frazia motors were still droning.</p>
+
+<p>"How high are we, do you suppose?" George demanded after a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly five thousand feet. We're blowing westward over New Jersey.
+And a little to the south, I think. Soon it will be day."</p>
+
+<p>His words were anticipated. The scene lighted swiftly. It was day; a
+dull, cold-looking, cloudy morning. Below them lay New Jersey, almost a
+network of villages on the fringe of lowlands. A more congested area of
+building was almost directly beneath and slid under them as they watched
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Newark!" exclaimed George. "And we're into tomorrow. We're making
+it&mdash;we'll soon be with Loto."</p>
+
+<p>They were up higher than Rogers realized&mdash;ten thousand feet, at least.
+And their drift seemed constantly of a more southern trend. It was still
+uncomfortably cold in the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we should stay at this level," Rogers remarked. "We seem to
+have caught a wind from the north."</p>
+
+<p>Night came again in a few moments. Lights dotted the landscape below,
+but they were vague, flickering lights. Then day, with sunlight. The
+wind sudsided. The plane's southern drift was stilled. And then came
+night with a moon plunging across the sky, and stars dizzily sweeping
+past. Then day again, until presently the daylight and the darkness were
+blended into gray. The drift was permanently passed. In a blending of
+all the diversified air currents, the plane remained almost stationary.</p>
+
+<p>The white, snowy hills of New Jersey soon turned to green. The cabin air
+warmed a little. Then autumn and winter came again&mdash;and passed in a
+moment or two.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rogers sighed with relief. "We're fairly started. One year out of
+twenty-eight thousand!"</p>
+
+<p>"And we've got eight hundred or a thousand miles of space to travel
+also," said George. "We're going to make that simultaneously, aren't
+we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," agreed Rogers.</p>
+
+<p>George took a last look through the floor window at the blurring gray
+landscape beneath, and stood up to join him. "Let's talk things over,"
+he suggested. "I've got a lot of questions&mdash;plans and things."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers had taken a sheaf of script from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Loto's notes to guide us," he explained. "I've followed them closely so
+far. We have a flight through time of something more than twenty-five
+thousand years at the fifteenth intensity, and then we slacken.
+Simultaneously, we must fly southward some thousand miles or more
+through space, directing our course for the southern tip of Florida.
+Loto specifies that we should, under all circumstances, reach the
+latitude of north Florida coincident with twenty-five thousand years of
+our time-progress. We will then&mdash;or perhaps a thousand years further
+along&mdash;see the island. We cannot miss it, of course. It is so large, and
+it must certainly endure over a great period of time."</p>
+
+<p>"How long did Loto take to reach twenty-five thousand years?"</p>
+
+<p>"About twelve hours," Rogers consulted the memoranda. "He computes his
+average speed as equivalent to the twelfth intensity. We are using the
+fifteenth continuously. Our clocks should register no more than ten
+hours for the time-flight.</p>
+
+<p>"Ten hours," he added thoughtfully. "And flying directly south at a
+hundred miles an hour we would reach the island in those ten hours."</p>
+
+<p>"But we haven't started south yet," George protested. "We're moving
+through time all right, but we're still right over Newark&mdash;and look at
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>The New Jersey metropolis was spreading west to the Orange Mountains,
+and eastward it seemed to be linked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> solid with Jersey City. Factories
+dotted the intervening meadows, which were drained of their stagnant
+water.</p>
+
+<p>"You're right," exclaimed Rogers. "We have barely nine hours left; we
+must start our horizontal flight."</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments more they were speeding south and slightly west, at an
+altitude of some five thousand feet, with their progress through time
+steadily accelerating.</p>
+
+<p>An hour, by their clocks, had passed. They were over Delaware Bay. Its
+shores, in the more congested areas, were lined almost solid with
+buildings. There was a great city on each side of the mouth of the
+river, with a gigantic bridge connecting them. The bridge rose into
+being under the eyes of the watchers in the flying plane, but they swept
+on past and in a moment left it far in the distance behind them.</p>
+
+<p>George was seated on the floor watching the changing landscape; a huge,
+concave gray surface, shadowless, stretching out and up to the circular
+horizon. Steadily, like a panorama unrolled, it slid sidewise beneath
+them. The motion was greatest directly below. To the west, the mountains
+seemed, by an optical illusion, to be following, speeding forward with
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The sea or its arms constantly occupied a portion of the scene, for they
+were still flying south and somewhat west, following the Atlantic coast.
+And of everything in sight, the sea alone seemed unchanging.</p>
+
+<p>In time-progressing, that height of civilization Loto had described lay
+under them. They were flying lower now.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers, in his seat at the controls, said: "I think we're making it as
+we should. That's the four thousand year mark just passed, and we're
+flying at a hundred and ten miles an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure we'll hit it right?" George asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so. It's about as Loto figured so far. Those buildings&mdash;what a
+civilization that must be down there. It will fade presently...in
+three or four thousand years."</p>
+
+<p>George joined him at the forward window. "Where are we? Are we still
+over Virginia?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, at least I think we haven't crossed into North Carolina yet. That
+was Chesapeake Bay a while ago. Look! That city over there is
+melting&mdash;going down fast!"</p>
+
+<p>The cabin interior was unlighted and dark, except for that
+phosphorescence with which everything glowed. In their absorption in the
+scene below, the travelers had forgotten their own curious aspect, until
+George suddenly remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Look at us! Ghosts flying through space! Doesn't it make you feel
+queer, Mr. Rogers?"</p>
+
+<p>The dim cabin interior, with its vague, luminous human figures, did
+indeed seem unreal. But the unreality was matched now by the scene
+beneath; their forward flight through space, combined with a
+time-progress now tremendously accelerated, made everything below a
+shifting, sliding kaleidoscope of changing effects. Details were
+transient things, blurred one into the other.</p>
+
+<p>The broad fundamentals, however, were obvious. The gray, concave land,
+ridged with mountains, the indented coast line, the gray, changeless
+sea&mdash;all were distinguishable. And overhead the sky was luminous with
+the mingled light of sun and moon and a myriad starry worlds, all
+blended darker by nights of rain and snow and storm.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>They were over North Carolina when Rogers, at the Frazia controls, grew
+tired. The clock stood at two five. They had been gone some five hours.</p>
+
+<p>"I must rest," said Rogers. "George, can you take my place?"</p>
+
+<p>George hesitated. "I've flown a bit, but never in a Frazia. I think I'd
+better not experiment&mdash;not on this flight."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," Rogers agreed. "I'll use the automatic 'copters for a
+while. Half an hour will rest me up."</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments they were hovering, seemingly motionless, over North
+Carolina. Far away to the east, over a bulge in the coast line, they
+could just make out Cape Hatteras and the ocean beyond it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rogers stretched himself out on one of the leather seats, and lighted a
+cigar. George sat beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"I figure we should be at least halfway to the northern coast of the
+island," the older man said. "We have flown some four hundred miles in
+four hours."</p>
+
+<p>"But Loto will be waiting at the southeastern tip of the island,"
+protested George. "That will be easily two or three hundred miles
+further, won't it? I wonder how far along we are in time."</p>
+
+<p>"Look at the dials."</p>
+
+<p>George bent over them. "About sixty-five hundred years. Some of the
+hands are going too fast to read."</p>
+
+<p>"More than I had thought," commented Rogers.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you figure we're still accelerating?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think we have just about reached our greatest speed," Rogers answered
+slowly. "Let us see. We've done an average of thirteen hundred years an
+hour. We must be progressing at double that now."</p>
+
+<p>George was figuring on the back of an old envelope. "Twenty-six hundred
+an hour. In five more hours at that rate we'll be close to twenty
+thousand. We can fly down to the north coast of the island easily by
+then."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. We're a little ahead in our space flight. I'm glad of it. We
+shall have to slow our time-progress to almost nothing at the end. We
+must take no chances of missing Loto's light signal."</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty-six hundred years an hour," mused George. "That's what we're
+making now. Forty-five years a minute. A century almost every two
+minutes!"</p>
+
+<p>The clock had registered thirty minutes more when Rogers declared he was
+sufficiently rested. At George's suggestion they ate a light meal; then
+they started their flight southward again.</p>
+
+<p>"How about looking at the dials now," George remarked. "They were at
+sixty-five hundred, thirty minutes ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Eight thousand," Rogers read. "That's fifteen hundred more. It figures
+out to three thousand an hour. That's our peak, I think."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The flight now was passing through constantly changing conditions; every
+two minutes the plane was covering some three or four miles of space and
+a century of time. They crossed above North Carolina and came to the
+coast again. The cities of the civilization beneath them seemed to be
+breaking up. Here and there one stood in its glory; others were mere
+deserted piles of ruins over which the vegetation crawled, eager to
+devour. Still other cities and villages appeared over the southern
+horizon, sturdy and whole&mdash;and they melted as they slid beneath the
+plane, into crumbling piles that passed out of sight to the north.</p>
+
+<p>Soon desolate areas appeared. The scene grew vaguely whiter; the snow
+was coming down from the north faster than the plane was flying. Changes
+in the coast line became apparent; unfamiliar arms of the sea swept into
+view, and were crossed and left behind. A small, unfamiliar island lay
+close to the South Carolina coast. But as a whole, the land and sea held
+their own, even against the ravages of so many centuries.</p>
+
+<p>"The north wind is with us&mdash;the wind Loto described that blew southward
+almost all the year. What time is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"By the clock or the dials?"</p>
+
+<p>"The clock. I have the dials here. Eighteen thousand four hundred years
+is their reading."</p>
+
+<p>"Quarter of six," announced George.</p>
+
+<p>"We should sight the island shortly," Rogers said. "I'll fly a trifle
+slower. We must be nearly down to Georgia by now&mdash;to where Georgia used
+to be, I should say. I want to sight the island at twenty thousand
+years, or thereabouts."</p>
+
+<p>The land was growing white; the vegetation sparser. Small towns and
+hamlets that endured for no more than fifty or a hundred years were
+springing up everywhere, and melting into nothing in a moment or two.
+The vegetation was shifting, changing, but always the scene was growing
+whiter. The villages were sparser, smaller and shorter lived&mdash;the people
+struggling southward against the threatening, unrelenting cold, which
+spared nothing but the island of the Anglese.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rogers was first to notice a radical departure from the normal
+conformation of the landscape. They were, by their own calculation, over
+Georgia. George, watching the dials closely, had just noted twenty-two
+thousand years. Far ahead, over the rim of the southwestern horizon, a
+line of mountains was rising.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" exclaimed Rogers softly. "The mountain chain running east and
+west. The new mountains! The island must be just beyond them."</p>
+
+<p>He maneuvered the plane into a climb; the gray land and sea tilted and
+began dropping away. The mountains seemed to be following them up,
+higher and closer, until at last the plane was over them, barely a
+thousand feet above their rocky spires.</p>
+
+<p>It was a scene of wild grandeur that now spread out beneath their eyes:
+dark, craggy cliff faces, with snow capped summits, a pure white peak
+and a gray blue valley beside it. And the whole mass reared ten thousand
+feet above the sea.</p>
+
+<p>The plane swept forward; the jagged, tumbled land slid northward, close
+beneath it. Then, abruptly, the crags and peaks dropped away; it was as
+though the plane had leaped ten thousand feet into the air. Far below
+lay a narrow channel of gray water, stretching east and west. And beyond
+that lay another land, its outer coast curving to the south.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>The island!</i>" exclaimed Rogers softly. "What a cataclysm was here&mdash;a
+rift that let the sea in and buckled up the mountains!"</p>
+
+<p>"The island!" echoed George. "And we're at twenty-three thousand five
+hundred years! We've some distance yet to fly," he warned. "Hadn't we
+better slacken our time progress?"</p>
+
+<p>With their flight through space temporarily checked, the 'copters
+holding them motionless, Rogers cut down the proton current to the fifth
+intensity. Eagerly they looked below them.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the channel lay the island, curving up in an arc from the south
+and out to the west. They could not see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> across it, but only to a ridge
+of mountains at its center. Huge palms grew everywhere, and the
+shoreline formed a broad, curving beach of white sand. An island
+paradise&mdash;though their time progress still laid a gray cast over the
+green, blurred the water into a formless haze along the beach and
+shifted the vegetation into a confusion of changing forms.</p>
+
+<p>"We must get started," Rogers said at last. "At twenty-eight thousand
+years we must be within sight of the southern tip."</p>
+
+<p>It was a flight almost due south. Lakes occasionally were visible, and
+two or three small rivers, one of which changed its course suddenly
+under their eyes; and everywhere that tropical verdure, mounting and
+melting, always shifting with its rapid growth and decay.</p>
+
+<p>In some three hours more&mdash;with another longer rest for Rogers, during
+which time the 'copters held them poised motionless&mdash;they sighted the
+southern tip of the island. It had narrowed here to a point no more than
+two miles wide, ending with a curving beach and the broad, empty ocean
+beyond; a beach with a palm-covered mountain slope close behind it.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers had made several changes of time progress during the latter part
+of the trip, and they were poised over the sea near the tip of the
+island for no more than a few moments when the dials recorded
+twenty-eight thousand two hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers consulted Loto's notes. "He landed in this time world at
+twenty-eight thousand two hundred and four years. We must stop at the
+beginning of that year and watch for his light."</p>
+
+<p>Using the fourth intensity, the daylight and darkness was separated into
+two brief, but distinguishable periods. Thus the voyagers sped through
+the days and nights, the weeks and months and forward into another year.
+At the beginning of the fourth year, Rogers changed to the third
+intensity. It was daylight&mdash;a yellow-red, swiftly mounting sun; flying
+blurs of white clouds close overhead; a blue sea, and a bright green
+island.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun plunged across the sky and sank blood red, with an instant of
+glorious colors suffusing the western sky. Night came, with its deep,
+purple mystery. Then day again.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the days of that fourth year went by; each hardly a minute long,
+but slow to the two men so anxiously watching. They were tired to the
+point of exhaustion, but the excitement and anxiety kept them going.</p>
+
+<p>"He said from the tip of the island," Rogers murmured. "A blue-white,
+vertical beam of light shining for a day and a night...we couldn't
+miss it. A minute would show it to us plainly."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't taken my eyes off that island for a second," commented George
+from his seat on the floor. "Why doesn't he hurry up? He's down there,
+why doesn't he give us the signal?"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers did not answer. The sun dropped below the horizon. The turning
+world, with its motion made so visible, was dizzying to one who watched
+the sky.</p>
+
+<p>The purple night was momentarily colored with a red moon; it rose and
+swiftly plunged into a thick bank of clouds that swept down upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Abruptly, from the tip of the island, a shaft of blue-white light shot
+into the sky. It wavered an instant, then stood motionless: <i>clear</i>,
+<i>distinct</i>, <i>unmistakable</i>!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER SEVEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>The proton current had been entirely cut off. The interior of the cabin
+was solid in appearance once more. The Frazia motors were still droning
+and the plane hung motionless in a night that was without wind. Below
+it, now, lay a scene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> of complete normality: the sea was rolling up on
+the white sand and the moon, almost at its zenith, bathed the green
+island in a silvery, red-tinged light. And from the tip of the island,
+quite near its southern branch, Loto's narrow beam of blue-white light
+was flashing upward into the sky.</p>
+
+<p>They descended, in a gentle glide. The beach was broad and firm; they
+landed upon it, swooping along. It was like racing an automobile along
+the sand in the moonlight, with the ocean on one side&mdash;far out at low
+tide now&mdash;and a jungle of green, tropical vegetation on the other.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers, at the controls, saw a number of human figures standing on the
+beach ahead of him. They scattered hastily, and the plane, rapidly
+losing velocity, went past them and stopped a hundred yards farther.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We're here!</i>" George cried. "Let's get out. Was that Loto we passed?
+Where's the light? Are we near it?"</p>
+
+<p>The light could be seen no more than a hundred feet away among the
+palms. They climbed hastily from the plane. A figure was coming forward
+along the beach at a run; a slight figure in wide trousers of white
+cloth, and a short, flapping jacket.</p>
+
+<p>"Loto!" shouted George. "That you, Loto?"</p>
+
+<p>From a distance came a faint, "Hello-o... George!" The runner increased
+his speed. It was Loto.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he exclaimed, as he shook their hands. "You got here right away,
+didn't you? I've only had that light up two or three hours."</p>
+
+<p>"We're tired out," said Rogers, when the greetings were over. "Do we
+stay in the plane or can we leave it?"</p>
+
+<p>A man was standing fearfully at the edge of the green jungle nearby, and
+Loto called him forward. He was dressed in wide trousers, like Loto's
+except that they were smeared with dirt and sand, and his feet and torso
+were bare. He came, timidly, and Loto spoke to him apart. The man nodded
+his head, indicating that he understood his orders. Then he trotted
+away, joining three or four others of his kind, gesticulating toward the
+plane. They all approached it reluctantly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>George plucked at the flaring sleeve of Loto's short jacket, his only
+garment above the waist. "How's Azeela, Loto? Is she...is everything
+all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she's all right. But I needed you and father here. Wait! Not now.
+I'll tell you later."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers joined them. "We're about exhausted, Loto. We must have some
+sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course. I knew you'd be. I've a house near here&mdash;only a hundred
+yards or so. They'll guard the plane." His gesture indicated the men who
+were now on the sand, moving about the plane, but evidently afraid to
+touch it.</p>
+
+<p>"You can trust them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Implicitly."</p>
+
+<p>They followed Loto. George was tired, but so excited that he did not
+realize it. The night air was warm and heavy with moisture. It was
+oppressive; it reminded him somehow of the steam room of a Turkish bath.
+He found himself perspiring.</p>
+
+<p>They left the moonlit beach and, following a tiny, white-sand path,
+plunged into the depths of the jungle. Palms of every variety stood
+about, their graceful fronds interlacing overhead. There were huge trees
+loaded with fruit, bananas, mangoes, grapefruit. Some of the other fruit
+trees George dimly remembered having heard of but could not name, and
+still others he was sure were entirely new.</p>
+
+<p>It was dark in the jungle here, and very silent. The steamy air was
+redolent with perfume&mdash;orange blossoms, George thought. The light signal
+was nowhere to be seen. George wondered if it had burned out, or if Loto
+had ordered those men to extinguish it.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are," said Loto abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>A house was standing at their right, in an open space with the moonlight
+gleaming on it&mdash;a large, tropical-looking bungalow. There was a broad
+veranda on three sides, with windows opening into the house. The house
+itself was raised some four feet off the ground on coconut posts, and a
+brown-thatched roof spread over everything like a mound.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to be a house that would have ten rooms, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> least. George
+wondered what made it look so peculiar. Then he realized that its board
+walls were not vertical, but sloped inward toward the top, so that its
+rooms would be smaller at the ceiling than the floor. It looked like a
+house of cards.</p>
+
+<p>Loto had turned into another path. A brown picket fence enclosed the
+house with perhaps an acre of ground. Inside was a flower garden, abloom
+with an extraordinary profusion of flowers.</p>
+
+<p>A short flight of wooden steps led to the veranda. There Loto stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we should retire at once," Rogers said. "We have so much to
+talk of&mdash;but it will wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Loto agreed. "Come with me, Father. George, you stay here. I'll
+be right out."</p>
+
+<p>George sat down on the veranda, with his back against a round palm trunk
+that was supporting its roof. He realized now how tired he was, and this
+heavy air made him sleepy, he heard the others moving away, entering the
+house. He took off his coat, then his shirt and, using them for a
+pillow, stretched himself out at full length on the board flooring of
+the veranda.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment, when Loto returned to take him to the room they were to
+occupy together, he found George sleeping peacefully.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>George awakened with the morning sun streaming through a window. He was
+on a broad couch, and in a chair beside him, Loto was reclining
+comfortably, smoking his black brier pipe. He smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you're awake, are you? You ought to be&mdash;it's hours after sunrise."</p>
+
+<p>A vague memory of being taken into the house by Loto the night before
+drifted back to George. He remembered being half-asleep and talking to
+his friend, but it was all like a dream.</p>
+
+<p>The room was small, queer-looking, with its walls sloping together
+toward the ceiling. But it was bright and clean, with brown fibre
+matting on the floor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The air was as moist and heavy as ever, and even warmer. George sat up,
+mopping his forehead with his shirt sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got your clothes," Loto said, indicating a stool with garments
+lying on it. "You don't need much in this heat. Get up and try them on."</p>
+
+<p>George was presently arrayed, like Loto, in low, tight slippers of soft
+hide&mdash;clipped dog-skin, Loto told him&mdash;with trousers of white material,
+bulging above the knees and tight at the ankles, and a brown and green
+cloth jacket, ornamented with little metal coins. The jacket was
+square-cut and short; it just covered the waist-band of the trousers in
+back. It was lined with something soft, thin and yet absorbent; it felt
+smooth and comfortable next to George's skin. But it would not meet in
+front; it left his chest and stomach bare. He stood regarding it
+ruefully until Loto showed him how to fasten it closed across his
+stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"Nice and cool&mdash;when you get used to it," George commented, staring down
+at his exposed chest. "How do I look? Kind of queer, don't I?" He
+twisted himself around, trying to see down over the side bulge of his
+trousers.</p>
+
+<p>Roger's voice, calling, interrupted them.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a million things to talk to you about," George was telling
+Loto. "Hurry it up&mdash;I'll be out in the garden."</p>
+
+<p>They met, a few minutes later, on the side veranda where they were to
+have breakfast. George's self-consciousness vanished immediately; Rogers
+was dressed almost exactly as he was, and he flattered himself he looked
+at least as well as his companion.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to the new arrivals, at this first glance, a primitive world
+indeed into which they had fallen, the heat, the palms, the thatched
+bungalow, and their costumes all might have existed in some
+out-of-the-way tropical land of their own time-world.</p>
+
+<p>During the meal George was insistent with questions, but Loto smilingly
+refused to talk. Instead, he led his father into a brief description of
+their flight forward through time and south through space. When the meal
+was over Loto took them out to the front veranda.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I've a great deal to tell you," he said, "and I know you're as
+impatient to hear it as I am to tell you. I've been here on the island
+five months&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We realize it," George murmured. "Didn't I watch for that light through
+every day and night of 'em?"</p>
+
+<p>Loto smiled. "I put the signal up last night because I felt that I
+needed you. Before we do anything, I must tell you of our affairs here.
+You notice I say 'our affairs.' They are a part of me now. I don't
+exactly know why, but the thing here grips me. I want to help these
+people... I feel already that I am one of them."</p>
+
+<p>It was no mystery to George.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Azeela?" he demanded with apparent irrelevancy.</p>
+
+<p>"In Anglese City, the capital and largest center of population on the
+island. It's north of here&mdash;on the channel. I've been living there; I
+came down here merely to meet you. The situation here is drastic,
+Father. War has been impending, and now it will not be postponed much
+longer. This Toroh&mdash;as I told you, he is an Anglese renegade&mdash;is
+organizing the barbarians of the north, the Noths, as they are called.
+They are a people of low intelligence&mdash;brutes of men with thick black
+hair on their bodies.</p>
+
+<p>"God knows how many Noths there are&mdash;hordes of them are scattered about
+the northern wastes. Toroh has been organizing them. He has a base up
+north where he is manufacturing scientific weapons. There is class
+hatred here on the island, but, thank Heaven, in the face of an outside
+invasion, the Anglese will stick together."</p>
+
+<p>"You're preparing for war," George interposed. "You&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, of course. The Anglese have had no warfare for several
+generations; they were totally unprepared, but now they're getting
+things in shape."</p>
+
+<p>Loto's tone was optimistic, but the anxiety of his expression belied it.
+"I wanted you here, Father&mdash;you and George. Without Toroh, we would not
+fear the Noths. But Toroh is a scientist, and what weapons he will have
+been able to manufacture we do not know. We can only&mdash;"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A man came dashing up the garden path; a man in the familiar wide
+trousers, torn and dirty. His red-brown, naked torso gleamed with sweat;
+a white cloth was tied about his forehead to keep the damp hair from his
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Loto leaped to his feet, and the man, gazing at the strangers with one
+swift, surprised glance, flung himself prostrate on the steps.</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;" began Rogers.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait! A messenger from Azeela. Something has gone wrong."</p>
+
+<p>Loto raised the man up, and listened to his flood of frightened words
+with obvious concern. A sharp question from Loto, a crisp order, and the
+messenger was dashing away. Loto's gaze, following him, came back to his
+companions on the porch.</p>
+
+<p>"Bad news, Father. We must get up to Anglese City at once. Spies have
+appeared in Orleen&mdash;a city at the western end of the island&mdash;spies from
+Toroh, former Anglese, banished like himself. They're being put to death
+as fast as they can be caught. But meanwhile they're talking to the
+lower class&mdash;telling the people that Toroh is for them, and only against
+their government. There is class hatred here. The people are listening
+to the emissaries. We may be facing a revolution&mdash;an internal break&mdash;on
+the eve of fighting the Noths! We will lose if that happens&mdash;<i>lose to
+Toroh inevitably</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>They were down on the beach in five minutes more. The plane stood there,
+undisturbed. Half a dozen figures rose from the sand beside it and stood
+respectfully waiting for Loto to approach.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers took his seat beside the Frazia controls. They were presently in
+the air, flying northward over the palm-covered island that lay calm,
+serene in its false security and peacefulness.</p>
+
+<p>Loto sat close to his father, with George beside them.</p>
+
+<p>"I must tell you briefly the conditions here," Loto said. "Then you will
+be able to understand&mdash;be able to help with your advice and judgement as
+well as actions."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He spoke briskly but carefully, and his manner regained its poise.
+George was gazing down through one of the side windows.</p>
+
+<p>"That's Azeela's messenger," Loto commented, "going back to Anglese
+City."</p>
+
+<p>They were flying hardly five hundred feet above the palms. A white road
+lay beneath them; along it a huge, shaggy dog was running, with the
+figure of a man on its back. The dog's neck was stretched forward, its
+body low to the ground as it ran with almost incredible speed, the man
+lashing its flanks with a leather thong. The plane passed very slowly
+and drew away.</p>
+
+<p>"We will not land in the heart of the city," Loto added. "He'll be with
+Azeela before we are."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on and tell us about things," George urged. "We've got the time now;
+maybe we won't have it later."</p>
+
+<p>Loto nodded. "I will. We have here on the island three social classes.
+How they developed throughout the centuries you will have to imagine for
+yourself. Ancient, almost prehistoric Egypt was no more than a quarter
+as far into the past of our time-world as we are now ahead of it.
+Considered in that light, the changes have been rather less radical than
+you would anticipate.</p>
+
+<p>"The lowest class&mdash;you would call them peons in our old Latin
+America&mdash;are now termed the Bas. They include more than nine-tenths of
+all the inhabitants of the island. Most of them are ignorant,
+uneducated; yet they include, also, many intelligent, learned
+individuals.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the lowest class which is now plunged into almost intolerable
+conditions. They are the workers. Through generations of working in the
+sun, their skin has become a reddish brown. The higher class&mdash;the
+nobility&mdash;are the Arans. As the governing class, the Arans live for the
+most part in idleness and luxury, while the Bas are held down to almost
+universal poverty.</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't seen the Arans yet. We will be in their chief city shortly.
+You will find them white-skinned, their women especially, for they
+shield themselves carefully from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> the sun. They are cultured, yet
+without great learning. Can you appreciate that condition? They're the
+ones who really show the decadence of this time-world."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a third class?" Rogers prompted.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. The Scientists&mdash;to me the most interesting of all. You will
+appreciate that in long past ages, science was supreme. In war it was
+everything. The Anglese came to this island and grew apathetic, but the
+Scientists, in some measure, clung to their learning. Gradually, their
+attitude must have changed to secrecy. They became a sect, holding
+knowledge for its own sake, keeping it among themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"The real power lay with them, and they knew it. But curiously enough,
+their science seemed all-sufficient. As a body, they never desired
+governing power; no individual rose among them with a yearning for
+conquest&mdash;except Toroh.</p>
+
+<p>"Foreign wars came. The Scientists offered their help, and when the wars
+were over, retired with their knowledge to themselves. The sect, as you
+will find it today, is on the downgrade. It has dwindled to a thousand
+or two individuals who are scattered throughout the island. They call
+themselves the League&mdash;I should say, a word that means about that. They
+have their own officers; a council of a hundred in Anglese City, and a
+lifetime president, Fahn, Azeela's father.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus, you understand, the League of Scientists really controls
+everything. But its members are content with the prestige their position
+gives them. The government itself has for centuries fostered this
+secrecy of all that pertains to science. In times of war, the Arans are
+helpless, and leave it all to the League. In times of peace they forget
+the possibility of war and go back to ruling the Bas in their own
+fashion."</p>
+
+<p>Loto glanced out one of the windows. "Look down there."</p>
+
+<p>The island was mountainous; a constant succession of green hills and
+valleys. A small lake came into view, with steam rising from it.
+Everywhere the scene was dotted with thatched huts and, occasionally, a
+more pretentious bunga<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>low like the one in which the visitors had passed
+the previous night. As they flew low over the hills, they could see
+small brown and white patches of cultivated land scattered everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the way the Bas live," Loto commented. "Sometimes they bring
+their produce to the cities and sell it for ridiculously small sums. If
+there's a food shortage, the Arans come out and take it&mdash;paying for it
+nominally."</p>
+
+<p>"But their factories, their industries?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the cities, Father. Reduced to a minimum, and for the use and
+welfare of the Arans and Scientists almost exclusively. Skilled labor is
+performed by the higher types of the Bas. They are allowed to live in
+the cities, but are paid so little that they must live unpretentiously.
+Everything is done for the welfare of the Arans and the League of
+Scientists."</p>
+
+<p>"And the government?"</p>
+
+<p>"A monarchy. A king, his council of fifty and his personal cabinet of
+five. A hereditary monarch, wholly inefficient, except in forcing his
+laws upon the Bas."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think that would be somewhat difficult," Rogers commented.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a large police force made up of swaggering young men of the
+Arans. They serve for the joy of it; they're mostly arrogant individuals
+who take pleasure in the enforcement of the personal power they hold.
+And they abuse it, of course. Their task is easy, for they have the
+Scientists behind them. If one of them were killed, or even attacked by
+a Bas, it would mean the death of that Bas and all his family.</p>
+
+<p>"I said the Bas were under conditions almost intolerable. And that's
+exactly why these spies of Toroh's are dangerous to us just now. The
+whole social condition here is wretched, but, I suppose, logical enough
+under the circumstances of environment and racial development.
+Fundamentally, the difficulty has been a limited land area. The race
+cannot expand, hence numerically it must be restrained."</p>
+
+<p>"How?" demanded Rogers. "By birth control?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Obligatory birth control&mdash;applicable only to the Bas. More Bas are not
+desired, hence births are limited. The desire just now&mdash;more than to
+hold the population even&mdash;is to cut it down. Hence, a Bas woman is
+allowed only two offspring."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose she has three?" George suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"The mother and her child&mdash;illegitimate in a new sense&mdash;are banished
+from the island." Loto's voice rose to sudden vehemence. "Can you
+understand what that sometimes does? I have seen a mother with her
+newborn infant, two or three weeks old, pleading before the King's
+Council. She would not murder it at birth, as the Bas women sometimes
+do, and I saw her plead for its right to live on the island. And then,
+with her plea denied, she took it away into the frozen north. Her
+husband did not follow her. That is optional. This one stayed behind,
+keeping the other two children, and letting her take the infant alone.
+And she went, to save its life&mdash;her child, born without a birthright."</p>
+
+<p>There was a silence. Rogers was staring down at a hilltop where, as the
+plane swept past, a woman with two naked children at her side stood in
+front of a small shack.</p>
+
+<p>"And when you have seen the Arans, living their life of luxury and
+immorality," Loto went on, "you will wonder why the Bas have stood it so
+long. 'After us&mdash;the deluge,' has always been the Aran reasoning."</p>
+
+<p>The plane was climbing to pass over a jagged, volcanic-looking peak.
+Behind, nestled in a hollow, with a curving stretch of white sand and
+the blue waters of the channel beyond, lay the capital city of the
+Arans: reckless, pleasure-loving, secure in its beauty and supremacy,
+yet trembling from so many causes upon the brink of disaster.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER EIGHT</h2>
+
+
+<p>On the gently undulating floor of a valley, surrounded by three
+mountains and with the sea rolling up on its beach to the north, lay the
+Aran city. From an altitude of some three thousand feet, the travelers
+gazed down upon a scene of extraordinary color and beauty: low, pure,
+white buildings with many balconies and patios; gardens of vivid
+flowers; white pergolas trellised with scarlet blossoms; sunken pools of
+limpid water, with huge date palms curving over them. A grove of royal
+palms grew close to the beach, near a huge, rectangular bathing pool and
+a marble-white pavilion. A white palace stood on a rise of ground with a
+balconied tower, five hundred feet high, beside it. On the top of the
+tower was a beautiful flower garden. And everywhere was the romantic
+green foliage of the tropics, the blue-red sky, the soft, red-white
+clouds, and the azure waters of the channel.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do we land?" George asked.</p>
+
+<p>"To the west a little, Father," Loto directed. "See the cavern
+entrance?"</p>
+
+<p>He pointed for George, explaining: "We will not land directly in the
+city. I want the plane permanently guarded now, so we will leave it in
+the Cavern of Thunderbolts."</p>
+
+<p>"The what?" George demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what the Bas picturesquely call it. You see the cavern mouth?"</p>
+
+<p>Across the city, a yawning black hole gaped in the mountainside near its
+base; an opening of irregularly circular shape, some two hundred feet in
+diameter. A gentle slope led up to it from the city.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We can fly directly in," Loto added. "It's the entrance to the
+subterranean chambers where the scientists work&mdash;and where they store
+their apparatus under guard. It's also a museum, where relics of the
+past are gathered."</p>
+
+<p>George relapsed into an awed silence, staring down at the city. In the
+streets and on the housetops, people were standing, gazing up at the
+plane curiously.</p>
+
+<p>The mouth of the cavern grew steadily larger as the plane swooped down
+upon it. The yawning hole seemed to have a level floor extending
+horizontally back into the mountain. Far back into the darkness, little
+blue lights twinkled.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd better take the controls, Loto," Rogers said anxiously. "I don't
+like the idea of flying into that."</p>
+
+<p>Loto slipped quietly into the seat. The Frazia motors stopped abruptly.
+Silently, with only the sound of the air rushing past, the plane glided
+swiftly downward.</p>
+
+<p>Around the cavern mouth was a small platform with a roof over it, built
+on an overhanging ledge of rock. The figures of three men seated there
+were visible. Abruptly one of the men rose, and from his upflung hand a
+tiny flash of blue-white light shot into the clouds overhead. Even in
+the daylight it was a plainly visible flash.</p>
+
+<p>"Lightning!" George exclaimed and, as though to confirm him, a little
+miniature crack of thunder sounded an instant later.</p>
+
+<p>"They know I'm coming," Loto said.</p>
+
+<p>It was a queer sensation, darting into that blackness. The cave mouth
+seemed to open and swallow them. The plane struck the ground with a
+bump, lifted, bumped again and rolled forward. Points of light swept
+past on either side; a blue-white glare lay ahead.</p>
+
+<p>The plane slackened its speed and came to a stop.</p>
+
+<p>"We're here," said Loto. "Take only what you will need at once. We can
+come back here later today or tomorrow."</p>
+
+<p>Quickly, they descended from the plane.</p>
+
+<p>The hum of dynamos sounded from far away in the mountain's depths. The
+roof high overhead was dimly visible, and great shadows, flickering
+blue-white lights, were everywhere.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> Near at hand, where the cave
+broadened, was a space more brightly lighted. Further along it narrowed
+again, forming a dozen branching passages. An incline fifty feet wide
+sloped down into blackness, with a faint pencil-point of blue light
+shining from far down within its recesses.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the whole mountain is honeycombed!" Rogers exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. Just stand here a minute and I'll be with you. Don't move
+about!"</p>
+
+<p>Figures were approaching, robed in black rubber garments, gloved and
+hooded. Loto turned to greet them, and they drew back their hoods,
+disclosing their heads and faces. There was a brief conversation, then
+Loto turned back to his companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Fahn is at home in the city," he said swiftly, and his tone was
+concerned. "We'll go there."</p>
+
+<p>The black-robed figures gazed at them curiously a moment; then went back
+to their work. Led by Loto, the three started off toward the mouth of
+the cave.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your plane in here, Loto?" Rogers asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. I left it at Orleen. There's a cavern there similar to this,
+but smaller. It's there&mdash;in the other cavern."</p>
+
+<p>"You're sure it's safe?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we going?" George demanded after a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"To Fahn's home," Loto answered. "He'll be there with Azeela and
+Dianne."</p>
+
+<p>"Dianne?" George's voice took on a new note of interest. "Who is she?"</p>
+
+<p>"Azeela's younger sister," Loto explained briefly. He smiled. "I meant
+to tell you about her, George. She's a little daredevil&mdash;you'll like
+her."</p>
+
+<p>George just smiled, and for some time they walked on in silence. The
+ground was wet, like muddy clay. There were no lights ahead, but the
+daylight from the cave's mouth lighted their way.</p>
+
+<p>They emerged from the cave and came out onto a road<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of white sand and
+clay that led down the mountain slope. Palms lined it thickly. Further
+down, at the bottom of the quarter-mile descent, houses began; the
+outskirts of the city. The road soon took on the aspect of a street. It
+was broad, with narrow pedestrian paths on both sides. Flower gardens,
+often with hedges of thick, bayonet-like plants, lined the walks. The
+houses were for the most part almost obscured by palms and trellised
+vines that were laden with scarlet blossoms. Private, outdoor bathing
+pools occasionally showed through the garden foliage.</p>
+
+<p>It was obviously a residential section. As the party advanced,
+passers-by grew more numerous. The Bas men were distinguishable by their
+clipped, bullet-like heads, covered with broad, circular-brimmed hats of
+straw; their sun-tanned bodies naked above the waist, bare feet, and the
+wide trousers. The Bas women, also red-brown of skin, were usually
+clothed merely with a loin cloth and a white sash bound over the
+breasts, their hair twisted in plaits hanging down the back.</p>
+
+<p>The Bas walked always in the road itself. On the pedestrian paths, a few
+Arans passed by; men with long hair to the base of the neck, and dressed
+somewhat as Loto had garbed his father and friend. Most of them saluted
+Loto&mdash;a queer, flowing gesture of the left hand&mdash;and all of them stared
+with frank curiosity at the strangers. Occasionally an Aran woman came
+along&mdash;white-swathed, mysterious figures; a twinkle of tiny,
+black-slippered feet, a flash from alluring eyes veiled by lashes
+heavily darkened.</p>
+
+<p>An Aran man riding a dog went slowly down a side street. A dog pulling a
+small, three-wheeled cart piled high with merchandise passed in the
+opposite direction.</p>
+
+<p>George edged toward Loto. "Those dogs," he whispered. "They're friendly?
+Not vicious?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," Loto laughed. "Just like regular dogs. Except...well,
+I'll tell you later."</p>
+
+<p>George sighed with relief. "All right. But they're not like any dogs I
+ever saw at home&mdash;they're nearly as big as a horse. And there's
+something else wrong about them&mdash;they're<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> too intelligent. You can see
+that just by looking at them walk."</p>
+
+<p>Presently they turned into the gateway of a hedge solid with white and
+scarlet blossoms.</p>
+
+<p>"Fahn's home," Loto said. "We'll go right in."</p>
+
+<p>They passed through a garden, colorful with its mass of vivid flowers,
+and heavy with the languorous scent of magnolia and orange blossoms. The
+house stood well back from the road. It was a low, broad building, white
+in color, with, a low-hanging room&mdash;not thatched, but seemingly of blue
+tiling.</p>
+
+<p>Then they were on the veranda. The walls of the house sloped inward at
+the top. There was a window nearby&mdash;no glass&mdash;with a blue-white, silky
+curtain shrouding it. The door stood open; inside was a hall, with
+another door open to the sunlight of a patio banked with flowers.</p>
+
+<p>A girl came to the doorway. It was Azeela. George recognized her at
+once: a slight little creature of blue eyes, golden hair and milk-white
+skin; a pale blue sash wound wide about her hips and thighs,
+breastplates of metal, with the broad, circular collar above them, and
+her hair parted forward over her shoulders in plaits that ended with
+little tassels. George decided she was the most beautiful girl he had
+ever seen; Loto's description did not half do her justice.</p>
+
+<p>She stood hesitantly in the doorway then, smiling, advanced to Loto and
+gave him both hands in a pretty gesture of welcome.</p>
+
+<p>George's decision that Azeela was the prettiest girl he had ever seen
+was short lived, for behind Azeela now came another girl, her younger
+sister, Dianne. Azeela might have been eighteen or nineteen; Dianne
+obviously was no more than sixteen&mdash;a black-haired, dark-eyed girl,
+dressed like Azeela, except that her sash was a deep red.</p>
+
+<p>"And this is Dianne," Loto was saying. "We call her Dee."</p>
+
+<p>"So will I," George answered promptly. He met the girl's eyes&mdash;snapping,
+laughing eyes with the spirit of deviltry in them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Loto told me about you," she said demurely. Her intonation was that of
+a foreigner, but she spoke the ancient English with perfect ease and
+fluency. "Loto said he thought I would like you a lot."</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't tell me about <i>you</i>," George responded. "Not till ten minutes
+ago. But, anyway, he was right. No, what I mean is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The rest of George's speech was lost, for they were inside the house and
+Fahn was advancing to meet them. The leader of the Scientists was a man
+of nearly seventy; a quiet, grave, dominating figure, tall and spare,
+but perfectly erect. His face was smooth-shaven, his iron-gray hair long
+to the base of the neck. He was dressed in a paneled robe of black, with
+a pleated white collar and cuffs.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad, indeed, to have you with us," he said cordially to Rogers.
+He spoke precisely, slowly and carefully, as one speaks a language newly
+mastered. "I feel very close to you, now that my daughter Azeela is to
+marry Loto. It makes me&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Rogers stared blankly. "Loto engaged? Why, Loto, you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There was so much else to tell you, Father." Loto was covered with
+confusion. "Besides, I wanted to have you meet Azeela first."</p>
+
+<p>Azeela was trying to escape from the room, but Dee captured her and
+pushed her back.</p>
+
+<p>George was vigorously congratulating Loto, and Rogers, rising to the
+occasion, kissed Azeela heartily.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>It was an ominous crisis into which the visitors from a time world
+twenty-eight thousand years previous had fallen. They discussed it with
+Fahn and his daughters during the remainder of that morning, and at the
+light noon meal, served in a shaded corner of the patio formed by the
+enclosing wings of the house. Banks of vivid flowers surrounded them;
+the quiet, warm air was redolent with perfume. A small fountain splashed
+musically. The world was calm, languorous.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn had little to add to what they already knew. Toroh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> and the Noths
+had not been expected to attack for a month or two at least, and the
+Anglese scientists were going forward with their own preparations for
+the war with utmost haste.</p>
+
+<p>But now these emissaries Toroh had smuggled to the island injected a new
+and alarming factor into the situation. They had appeared only in
+Orleen, but the Bas there were listening to them, and all over the
+island the news was spreading among the Bas that Toroh was a friend, not
+an enemy. The Bas might be incited to open revolt.</p>
+
+<p>"Morgruud is alarmed," Fahn said to Loto. He explained to the others
+that Mogruud was one of the most intelligent of the Bas in Anglese City,
+a leader of his people. Mogruud was not fooled by Toroh's emissaries,
+but he feared now that he could not prevent an uprising.</p>
+
+<p>"And the most terrible part is the Bas are right," Fahn added. "I do not
+mean in regard to Toroh&mdash;he is a scoundrel, of course. But the Bas must
+have some relief. Their children&mdash;ten mothers and infants were ordered
+exiled yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you fix it?" George asked.</p>
+
+<p>The Scientist leader shrugged slightly. "I do not make the laws; I obey
+them. I have remonstrated with the king and the council many times." He
+paused, then added thoughtfully:</p>
+
+<p>"The time may come when we of the League may be forced to act against
+the laws of our king. He is wrong, and we scientists all know it. But to
+take the law into our own hands&mdash;it is a very drastic thing...."</p>
+
+<p>During the meal, George was far more interested in the two sisters than
+in the men's talk. He had opportunity now to study the girls, compare
+them. In feature they were much alike; in expression and demeanor,
+totally different. Azeela was calm, thoughtful&mdash;femininely wise and
+patient. Dee was impulsive, vivacious&mdash;alternately demure and devilish.
+Yet, in spite of the differences in temperament, there seemed a strange
+bond between the sisters. Their regard for each other, the love between
+them, was obvious. But it was more than that&mdash;a bond of mind and spirit.
+George<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> puzzled over it. Often when Azeela was about to speak, Dee would
+impulsively speak for her, as though interpreting her sister's thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon was one of inactivity. A Toroh emissary appeared in
+Anglese City, but he was arrested before he had time to harangue the
+people.</p>
+
+<p>"I had thought he was one of Toroh's brothers," Fahn remarked, "but it
+is not so. I think now they would not dare come back to the island."</p>
+
+<p>He went on to explain that Toroh had two younger brothers, banished like
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>"They might come&mdash;Toroh himself might come," Loto declared. "He will
+dare anything that seems worth the risk."</p>
+
+<p>"If we take any one of them he will die," Fahn commented.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture, in the late afternoon when the whole world was
+bathed in the glorious colors of a sunset sky, that Azeela returned from
+a short trip across the city.</p>
+
+<p>"The Aran Festival of the Flowers is tonight," she exclaimed excitedly.
+"It has not been postponed. The Arans say it is clever to hold it now,
+in spite of the news from Orleen. It will show the Bas how little they
+care&mdash;how secure is the Aran power!"</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to presage evil events&mdash;the holding of this festival wherein
+all the wanton luxury of the Arans could be flaunted in the faces of
+those whom they ruled. And it was with foreboding in their hearts that
+Fahn, his daughters and their friends, prepared that evening to go and
+witness it. It was midnight when they started. Dee and Azeela were
+swathed to the eyes in soft white robes, and the men carried tiny black
+masks.</p>
+
+<p>The city streets, even at midnight, bore a holiday aspect. The moon had
+risen but, in addition to its light, there were braziers strung above
+every street crossing and they cast a soft blue light downward.</p>
+
+<p>Arans were hurrying along, alone and in groups&mdash;the women all shrouded
+in white; the men, in clothes of gaudy colors, wearing masks, or
+dangling them in their hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> Little phaetons drawn by dogs rolled by,
+filled with gay figures in fancy dress; women leaned from them, waving
+at the pedestrians and tossing out flowers as they swept past.</p>
+
+<p>Loto and Azeela, with George and Dee close behind them, led the way
+swiftly in the direction that every one else was moving. Fahn and Rogers
+followed behind.</p>
+
+<p>It was a fairy tale city of unreality: gaudy men and white robed women
+hastening forward under the blue street lights; silent white houses
+flushed with the reddish tinge of the moon; warm, moist air, almost
+without a breath, heavy with sensuous perfume.</p>
+
+<p>And in the shadows of the streets, the brown skinned, half naked figure
+of a Bas, skulking here and there!</p>
+
+<p>Azeela had, for some time, been walking in silence. She looked up at the
+moon and, with a touch upon Loto's arm, indicated it.</p>
+
+<p>"You said the moon was blushing, my Loto&mdash;the blush of maiden modesty to
+look down upon such a city. But I do not see it so...to me it is
+stained with <i>blood</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The sweeping gesture of her white arm flashing from under the robe
+indicated a garden beside them.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Blood&mdash;staining everything!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>The street topped a rise of ground, ahead, down another short slope, lay
+the sea. And even there the silver path upon the water was tinged with
+red.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER NINE</h2>
+
+
+<p>A cordon of police stopped Fahn and his party at the edge of a grove of
+palms near the beach. A moment more and they were inside. It was dim
+under the palms; the white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> sand a lace pattern of shadow and moonlight.
+Gay figures were moving about, all the men masked now.</p>
+
+<p>The grove covered perhaps a quarter of a mile. To the right lay the
+gleaming white beach with the surf rolling up upon it. A tremendous pile
+of scarlet and white blossoms stood near by under the palm trees.
+Figures rushed to it, gathered up armfuls and darted away, shouting and
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"We must keep together," Fahn warned. "Come this way."</p>
+
+<p>Half a dozen men had whirled up, pelting Azeela and Dee with flower
+blossoms, and, under cover of the laughing attack, tried to separate the
+girls from their escorts and carry them off.</p>
+
+<p>They moved slowly forward, George gripping Dee's arm tightly. They
+passed a huge, rectangular swimming pool, deserted as yet&mdash;glassy,
+moonlit water a foot or two below the surface of the ground, reflecting
+the dark outlines of the date palms that curved above it.</p>
+
+<p>The whirling crowd constantly became thicker. There must have been
+several thousand people within the grove: the white shrouded figure of a
+woman flinging flowers against the attack of a man; a woman retreating,
+her ammunition exhausted, to the flower pile to replenish, and being
+caught in a smothering embrace before she could reach it; a group of
+laughing girls, their robes torn from them in the fray, pelting a
+defenseless man, flinging him finally into a huge pile of flower petals,
+burying him until some other quarry distracted their attention, or a
+stronger force of men separated them, sometimes carrying them off
+bodily.</p>
+
+<p>And in nooks behind the hedges of flowers, couples stole silent
+embraces, alone until marauding bands of men or girls found them out and
+drove them from their seclusion.</p>
+
+<p>The white sand was thick with trampled flowers. Music came drifting
+through the warm night air; music near at hand, but blurred by the
+shouts of the whirling throng. The rich contralto voice of a woman
+singing&mdash;a snatch cut off by laughter.</p>
+
+<p>A large white pavilion lay ahead, brilliant with flashing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> colored
+lights&mdash;a kaleidoscope of shifting color. It seemed crowded with people,
+and Fahn now led his little party toward it.</p>
+
+<p>They did not enter the pavilion, but stood in a group on its steps. The
+music came from within, music that welled and throbbed, unfamiliar in
+character, but with the age-old appeal to the senses&mdash;music sensuous,
+barbaric. And yet was it barbaric?</p>
+
+<p>Rogers voiced the question in a whisper to Loto, who stood beside him.
+Was it not rather supermodern, with the centuries of decadence that had
+put into it that fire of the soul abandoned to the body?</p>
+
+<p>The throng on the floor was battling with flowers, drinking wine from
+carved bowls of coconut shell, and dancing indiscriminately. The masked
+men were robed in black and women shrouded in white, but the swinging
+lights of vivid color stained everything, made the scene shift and blur
+into fantasy.</p>
+
+<p>At one end of the room a huge circular table was loaded with food and
+drink, fruits and confections. The table was slowly revolving; half of
+its circumference was behind a partition&mdash;a kitchen where it was
+constantly being replenished with other dainties.</p>
+
+<p>The visitors found it difficult to keep their place on the pavilion
+steps. Masked men attacked the two girls with flowers; a black robed
+figure in mock politeness and humility begged one or the other of them
+to dance. A trio of girls tore George away, and then, at his resistance,
+left him abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"The king," whispered Loto, with a gesture.</p>
+
+<p>At one end of the pavilion, on a small raised platform, the king sat
+smiling down upon the scene. He was robed in paneled cloth of rich,
+gaudy colors&mdash;a man of middle age whose long, dark hair was shot through
+with gray.</p>
+
+<p>The scene, with its confusion of shifting incidents, held too much for
+the visitors to see or to understand. Half an hour went by, with the
+merrymaking steadily increasing. Abruptly, the music stopped. The throng
+stopped in its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> tracks, waiting expectantly. The swinging colored lights
+died out; others took their place&mdash;pure blue-white, and motionless. A
+solemn bell tolled out over the silence; with almost one motion the
+masks and the robes were discarded. A woman's laugh rang out, carrying
+in it the very essence of abandonment. Then the music began again and
+the throng sprang back into motion.</p>
+
+<p>The riotous color had been supplied by the lights; now with the lights a
+blue-white, steady glare, it was the riotous color of the costumes
+themselves. Was it the Baghdad of the Ancients&mdash;manikins, with turbaned
+headdresses, and flowing, vivid draperies with the gleaming white of
+limbs beneath them? Or were these slave girls, with their wares
+displayed for the bidders in the market? Or these others, were they
+desert women, dancing with a pagan lust?</p>
+
+<p>Watching with the others, George's impressions were confused. Yet the
+thought came to him that this was modern beyond his time&mdash;decadence, not
+barbarism.</p>
+
+<p>Again Rogers murmured something, but his words were lost. A score of
+figures came leaping from the pavilion, scattering the small group of
+onlookers on its steps.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers recovered himself, turning to follow them with his gaze; white
+nymphs with flowing hair, and draperies of gauze that bellowed behind
+them as they ran for the moonlit beach and the surf.</p>
+
+<p>Loto, pulling at his father's arm, brought his attention back to the
+pavilion. Through it, the palm grove on the other side was visible.</p>
+
+<p>The bathing pool was now a turmoil of splashing figures&mdash;slim white
+shapes dove into it from the palm-lined banks.</p>
+
+<p>But Loto was indicating the pavilion's interior. The crowd was standing
+motionless, gazing upward. A small dais was poised in mid-air above the
+floor in the center of the room. It floated there, seemingly with
+nothing to sustain it. Standing on tiptoe on the dais was a woman,
+wrapped to the eyes in scarlet draperies. She was facing the king over a
+distance of some twenty feet. The music, which had been stilled for a
+moment, murmured softly from its unseen niche.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Fahn whispered to Rogers, "Our workmen of the League equipped that dais
+for the king. He begged us&mdash;and I feel now that it was a mistake."</p>
+
+<p>Loto added: "It is made from our newly invented war equipment. The dais
+is covered with a fabric&mdash;electrically charged, and repulsive to the
+earth. It's radio controlled, Father. A workman from the cavern is over
+there in the corner, behind that drape. We've kept the fabric a secret,
+but the king wanted to use it for the dais."</p>
+
+<p>The woman was singing in a throbbing contralto, very soft at first, then
+gradually louder. As she sang, slowly she unwound the draperies, letting
+them drop from her like quivering flame to a smoldering pile at her
+feet. Beneath it were other draperies, flame-colored like the rest, but
+her arms and face were bare&mdash;full, rounded, milk-white arms&mdash;a heavy
+face with scarlet lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Helene," Loto whispered. "The Bas call her what means 'Mme. Voluptua.'
+It is she who rules the king <i>and the nation</i>. Look at her!"</p>
+
+<p>The king was standing up. The music grew louder, fiercer, with a
+thrilling minor cadence. The woman's arms were extended; she stood
+poised, smiling as she sang to the king. From her outflung arms the
+gauze drapery hung like quivering wings, with the white of her body
+gleaming beneath it. The black hair piled high on her head held two
+spangles of gold trembling at the end of delicate golden wires. She
+stood, a great scarlet moth, hovering before flight.</p>
+
+<p>Staring in fascination, the king had left his seat and descended to the
+floor. The crowd parted to make way for him as he slowly moved toward
+the dais which floated down to meet him. Every eye was on him and on the
+woman, who now was extending her arms down in invitation.</p>
+
+<p>The music and the song were at their height. The dais reached the floor;
+the king stepped upon it and, as the woman's hand touched his shoulder,
+he dropped on one knee before her, his lips at the hem of her scarlet
+gauze.</p>
+
+<p>A leer of triumph on the woman's face; a murmur of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> applause from the
+watching throng. Then a black cloak fell from a figure close beside the
+dais; a man leaped upon it&mdash;the naked figure of a man in loin-cloth. A
+knife flashed&mdash;blue-white steel in the light from above. The song rose
+to a shuddering scream. The scarlet figure wilted and sank among its
+draperies at the feet of the kneeling king.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the colorful throng seemed frozen; then chaos and the
+struggling, airless confusion of panic. The murderer had flung the king
+and the body of the woman from the dais. The little platform was rising
+into the air, carrying him with it. The movement was sidewise; in a
+moment it would have been outside the pavilion.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers, standing beside Fahn, heard the Scientist leader mutter an oath.
+Fahn's hand came up from his robe; a pencil-point of flame&mdash;a tiny
+shaft, yellow-red&mdash;shot from his weapon. The platform crashed to the
+floor of the pavilion; the murderer lay still, his body blackened and
+charred.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of the room, the king had climbed to his feet, trembling.
+He stood, staring down at the scarlet pile of gauze before him, the
+crumbled white body stained red as the draperies in which it lay.</p>
+
+<p>The pavilion was emptying. The music was stilled; shouts of men,
+terrified, hysterical cries of women filled the air. The visitors on the
+steps were swept back by the crowds from within. Loto, clinging to his
+father, struggled to hold them together.</p>
+
+<p>White figures were running from the beach; slim shapes were climbing
+from the bathing pool. A woman hastened by, long black hair plastered
+wet against her sleek white body. Her face, the allure gone from it, was
+a white mask of horror; a scarlet mouth with lips parted to yield
+babbling, terrified cries. She swept past, then disappeared into the
+confusion of the night.</p>
+
+<p>Loto was still clutching his father; all the rest of their party had
+disappeared. The pavilion now was empty of Arans, save for that huddled
+scarlet form, deserted by all its kind.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn came hastening up. "That is one of Toroh's brothers."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> He pointed
+to the motionless figure of the man his jet of flame had killed. "The
+other brother murdered my operator. They planned to steal the fabric, to
+duplicate it and use it against us in the war. I had no idea they would
+dare come to the island."</p>
+
+<p>Fahn had found his radio operator lying dead in his place behind the
+drape. Toroh's other brother had been there, trying to work the radio
+and get the dais out of the pavilion so that in the confusion they might
+escape with it. Fahn had caught a glimpse of the man running away as he
+approached. They had not known of Fahn's presence at the festival; had
+he not been there, the attempt probably would have succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>There was space around the three men now. The fleeing Aran figures were
+vanishing through the palms; the confused cries were growing fainter.
+But George and the two girls could not be found.</p>
+
+<p>"We must go back," Fahn said. "They must have tried to find us and could
+not. They would go home at once."</p>
+
+<p>With a last search around them, the three men started off through the
+now almost deserted grove. The cordon of police had disappeared. A few
+hastening figures were scattered along the streets.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," Loto cried anxiously. "We have to hurry."</p>
+
+<p>Keeping close together they hastened along. Aran figures scurried here
+and there; lights twinkled in the houses, then were extinguished as
+though the concealing darkness might offer protection.</p>
+
+<p>"Curious," murmured Rogers. "The entire city is in terror."</p>
+
+<p>"The guilt that has been within them for generations," Fahn answered.
+"Toroh planned this well. The Bas will not know it was an attempt to
+steal the fabric. Instead they will think that one of their own people
+dared to murder Mme. Voluptua. The Arans think that now. They think the
+Bas have risen to rebellion at last. It is not this one murder, but the
+meaning of it that they fear&mdash;the confidence it will give the Bas."</p>
+
+<p>And as though to confirm his words, the figure of a Bas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> man stood
+motionless on the next street corner. He was partly in shadow, but he
+did not move as the three men came along; and as they passed, his body
+seemed to straighten, with the consciousness of his own power sweeping
+over it.</p>
+
+<p>They hurried across the city. As they went, they passed other Bas&mdash;Bas
+who no longer skulked in the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>At last they came to the shimmering, moonlit garden of Fahn's home. The
+house was dark. They called, but no one answered. A brief search
+revealed the truth; Azeela, George and Dee were not to be found. The
+place was undisturbed; there seemed no evidence of marauders.</p>
+
+<p>"We must wait," Fahn said. But his tone was anxious. "They have not yet
+arrived from the grove. I cannot believe it is anything but that."</p>
+
+<p>For a time they waited, but none of the missing three appeared. A hum
+had been growing in the city&mdash;a murmur of distant cries that now forced
+itself on their attention. The murmur grew, resolving itself into shouts
+and the scuffle of running feet. A mob of Bas rounded a nearby street
+corner and swept past the house. The crowd might have held a thousand
+persons. A giant, half-naked man with a curved sword-blade in his hand
+was leading the way; behind him came hordes of brown-skinned men and
+women. Most of the men carried curved swords; the women wielded
+sticks&mdash;the heavy butts of palm-fronds with the green stripped off&mdash;and
+a variety of agricultural implements.</p>
+
+<p>"The cane-cutters!" Loto exclaimed softly. "The knives with which they
+cut the sugar cane. They&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He broke off, watching the grim mob as it swept by. At every corner it
+was strengthened by others who joined it; Bas were springing up
+miraculously from the shadows everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn's hand had gone to his belt; then it dropped to his side. Rogers
+met the Scientist's glance with a nod of understanding.</p>
+
+<p>"It is what we of the League have feared for years," Fahn said
+anxiously. "I cannot kill my own people. I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> armed and they are not,
+yet I cannot kill them&mdash;cannot look upon them as enemies. And I think,
+even in their frenzy, they realize that and play upon it."</p>
+
+<p>The last stragglers had passed; the shouts of the mob were growing
+fainter as it dashed across the city. The Aran houses were still dark
+and silent, with only an occasional inmate slinking out to gaze
+fearfully around. Directly across the street, the white figure of a
+woman just returned from the grove showed for an instant in a doorway.
+Then it fled inward, into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>The palace!</i>" Loto explained abruptly. "<i>They're going to the
+palace!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>The words seemed to bring to Fahn the realization that action by him was
+needed. For the moment his anxiety over his daughters became secondary.</p>
+
+<p>"Come!" he cried. "We must protect the king."</p>
+
+<p>He hurried them through the garden and along the street. Almost running,
+the three men headed toward where the mob could still be heard, shouting
+in the distance.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER TEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>George had been standing with his friends beside the pavilion, silently
+watching the festival reach its height. The bell tolled; the masks and
+cloaks were discarded. A bevy of nymphs draped in flowing gauze came
+dashing out. As they passed, one of them caught George by the arm,
+pulling him along a few steps; her eyes, half hidden by her tumbling
+hair, mocked him provocatively.</p>
+
+<p>He jerked away. A tide of other figures flowed from the pavilion,
+following the nymphs to the beach. George fought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> his way back, seeking
+to rejoin his friends; in that crowd they could get lost so easily.</p>
+
+<p>He was looking about, wondering just where they had been standing
+before, when he saw Dee. Her white cloak had fallen from her head to her
+shoulders. She was standing alone, apparently lost in reverie.</p>
+
+<p>George hastened to her. "Where are&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But her vehement gesture silenced him; again she seemed lost in thought.
+For a moment he stood wondering what was the matter with her. The music
+from the pavilion throbbed out into the moonlit grove; gaiety was
+surging all around them.</p>
+
+<p>Finally George could stand it no longer. "Dee, what is it? What's the
+matter?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked up with an anxious frown. "Something is wrong with Azeela.
+She's trying to tell me what's wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh?" George glanced hastily about. "Where is Azeela? She was here a
+minute ago. Where are the rest of them? Let's tell them."</p>
+
+<p>What did Dee mean? The girl seemed to have forgotten him again. She was
+moving away, like one who walks under a spell.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait. Dee&mdash;<i>wait a minute</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>She kept on going. Figures were passing between them now. George hated
+to leave his place. He'd never find the others&mdash;never get back again.
+Even now he realized it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find
+them in all that crowd of masked figures. If he lost Dee, too... He had
+no choice; he darted after Dee.</p>
+
+<p>When he had overtaken her they were some distance from the pavilion. It
+was more secluded here. George darted up and caught her by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee! What's the matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>Her hand went over her eyes and she shook herself slightly. "It's hard
+at first&mdash;getting Azeela's thoughts. I have them now." She spoke
+swiftly, anxiously. "Toroh was here a moment ago. He seized Azeela and
+took her out of the grove&mdash;right near here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Azeela's thoughts! George understood. He started forward, but she held
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late! Toroh had two dogs waiting for him&mdash;they're mounting them
+now. He has tied Azeela. They're starting&mdash;the dogs are running."</p>
+
+<p>George stared at her blankly. "Where to? Where is he taking her? Can you
+ask her that? Can she tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl was hastening forward now, with George after her. "Yes. She
+says to Orleen. I have told her we are coming."</p>
+
+<p>Abruptly, she stopped and faced him. "George, we have two dogs at home.
+Shall you and I get them and go after Azeela?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he exclaimed impulsively.</p>
+
+<p>"And I know where father keeps his weapons."</p>
+
+<p>"Good. We can't find Loto and your father in this crowd. Had we better
+try, Dee?"</p>
+
+<p>They were hurrying forward again.</p>
+
+<p>"No, we'd lose too much time. Father forbade me touching his weapons,"
+she added as an afterthought, "but this is different, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," he agreed excitedly. "You know how to work them, Dee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I experimented. He doesn't know it."</p>
+
+<p>They left the grove.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee, where's Azeela now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Crossing the city. West toward Orleen. We won't be far behind them."</p>
+
+<p>George was trembling with the excitement of it. "Is Toroh armed? Ask
+Azeela that."</p>
+
+<p>"I did. She doesn't know. She thinks he is."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll do something. He won't know we're after him&mdash;that's our
+advantage. Hurry, George!"</p>
+
+<p>There were a few figures in the almost deserted streets, but George and
+Dee did not notice them. She was telling him of this branch of science
+for which she and her sister were distinguished&mdash;this telepathy they had
+developed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> Bound in a union of thought by an unusual devotion, they had
+perfected it until they could know, always vaguely, and, with effort,
+quite distinctly, what was in the other's mind.</p>
+
+<p>"We mustn't waste any time getting started, Dee."</p>
+
+<p>They had entered the silent garden of Fahn's home. The city behind them
+was humming with confusion now, but they did not hear it, did not know
+that a murder had just been committed at the festival.</p>
+
+<p>Inside the house, Dee went at once to her father's room. George waited.
+When she returned she held two weapons out for his inspection. One was a
+crescent of transparent metal, with a tiny wire connecting its horns and
+a black bone handle by which to grasp it. There was a firing mechanism
+on the handle. It was the projector of the ray which caused muscular
+paralysis&mdash;the weapon Bool had used against Loto.</p>
+
+<p>Dee described its operation briefly.</p>
+
+<p>The other weapon was a small black globe the size of a man's fist. It
+also had a handle with a trigger; in the globe opposite was a tiny
+orifice like the muzzle of a revolver. This was one of the smallest
+models of the thunderbolt projectors. With it, a bolt of electrons could
+be thrown over a distance of some twenty feet.</p>
+
+<p>The former weapon Dee kept; the little thunderbolt globe she handed to
+George.</p>
+
+<p>Dee had discarded her white robe; a blue ribbon around her forehead held
+the hair from her eyes. She had another in her hand, and she tied it
+around George's head.</p>
+
+<p>"It's hot riding, even at night," she explained. "Your hair gets
+moist&mdash;gets in your eyes."</p>
+
+<p>They had been delayed only a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"This way," she added.</p>
+
+<p>They ran outside, across the patio, through a dark room and into the
+garden behind the house, where a small white outbuilding stood. A new
+misgiving overcame George.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Dee&mdash;these dogs of yours..."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you ride a dog?" she asked over her shoulder. Her expression was
+impish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can ride anything," he said stoutly, but his tone was dubious. "If
+the dog is&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She must have understood him, for she laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait! You will find these dogs your friends."</p>
+
+<p>George said nothing more, and in a moment they were within the kennel.
+It was dark, very dimly lighted by the moon from outside. A gray-black
+shape came toward them; a shaggy dog whose shoulders stood nearly as
+high as his own. George's first instinct was to turn and run, but the
+dog padded up to Dee, and she put her arms up around it.</p>
+
+<p>"Good, Rotan. Will you run fast for Dee?"</p>
+
+<p>She called it toward George, and patted him to show the dog he was her
+friend. George impulsively put his hand up to the great shaggy neck,
+felt the dog's warm tongue as it turned to lick his hand. This huge
+brute was his friend.</p>
+
+<p>The other dog, Atal was a male, larger than its mate; and standing
+beside it, George marveled at the power that its great body must hold.
+The dogs knew they were going out. They whined with eagerness, and
+leaping across the kennel, they came back to Dee with saddles in their
+mouths with which she was to harness them.</p>
+
+<p>Rotan, which Dee was to ride, was saddled with a leather seat and a
+pommel with a small stirrup on one side. It was not unlike the
+sidesaddle for girls that had been in use just before George's time. On
+Atal she strapped a thick leather pad with a stirrup on each side; men
+rode astride. There were no bridles.</p>
+
+<p>"You tell Atal which way to go," she explained. "Right or left, slower
+or faster. If you want him to run or walk or stop, he will understand.
+Since Loto came we have taught them your way of saying it."</p>
+
+<p>It all took no more than a moment or two, for Dee was hurrying, and her
+eagerness seemed to communicate itself to the dogs. They had barked at
+first&mdash;barks of such volume that George was startled. But when Dee
+silenced them, they stood trembling with impatience, their heads turned
+to follow her as she adjusted the saddles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>George mounted Atal. It was almost like mounting a horse; and yet not
+like a horse either, for the dog's huge body under him was springy,
+supple. As it moved toward the doorway, George was reminded of the lithe
+grace and strength of a tiger. He missed the reins, and in lieu of them,
+twisted up two handfuls of hair on the dog's neck and clung.</p>
+
+<p>Dee was ahead of him. "All right, George?"</p>
+
+<p>"Right," he said confidently. "But we might as well take it slow for a
+minute or two."</p>
+
+<p>They moved silently through the garden. George leaned forward and down
+to the dog's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Nice dog, Atal. You go slow till I tell you different."</p>
+
+<p>In the street, Dee was drawing away, and Atal broke into a run.</p>
+
+<p>George clung desperately. But it was unnecessary. The dog's strides were
+even and long; its padded paws made no sound as they hit the ground; its
+legs, all its muscles, seemed to give to the shock and absorb it.</p>
+
+<p>They were running faster now; the dog's body seemed to settle closer to
+the ground. The wind whistled by George's ears, but he felt curiously
+secure. There was no question of the dog stumbling, falling; and its
+gait, now at a steady run, was far easier to ride than any horse he had
+ever mounted.</p>
+
+<p>Dee was still ahead; the ends of the ribbon band about her head
+fluttered out behind her. The white road was a blur; the houses and
+gardens of the city were flying past.</p>
+
+<p>An exhilaration&mdash;a feeling of triumph and power&mdash;came over George. He
+was perfectly at home on the dog's back now. This little Dee was a
+daredevil, as Loto had said. Well, that was the sort of girl he liked.
+They'll overtake Toroh, kill him with a flash from the thunderbolt
+globes and rescue Azeela.</p>
+
+<p>George leaned forward over the dog's neck.</p>
+
+<p>"We might as well catch up with Dee," he said into the silky ear.
+"Faster, Atal!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At once the dog increased its pace, overtaking its mate. Side by side,
+they swept through the city.</p>
+
+<p>To George the ride soon became a blur: a white moonlit road passing
+under him, palm trees flashing by, occasional houses, thatched shacks;
+the wind whistling past his ears, and that lithe, powerful body beneath
+him, with its rippling muscles.</p>
+
+<p>Dee rode gracefully and easily, leaning slightly forward into the rush
+of air. Often she would draw ahead, but a whispered word from George to
+the brute beneath him, and again the dogs were running side by side.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Dee stopped them; the dogs stood panting, with tongues lolling
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" George demanded. "Where are we?"</p>
+
+<p>The girl's face was drawn with anxiety. "Azeela had been trying to find
+out from Toroh why he takes her to Orleen."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" he prompted. "And I wondered&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Toroh has told her now. Loto's old plane is there. He wants the plane!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" George's heart sank with dismay. "But the plane is in the Orleen
+Cavern. How can they get to it? Isn't the cavern guarded?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Wait. Toroh says he can get it. He has a spy there&mdash;a man whom we
+trust. One of the guards."</p>
+
+<p>"Good grief! Dee, where are they now?"</p>
+
+<p>"A few miles west of here. I can't tell how far&mdash;Azeela does not know
+just where we are, either."</p>
+
+<p>"Does Toroh know we're after him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>George tried to think coherently. "Can't we overtake them, Dee? Before
+they reach Orleen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Azeela says not. Their dogs are very fast&mdash;perhaps faster
+than ours."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly George had an inspiration. The other plane&mdash;the one he and
+Rogers had come in! It was back in the cavern in Anglese City. He and
+Dee could get that, and he could operate it&mdash;he'd have to, now. Then
+they could fly to Orleen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> and perhaps by that method get there before
+Toroh and Azeela.</p>
+
+<p>He explained this swifty to Dee. "We're not so far from Anglese City,
+are we?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," she agreed. "It's the best thing to do."</p>
+
+<p>They turned the dogs, starting back over the road they had come.</p>
+
+<p>A new thought occurred to George. "Dee, what does Toroh want with that
+plane? Is he going to take Azeela north in it?"</p>
+
+<p>The dogs were already at a run, but he caught her answer.</p>
+
+<p>"No. He will take the plane back into time! He wants to get greater
+weapons with which to conquer us!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Fahn, Loto and Rogers hurried through the city streets. The faint
+distant cries of the mob ahead drifted back to them. There were no Arans
+to be seen, but the Bas men and women were everywhere, most of them
+moving in the direction of the palace.</p>
+
+<p>As Fahn and his two companions advanced, the turmoil ahead grew louder.
+The palace stood on a rise of ground in the midst of a lavish garden,
+with its swimming pool, its trellised pergolas and its graceful palms.
+The building was a two story rectangular, with huge white columns from
+the ground to the roof. A broad balcony ran the length of the second
+story. The roof was flat, with palms growing upon it.</p>
+
+<p>A crowd of Bas was surging up the hill toward the palace; in the
+gardens, the armed mob was already massed, shouting, threatening, but
+lacking, as yet, the courage to advance upon the building.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn had turned into a side street at the foot of the hill.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we going?" Rogers demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got to get into the palace unseen, so we'll go through the
+tower," Loto explained. "There's a secret way into it that the Bas don't
+know."</p>
+
+<p>The tower, which rose like the skeleton of a lighthouse, stood close
+beside the main palace building; a covered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> bridge connecting the two as
+the level of the second floor of the palace.</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly Fahn led the two men to the beach that lay behind the bluff on
+which the palace and its tower stood. The moonlit strand was deserted.
+They came to a thick clump of palmettos in the heavy sand at the foot of
+the bluff&mdash;a green tangled clump higher than a man's head. Into this
+Fahn plunged unhesitatingly, forcing the fronds aside, pushing his way
+in with the others after him. Inside the palmetto thicket was a small
+tunnel mouth, leading downward.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed an endless journey through a black underground passageway not
+much higher than their heads and so narrow that they could always touch
+both its walls with their outstretched arms. The air was heavy and
+fetid. They went down a slope, across on a level, then up. Once they
+arrived at an iron grating barring the way. But Fahn opened it in some
+fashion and it swung on a central, horizontal pivot so that they might
+crawl under it.</p>
+
+<p>Ahead of them, up the incline, a tiny blue light shone. They reached it,
+found a small circular staircase and climbed upward into the tower.</p>
+
+<p>The whole process had taken perhaps fifteen minutes. The mob was still
+in the garden; its shouts and mutterings sounded loud and ominous as the
+little party ascended the interior of the tower and hastily crossed the
+covered bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn was still leading the way. They pushed aside a curtained doorway
+and found themselves in a broad, second-floor corridor of the palace,
+dimly lighted. A white-bearded old man was crossing it hastily,
+disappearing into a room at its further end.</p>
+
+<p>Another room was near at hand, with a latticed grating in its doorway
+that now stood open. A soft, blue-white light flooded out through it to
+the hall. The castle's interior was evidently in confusion; cries
+sounded, mingled with the threatening shouts of the mob outside.</p>
+
+<p>A girl, shaking with fright, stood in the nearer doorway, the light from
+behind glowing through her soft draperies. Other girls crowded forward
+from the room&mdash;a dozen fright<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>ened young girls, no more than matured.
+They saw Fahn, and ran to him for protection.</p>
+
+<p>"The king's wives," Loto explained to his father.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn's face softened, and as the girls huddled round him, he tried to
+comfort them.</p>
+
+<p>"The guilt within them," muttered Rogers. "They think the Bas are coming
+to kill them&mdash;<i>only them</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Fahn caught the words and his eyes flashed. "There is no guilt here, my
+friend. They are women born to such as this."</p>
+
+<p>With the girls in a clinging group around him, the scientist proceeded
+down the hallway, followed by Loto and his father.</p>
+
+<p>The room at the end of the hall&mdash;it seemed a sort of audience room&mdash;was
+in confusion; most of the occupants of the palace were gathered there.
+The king was pacing up and down near the entrance, his frightened
+councilors and advisors around him.</p>
+
+<p>On a low divan sat the queen, a woman of forty, regal in a paneled robe,
+with her hair dressed high on her head. At her knees two children were
+huddled&mdash;the little prince and princess of the Arans. The queen was
+bending down over them as the strangers entered. When she saw Fahn with
+the girl-wives of her king, she frowned, stood up, and with an imperious
+gesture ordered the girls from the room. But Fahn, with a stern command,
+bade them stay. The queen seemed amazed at the scientist's defiance; the
+king looked undecided, but he did not interfere.</p>
+
+<p>With Fahn's arrival, the room quieted; its occupants gained confidence.
+The king seemed utterly relieved. He spoke a few placating words to the
+queen, but she had withdrawn haughtily to a corner, her eyes flashing at
+the frightened girls who were huddled across the room.</p>
+
+<p>The mob outside was shouting, surging about, but still lacking the
+courage for a concerted attack. Fahn went to a window, with Rogers and
+Loto after him. The moonlight outside showed the crowd plainly. The Bas
+were waving their weapons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Look!" Loto exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>A score or more of men were gathering in a group near the center of the
+garden. A man mounted the rim of a fountain, inciting the group with his
+shouts. His words had effect. The little knot of men waved their
+cane-knives and came surging toward the palace entrance. The crowd made
+way for them, following behind with shouts of triumph. Missiles were
+thrown upward at the palace windows; one or two at first, then a
+hailstorm.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn quietly stepped out on a balcony that ran along the entire front of
+the building. Loto and his father followed. The moonlight fell full upon
+them, and the crowd recognized the Scientists' leader.</p>
+
+<p>A great shout went up&mdash;a cry of defiance mingled with fear. The men
+rushing at the building wavered and stopped; the crowd near at hand
+began pressing backward.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly, Fahn advanced to the waist-high parapet; with his hands upon it
+he stood like an orator facing a friendly throng and calmly waited for
+silence. A stone whistled past his head, struck the building and
+clattered to the stone floor of the balcony, but he did not heed it.</p>
+
+<p>His calmness, the confident power of his demeanor, quieted the mob. In a
+little open space on the terrace, a leader of the Bas sprang into
+prominence&mdash;a giant man who shouted a brief sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Mogruud," whispered Loto. "He tells them to listen to what Fahn has to
+say."</p>
+
+<p>Silence came at last, and then Fahn spoke, quietly, earnestly. He seemed
+to be winning them over, when from the palace behind the king suddenly
+appeared on the balcony. At the sight of him an angry shout rolled up
+from the crowd. A long, thin knife, with a tail of feathers on it, flew
+up from below and stuck, quivering, in the window casement beside the
+king's head. The king retreated.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn continued speaking, but now the mob would not listen to him. A
+woman's shrill laugh of derision floated upward.</p>
+
+<p>At once Fahn's tone changed. He rasped out a stern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> command, but a
+scattering hail of stones was his answer. Then, without warning, his
+hand went to his robe. He flung a little ball into the air. It burst
+fifty feet from his hand with a shrill whistling scream, and a shower of
+sparks scattered downward over the garden. They were harmless, but they
+sent a mild electric shock through every individual member of the mob.
+The Bas were frightened into silence.</p>
+
+<p>"He does not want to kill even one of them," Loto whispered. "Never
+before have the Bas been in open demonstration. It might spread to other
+cities&mdash;<i>anything might happen</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Fahn was now whispering into a tiny mouthpiece, talking to his guards at
+the cavern a mile or so away. From the cavern-mountain across the city,
+a blue-white shaft of light sprang into the sky. The Bas saw it and
+stared. And then suddenly the air seemed to be bursting with
+voices&mdash;four words, repeated by the audible radio that the cavern was
+sending out.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>A million aerial voices were proclaiming it everywhere. And then the
+words changed.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We must win against Toroh! The Bas must help us win against Toroh!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>The threat and its so swiftly following appeal were irresistible.
+Mogruud shouted an enthusiastic answer to Fahn, and the crowd applauded.</p>
+
+<p>The voices in the air were presently stilled; the light over the cavern
+disappeared. And, still with his hands quietly on the parapet, Fahn
+again addressed the people below him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mogruud says the laws should be changed," Loto whispered swiftly to his
+father. "The Bas women should have their children without exile."</p>
+
+<p>Fahn seemed to make a sudden decision. He spoke again into his
+mouthpiece. Again the light sprang over the cavern. From the air came
+the words:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Surprised, awed, then frantic with joy, the crowd in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> palace gardens
+took up the cry, and all over the island the radio voices were
+proclaiming it:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Bas children will be free! The Scientists promise Bas children will be
+free!</i>"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER ELEVEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>Still side by side, George and Dee rode back toward Anglese City. It was
+further than George had thought; then he realized that the girl had
+turned into a different road. He shouted a question at her.</p>
+
+<p>"A shorter way to the cavern," she explained.</p>
+
+<p>The wind whistling past them made conversation difficult. George
+understood that they were skirting the city to where the cavern stood on
+the other side. They were still in the open country; a road of white
+sand, palm lined, with a forest jungle all around, and only an
+occasional house.</p>
+
+<p>George's mind was in a turmoil. Toroh taking the other plane into time!
+Memory came to him of all those greater civilizations he and Rogers had
+seen though the centuries they had passed. Toroh was going back to those
+civilizations to secure weapons! The thought turned George cold all
+over. With the weapons from former, greater ages, Toroh and his army of
+Noths would be invincible.</p>
+
+<p>Words in the wind sweeping by startled George into sudden alertness.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Death to disloyal Bas!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as though some tiny voice had whispered it to him.</p>
+
+<p>Dee had checked both the dogs abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" George demanded.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It came again:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Death to disloyal Bas! Death to disloyal Bas!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>The air was whispering it, then calling it; a myriad voices echoed it
+everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"Look there!" cried Dee.</p>
+
+<p>Ahead of them, a mile or so away, a blue light was standing up into the
+sky. There was a house near at hand, a Bas shack. From it a woman and
+two naked children came running out into the moonlight, panic-stricken
+at the dread words with which the air resounded.</p>
+
+<p>And then the words changed:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Bas women will not be exiled! Bas children will be free!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>The woman in front of the shack clutched her children, listening,
+rejoicing&mdash;almost unbelieving.</p>
+
+<p>Dee had started the dogs forward again. Swiftly she explained to George
+what she thought it might mean&mdash;a radio proclamation from Fahn. In a few
+moments the light over the cavern had vanished; the voices in the air
+died away.</p>
+
+<p>George's mind reverted to their own situation; the incident had given
+him an idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee, where are Azeela and Toroh now?"</p>
+
+<p>She thought an instant; momentarily the mental bond with her sister had
+been broken.</p>
+
+<p>"Very near Orleen, she thinks. They have heard the voices. Toroh is very
+angry. He had hoped much that the Bas would rebel. It would have helped
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Near Orleen!" George echoed. "Can't we get to the Anglese Cavern
+first?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think so." She had started Rotan into a run, but George called her to
+stop. Even at the risk of losing more precious time, he questioned her.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee, listen. Are the caverns of Orleen and Anglese City connected by
+radio?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then listen. We'll get to Anglese City first and tell them to inform
+the guards at Orleen. When Toroh and Azeela arrive they can seize
+them&mdash;if we warn them ahead."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded with instant comprehension.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All radio isn't broadcast audibly, is it?" he added.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said. The dogs were running faster. She called back over her
+shoulder. "We'll do that. I'll tell Azeela."</p>
+
+<p>They swept forward, the dogs settling low to the ground as they ran.</p>
+
+<p>A great weight seemed to have lifted from George. It would be simple
+enough, after all&mdash;merely notify the Orleen Cavern by radio, and Toroh
+would be seized when he presented himself with Azeela.</p>
+
+<p>George contemplated the outcome. With Toroh in their hands, the Noth
+attack would collapse. There would be no war.</p>
+
+<p>It was a race then; the only thing that could go wrong would be if Toroh
+got to the other cavern first. Rotan and Dee were ahead; the girl's
+slight figure clinging to the dog showed in the moonlight. George
+whispered to Atal, thumped the dog's flank with his hand.</p>
+
+<p>As they caught up with Dee, he shouted, "Where's Azeela now? Will we
+make it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she answered. "I think so."</p>
+
+<p>The mountain that housed the cavern loomed ahead through the palms;
+houses lay to the right, the outskirts of Anglese City. Half a mile more
+and they would be there.</p>
+
+<p>Atal's upflung head brought George out of another reverie. The dog,
+still running at full speed, was sniffing the air. George heard Rotan
+growl, and Dee's sharp command for silence.</p>
+
+<p>Another command from the girl, and both dogs stopped; Atal slid on his
+haunches, checking himself so abruptly that George was flung to the
+sand.</p>
+
+<p>He was unhurt. He picked himself up to find Dee beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"Someone is coming," she said sharply. "Someone the dogs know is not a
+friend."</p>
+
+<p>She spoke to the dog, and pulled George to the side of the road where a
+cluster of banana trees cast an inky shadow. Together they stood there
+in silence. Atal and Rotan had disappeared. The road was a white ribbon
+in the moon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>light. George listened, but could hear nothing. He tried to
+question Dee, but she silenced him.</p>
+
+<p>Presently there came the thud of running feet; from the direction of
+Anglese City two running dogs with riders swept into view. The riders
+were men, black cloaked and wearing masks. Arans, from the festival,
+George thought.</p>
+
+<p>They would have passed without seeing the lurking figures under the
+banana trees had not Atal and Rotan, in spite of Dee's command, suddenly
+charged them from the shadows across the road.</p>
+
+<p>The two men, shouting in anger and alarm, tumbled from their mounts. The
+four dogs tangled in a snarling, biting mass.</p>
+
+<p>Still George and Dee were unseen in the shadows. One of the men in the
+road had lost his cloak and mask; the moonlight showed his face.</p>
+
+<p>"One of Toroh's brothers," Dee breathed into George's ear. In the
+dimness he could see she was raising the small, crescent-shaped weapon.
+Some noise that she or George made must have alarmed the men, who were
+no more than ten feet away. They looked sharply across the road, and
+then, evidently seeing nothing, they turned back to where the dogs were
+still fighting with a deadly fury.</p>
+
+<p>Sparks leaped suddenly from Dee's outstretched hand. The men turned. One
+of them cried out in terror, but they both stood stiff and motionless.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got 'em!" George shouted. "Good work, Dee!"</p>
+
+<p>He would have leaped forward, but her free hand gripped him.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Quick! The globe!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>One of the men, supposedly stricken beyond the power to move, was, by
+some superhuman effort of will, slowly raising his hand; his fingers
+clutched a tiny black globe. It came up very slowly, as his almost
+paralyzed muscles struggled with its weight.</p>
+
+<p>But George recovered his wits. He snatched his own globe from his
+pocket, pointed it, pulled the trigger.</p>
+
+<p>The night was split by a flash, a tiny, sizzling snap of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> thunder; the
+globe recoiled in George's hand. Across the road the bodies of the two
+men lay motionless on the sand.</p>
+
+<p>Dee was leaning against a banana trunk panting. Her face had gone white,
+but she smiled as George turned to her.</p>
+
+<p>"They almost got us," she said.</p>
+
+<p>George himself was trembling, but he would not let her see it.</p>
+
+<p>"Almost, Dee. Next time I'll be ready. I didn't realize..."</p>
+
+<p>Among the trees across the road the dogs were still fighting. One of the
+Noth dogs lay motionless, torn and bleeding. Atal and Rotan together
+were attacking the other&mdash;the three rolling and tumbling as they bit and
+tore at each other, their huge bodies trampling down the banana trees as
+they fought.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee, could I use the thunderbolt on them?"</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head. "Wait."</p>
+
+<p>It lasted only a moment more; the second Noth dog was down, with Atal's
+fangs buried in its throat.</p>
+
+<p>The two dogs came leaping back to their mistress, their bodies torn, and
+matted with dirt and blood.</p>
+
+<p>Dee patted them affectionately as they stood licking their wounds. "But
+you should have minded me," she said.</p>
+
+<p>George had taken one look at the two charred figures lying in the road;
+he drew the girl away.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on. I wouldn't look over there. We must hurry, Dee."</p>
+
+<p>They mounted the dogs and started forward, more slowly this time, for
+the animals carried them with difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>Again George remembered. Toroh would be at the Orleen Cavern by this
+time. They had lost! This delay had been the one unexpected thing that
+could defeat them.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But the girl had anticipated him.</p>
+
+<p>"They are in the plane." She half whispered the words. "Azeela has been
+trying to tell me for a long time. Toroh had a spy at the cavern
+entrance, a man whom we trust as a Scientist. He let them in&mdash;Azeela had
+no chance to make an outcry. They are in the plane now. Azeela telling
+Toroh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> she cannot operate it. Wait! Now he's trying the proton switch
+himself."</p>
+
+<p>A silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee! What is it?" George pleaded.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head. "Nothing comes. Nothing!"</p>
+
+<p>The connection was broken! Azeela was carried back into time. Had
+something stopped her message? Would her thought-bond with her sister
+hold across the centuries that now separated them?</p>
+
+<p>George could only ask himself these questions with a sinking heart. If
+the bond would not hold, then Azeela was lost to them forever. Lost to
+Loto, who loved her. And Toroh would get his weapons and win the
+war&mdash;<i>inevitably</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing yet, Dee?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>They rode slowly onward. At last Dee gave a cry of joy.</p>
+
+<p>"It comes again! She is all right, George! <i>All right!</i>" Her voice rose
+in triumph and thankfulness.</p>
+
+<p>George thumped Atal to urge the dog forward. "Then we must hurry, Dee.
+They're going back into time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Azeela is looking at the dials. Twenty-five years back now. She
+tells us to hurry. She will watch the dials and let me know where they
+are. Toroh does not suspect anything. He is gloating. He thinks he has
+won everything."</p>
+
+<p>At last they were ascending the slope to the mouth of the cavern. The
+yawning hole showed black in the face of the cliff. On the small
+platform above the mouth, a single light disclosed the figures of three
+guards sitting there.</p>
+
+<p>In the moonlight the guards saw them coming. A bolt of lightning flashed
+downward across the black hole; a peal of thunder rolled out.</p>
+
+<p>They stopped, and Dee called to the guards. One of them descended from
+the platform, down a narrow flight of steps cut in the cliff face. He
+came forward in the moonlight, a black robed figure.</p>
+
+<p>Dee spoke with him, and, recognizing a daughter of Fahn, he saluted
+respectfully. There followed a brief colloquy, then the guard stood
+aside.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A moment later they were in the cavern. The huge tunnel was dark and
+dank, but blue-white lights glimmered ahead in the darkness. The place
+was silent, seemingly deserted.</p>
+
+<p>Down the length of the main tunnel they hurried. The plane stood there
+in the open space, in the glare of blue-white light. They stood before
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee, shall we send for your father?"</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?" George persisted. "Did you ask the guard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He and Loto and Loto's father are at the palace. There has been
+rebellion and murder&mdash;the murder of Helene, Mme. Voluptua."</p>
+
+<p>She recounted succinctly the events of the night in Anglese City as the
+guard had told them to her.</p>
+
+<p>George whistled. "They've got their hands full. Dee, are you still in
+communication with Azeela?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. They are beyond fifty years."</p>
+
+<p>"Going how fast?"</p>
+
+<p>"Azeela says as fast as they can&mdash;the twentieth intensity."</p>
+
+<p>George made his decision.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee, we mustn't wait, mustn't stop for anything. You're willing to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she declared soberly.</p>
+
+<p>She reached toward the platform. George locked his hands, and she put
+her small foot into them. He lifted her&mdash;she seemed no heavier than a
+child&mdash;and she swung herself up gracefully and easily to the platform.</p>
+
+<p>George followed and closed the cabin door after them. "Did you tell the
+guard what we were going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said. "I told him to tell father later tonight when things
+were more quiet at the palace."</p>
+
+<p>"Good girl. Dee, have you ever been back into time?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Azeela has. Just a little way&mdash;with Loto. He taught her to operate
+the plane."</p>
+
+<p>"How fast are they going, Dee? The twentieth intensity?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>George's hand was on the proton switch. He took a last look around.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sit down, Dee. Hold the arms of your chair. Don't be frightened."</p>
+
+<p>The cabin was dark; through its windows the blue-white glare outside
+showed the jagged brown walls of the cavern. The twentieth intensity!
+<i>Toroh was going as fast as he possibly could!</i></p>
+
+<p>George pulled the switch. There was a soundless clap in his head; a
+plunge, headlong into some bottomless abyss, falling for hours&mdash;an
+eternity.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Fahn's proclamation to the Bas had far-reaching effects. All over the
+island that night and the next day there was rejoicing. The radio
+proclaimed a national holiday, which the Bas gave over to festivities.</p>
+
+<p>The murder of Mme. Voluptua was forgotten; the rebellion in Anglese City
+was a thing of the past. The work of Toroh's spies was completely
+undone; everywhere they presented themselves they were seized by the Bas
+and delivered to the authorities, until by mid-morning none dared show
+himself. They remained in hiding in the mountains, and the following
+night fled the island.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn's object had been attained. Everywhere, enthusiasm for the war soon
+mounted to a patriotic frenzy.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not all smooth sailing for Fahn. Within an hour after the
+first radio proclamation&mdash;just before dawn that day&mdash;the king called the
+Scientist to his audience room and demanded that it be retracted. For
+the first time within generations, a Scientist defied his king.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn gravely refused. The king, with his councilors&mdash;brave now since the
+mob before the palace had dispersed&mdash;clustered around him, vigorously
+tried to overawe the Scientist. But Fahn was obdurate; respectful to the
+majesty of royalty&mdash;but obdurate nevertheless.</p>
+
+<p>The king was powerless, and he knew it. He raged, threatened, but to no
+avail.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon the king's council met. The Scientists were declared
+outlaws; a call was issued for the Aran police,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> who were scattered
+throughout the island, to come at once to the Anglese City to defend
+their sovereign.</p>
+
+<p>It was a monarch struggling against all reason to defend what he
+considered his birthright. Royalty outraged!</p>
+
+<p>But the Aran police did not come. Worse than that, those near at hand in
+Anglese City prudently vanished.</p>
+
+<p>That same afternoon the Scientists met in Anglese City. Fahn's action
+was upheld, and from other cities came similar decisions. The government
+was taken over by the Scientists for the period of the war. Laws
+ratifying the new status of the Bas women and children were hurriedly
+passed, and made permanent.</p>
+
+<p>All that day the radio audibly proclaimed events as they transpired. The
+Arans were not to be molested; their relations with the Bas were to
+proceed as always, and the royal family was to be treated with the
+outward respect to which its birth and position entitled it.</p>
+
+<p>Three days passed&mdash;days that for those in Anglese City were full of
+activity and anxiety. The Arans kept sullenly to themselves; the king
+and his councilors shut themselves in the palace; the Bas went about
+their accustomed tasks feverishly, abstractedly, waiting for the call to
+war.</p>
+
+<p>The Scientists, trusting nothing to chance, sought out all the Aran
+police and disarmed them. All weapons were kept in the caverns, where
+the manufacturing and assembling went steadily forward.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn, Loto, and Rogers, during these three days, stayed at Fahn's home.
+Nothing had been heard from George and the two girls. They were days
+full of anxiety&mdash;almost despair&mdash;for the three men. The guards at the
+two caverns reported what had happened. Fahn cursed his inefficiency in
+allowing a Toroh spy to remain unsuspected in the League. The man who
+had given Toroh the plane was located and put to death, but that helped
+matters little.</p>
+
+<p>In the brief interims of inactivity, the three men discussed what George
+and Dee might be doing&mdash;what the outcome would be. The discussions were
+futile; there was nothing to do but wait.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The character of the two Frazia planes, the identity of the visitors,
+had never been made public. Only Fahn, his two companions and a few of
+the Scientist leaders were aware of the momentous outcome for which they
+were so helplessly waiting.</p>
+
+<p>On the afternoon of the third day, Fahn took Loto and his father through
+the cavern. Loto was pale and tight-lipped, but he seldom mentioned
+Azeela, and never once had he given vent to his feelings. Rogers was
+curious to see the cavern; older, more philosophical than Loto, he could
+better withstand his anxiety over George and the girls. Yet he, too, was
+more worried than he would have cared to admit, even to himself. The
+war&mdash;the fate of the Anglese&mdash;was one thing; but that plane was all that
+could take him back to Lylda, his wife. He could probably never
+manufacture another plane in this time world; the materials were not
+available. He realized now how wrong he had been not to bring Lylda with
+him.</p>
+
+<p>It was late afternoon when they started. Work in the cavern now
+proceeded day and night.</p>
+
+<p>To Rogers the place was one of romantic mystery, with a sinister air to
+it that he could not shake off.</p>
+
+<p>The darkness of the cavern walls, the shadows, the flickering blue
+lights, and the yawning holes with which the interior of the mountain
+seemed honeycombed, awed and perturbed him.</p>
+
+<p>Far ahead, down a sharp slope, two blue lights shone. To the left a
+passageway glowed dull red.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn turned toward it. They went into the passageway, and from it
+emerged upon a narrow ledge with a metal railing. Before them spread a
+huge pit, a great pool of lava a thousand feet down&mdash;lava that boiled
+sluggishly, with tiny flames of burning gases licking upward from its
+surface. To one side, overhead, a rift through the mountain showed a
+patch of starlit sky.</p>
+
+<p>Visitors to an inferno, they stood clinging to the iron rail. The lurid
+red light cast monstrous shadows of their figures upward to the rocky
+ceiling. The sulphurous air was in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>tolerably hot; it choked their
+breathing. After a moment they all stumbled back into the passageway,
+coughing, breathing deep of the purer air.</p>
+
+<p>"Fires of the earth so close!" murmured Rogers.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn was leading them forward again. "Yes, almost every mountain on the
+island is like that. The fires are even closer to the surface at Orleen;
+we use them in the cavern there."</p>
+
+<p>"And here is a room of medicine and surgery," he added. He had turned
+unexpectedly into a side cave, a room furnished and draped, and dimly
+lighted by braziers hanging from its low roof. Rows of bottles, cases of
+instruments, a long, low table, littered with a variety of strange
+objects; the room held a confusion of things, most of which were
+incomprehensible.</p>
+
+<p>Something made Rogers shudder. "What is that?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"To create human life," said Fahn. "For thousands of years, science has
+tried to do that. We can make a man's body&mdash;but his soul and mind still
+elude us."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers was staring at a metal framework, where the organs of a man were
+hanging, joined together and with a network of blood vessels around
+them; the fundamental, simplified mechanism of man, without the body.
+And there was movement to the organs; the heart was beating, the lungs
+breathing.</p>
+
+<p>It was gruesome; it made Rogers' gorge rise.</p>
+
+<p>"They will function for a little time," Fahn explained. "But our
+surgeons have done better than that. They have made the living body&mdash;all
+but the mind and the soul."</p>
+
+<p>A small case was standing on a pedestal, illuminated by a dim blue light
+above it. A lump of living human flesh lay within, roughly fashioned
+into human form, with arms and legs that kicked.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers backed away.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed like a dream, this trip through the Scientists' cavern. From
+one room to another they wandered. Most of the caves were unoccupied;
+occasionally a lone worker<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> or a group would stop their tasks
+momentarily to meet their leader and his visitors.</p>
+
+<p>From far away recesses, where the main work was going on, the hum of
+dynamos sounded.</p>
+
+<p>"We will not go into the workrooms tonight," Fahn said. "I'll show them
+to you later."</p>
+
+<p>They entered another inner cave, which was high-arched and unusually
+large. It held relics of bygone ages. Broken mechanisms, that
+inhabitants of other planets might have left on earth, had been dug
+up and stored here as in a museum. They meant nothing to Rogers, nor
+did Fahn offer to explain them. But this room more than any other in
+the cavern seemed to carry with it the power of science, the greater
+science that to Fahn's time world was in the prehistoric past. It
+showed Fahn and his contemporaries in their true light; they were
+archaeologists&mdash;imitators, reconstructors, not real creators.</p>
+
+<p>At last they reached a circular room equipped with the apparatus for
+taking voices and images from the air. Its side walls were paneled with
+huge crystals that mirrored distant scenes; and it was filled with
+millions of tiny voices.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn stood before one of the crystals: his hand was on a lever; the
+fingers of his other hand rested on a tiny row of buttons. Rogers
+noticed that there were scores of similar mechanisms dispersed about the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us look and listen, a mile away to the west," Fahn said.</p>
+
+<p>The crystal before them was some six feet square. It was gray and
+cloudy. Fahn pressed one of the small black buttons, and moved the lever
+over a notch; the crystal flooded with color. It was like looking
+through a huge window.</p>
+
+<p>"The viewpoint of our station a mile north of here," Fahn pointed out.</p>
+
+<p>"A thirty foot tower," Loto explained. "The lens on it swings in a
+circle. We are looking westward now toward Orleen."</p>
+
+<p>The scene in the crystal showed the red western sky; a white road in the
+foreground, disappearing seemingly at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Rogers' feet; the green,
+palm-dotted island, with twilight shadows creeping upon it, and to the
+left, the island mountain range, its peaks rising in serrated ranks,
+with giant, snow-clad summits.</p>
+
+<p>"It was near here that day before yesterday they found the charred
+bodies of Toroh's brother and his Noth companion," Loto added. "A Bas
+woman&mdash;see that shack there by the road&mdash;she saw a girl and a man
+passing the night before. It may have been George and Dee."</p>
+
+<p>The shack at the roadside showed plainly. A Bas woman was sitting at its
+doorway, crooning to her infant. Her voice sounded almost as clearly as
+though the watchers had been sitting on the small tower where the lens
+and radio mechanism were perched.</p>
+
+<p>"We will turn," Fahn said.</p>
+
+<p>A panorama unfolding, the scene moved slowly sidewise: the sea to the
+north, with the mountain range beyond it, dim in the gathering darkness;
+east, back toward Anglese City, where the cavern-mountain itself showed
+behind the palms; to the south past a distant vista of city houses; and
+still swinging, it came back to the road and the house and stopped,
+again facing the west.</p>
+
+<p>"Another station," Fahn added.</p>
+
+<p>The crystal-face went dark, and then relighted. It was a viewpoint of a
+hundred feet in the air this time. Again it swung the points of the
+compass.</p>
+
+<p>For half an hour Fahn continued his demonstration. There might have been
+a hundred or more towers scattered over the island, and the scene from
+any one of them sprang at Fahn's will into the crystal window.</p>
+
+<p>"What are the other crystal mirrors for?" Rogers asked Loto.</p>
+
+<p>"The island can be searched by several operators simultaneously. Any
+viewpoint may be thrown into any crystal, and there are receivers for
+your ears, so that the sounds you hear will not confuse others in the
+room."</p>
+
+<p>The island was growing dark. The crystal showed a viewpoint from the
+channel coast halfway to Orleen. It must have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> been from a very high
+tower; the sea stretched several hundred feet beneath.</p>
+
+<p>"Those mountains across the water," Rogers remarked, "can't be over
+twenty or thirty miles from our shores. Is that where Toroh's army will
+gather?"</p>
+
+<p>"From behind them," said Loto. "To the east, nearer the Atlantic Coast,
+we think. We&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Fahn had given a slight cry. The room was dark, but the reflected light
+from the crystal showed the Scientist pointing into the mirrored scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Loto, what is that?"</p>
+
+<p>Above the mountains across the channel, the sky was rose-colored with
+the fading daylight. A tiny gray shape showed there, silhouetted against
+the clouds. It was moving. They watched it, breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"A Frazia plane!" Rogers murmured.</p>
+
+<p>It circled like a giant bird. A patch of lighter sky behind showed it
+more plainly after a moment. It <i>was</i> a Frazia plane! It was closer than
+they had thought, but it seemed to be flying north, away from them.</p>
+
+<p>"Which one is it?" Loto whispered. "Father, which one is it?"</p>
+
+<p>But that they could not tell. George, or Toroh? One of them had
+returned. The plane was flying lower, circling again. The dimness
+absorbed it; then it reappeared. It seemed now to be flying crazily.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Out of control!</i>" Loto whispered in horror. "<i>It's falling!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>The plane turned over, fluttered down, was swallowed by the shadows of
+the distant mountains.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER TWELVE</h2>
+
+
+<p>The interior of the plane was glowing. The familiar humming sounded.
+George and Dee had started back into time.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee! Dee! You all right?"</p>
+
+<p>Her wan smile reassured him. "Where are we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Going back into time," he said cheerfully. The dials were beside him.
+"Nearly forty years from where we started already. You'll feel all right
+soon."</p>
+
+<p>"I am all right," she persisted. "I mean, George, are we still in the
+cavern?"</p>
+
+<p>The question brought an idea to George that made his heart race. They
+<i>were</i> still in the cavern, at a time forty years previous. What was the
+cavern like then? Suppose its entrance was closed? How could they get
+out?</p>
+
+<p>Through the windows nothing could be seen but blackness. George
+hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee, can your thoughts still reach Azeela?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said. "She was frightened for me. She knows now we are coming
+after her. She and Toroh are past one hundred years."</p>
+
+<p>"Still going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are they in space?"</p>
+
+<p>"She says in the air, over the Orleen Cavern. She thought it best to
+show Toroh how to fly the plane; she was afraid to remain underground."</p>
+
+<p>"So am I," said George. "We'd better get out."</p>
+
+<p>There were headlights on the plane; their glare showed the tunnel.
+George started up the Frazia motors, slowly;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> they rolled forward,
+faster as they left the tunnel-mouth and took to the air.</p>
+
+<p>The scene was that familiar grayness, new to Dee. Beneath them lay the
+island with the blurred, gray city to one side.</p>
+
+<p>"Over Orleen," George mused. "We must get there quickly. Further back in
+time the city will not be there&mdash;we might get lost in space."</p>
+
+<p>At an altitude of perhaps a thousand feet they flew swiftly westward.
+Orleen was there when they reached its space; the dials were beyond two
+hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>"Azeela is here," Dee announced. "She says the city is dwindling."</p>
+
+<p>"What do her dials say? Will Toroh let her look at them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. She is very careful. He suspects nothing. She says the dials are
+nearly two hundred and thirty years."</p>
+
+<p>"We're catching up with them," George exclaimed triumphantly. "We've got
+the faster plane. Where are they exactly? In space I mean."</p>
+
+<p>A brief pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Azeela says almost directly over the peak near the east edge of the
+city&mdash;the cavern peak."</p>
+
+<p>There were twin peaks, not over six hundred feet apart. The cavern peak
+was the northern one; through the floor window, George could see the
+summit of the other, directly beneath his plane.</p>
+
+<p>"How high is Toroh? They're using the 'copters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"How high up?"</p>
+
+<p>"She says about five hundred feet."</p>
+
+<p>It was the altitude at which George and Dee were hovering. George gazed
+through the side window. The other peak showed plainly. Above it was the
+exact space Toroh and Azeela were occupying. Their plane was invisible,
+of course&mdash;twenty-five years into the past.</p>
+
+<p>"They've passed three hundred years, George," the girl's voice informed
+him. "Three hundred years just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Two hundred and ninety," he read from their own dials.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> "Only ten years
+away! We'll overtake them shortly now."</p>
+
+<p>In the stress through which they had passed, and their excitement,
+neither of them had considered what they would do when they overtook
+Toroh. Indeed, it was Azeela who brought it to their minds with her
+anxious questions to Dee.</p>
+
+<p>They stared at each other in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"How about my thunderbolt glove?" George suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't use it," she reminded him. "If we destroy the other plane,
+Azeela would be killed."</p>
+
+<p>It was obvious. They could not attack the other plane under any
+circumstances. But Toroh was going to stop for weapons. They would have
+to stay near him, both in space and time, and when he stopped, and
+perhaps left the plane, they would rush up and rescue Azeela.</p>
+
+<p>It was all either of them could plan.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep as near them as we can," George decided. "That's the idea. And
+watch our chance. Tell Azeela to keep you posted on everything."</p>
+
+<p>They slowed their time-flight a trifle; it would have been foolish to
+let Toroh see them&mdash;merely put him on his guard. At a distance of about
+ten years they followed.</p>
+
+<p>At eight hundred years before the time they had left, the city of Orleen
+had disappeared. The island looked almost the same; the peaks were still
+there. But now among the palms there were only a few rude shacks&mdash;the
+earliest Bas settlers.</p>
+
+<p>The time-velocity of both planes was steadily increasing. Azeela's
+messages told them that the other plane was still hovering motionless.
+There was nothing to do. They waited, anxiously at first, and then,
+after an interval, fell into earnest conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose we can't rescue Azeela," George suggested once. "Toroh will use
+her as a hostage against your father, won't he? Offer her life, perhaps,
+if your father will help him in the war?"</p>
+
+<p>She nodded soberly.</p>
+
+<p>"That's why he abducted her before, Loto said. Did he make the offer
+then?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No. But he was going to."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you go after her?" he suggested. "Didn't she send back
+messages to you, Dee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But he took her north into the snow. She did not know where she
+was. Father sent out an expedition, but they couldn't find her. The
+Noths attacked them and they came back. They were going to start out
+again when Loto returned her to us."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said George. He thought a moment. "I wonder what your father would
+have done&mdash;what he would do now if Toroh holds Azeela and offers her
+life against the war. Would your father let Toroh kill her?"</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated. "I think he would," she said at last. "It would be a
+nation against one life. He would sacrifice himself, I know. And I think
+he would even sacrifice Azeela."</p>
+
+<p>George met her earnest dark eyes, so sparkling, usually, but now so
+sombre.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you, Dee?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said impulsively.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither would I," he declared. "I wouldn't let harm come to Azeela for
+all the Anglese,&mdash;or harm to&mdash;to you, either."</p>
+
+<p>She did not answer. Presently he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking about that Aran Festival, Dee. You know you oughtn't to
+go to affairs like that. <i>Do</i> you know it?"</p>
+
+<p>Her gaze met his again, questioningly. "It is part of life," she said.
+"My father thinks Azeela and I should know what life is. In your
+time-world was it wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>George felt himself flushing. "Wrong? What, the festival?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I mean my going there&mdash;a girl of the Scientists, who is not like
+the Aran women?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," George said stoutly. "<i>I</i> didn't want you to be there." His hand
+impulsively touched hers. "I didn't like it, Dee. You're too nice a
+girl. And I don't think Loto liked Azeela being there, either."</p>
+
+<p>Instead of answering, she gave a sudden cry.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" George demanded in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>She had no opportunity to reply. Through the side win<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>dow the other
+plane showed less than a thousand feet away; a shimmering ghost that was
+gone as soon as they had seen it!</p>
+
+<p>George leaped to the proton switch, but Dee checked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait! Wait till Azeela tells me what happened."</p>
+
+<p>In the absorption of their conversation, Azeela's messages had been
+ignored. Toroh had slackened his time-flight; he was preparing to land.
+It was an unfortunate occurrence, for Toroh had seen the other plane. He
+still did not guess that Azeela herself was guiding the pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>Again, without warning, the other plane appeared. This time it was
+flying, coming directly toward them. George held his breath. Toroh's
+plane was so close he had no opportunity even to move from his seat. It
+was running level with them in time; <i>it was charging them! Had Toroh
+gone mad? He would kill them all!</i></p>
+
+<p>It was no more than a second or two. Through the window George caught a
+brief glimpse of the shimmering thing rushing at them. Then it swerved
+upward.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He's going to fire a thunderbolt!</i>" Dee gasped.</p>
+
+<p>George was aware of a flash; but he had not seen it, only imagined it.</p>
+
+<p>The attacking plane swept overhead and vanished-dissolved into
+nothingness!</p>
+
+<p>Toroh had fired a thunderbolt. The rush of electrons traveling at the
+speed of light from Toroh's plane to George's had been too slow. The
+mark was gone into a different time before the thunderbolt could reach
+it!</p>
+
+<p>The incident left George and Dee shuddering; but confident now that, so
+long as they kept moving through time, Toroh could not harm them.</p>
+
+<p>George's dials now registered the passage of some sixty-eight hundred
+years. He was amazed. Then he realized how long he and his companion had
+been talking, and the time-velocity at the twentieth intensity had been
+accelerating tremendously. He had forgotten to look beneath him; he did
+so now, and the island was not there. The channel was gone;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> the
+mountain range had disappeared. The cataclysm that had formed the island
+had been passed.</p>
+
+<p>Azeela's messages told that her plane was now nearly a hundred years
+nearer the Anglese time-world. Toroh, finding his attack ineffective,
+had given it up. He had started a horizontal flight; he was looking for
+a city in which he could land.</p>
+
+<p>George and Dee sat helpless, for Azeela could not describe which way she
+was flying.</p>
+
+<p>"Lost!" George exclaimed. "We've lost them! Of course, she can't tell us
+which way they're going when there's nothing down there but gray
+forests&mdash;and blurred gray sky overhead."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed probable that they would never see Toroh's plane again.
+Already it was many miles away from them in space, though in what
+direction they could not guess.</p>
+
+<p>The two planes swept back through time, invisible to each other, yet no
+more than a few hundred years apart. The rescue of Azeela&mdash;for the
+present at least&mdash;was certainly impossible. Toroh was looking for a
+civilization, some gigantic city where he might secure weapons. George
+decided he must do the same. He discussed it earnestly with Dee, and
+again, temporarily, Azeela's thought messages were ignored.</p>
+
+<p>At fifteen thousand years&mdash;more than halfway back to the time-world of
+the New York City of George's birth&mdash;structures began rising out of the
+forests. By retrograded changes made visible, at first they seemed
+moldering ruins; then, broken, neglected areas of deserted cities; then
+the inhabited cities themselves.</p>
+
+<p>At eighteen thousand years George and Dee were poised no more than a few
+miles from where Orleen stood so many centuries later. A huge river with
+a delta emptied into the open gulf; a broad expanse of lake was near by.
+And on both sides of the river and around the lake a gigantic city rose
+in terraced buildings of masonry and steel. Dee stared in awe at its
+towers, bridges, aerial streets with the monorail structures stretching
+above.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We might land here," George suggested. "Shall we, Dee? You'd think
+they'd have <i>something</i> to help your father in the Anglese war."</p>
+
+<p>She nodded, and he prepared to land on an open space a few miles north
+of the city outskirts. They came to the ground at the third intensity of
+proton current. Everything was gray, soundless.</p>
+
+<p>"All ready, Dee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>He flung over the switch. When the shock had passed, George stood up;
+Dee was already on her feet beside him. It was night outside; lights
+were flashing. They rushed to the window. The sky was lurid with
+bursting colored bombs; an inferno of noise sounded, an intermittent
+pounding that seemed to shake the earth.</p>
+
+<p>From-almost directly overhead a red rocket exploded. Its light
+persisted, illuminating the scene for miles around with a vivid red
+glare. The giant city buildings were visible. As George stared, a great
+flame seemed to leap from the sky. One of the buildings fell.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer at hand a cloud of swarming mechanisms burst out of the air,
+swooping down, circling. Beams of light from them and from the city
+crossed like swords in the sky. The earth under the plane was rocking.
+Beside it, a green flash struck and sent rocks, boulders, and dirt
+flying up like a waterspout.</p>
+
+<p>"George! <i>George!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Dee's terrified cry in his ear was almost drowned by the scream of
+dynamos; the whistling, bursting, and pounding.</p>
+
+<p>George's trembling fingers found the proton switch; he pulled it. The
+inferno of the night melted, slipped away into a gray, soundless blur.</p>
+
+<p>War! They had fallen into the midst of a battle&mdash;that giant Earth city
+defending itself, perhaps against invaders from another planet.</p>
+
+<p>"We won't try that again," George murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"Azeela," said the girl suddenly. "She tells me that Toroh has secured
+weapons! He is returning to our time-world!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Toroh had landed at another city, in another time, but still in that
+same greater civilization. He had chosen a night, bound Azeela, left her
+in the plane and stolen weapons.</p>
+
+<p>George listened blankly. "What sort of weapons?"</p>
+
+<p>"Azeela does not know. One large piece of apparatus. He has it in the
+plane covered by a black bag. He will not let her touch it. And there
+are other things&mdash;a pile of disks or something. White&mdash;like steel. She
+can't see them well&mdash;he has covered them also. He is filled with
+triumph. His plane is speeding toward Anglese City."</p>
+
+<p>"In space or time?"</p>
+
+<p>"In time. They are hovering in space. Azeela does not know where they
+are. Toroh says he will wait, and when the time-world of the island is
+reached they will recognize the land. Then Toroh will take Azeela to the
+Noths. He says if our father does not yield, he will <i>kill her</i>. And
+then he and the Noths will conquer the Anglese."</p>
+
+<p>George had lost. But still there seemed nothing that they could do but
+try and keep as close to the other plane in time as they could.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh's plane was sweeping forward. He had released Azeela, commanding
+her to instruct him in more detail in the handling of the Frazia motors.
+Azeela's dials now read some fifty-five hundred years behind the Anglese
+time-world. George's read about six thousand.</p>
+
+<p>They came to the cataclysm that formed the island. George had forgotten
+it, but he chanced to be gazing down. The gray forests suddenly blurred;
+vague chaos passed over the earth, the air, and the sky; then there were
+the familiar mountains, the channel, the island! The myriad details of
+those hours of upheaval had been compressed, blended into a fraction of
+a second. The eye and the mind could not grasp it. The thing was past,
+done and away, with only its <i>effect</i> left as evidence that it had
+occurred.</p>
+
+<p>George and Dee were above the channel and west of Orleen. No more than a
+hundred years now separated the planes.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" George demanded for the tenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> time. And then an
+idea came to him. They could not attack Toroh until he reached his
+destination. He would be among his own army then, and rescue of Azeela
+would be impossible. But if Azeela could separate herself from Toroh
+now, he could never find her in time and probably wouldn't try.</p>
+
+<p>George explained it to Dee. Azeela was not bound; could she persuade
+Toroh on some pretext to land on the ground&mdash;then leap from the plane?
+The shock of stopping in time should be no different than when the plane
+itself stopped.</p>
+
+<p>Azeela had already thought of it; the idea had been prompted by the fact
+that Toroh's plane was running out of fuel. He would have to conserve
+it, not use the 'copters, or else he would have none left with which to
+get up north.</p>
+
+<p>George was trembling with excitement. "Tell her to suggest that they
+land."</p>
+
+<p>Toroh was, at that instant, landing. It was a familiar spot to Azeela;
+she described it exactly to Dee, and the younger sister recognized it.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh's plane had entered the second century before Fahn's time-world
+when George&mdash;some fifty years further back&mdash;arrived at the spot in space
+Azeela was describing. There was the little rise of ground, with the
+channel beyond. The vegetation was different, but the level rock was
+there. And Toroh's plane was resting on that level rock.</p>
+
+<p>Dee's voice was shaking so that she could hardly talk. "Will it&mdash;kill
+her, George?"</p>
+
+<p>He was white faced, tense. "Tell her to read the dials as exactly as she
+can."</p>
+
+<p>Azeela read them. George held his watch in his hand; he noted the hour
+and minute it gave.</p>
+
+<p>"She has called Toroh's attention to something outside," Dee's voice
+translated swiftly. "She opens the cabin door. He is behind her but he
+does not suspect."</p>
+
+<p>George kept his eyes on his watch. Two minutes since Azeela gave them
+her dial-reading, and he knew the approximate time-velocity of the other
+plane.</p>
+
+<p>Three minutes!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She is on the platform. The blurred rock is only a few feet below her.
+Azeela is pretending something is wrong under the plane. Toroh is beside
+her&mdash;but he does not touch her. He does not suspect she would dare...."</p>
+
+<p>Three minutes and a half.</p>
+
+<p>"She jumps&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>George waited. "Is she all right? Is she all right?"</p>
+
+<p>Silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you get her? Oh, Dee, can't you get her?"</p>
+
+<p>The communication was broken.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER THIRTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>"It fell," Rogers murmured. "Was that Toroh's plane, or George's?"</p>
+
+<p>Loto did not answer; he stared with set face at the crystal mirror,
+which was turning purple with the deepening shadows of nightfall. The
+mountains into which the plane had fallen were a vague silhouette
+against a sky of stars.</p>
+
+<p>"If we could only see over there," Rogers added wistfully. "Is this
+tower we're looking from now the nearest to the mountains, Loto?"</p>
+
+<p>It was the nearest. But Fahn was talking swiftly into a small mouthpiece
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"We may be able to see into the mountains," he said in a moment. "We
+must find out which plane it was. Perhaps Toroh fell and was killed."</p>
+
+<p>The anxiety on his face belied the calmness of his tone. His two
+daughters were out there; possibly one or both had met death in that
+falling plane.</p>
+
+<p>A man entered the cave-room hurriedly, a solitary worker<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> whom Fahn had
+summoned from another part of the cavern. A youngish man, he wore dark
+glasses, a black robe and gloves.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn questioned him briefly; he brightened, nodded, and hastened away
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Loto explained: "He's been working on a new invention, Father. We hoped
+to use it in the war, but now we fear the attack may come before it's
+ready. There is only one small model constructed&mdash;finished today."</p>
+
+<p>The man returned with a small mechanism&mdash;a black circular disk, an inch
+thick and two feet in diameter. On it was mounted a cone-shaped lens a
+foot high. It looked something like a tiny model of the lighthouse lens.
+An operating mechanism was fastened behind the lens; it was an open box
+with tiny coils of wire inside. And near this was what looked like a
+miniature searchlight.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn inspected the apparatus. His assistant made some connections,
+adjusting another mechanism on the table. Then, turning the disk over
+and holding it in the air above his head, he released it. The thing
+floated, motionless, its lens-tower hanging downward. The small
+searchlight also pointed downward and from it a beam of blue-white light
+struck the cave-floor with a circle of brilliant illumination.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn smiled his approval; the young assistant seemed gratified.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a development of the communication towers, combined with the
+levitation dais you saw at the Festival&mdash;the apparatus Toroh's brothers
+tried to steal," Loto said to his father.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the young scientist had disappeared with his flying lens,
+taking it outside the cavern to release it into the air.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn sat at the table with the newly installed mechanism under his
+fingers. In a few moments the assistant was back, empty-handed; he stood
+before the now blank crystal mirror with the other men, anxiously
+watching for the success of his work.</p>
+
+<p>"This was greatly used a few centuries ago," Fahn said.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> He sighed. "Our
+ancestors knew so much; it is so hard to keep up with them."</p>
+
+<p>The crystal mirror presently became illumined. The scene was the
+darkness of night; stars reflected moonlight from a moon just outside
+the line of vision. Below&mdash;a thousand feet, perhaps&mdash;a vague palm-dotted
+landscape was sliding into view.</p>
+
+<p>To the watchers, the illusion was like flying through the night, looking
+downward.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall light the searchlights," Fahn said.</p>
+
+<p>A broad circle of blue-white illumination fell upon the shifting land.
+Across it, the palms of the island were moving backward. The viewpoint
+of the whole scene was unsteady. The horizon bobbed up and down, like
+the horizon viewed from a plunging ship. The moon showed momentarily,
+them swung sidewise out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the channel appeared; the dark mountains were coming nearer; they
+tilted downward, almost out of sight, as the lens mounted an incline to
+pass above them.</p>
+
+<p>"Can we find where the plane fell?" Loto asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn did not answer at once. At last he said: "It will be difficult. It
+may have fallen behind the mountains, or into them. I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>In the mirror, the shifting viewpoint presently showed the mountains
+from above; the searchlight circle was sweeping across a tumbled land of
+crags, plateaus and ravines&mdash;a white band of snow lying thick on the
+higher peaks. The lens was circling now; the turning, swaying viewpoint
+made the watchers dizzy.</p>
+
+<p>Finally they saw it&mdash;a broken plane lying on its crumbled wing. The
+searchlight clung to it; the lens lowered until the image of the plane
+seemed more than a hundred feet below.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Toroh's plane!</i>" Rogers exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>There were figures moving about the plane, men and dogs. The men were
+dragging some apparatus from it, loading it onto a sled. One of the men
+was Toroh! The view<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>point was close enough now to distinguish
+him&mdash;<i>alive!</i></p>
+
+<p>But the flying lens had descended too close; the Noths were staring
+upward. A flash mounted from below; the crystal mirror turned a blinding
+white&mdash;then went black.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh's thunderbolt had struck the flying lens and destroyed it.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>George and Dee gazed from their hovering plane at the empty surface of
+the level rock face below them. Somewhere in time Azeela was lying
+there, unconscious, killed perhaps; the thought messages from her were
+stilled. Had Toroh gone on? Or had he stopped to try and find her?</p>
+
+<p>They were anxious moments for George and Dee&mdash;moments that by George's
+watch stretched into an hour or more. They were both at the point of
+exhaustion. They had eaten a little&mdash;the plane was provisioned&mdash;but they
+had not slept throughout the trip. George made a close calculation. He
+knew the time-speed of Toroh's plane; he could estimate closely what
+Toroh's dials must have read at the instant Azeela jumped.</p>
+
+<p>They found her at last, lying on the rock, unconscious. They stopped,
+carried her into the plane, and, before they started again, revived her.
+There was a heart stimulant among the plane's medicines; she drank it
+gratefully. She was not injured, though badly bruised by her fall. She
+had been knocked unconscious as she left the plane. The instant her body
+parted contact with its vibrations, blackness had come to her; she did
+not remember striking the rock.</p>
+
+<p>George was jubilant. Had he been able to rest, he would have wanted to
+go on after Toroh. But he did not dare rest.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go on home," he decided. "You're a brave girl, Azeela." He smiled
+down at her as she lay stretched out on the leather seat. "I'll start
+slowly; you've had all the shock you can stand."</p>
+
+<p>That same night in which the flying lens had been destroyed found George
+piloting his plane into the cavern at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Anglese City. Fahn and Rogers
+were there to greet them. George handed down the girls, and descended
+with a flourish. In the excitement of his triumphant return, he forgot
+how tired and sleepy he was.</p>
+
+<p>At the moment Loto was in another part of the cavern. He came running
+forward. He did not see Azeela at first.</p>
+
+<p>"George!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Loto! Here we are. Were you worried?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Loto saw Azeela.</p>
+
+<p>"I brought her back to you," George said softly. "There she is, old
+man&mdash;all safe and sound."</p>
+
+<p>But Loto did not hear him; his arms were around Azeela.</p>
+
+<p>George turned to Dee. "You think he'd sacrifice her for the whole nation
+of the Anglese? I should say not!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER FOURTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>A month went by in days and weeks of activity throughout the island. To
+the Scientists it was a time of unparalleled stress and anxiety. The
+government was in their hands for the first time in history, and a
+war&mdash;the first that anyone of that time-world had ever faced&mdash;was
+impending.</p>
+
+<p>With Toroh's return his attack would not be long postponed. Fahn knew
+it. The radio proclaimed it to the Bas everywhere. An army must be
+trained at once; the Bas, Arans and Scientists were appealed to for
+volunteers.</p>
+
+<p>It was Fahn's plan not to wait for the Noths to land on the island; but
+to anticipate the attack and send an army to meet it. The nation
+responded to the appeal. Conscription had been considered, but within a
+day the Bas had offered themselves in such numbers that it was obvious
+any form of conscription would be unnecessary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The second day after the radio appeal for volunteers, the fact became
+evident that the Arans were refusing to go to war. In every village
+recruiting stations were listing the names of the young men of the Bas
+who presented themselves, but no Arans came. By the audible broadcasting
+Fahn called them severely to account; but still they remained in hiding.
+They were sought out. Cowardice, sullenness, declaration that their
+birthright made it unnecessary&mdash;they seemed to have a score of reasons,
+but the fact remained they would not willingly serve.</p>
+
+<p>Scenes of violence were reported the next day. A Bas father, giving two
+sons to the coming war, had struck down an Aran youth whom he
+encountered; a party of Bas, angered into unlawfulness, had entered an
+Aran household in Orleen and beaten a group of Arans who were holding
+festivities; an Aran woman had been killed.</p>
+
+<p>"Serves them right," George exclaimed indignantly. "I'd kill them all."</p>
+
+<p>Fahn was perturbed, but then he shrugged. "We have far more young men
+from the Bas than we can use. I shall tell them to ignore the Arans. And
+in warfare such as this, an unwilling fighter is worse than none."</p>
+
+<p>"Damned cowards," George muttered. "We'll save their hides for 'em,
+while they stay home and have parties."</p>
+
+<p>The Scientist had caught the words. "Yes, George, because now that is
+easiest for us. I want no trouble here on the island. But
+afterward&mdash;when we have won&mdash;<i>then</i> we can deal with the Arans."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't have 'em on the island," George declared. It would have been
+an unfortunate Aran youth who encountered George during the days that
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>The recruiting, hand in hand with the manufacturing activities of the
+cavern, went steadily on. In every principal village the Bas youths were
+registered and drilled, as yet without weapons. Officered by older men
+of the Bas, they waited for the equipment and orders to come to them
+from Anglese City.</p>
+
+<p>The information Fahn had regarding Toroh and his Noth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> army was vague,
+unsatisfactory; its very meagerness seemed to forecast disaster.
+Somewhere beyond the mountains the Noths were gathering along the
+Atlantic Coast. Hordes of men and fighting dogs were coming southward.
+But their scientific weapons were practically unknown. The thunderbolt
+globes&mdash;of what power Fahn could not say&mdash;were all that he was positive
+they possessed.</p>
+
+<p>It was Toroh's trip back into time that seemed to hold the greatest
+menace. He had secured some apparatus. What was it? Something
+invincible, perhaps; something so completely different from anything
+with which the Anglese were familiar that they could not hope to cope
+with it.</p>
+
+<p>There were no answers to these questions.</p>
+
+<p>The flying lens&mdash;the only one the Anglese possessed&mdash;had been destroyed.
+Others were now being hastily constructed, and with them Fahn intended
+to reconnoiter extensively over the Noth territory. The information thus
+attained would be immensely valuable.</p>
+
+<p>The principle of this radio-controlled flying platform, as Fahn had
+said, was newly invented. It was not yet wholly practical. The dais at
+the Festival was the first crude model; the flying lens was the second.
+It had been so successful a model for a beginning that Fahn was
+encouraged to use it with a broader scope. Larger platforms were now
+being built, and thunderbolt projectors were to be mounted on
+them&mdash;projectors with an effective radius of a thousand feet. A number
+of these flying platforms would constitute a mechanical army. Controlled
+by radios whose operators stayed safely at home, it could be sent forth
+to battle&mdash;with the human army to follow behind it.</p>
+
+<p>The perfecting of the electric fabric repulsive to the earth&mdash;an
+invention revived out of the past and brought to practicability only
+within the last few months&mdash;was the basis of the equipment for the
+Anglese army now being mobilized. It was kept secret until the last
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>Two weeks after George's return, the first flying organization was
+equipped. Two hundred young men selected from the ranks of the
+Scientists began drilling secretly at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> night in an open space near
+Anglese City. Among them were George and Loto. For the men from our
+time-world, the experience was the most extraordinary they had ever
+undergone. The fabric was like thin black gauze. A loose suit of it
+encased each man, bound tightly at his wrists, throat and ankles. About
+his waist was strapped a broad, cloth belt with several pockets in which
+to carry various weapons. There was some sort of a battery attached to
+the belt, from which a current was turned into the gauze suit.</p>
+
+<p>One of Fahns assistants came over to George and adjusted the current to
+his normal weight, while George stood eyeing the man fearsomely. He
+could feel the current as it was turned on. It was not unpleasant; it
+made him tingle all over.</p>
+
+<p>In another moment George was ready. Thin cloth slippers were on his
+feet; by the pressure against the soles he felt as though he weighed not
+more than five pounds. Involuntarily, he clutched at Loto, who stood
+beside him. He felt that a breath of wind would blow him away.</p>
+
+<p>"Let go," Loto grinned. "Make a leap, George."</p>
+
+<p>Obediently George leaped gingerly into the air. He floated upward,
+turned over, arms and legs flying, and floated downward, landing gently
+on his face in the sand. But after a few trials he could hold his
+balance; the air seemed fluid, like water. With wings fastened to his
+arms and legs, he could have swum through it.</p>
+
+<p>He suggested that to Loto. "Why, with practice, a man could swim through
+the air, darting about like a fish through water."</p>
+
+<p>Loto laughed. "You'd make a fine inventor, George. That probably was the
+first crude way it was used. But later they developed a much better way
+of propulsion, and we have revived it now."</p>
+
+<p>The motive power consisted of a single metal cylinder to be held in the
+left hand&mdash;an apparatus which in weight and shape was not unlike an
+ordinary flashlight. As George understood its fundamental principle, the
+thing altered the density of the air in whatever direction it was
+pointed.</p>
+
+<p>Loto tried to explain it with as few technical words as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> he could. A
+spreading, invisible ray from the cylinder penetrated the air for a
+distance of some ten feet. It separated the molecules of the air, drove
+them apart. Its action was incredibly swift.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" demanded George.</p>
+
+<p>"The atmosphere exerts a pressure here of some sixteen pounds to the
+square inch," Loto said. "The air immediately in advance of this
+cylinder mouth is almost instantly thinned out. The ray charges the
+molecules of air and makes them slightly repellent. The result is,
+George, that immediately in advance of your body the atmospheric
+pressure is somewhat lessened. Thus, your body moves forward, pushed by
+the air pressure from behind."</p>
+
+<p>The cylinder had a sliding lever by which its ray was turned on or off.
+George held it over his head and moved the lever. His body left the
+ground and shot straight up at increasing speed. There was no rush of
+wind toward him; instead the air from below seemed to be wafting him
+upward.</p>
+
+<p>The ground was dropping away. Fifty feet! A hundred feet! Panic struck
+George; all he could think of to do was shut off the cylinder power. At
+once he floated down, turning over helplessly. He landed quite gently,
+several hundred feet from where he had started, with Loto running there
+to meet him, laughing at his discomfiture.</p>
+
+<p>You couldn't very well get hurt, that was the beauty of the thing.
+George plunged enthusiastically into learning how to handle himself in
+the air.</p>
+
+<p>With a week this organization of two hundred Scientist young men were
+fairly expert with the new flying apparatus. There were several thousand
+Bas youths now registered in different parts of the island; but the
+suits and air cylinders for them were not ready. Finally, another
+hundred were released, and at Anglese City, Mogruud, the Bas leader, and
+a hundred selected Bas young men began learning to use them.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the indignant protests of Loto and George,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> both Fahn's
+daughters urged that they be allowed to try the apparatus, and Fahn gave
+his permission.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no sons to give," he said quietly. "And this warfare is of
+skill, not strength or endurance. If my girls can help their country, it
+is their duty&mdash;and mine&mdash;to make the sacrifice."</p>
+
+<p>With this precedent, other Scientist girls&mdash;several at Orleen, and
+twenty at Anglese City&mdash;enthusiastically volunteered. Without exception,
+the girls proved superior to the men. The new art demanded a deft
+agility, a quickness of thought and movement, which seemed to come to
+the girls more naturally.</p>
+
+<p>Within a few days, Azeela and Dee could dart through the air with
+incredible dexterity. The cylinder held in the left hand could be
+pointed quickly in any direction and the body would be drawn that way.
+Dee, especially, became proficient. She could dart upward, turn, come
+swooping down head-first or with slow somersaults, graceful as a dancer,
+to right herself a few feet above the ground and land on tiptoe.</p>
+
+<p>The result of the girls' proficiency was that they were organized into a
+separate squad. There were twenty-eight girls in all; thirteen commanded
+by Azeela, and thirteen by Dee.</p>
+
+<p>During all this time, the Arans had remained in seclusion, keeping off
+the streets as much as possible. The Bas, drilling without weapons, were
+eager to be equipped. The king and his council confined themselves to
+the palace at Anglese City.</p>
+
+<p>There were no boats on the island except crude sailing canoes. A few of
+the newly equipped flying corps went northward; but Fahn, anticipating
+the completion of other flying lenses, ordered them not to cross the
+channel. In the cavern, day and night, operators watched the mirrors,
+flashing the viewpoints from every coast tower on the island, to guard
+against a surprise attack.</p>
+
+<p>A month had passed since George's return in the plane. He had suggested
+several times that the plane might be used<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> in the war. But Rogers
+refused this. George had exhausted the proton current to the point where
+there was barely enough left for a return to Roger's time-world. And the
+plane in itself, as a means of flying through space, would have been of
+little value in this warfare.</p>
+
+<p>The flying discs, mounted with observing lenses and thunderbolt
+projectors, were now ready. They were sent out one night, controlled
+from the cavern.</p>
+
+<p>It was the first aggressive act of the war; a mechanical army sweeping
+northward to attack the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>In the cavern room, Fahn and his friends sat watching the mirrors, which
+showed the scene from the viewpoint of the flying mechanisms.</p>
+
+<p>The discs swept northward, following the coastline. Beyond the
+mountains, far ahead, loomed a great encampment close to the shore, dim
+and vague in the moonlight. In a few minutes the mechanisms would be
+there.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, one of the mirrors in operation went black. In the others, the
+scene showed that Toroh was sending up some opposing mechanisms. Dots of
+silver were mounting from the encampment. They floated slowly upward,
+but they seemed to seek out the Anglese flying platforms, pursuing them
+as though with human intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>One by one the mirrors were going black, as the flying lenses were being
+destroyed. In a moment only one was left. It was almost over Toroh's
+encampment&mdash;almost in range where it could have discharged its bolt.</p>
+
+<p>In the mirrored scene, a white dot was growing as it came closer to the
+lens. Its image grew; it resolved itself from a dot, so what Fahn saw
+was a thin, gleaming disc. It looked as though it might be whirling. The
+thing turned, pursued the lens, overtook it&mdash;the last mirror went dark.</p>
+
+<p>The operators, greatly upset, left their instruments and gathered around
+Fahn. Toroh had sent up some unknown mechanisms; the flying thunderbolt
+platforms had crashed to the ground before any of them had come within
+range of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>It was during this same night that Toroh first used his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> audible
+broadcasting beams. Fahn's audible voices in the air had constantly been
+encouraging his people. Now, abruptly, the air burst forth with other
+voices. Somewhere in the mountains across the channel, Toroh had erected
+a broadcasting station. He was sending threats through the air to the
+Anglese!</p>
+
+<p>It was a surprise, and it disturbed Fahn greatly. Everywhere on the
+island aerial voices of the enemy were leering, threatening, boasting of
+the coming triumph of the Noths. Would the Bas be intimidated? It might
+be disastrous; with the defeat of the flying discs, Fahn was depending
+more than ever now upon the Bas army.</p>
+
+<p>All that night and next day, the sender from the cavern sent forth its
+cheering messages.</p>
+
+<p>By the following noon information began coming to Anglese City that the
+Bas were apparently not alarmed. They were jeering back at Toroh's
+aerial voices; but they were demanding vigorously that the Scientists
+give them weapons.</p>
+
+<p>"In a week we shall be ready," Fahn told Rogers. "Five thousand
+air-pressure cylinders are now in the last process of manufacture. The
+other weapons are ready. One week more is all we need."</p>
+
+<p>Amid Toroh's aerial threats that day had come the reiterated, triumphant
+statement that in two weeks more his attack would come. Two weeks still!
+It was more than Fahn had hoped for.</p>
+
+<p>The statement was Toroh's trickery. Eighteen hours later&mdash;the next
+morning at dawn&mdash;a member of the aerial patrol over the channel returned
+hurriedly to Anglese City with the news that Toroh's expedition had
+started by water. Huge barges were coming down the coast, pulled by the
+giant dogs swimming before them&mdash;<i>barges crowded with men and dogs and
+apparatus</i>.</p>
+
+<p>That morning was one of almost complete chaos. The invaders would enter
+the channel near Anglese City. The thunderbolt projectors which had been
+distributed thinly about the coast were rushed eastward and
+concentrated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> at the channel-mouth. There was no time now to equip the
+main Bas army. The attack would have to be repelled by the coast
+defense, and by the small aerial army already formed: one hundred Bas
+led by Mogruud; two hundred Scientists with whom Loto and George were to
+serve, and the twenty-six Scientist girls, led by Azeela and Dee.</p>
+
+<p>That morning the aerial voices ordered every able-bodied Bas man on the
+island to come toward Anglese City with every dog that could be
+procured. If the invaders landed, the dogs could best oppose them.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture that the king announced the change of his royal
+capital to Orleen. The royal family, the councilors, their
+retainers&mdash;all fled in their dog carriages from Anglese City. Orleen,
+much further down the channel, would be safe. News of the king's action
+spread over the island. Arans from everywhere fled after him, huddling
+in Orleen.</p>
+
+<p>In the confusion of those hours, the contempt for the Arans passed
+almost without comment. Orleen was the safest place, and the Bas
+there&mdash;men and women both&mdash;scornful of remaining among the cowards, came
+eastward.</p>
+
+<p>By noon the flying army was fully accoutered and waiting in a field near
+Anglese City. Loto, equipped to remain in constant telephonic
+communication with Fahn, was virtually the leader. George, with his
+several weapons in his belt, stood beside Loto. Mogruud had his hundred
+Bas around him. The girls were in two small groups apart.</p>
+
+<p>At a signal from Fahn, the little army rose swiftly into the sunlit sky.
+The watching throng was stricken silent with awe. The figures in the air
+arranged themselves in a broad arc, with the officers in front, and then
+swept forward, over the channel toward the mountains and the distant
+sea.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER FIFTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>The palm-dotted island fell silently away. Ahead lay the blue channel;
+to the right the open sea. To George the flight&mdash;the first of any
+duration he had taken&mdash;was exhilarating. It was soundless; the absence
+of any rush of air against him made it totally unlike flying in a plane.
+He seemed to be wafting forward as though the air were his native
+element.</p>
+
+<p>Loto was just ahead of him. Behind him came the army, maintaining its
+arc-like formation. A little in front, and at a slightly lower level,
+were the two squads of girls. They were all slim, graceful creatures,
+most of them under twenty. The black gauze&mdash;loose trousers and
+blouse&mdash;showed the white of their limbs beneath. Their heads were bound
+in deep-red rubber cloth, tight over the forehead and tied in back with
+flowing ends. With cylinders extended from the left hand they slid
+gracefully forward through the air.</p>
+
+<p>Though George felt no rush of air, he found he could not talk to Loto,
+even though no more than twenty feet separated them. The rushing wind
+between them tore away the words.</p>
+
+<p>Soon they were over the channel. The girls were drifting much lower now.
+Loto darted down a few feet; then as though he had changed his mind, he
+came up again. He reached for a mouthpiece that dangled under his chin
+and fitted it to his lips. His voice, magnified to a stentorian roar,
+rolled out.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Azeela! Dee! Come higher! You must not go so low!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Obediently the two girls rose to the higher level, their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> little squads
+following them. When they were over the mouth of the channel, George saw
+Toroh's barges&mdash;tiny dark smudges on the water some miles up the coast
+and a mile or so off shore. His heart leaped, began pounding in spite of
+his efforts to quiet it.</p>
+
+<p>Following Loto he swept diagonally upward and forward. Presently he
+could count six barges. They were tremendous things, crowded with men
+and dogs and mechanical apparatus. Spread over each was a huge caging of
+flashing silver metal. One barge was some distance in the lead; the
+others straggled out irregularly behind it for about a mile. All the
+Noth vessels were being drawn slowly through the water by ranks of
+harnessed dogs.</p>
+
+<p>Loto momentarily shut off his cylinder; his speed was slackening. George
+overtook him, put an arm on his shoulder. The nearest of the barges was
+now less than a mile ahead.</p>
+
+<p>An upward flash from the leading barge was followed in a few seconds by
+a crack of thunder. The bolt dissipated harmlessly into the air. But
+obviously it was powerful, with an effective range of two thousand
+feet&mdash;twice that of the Anglese defense.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh's plan now became apparent. He would batter the Anglese coast
+projectors while still beyond reach of them, and then make his landing.
+The cages over the barges were for protection from the smaller
+thunderbolts of the attacking aerial army.</p>
+
+<p>George knew the cages were only partially effective. A bolt was
+difficult to aim, but it did queer things when it struck. From a short
+distance&mdash;a hundred feet or less&mdash;the barges could be set on fire and
+sunk. Their thin metal hulls were not protected. They could be pierced.
+The wooden super-structure could be fired; the swimming dogs struck and
+killed.</p>
+
+<p>In hurried whispers Loto was constantly talking with Fahn back in the
+cavern. The Scientist's orders he repeated with his electrically
+magnified voice that could be heard easily by every one of the little
+aerial army.</p>
+
+<p>For a time they circled about, above the barges, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> keeping well
+beyond the two-thousand foot range. Against the blue of the sky their
+figures must have shown plainly to the Noths. Occasionally a bolt would
+flash up, but they were harmless at that distance. And the barges pushed
+steadily forward.</p>
+
+<p>At last Fahn decided the moment for attack had arrived. Loto repeated
+the order. George's division and Mogruud's separated from the rest. One
+hundred turned seaward, the others toward land. They dropped swiftly;
+straight down, like divers, heavily laden with lead, dropping through
+water. And then a darting, twisting swarm of insects&mdash;from every side at
+once they attacked the leading barge.</p>
+
+<p>In the depths of the cavern at Anglese City, Fahn sat in his room of
+mirrors. A metal band about his head held a receiver to his ear. A black
+mouthpiece hung against his chest and by lowering his head he could
+bring his lips to it. Rogers was at his side. The mirrors in every part
+of the room were lighted, giving the viewpoints of the coast towers near
+the mouth of the channel. In several of the mirrored scenes, over the
+distant water and in the air, black specks were visible; the enemy and
+Fahn's army above them.</p>
+
+<p>But these were not the vital crystal mirrors. A small one&mdash;a foot square
+perhaps&mdash;stood on the table before Fahn. He and Rogers were gazing into
+it intently. The mirror was connected with a tiny lens strapped to
+Loto's forehead; it gave Loto's viewpoint of the battle, showed the
+scene exactly as Loto saw it.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn was silent; a stern, anxious old man, with all his science around
+him, sitting in seclusion to direct this warfare upon which the fate of
+his people depended. Occasionally he would murmur something to Rogers,
+and the other man would speak into a mouthpiece&mdash;an order for the
+operator of the broadcasted aerial voices, controlled from another part
+of the cavern. Then throughout the island, cheering words to the Bas
+would resound, news of the progress of the battle. But Fahn's gaze never
+wavered from the little mirror.</p>
+
+<p>George's and Mogruud's divisions descended upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> leading barge. The
+barge spat forth its bolts, but it could discharge only one or two
+against a hundred of the tiny ones from its attackers. Looking down,
+from Loto's viewpoint overhead, the barge was assailed on every side by
+the pencils of electrical flame. Figures dropped, inert, into the water;
+others, wounded, wavered upward. The wire cage over the barge was
+sizzling and crackling; the swimming dogs, a dozen or more of them,
+crumpled in the water and were dragged forward in their harness by the
+others.</p>
+
+<p>The engagement had lasted no more than a minute when the air about the
+barge was suddenly plunged into blackness. Everything down there was
+blotted out&mdash;a patch of solid ink on the sea. The Noth vessel had
+exploded a bomb whose etheric vibration absorbed all light over a radius
+of five hundred feet.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn smiled grimly. The darkness there would pass presently. His own
+leaders, Loto, George, Mogruud and the two girls, had the same
+equipment. Each of them could discharge such a bomb; a puff of darkness,
+cloaking everything around them in temporary invisibility.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn heard his own orders roared by Loto. The attacking figures came up.
+But there were not two hundred of them now: about twenty lay down there
+in the water; a dozen more were wounded; a few were moving slowly
+homeward through the air.</p>
+
+<p>The darkness still hung around the attacked Noth vessel. But it was
+thinning out; now the vague outlines of the barge could be seen. Within
+a minute the dark patch was gone. One end of the barge was blazing, but
+the Noths were extinguishing the flames. Other figures were cutting
+loose the dead dogs in the water, while new dogs were leaping overboard
+to take their places.</p>
+
+<p>The attacked barge presently moved onward; slowly, inexorably, they were
+all coming down the coast. They were no more than a mile or two now from
+the estuary of the channel-mouth.</p>
+
+<p>Three times more Fahn ordered a division down at the same barge. The
+Noth tactics were repeated. The barge dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>charged a few of its bolts and
+then enveloped itself in blackness&mdash;an absence of light that even the
+thunderbolts could not illumine.</p>
+
+<p>These brief engagements were largely a matter of individual action.
+Warfare was new to the Anglese, but they were learning. The huge bolts
+from the barge could not parallel the water level for long; inevitably
+they turned downward to discharge themselves. Close to the water the
+attackers were comparatively safe.</p>
+
+<p>When the Anglese came up after these attacks and reformed themselves in
+orderly array, there were only ten more of their number missing. But it
+was fifty in all, and a score of wounded.</p>
+
+<p>The attacked barge was blazing end to end. Its crowded deck was a
+turmoil of figures. They were plunging overboard&mdash;men and dogs&mdash;to avoid
+the flames. In a moment the barge tilted upward at its stern. Its torn
+bow was admitting the water; it slid downward, hissing, and disappeared
+beneath the surface. Figures bobbed up from the swirl, inert, charred
+figures; others among them, still alive, swam about in aimless
+confusion.</p>
+
+<p>One barge! But there were five more. And these others had all pushed
+forward until now they were almost down to the channel. Fahn realized
+that there were five hundred Noths and as many dogs crowded into each of
+them. They could take to the water while they were still beyond range of
+his coast projectors and come forward individually, each man mounted
+upon his swimming dog. The coast defense could strike down no more than
+a few of them if they came in that fashion. Twenty-five hundred men and
+their giant brutes, landing on the island.</p>
+
+<p>Azeela and Dee were hovering close to Loto; they were asking their
+father's permission to try a new plan. The battle could not be
+maintained as it was going; the hand thunderbolt globes held but ten
+charges each, and the equipment of each individual was only three
+globes. A third of the thunderbolts were already exhausted in sinking
+one barge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Fahn's expression did not change; only the grip of his fingers as he
+clenched them and the rising muscles under his thin cheeks betokened his
+emotion. His voice was steady, grim as always, when he ordered his
+daughters to their desperate venture.</p>
+
+<p>Azeela and Dee, with their twenty-six comrades, selected the barge that
+had replaced the leader. In a closely knit group they hovered above it.
+Thunderbolts shot up, but could not reach them. The girls aimed a
+pure-white beam of light downward&mdash;twenty-six tiny rays blending into
+one. Rogers, bending over Fahn to gaze into the little mirror, was
+amazed. Unlike any beam of light he had ever seen, this one was curved;
+It descended in a slightly bent bow, ending at the barge.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn whispered a swift explanation to Rogers. To the Noths, looking
+upward along the beam, it would not appear curved, but straight. The
+figures of the girls, by an optical illusion, would be seen, not where
+they actually were, but to one side.</p>
+
+<p>The girls held their curved ray steady. And plunging down the beam,
+following its slightly curved path, were the figures of Azeela and Dee.</p>
+
+<p>The Noths saw them coming; a dozen bolts leaped into the air, one upon
+the other, but they flashed harmlessly to one side of their mark.</p>
+
+<p>Within twenty seconds the two girls were close to the barge; yellow-red
+spurts of flame leaped from their weapons&mdash;flame that could be hurled
+thirty feet but no farther. It enveloped the barge with licking,
+seething, burning liquid gases that withered everything they touched. A
+puff of darkness, which the retreating girls had left behind them,
+blotted out the scene. An instant later Azeela and Dee emerged from the
+darkness, safe. The shaft of light from the girls above was extinguished
+as the two rose to join them.</p>
+
+<p>When light shone again around the barge, it was sinking. Soon the
+swirling water held nothing but black, twisted figures.</p>
+
+<p>The maneuver could not be repeated successfully. From<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> the other barges
+the Noths would have seen the curved beam, understood it and made
+allowances for it. Azeela and Dee, triumphant and flushed with their
+success, pleaded to try it again, but Fahn would not let them.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon was waning; the western sky was red and overhead clouds
+were gathering. And then Fahn ordered a general attack on all the
+barges.</p>
+
+<p>The sun had set; the twilight deepened into night&mdash;a night of flashing
+lights, crackling, artificial thunder, spurts of lurid flame and the
+hissing of fire against water. At intervals, rockets came up; bursting,
+they cast a blue-white glare that for the space of a minute clearly
+outlined the menacing, darting figures for the Noths.</p>
+
+<p>The atmospheric disturbance of the past hours suddenly brought forth an
+electrical storm. Nature, more powerful than man, shot forth her own
+bolts to add to the din. They were, in character, very different from
+the harnessed, man-made lightning; forked, jagged, crackling with their
+nearness, they leaped downward out of the low-hanging clouds.</p>
+
+<p>The storm was as brief as it was severe. It swept away and the moon
+rose, blood-red, casting its lurid light over the water.</p>
+
+<p>Another Noth vessel had been sunk. There were only three barges left
+afloat, and they were in distress. Many of their swimming dogs lay dead
+in harness. Aboard all three of them, figures were fighting the flames.
+They clustered in a group near the center of the channel.</p>
+
+<p>Loto had withdrawn his forces, reduced now to half their original
+number. With ammunition almost exhausted, they hovered out of range
+above their adversaries. The wounded were still straggling back through
+the air; a few of them had already arrived at the cavern.</p>
+
+<p>Again Fahn ordered his army down. It would be the last attempt.</p>
+
+<p>In the cavern room, Fahn had not moved from his seat for hours. Often he
+could not see the battle plainly, for Loto, disobeying orders, had many
+times cast himself into the thick of it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But now Loto was aloft; by the moonlight and the glare of the rockets
+and bombs, Fahn saw that another Noth vessel had appeared&mdash;a very small
+barge. It was close to shore, coming swiftly forward and little objects
+of gleaming silver were mounting from it. One after the other they came
+sailing up.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn rasped an order; Loto's voice roared it out. The men and girls who
+were descending to the attack halted, circling about, wondering what had
+happened.</p>
+
+<p>The first of the white objects came sailing slowly horizontally across
+the channel. It seemed to be a whirling white disc some foot or two in
+diameter.</p>
+
+<p>Loto was still some distance away from it when a group of girls passed
+between him and the disc. The thing seemed to turn toward them. One of
+the girls became confused; it struck her and she fell. The disc, its
+rotation halted, fell also. Loto saw then what it was: broad, thin,
+crossed blades of steel, inclined to each other like the blades of a
+propeller. It had risen up and sustained itself in the air by rotation.
+Loto remembered the defeat of the flying thunderbolt platforms which
+Fahn had sent northward to Toroh's encampment. These whirling knives
+were what had destroyed them!</p>
+
+<p>The newly arrived barge was now sending up, in every direction, a slow
+but steady stream of the whirling knives. They seemed so easy to avoid
+that the aerial army at first paid them little heed. Loto's warning from
+Fahn rang out, but it came almost too late. The knives sought out the
+figures in the air. They began falling&mdash;cut, mangled by the whirling
+blades. There was confusion. The army mounted higher, but other knives
+had been sent straight upward and were floating down. Uncannily, they
+seemed to single out their victims.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn understood now. This was the weapon Toroh had procured from that
+time-world of the past. These whirling knives were strangely, powerfully
+magnetized; they followed the human bodies passing near them, seeking
+contact.</p>
+
+<p>The Scientist leader had ordered his fighters to the sea level; the
+knives, as they came lower, seemed to have spent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> themselves. They could
+be avoided. But nearly forty of the Anglese had met death before the
+lesson was learned.</p>
+
+<p>The three larger barges were again advancing toward the Anglese coast.
+Without warning, without orders from Fahn, the little remnant of girls
+led by Azeela and Dee, darted at them. It was a movement, not foolhardy,
+but well and swiftly planned. The girls, holding close to the surface,
+got themselves between two of the barges. The Noths could not fire, for
+they would have struck each other. A puff of inky darkness spread over
+the ships, and out of it, at close range, jets of fire sprang at the
+Noths; then the girls came back. One of the Noth vessels was a mass of
+flames; the other two wavered&mdash;and began retreating.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was silence and darkness, lighted only by the moon
+and the flickering light from the blazing barge. The whirling blades
+were no longer being launched; the Anglese were again poised in the air.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn had ordered that the small barge be attacked when, abruptly, a low
+hum sounded from it. George and Loto were hovering together at the
+moment; the barge was some five hundred feet below them and slightly off
+to one side. There didn't seem to be any dogs on it; only a few men
+under its wire cage, and a single large piece of apparatus.</p>
+
+<p>The hum grew louder, more intense, as though some gigantic dynamo had
+been set into motion.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" George demanded.</p>
+
+<p>But Loto did not know.</p>
+
+<p>Mogruud, with the remains of his division, was in the air half a mile
+away. He was on the other side of the small barge; his men, moving in
+scattered groups, began passing over it.</p>
+
+<p>The hum was rising in pitch, up the scale until it became a shrill
+electrical scream. Mogruud's men wavered&mdash;struggled as though to avoid
+being pulled downward.</p>
+
+<p>Then Loto realized that it must be the rest of the apparatus Toroh had
+secured out of the past&mdash;a giant electromagnet of some unknown variety.
+It was pulling at every figure in the air, drawing them irresistibly
+toward it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Loto and George could feel the pull; invisible fingers were snatching at
+them. The girls near at hand were fighting against it. Mogruud was
+moving forward with an effort, like a swimmer struggling with the clutch
+of an undertow. Several of his men, closer to the barge, had been drawn
+to it, flattened helplessly against its wire caging. Fire was leaping
+through their bodies...they were electrocuted.</p>
+
+<p>In the cavern Fahn sat tense, impotent. He could hear, as plainly as
+though he were out there over the sea, the scream of that uncanny thing
+that was reaching out its invisible electrical fingers to gather in its
+victims.</p>
+
+<p>At his side, for the past hour, Rogers had been operating the larger
+mirrors, flashing into them scenes from the various towers along the
+coast. Now Fahn heard him give a sharp, horrified exclamation.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers was staring at a mirrored scene from a coast tower near Orleen:
+moonlight, purple, starry sky and the deep purple of the channel; to one
+side, the dim outlines of the Orleen houses. And from the channel off
+Orleen, lights were flashing; a bomb burst and its glare shone on
+crowded barges close inshore! One of them, already at the beach, was
+disgorging its men and brutes!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER SIXTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>Once again, Toroh's trickery was disclosed. To Fahn, the tactics of the
+Noths were now understandable. The Noth attack on Anglese City, at which
+Fahn had hurled all his armed forces, had been no more than a ruse to
+cover up Toroh's main offensive at Orleen.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh's orders, doubtless, had been to prolong the en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>gagement until,
+under cover of night, his main forces could effect their landing at the
+other end of the island. This small barge with the magnet had probably
+been ordered to slip by, hugging the north shore of the channel, and
+proceed to Orleen. But its commander had, at what he must have
+considered a decisive moment, used it against the remnant of the little
+aerial army.</p>
+
+<p>Toroh's landing at Orleen was taking place; the channel expedition had
+served its purpose. The two remaining barges off Anglese City were in
+full retreat toward the open sea. The smaller barge, with its screaming
+magnet, was heading swiftly down the channel toward Orleen. The figures
+in the air were struggling against its pull. Some were losing, being
+hurled forward with control of themselves lost; others were forcing
+their way down to the water-level where the attraction seemed less.
+Still others had succeeded in escaping upward beyond its range. They
+circled high overhead, seeking some way of helping their unfortunate
+comrades.</p>
+
+<p>The double disaster was more than Fahn could cope with, or even watch
+closely in the two mirrors. Orleen lay on a peninsula some ten miles
+broad, with water on three sides of the city. The Noths were landing,
+spreading around the shores; across the land from shore to shore they
+were massed, but as yet they had not entered the city. Thousands of
+Arans were there&mdash;the king and his royal family&mdash;penned like rats in a
+trap. And there was only the small cavern with its meager garrison of
+Scientists to defend them.</p>
+
+<p>George found himself near the outer edge of the magnetic attraction. He
+could see the figures in the air nearer the barge struggling to escape
+from it. He did not know where Loto was, or Azeela or Dee. He saw
+Mogruud, with fifteen or twenty of the Bas about him. They were passing
+swiftly below.</p>
+
+<p>George wondered what he should do. The two larger barges were
+withdrawing. Some of the aerial figures were following them, and George
+started moving that way. The figures were attacking the barges from down
+near the surface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> of the water. Mogruud and his men were there now.
+George hastened.</p>
+
+<p>This last attack of the Anglese was one of desperate fury. George could
+see the flash of the bolts close to the water. One of the barges must
+have fired through its own darkness and struck its mate. As the
+blackness cleared, George saw that both the Noth vessels were blazing.
+One of them sank a moment later; from the flames on the other, figures
+were plunging into the water.</p>
+
+<p>The Anglese&mdash;one of them mounting&mdash;cast loose a light-bomb. In the
+brilliant glare, the aerial figures were darting about over the surface
+of the water, seeking out the Noth men and dogs who were swimming toward
+the island and striking them with the little thunderbolts, or with
+spurts of yellow-red flame at closer range. George arrived to join them.
+It was ghastly but necessary work. He used his weapons until they were
+exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>The battle was won&mdash;all but the giant magnet. In the distance its
+blood-curdling scream still sounded.</p>
+
+<p>And then George saw Dee. She had been several thousand feet up, flying
+with another girl, when the magnet was first put into operation. They
+were not close enough to feel its pull. A whirling knife had approached
+them; struck the other girl, killed her. It was spent, but a corner of
+it had knocked Dee's motor-cylinder from her hand. She had begun
+floating down. Ever since, she had been trying to swim through the air;
+with arms and legs kicking, she had fought to sustain herself.</p>
+
+<p>She was almost at the surface when George saw her struggling,
+ineffectually, like a swimmer exhausted. He darted to her and gathered
+her in his arms. His cylinder drew them both upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee," he whispered. "My little Dee You're safe!"</p>
+
+<p>Loto had dropped close to the surface. The magnet was pulling him, but
+with his cylinder held against it, he could make headway. By now the
+magnet had done most of its work; those in the air had either succumbed
+or escaped beyond range.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To one side, Loto could see the attack on the other two barges. Fahn's
+voice in his ear told him of the landing at Orleen. The Scientist
+ordered them all back. They were needed at Orleen; they must return.</p>
+
+<p>But the magnetic barge was heading down the channel. It would be used at
+Orleen. It must be stopped&mdash;<i>destroyed now</i>. Loto disobeyed Fahn. He
+headed for the little barge.</p>
+
+<p>It was a plunge of no more than a few minutes. Soon Loto was well within
+the field of magnetism; he could not withdraw now. He tried to think
+clearly. Those others of the Anglese who had met this death had lost
+control of themselves in the air. They had plunged forward, struggling,
+whirling so that they had not been able to use their weapons.</p>
+
+<p>Loto had no thunderbolts left. His only weapon was the flaming liquid
+gas which he could project some fifty feet.</p>
+
+<p>Just above the surface, head first, like an arrow, he slid forward
+through the air. He did not fight against the magnet; he used his
+cylinder only to keep himself from turning sidewise.</p>
+
+<p>He was conscious of the dark outlines of the barge rushing up at him. He
+fired his jet of flame; though he did not know it then, he had fired too
+soon. The flames fell short. A downward thrust of his cylinder power
+forced him upward. He barely missed the wire caging as his body shot
+over it, past it.</p>
+
+<p>The magnet's scream was deafening. The Noths on the barge had fired a
+small thunderbolt between the wires, but had missed the swiftly passing
+mark.</p>
+
+<p>Loto's momentum carried him a hundred feet or more beyond the barge. The
+magnet stopped him, drew him swiftly back. He was turning over now; he
+had lost control of himself. The sea, the sky, the approaching barge
+were mingled in whirling confusion. He knew he could never escape; he
+must strike the magnet with his flame, this time or never. A moment more
+and he would be electrocuted against the cage.</p>
+
+<p>A tiny bolt cracked past him. He turned over again, righted himself
+momentarily, and fired. The electrical scream died<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> into abrupt silence;
+the flames had caught the magnet, burned out its coils.</p>
+
+<p>Released suddenly, Loto's body shot upward with the pull of his
+cylinder. The cage, with flames spreading under it, dropped away beneath
+him.</p>
+
+<p>He righted himself, and at a distance of about three hundred feet, hung
+poised in the air. The flames spread over the barge; a few Noth figures
+plunged frantically into the water.</p>
+
+<p>Loto mounted upward to join his comrades. Barely seventy-five of the
+original three hundred and twenty-eight, were left. Ten of them were
+girls. Loto found Azeela safe. George still carried Dee in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>The flames from the burning barges died out; the silent moonlit channel
+was strewn with floating bodies. It seemed almost futile to search for
+their wounded, but they descended, and for a time moved about near the
+surface. They found two still alive&mdash;one burned, the other, a girl,
+mangled by a flying knife.</p>
+
+<p>Silently, with their burdens, they took their way back through the air
+to the cavern.</p>
+
+<p>It was a night of confusion. The Noths were clustered around Orleen,
+waiting for the dawn before they entered the city. They were still
+coming across the channel on swimming dogs. All night they came. The
+puny garrison at the Orleen cavern was powerless to stop them. It
+exhausted its bolts and began sending out calls for help.</p>
+
+<p>The Bas around Anglese City were mobilizing with their dogs. Hastily,
+Fahn equipped them with weapons&mdash;hand thunderbolts and flame projectors.
+An hour-and-a-half before dawn, they were ready to start their almost
+hopeless attempt to stem the horde of invaders who now held the entire
+western end of the island.</p>
+
+<p>The little rag-end of the aerial army that returned from the battle was
+exhausted, but in a few hours, it too, was ready to start.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn, with his two daughters, and Rogers, Loto and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> George, took the
+Frazia plane. On its platform Fahn mounted a single projector, the most
+powerful he possessed.</p>
+
+<p>They started an hour before dawn&mdash;silent as they gazed down at the
+island of palms that was passing beneath them. They overtook their Bas
+army and left it behind them. In the air, back over Anglese City, tiny
+specks showed that the aerial army was starting. Above the hum of the
+Frazia motors they hear the aerial voices of Anglese City telling the
+Bas peasants who lived between the two cities to come eastward. They
+were obeying; little groups of refugees&mdash;old men, women and
+children&mdash;were moving along all the roads. In the sky ahead, occasional
+flashes shot up from Orleen.</p>
+
+<p>"The Arans went there to avoid the deluge," Rogers said suddenly, and
+his laugh was grim.</p>
+
+<p>No one answered him.</p>
+
+<p>Behind them the eastern sky was brightening. Loto was piloting the
+plane, with Rogers beside him. The daylight grew, began reddening.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Father, there's Orleen!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The second largest city on the island, Orleen lay in a hollow, with twin
+peaks close behind it, the mouth of the channel and the gulf in front
+and to the sides. It was an Aran city, more beautiful even than the
+capital.</p>
+
+<p>The plane, flying high, was circling. Loto's gaze went to the dawn. The
+sun came up a huge, distorted ball of crimson fire, with lines of flame
+radiating from it to the zenith. A dark mass of rain cloud, hanging low
+above Orleen, lost its blackness as it soaked up the crimson light. The
+sky, even to the western horizon, was steeped in blood; the water
+reflected it; the air itself seemed to hold it suspended.</p>
+
+<p>"The day of deluge," murmured Loto. "The blood that will be spilled
+today&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>As though in answer to his words, the clouds above Orleen began spilling
+rain. And as the water fell, it caught<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> the crimson sunlight&mdash;myriad
+drops of blood falling upon the Aran city.</p>
+
+<p>The storm was transitory the rain cloud swept past, but the blood in the
+sky remained.</p>
+
+<p>In the hours that had passed since the plane left Anglese City, the
+Noths had occupied Orleen. Its cavern was taken. The Noth men and dogs
+stood in solid ranks around the mountain base; the beaches were black
+with them. They were still coming across the channel&mdash;riders mounted
+upon swimming dogs, an occasional barge.</p>
+
+<p>There were no sounds of thunderbolts in the city, no flashes. But as the
+plane descended, human sounds were heard&mdash;faint screams. And the city
+streets were in confusion.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn was staring down into the city through lenses mounted in short
+black tubes. He murmured something that his companions did not catch.
+His face was white and set; he was struggling to hold his composure.</p>
+
+<p>"Descend, Loto. They are not armed with thunderbolts; those are all with
+Toroh and his men in the cavern."</p>
+
+<p>The plane glided down, circling low above the city. The scene of carnage
+there became a series of brief, fragmentary pictures. Above the drone of
+the Frazia motors, they could hear the snarling of fighting dogs, the
+screams of men and women, the shrill treble of children&mdash;human screams
+of agony as the fangs of the brutes tore at them.</p>
+
+<p>The plane passed low above a city street, following its length to the
+blue water that lapped the white sand at its end. The street was full of
+dogs. A Noth rider&mdash;sinister, animal-like, with his black-bound head and
+his naked torso covered with black hair&mdash;arrived at a silent white
+house, with its white columns, splashing fountain, and vivid trellised
+flowers. The Noth dismounted, rushed into the house. He came out
+dragging an Aran woman&mdash;flung her white body to the eager, snarling
+brute. At the beach, hundreds of terrified Arans sprang into the water;
+the dogs followed them, pulled them under, released them at last, and
+the surf flung their mangled bodies up on the sand.</p>
+
+<p>There was a public square where a hundred or more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> Arans had gathered.
+The dogs charged them, tore at them, flung them into the air&mdash;fought
+over their broken bodies long after life had gone.</p>
+
+<p>The dogs spread to every corner of the city. A child climbed a
+pergola&mdash;a little Aran boy, white skinned, with long golden curls and a
+plump baby face. The dogs could not reach him; a Noth man climbed up,
+pulled him down.</p>
+
+<p>Loto had given the Frazia controls to his father. With a small
+thunderbolt globe at his belt he went to the platform outside the cabin.
+Presently he found Azeela beside him. Her arm was around him; together
+they clung to their insecure footing, watching the scenes below as the
+plane made its swift circle over the city.</p>
+
+<p>What could Fahn do? The thunderbolt projector, here on the platform,
+could kill a few Noths, a few dogs here and there. But of what avail
+would that be among these hordes? The Orleen Cavern? Could they attack
+that? Toroh was probably there in the cavern. If they could kill him,
+these Noth barbarians, without a leader...</p>
+
+<p>Confused and sick from what he was seeing, Loto tried to force Azeela
+into the cabin, but the white lipped girl would not go. The plane
+approached a house where an Aran woman crouched on the roof top with two
+little girls huddled at her feet. A Noth appeared from below, dashed at
+them across the roof. Beneath the eaves a dozen dogs stood with bared,
+drippings fangs pointed upward.</p>
+
+<p>The plane was almost over the house. Loto pointed his globe downward,
+pressed its lever. There was a flash, a miniature crack of thunder and
+the globe recoiled in his hand. On the roof top the Noth man and the
+Aran woman and her children lay dead. The woman's white robe was
+blackened, the children's bodies were burned, shriveled; a cornice of
+the building was ripped off and the woodwork was blazing.</p>
+
+<p>It was so useless! Loto flung the globe from him, loathing it for having
+killed that woman and her little girls. He drew Azeela back with him
+into the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>The king's palace in Orleen stood near the waterfront,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> in the midst of
+broad, magnificent gardens. A mob of Noths surged around it, into the
+lower doors, on the balconies and roof top. As the plane passed
+overhead, its occupants caught a fleeting glimpse of the queen and her
+children, the girl wives of the king and the king himself&mdash;in the face
+of death with petty barriers at last broken down&mdash;all huddled together
+in a corner of the roof. The Noths rushed at them, broad, heavy swords
+flashing.</p>
+
+<p>The plane swept past.</p>
+
+<p>The twin peaks of Orleen stood six hundred feet apart, just behind the
+city. The one that housed the cavern had a broad, circular base, with a
+ragged, volcanic looking cone above. The other peak was considerably
+higher; it looked down upon its fellow.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn had directed Rogers to fly the plane to the higher of the peaks.
+The Scientist had hardly spoken. He was pale, grim as ever, but his
+gaze, when he looked upon his daughters held a curious softness. What
+were his plans. What were they going to do? George asked the questions,
+but Fahn ignored them.</p>
+
+<p>The little aerial army approaching from Anglese City was now in sight.
+Fahn radioed them to move back, descend, and stop the Bas army and its
+dogs. All of them were to return to the capital.</p>
+
+<p>The plane landed on a small level rock near the summit of the higher
+peak. On top of the cavern, six hundred feet away, a solitary male
+figure stood. The blood light of the sunrise fell full upon it. <i>Toroh!</i>
+He was standing there, regarding the city.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn leaped to the projector, but Toroh had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry!" exclaimed the Scientist. He still would not let them question
+him. He unlashed the projector and they helped him lower it to the
+ground. He leaped down after it, adjusting it, swinging it to bear down
+upon the lower peak.</p>
+
+<p>"We must hurry," he repeated. He was back on the cabin platform. "They
+will be out of the cavern, firing upon us."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Noths down there were gazing up at the plane; others were now
+pouring out of the cavern entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Fahn's projector was trained on the crater of the lower mountain. From
+this greater height its depths were visible.</p>
+
+<p>In the cabin of the plane the Scientist's arms went around his
+daughters. "Good-by, my girls&mdash;for a little time," he whispered in their
+own tongue.</p>
+
+<p>They were frightened; suddenly Dee was crying. But he pushed them from
+him. He would attack the cavern; they must all stay in the plane&mdash;rise
+high&mdash;very high.</p>
+
+<p>Something in the man's look, the command in his voice, struck them all
+silent. They obeyed. He climbed down to the rock. The plane mounted
+swiftly into the air.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was above the eastern horizon; the sky was an inverted bowl of
+blood. Beneath the plane Fahn's figure, standing beside his projector,
+showed clear-cut against the black rock under him. At the base of the
+cavern mountain Noths had appeared with apparatus. They were adjusting
+it hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>A blue-white flash from Fahn's projector spat downward across the six
+hundred feet and into the crater mouth. Thunder rolled out. Another
+flash, another&mdash;until they became almost continuous. Far down in the
+earth within the crater, the slumbering forces began to answer. A
+rumbling sounded&mdash;a low, ominous muttering, pregnant with infinite
+power. Steam hissed upward; a puff of smoke....</p>
+
+<p>The plane had been ascending rapidly; it was thousands of feet up now.
+Fahn's thunderbolts persisted, and at last the angered fires of the
+earth were unleashed. The mountain seemed to split apart; the report was
+deafening; flaming gases, cinders and ashes were hurled upward and
+outward.</p>
+
+<p>The main force of the explosion was sidewise toward the city, but even
+so the plane barely avoided the torrent of molten rock and blazing gas
+that mounted from below.</p>
+
+<p>The city was engulfed in flames over which a heavy smoke hung like a
+pall. A tremendous lake of viscous liquid fire lay where the peaks and
+the cavern once had been.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> The earth was rumbling, shaking, splitting
+apart. The scene was vague&mdash;dulled by a lurid red glare that struggled
+with the blackness of the smoke.</p>
+
+<p>A moment, and a rift appeared. The smoke seemed to part, roll aside.
+Through the rift, the burning city showed for an instant clear and
+distinct&mdash;the crowded city in which no single human or beast could have
+remained alive.</p>
+
+<p>Still not content, the earth was heaving over the whole western end of
+the island. And from the sea a great tidal wave came rolling up over the
+sinking land, hissing, quenching the fires, obscuring everything in a
+cloud of steam. Like a mist, the steam presently dissipated. The turgid
+waters lashed themselves into furious waves that gradually were stilled.</p>
+
+<p>And then it was daylight, sullen red day, with only the wreckage on the
+waters&mdash;charred fragments of bodies, thousands of them floating for
+miles around&mdash;mute evidence of what had gone before.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER SEVENTEEN</h2>
+
+
+<p>Once again the plane hung like a shimmering ghost above the towering
+piles of steel and masonry&mdash;New York City at the peak of its
+civilization. For Azeela and Dee, it had been a brief trip of awe and
+wonder; a trip northward through space and back through time.</p>
+
+<p>After the cataclysm, they had stayed but a week back in Anglese City.
+The entire western end of the island had sunk into the gulf, carrying
+Toroh and his Noths and the Arans and their King to destruction. In
+Anglese City a new government was formed&mdash;a democracy of the Bas, with
+Mogruud at its head.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Rogers was impatient to return to his wife in New York City. Azeela and
+Dee, left orphans, had no wish to stay. Unobtrusively as it had come,
+the Frazia plane departed.</p>
+
+<p>In the humming, glowing cabin of the plane the voyagers were waiting for
+the dials to reach the time world for which they were headed. On one of
+the side benches, the ghostlike figures of Loto and Azeela sat a little
+apart from the others; they were talking softly as they gazed down
+through the window beside them.</p>
+
+<p>"You think Mogruud will make a good leader?" she asked. "My father would
+have been so strong, so stern, but always just and fair...." Her eyes
+had filled with tears.</p>
+
+<p>He pressed her hand sympathetically. "I know, Azeela. But you mustn't
+grieve. He gave his life for his people."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And he said 'Good-by&mdash;for a little time.' Oh, Loto&mdash;I did not
+realize then what he meant."</p>
+
+<p>"He knew&mdash;someday&mdash;you would be with him again. And you will." His arm
+went around her tenderly. "I shall always try to make you happy. I
+promise it, Azeela. Always, as long as we live."</p>
+
+<p>"Beloved," she murmured. "Beloved, who always understands."</p>
+
+<p>Rogers had been talking to George and Dee. He left them to attend to the
+motors. Dee was watching the scene beneath the plane; as they fled back
+through the centuries the great city was melting away.</p>
+
+<p>"Your city that we're going to," she said after a long silence. "George,
+is it like this? Are we almost to its time now?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," he laughed. "It's a very little, puny city I have to show you,
+Dee. I used to think it was wonderful. But it's only a conceited
+child&mdash;learning as fast as it can and thinking it knows everything. I
+used to be like that myself. But this sort of trip changes one."</p>
+
+<p>She did not answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad you're coming back with us, Dee."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said abstractedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Dee," he persisted out of another silence, "I wonder if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> you know how
+happy it makes me to have you&mdash;here where we're going. I've wanted to
+tell you for a long time&mdash;maybe you don't know how I feel. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>On this return journey, the plane had now reached the height of its time
+velocity. The swiftly changing form of the city blurred the scene into a
+confusion of shifting details, among which only the broadest
+fundamentals were discernible. The northern section of Central Park
+presently lay open. Then the great building that covered its southern
+end melted into nothingness, and trees and water were in its stead.</p>
+
+<p>George was at the dials. "One hundred years! We're almost into our own
+century!"</p>
+
+<p>Through decreasing intensities of the proton current, they slackened
+their time velocity. The park, whitened with winter, turned green again
+as the previous summer was reached. Soon the days separated from the
+nights. The sun came up from the west, plunged swiftly across the sky,
+and dropped into the east.</p>
+
+<p>It was spring, but the retrogression soon brought winter again. A
+January snowfall lay white beneath the naked trees of the park. But it
+was autumn in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers was watching the dials closely. Summer again; then spring. In one
+of the brief periods of night he threw the switch to the first
+intensity. The plane began drifting to the south. The dim stars were
+swinging eastward in a murky sky. The city lights shone yellow.</p>
+
+<p>The roof of the Scientific Club came into view among the buildings south
+of the plane. Rogers threw off the current completely.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Dee!" cried George. "Look, Azeela! There it is at last! See the
+board enclosure?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>An evening in March. In the large living room of the Banker's Park
+Avenue apartment, a group of his friends were gathered. Dinner was over;
+a butler was serving coffee and the men were lighting their cigars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A woman and four men&mdash;all in evening dress&mdash;were sitting in a group;
+mingled with their voices came the soft, limpid tones of a piano. It
+stood in a secluded alcove&mdash;a grand piano of carved mahogany. On a bench
+before its keyboard, a young man in a Tuxedo was playing. George. Dee
+stood beside him, leaning against the instrument. She was gazing first
+at the page of music with a puzzled frown, then at his fingers as they
+roamed the keys, and then, in admiration, at his face.</p>
+
+<p>On a high-back davenport before an open fireplace, Loto sat with Azeela.
+There was an artificial black flower in her spun-gold hair; the mourning
+custom of her time world. Her milk-white throat was bare, and the blue
+of her dress was mirrored in her eyes. She was silent, staring into the
+flames licking upward from the huge logs.</p>
+
+<p>"That's very pretty music," she said finally. "So big an
+instrument&mdash;this piano as you call it&mdash;you never would think one could
+play it."</p>
+
+<p>"Chopin," he answered. "A piece by Chopin. George plays Chopin mighty
+well. Azeela, there is so much I have to show you. Just that one little
+thing&mdash;Chopin, for instance. I want you to hear the music of some of the
+great composers and pianists."</p>
+
+<p>"And the opera," she prompted. "And you promised you would take me to a
+theater."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, of course. There are so many things for you to see. Why, it
+will be just like a new world, a new life that you're just beginning,
+Azeela."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she murmured. "A new life in a new world. It seems like that
+already."</p>
+
+<p>"And wait till you ride in the subways! You'll be surprised how&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But she shuddered. "I do not believe I want to do that. It would bring
+back memory of the cavern...other things."</p>
+
+<p>George and Dee left the piano and walked over to the fireplace. Azeela
+moved over on the davenport. Loto stood up, but George shook his head.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Thanks. Dee and I thought we'd try the window seat."</p>
+
+<p>Across the room the Big Business Man, the Doctor, and the Banker were
+demanding additional details from Rogers.</p>
+
+<p>"That Toroh and his Noths were in the cavern at Orleen" the Banker said
+gruffly. "Can't you keep the thing straight? I want to hear it
+consecutively&mdash;not jumped around in this way."</p>
+
+<p>Ensconced in the window seat, George and Dee gazed out at the yellow
+lights of the city around them&mdash;a city so different from anything Dee
+could have even imagined.</p>
+
+<p>There was a soft, rose-shaded light beside the girl. George was not
+looking out of the window, but at her. He had seen Dee in many costumes,
+but never, he thought, was she so beautiful as right now.</p>
+
+<p>A girl of his own time world. He had not realized that this was the way
+he had always wanted her to look. Her dress, dropping to a few inches
+above her ankles, was soft and clinging. Her black hair, like Azeela's,
+was dressed high on her head. Like Azeela, too, she wore the dark
+mourning flower. The soft light beside her cast a flush on her
+milk-white throat and cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling his gaze, she turned.</p>
+
+<p>"You like the way Lylda has clothed me? It feels very strange."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said. "You look beautiful, Dee."</p>
+
+<p>She turned back to the window in confusion. From below, the hum of the
+city floated up to them; the raucous sirens of automobiles.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he repeated. "I do like it very much, Dee."</p>
+
+<p>Abruptly his arms were around her; he was kissing her.</p>
+
+<p>"George! Some one will see us!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," he protested. "No, they won't. Anyway suppose they do? I don't
+care&mdash;do you?"<br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76503 ***</div>
+  </body>
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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #76503
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76503)