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diff --git a/775.txt b/775.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2e958fc..0000000 --- a/775.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9679 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's When the Sleeper Wakes, by Herbert George Wells - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: When the Sleeper Wakes - -Author: Herbert George Wells - -Posting Date: August 10, 2008 [EBook #775] -Release Date: January, 1997 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES *** - - - - -Produced by John Bean - - - - - -WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES - -By Herbert George Wells - - - - -CHAPTER I. INSOMNIA - -One afternoon, at low water, Mr. Isbister, a young artist lodging at -Boscastle, walked from that place to the picturesque cove of Pentargen, -desiring to examine the caves there. Halfway down the precipitous -path to the Pentargen beach he came suddenly upon a man sitting in an -attitude of profound distress beneath a projecting mass of rock. The -hands of this man hung limply over his knees, his eyes were red and -staring before him, and his face was wet with tears. - -He glanced round at Isbister's footfall. Both men were disconcerted, -Isbister the more so, and, to override the awkwardness of his -involuntary pause, he remarked, with an air of mature conviction, that -the weather was hot for the time of year. - -"Very," answered the stranger shortly, hesitated a second, and added in -a colourless tone, "I can't sleep." - -Isbister stopped abruptly. "No?" was all he said, but his bearing -conveyed his helpful impulse. - -"It may sound incredible," said the stranger, turning weary eyes to -Isbister's face and emphasizing his words with a languid hand, "but I -have had no sleep--no sleep at all for six nights." - -"Had advice?" - -"Yes. Bad advice for the most part. Drugs. My nervous system.... They -are all very well for the run of people. It's hard to explain. I dare -not take... sufficiently powerful drugs." - -"That makes it difficult," said Isbister. - -He stood helplessly in the narrow path, perplexed what to do. Clearly -the man wanted to talk. An idea natural enough under the circumstances, -prompted him to keep the conversation going. "I've never suffered from -sleeplessness myself," he said in a tone of commonplace gossip, "but in -those cases I have known, people have usually found something--" - -"I dare make no experiments." - -He spoke wearily. He gave a gesture of rejection, and for a space both -men were silent. - -"Exercise?" suggested Isbister diffidently, with a glance from his -interlocutor's face of wretchedness to the touring costume he wore. - -"That is what I have tried. Unwisely perhaps. I have followed the coast, -day after day--from New Quay. It has only added muscular fatigue to -the mental. The cause of this unrest was overwork--trouble. There was -something--" - -He stopped as if from sheer fatigue. He rubbed his forehead with a lean -hand. He resumed speech like one who talks to himself. - -"I am a lone wolf, a solitary man, wandering through a world in which -I have no part. I am wifeless--childless--who is it speaks of the -childless as the dead twigs on the tree of life? I am wifeless, I -childless--I could find no duty to do. No desire even in my heart. One -thing at last I set myself to do. - -"I said, I will do this, and to do it, to overcome the inertia of this -dull body, I resorted to drugs. Great God, I've had enough of drugs! -I don't know if _you_ feel the heavy inconvenience of the body, its -exasperating demand of time from the mind--time--life! Live! We only -live in patches. We have to eat, and then comes the dull digestive -complacencies--or irritations. We have to take the air or else our -thoughts grow sluggish, stupid, run into gulfs and blind alleys. A -thousand distractions arise from within and without, and then comes -drowsiness and sleep. Men seem to live for sleep. How little of a man's -day is his own--even at the best! And then come those false friends, -those Thug helpers, the alkaloids that stifle natural fatigue and kill -rest--black coffee, cocaine--" - -"I see," said Isbister. - -"I did my work," said the sleepless man with a querulous intonation. - -"And this is the price?" - -"Yes." - -For a little while the two remained without speaking. - -"You cannot imagine the craving for rest that I feel--a hunger and -thirst. For six long days, since my work was done, my mind has been a -whirlpool, swift, unprogressive and incessant, a torrent of thoughts -leading nowhere, spinning round swift and steady--" - -He paused. "Towards the gulf." - -"You must sleep," said Isbister decisively, and with an air of a remedy -discovered. "Certainly you must sleep." - -"My mind is perfectly lucid. It was never clearer. But I know I am -drawing towards the vortex. Presently--" - -"Yes?" - -"You have seen things go down an eddy? Out of the light of the day, out -of this sweet world of sanity--down--" - -"But," expostulated Isbister. - -The man threw out a hand towards him, and his eyes were wild, and his -voice suddenly high. "I shall kill myself. If in no other way--at the -foot of yonder dark precipice there, where the waves are green, and the -white surge lifts and falls, and that little thread of water trembles -down. There at any rate is ... sleep." - -"That's unreasonable," said Isbister, startled at the man's hysterical -gust of emotion. "Drugs are better than that." - -"There at any rate is sleep," repeated the stranger, not heeding him. - -Isbister looked at him and wondered transitorily if some complex -Providence had indeed brought them together that afternoon. "It's not -a cert, you know," he remarked. "There's a cliff like that at Lulworth -Cove--as high, anyhow--and a little girl fell from top to bottom. And -lives to-day--sound and well." - -"But those rocks there?" - -"One might lie on them rather dismally through a cold night, broken -bones grating as one shivered, chill water splashing over you. Eh?" - -Their eyes met. "Sorry to upset your ideals," said Isbister with a sense -of devil-may-careish brilliance. - -"But a suicide over that cliff (or any cliff for the matter of that), -really, as an artist--" He laughed. "It's so damned amateurish." - -"But the other thing," said the sleepless man irritably, "the other -thing. No man can keep sane if night after night--" - -"Have you been walking along this coast alone?" - -"Yes." - -"Silly sort of thing to do. If you'll excuse my saying so. Alone! As -you say; body fag is no cure for brain fag. Who told you to? No wonder; -walking! And the sun on your head, heat, fag, solitude, all the day -long, and then, I suppose, you go to bed and try very hard--eh?" - -Isbister stopped short and looked at the sufferer doubtfully. - -"Look at these rocks!" cried the seated man with a sudden force of -gesture. "Look at that sea that has shone and quivered there for ever! -See the white spume rush into darkness under that great cliff. And this -blue vault, with the blinding sun pouring from the dome of it. It is -your world. You accept it, you rejoice in it. It warms and supports and -delights you. And for me--" - -He turned his head and showed a ghastly face, bloodshot pallid eyes and -bloodless lips. He spoke almost in a whisper. "It is the garment of my -misery. The whole world... is the garment of my misery." - -Isbister looked at all the wild beauty of the sunlit cliffs about them -and back to that face of despair. For a moment he was silent. - -He started, and made a gesture of impatient rejection. "You get a -night's sleep," he said, "and you won't see much misery out here. Take -my word for it." - -He was quite sure now that this was a providential encounter. Only half -an hour ago he had been feeling horribly bored. Here was employment the -bare thought of which was righteous self-applause. He took possession -forthwith. It seemed to him that the first need of this exhausted being -was companionship He flung himself down on the steeply sloping turf -beside the motionless seated figure, and deployed forthwith into a -skirmishing line of gossip. - -His hearer seemed to have lapsed into apathy; he stared dismally -seaward, and spoke only in answer to Isbister's direct questions--and -not to all of those. But he made no sign of objection to this benevolent -intrusion upon his despair. - -In a helpless way he seemed even grateful, and when presently Isbister, -feeling that his unsupported talk was losing vigour, suggested that they -should reascend the steep and return towards Boscastle, alleging the -view into Blackapit, he submitted quietly. Halfway up he began talking -to himself, and abruptly turned a ghastly face on his helper. "What can -be happening?" he asked with a gaunt illustrative hand. "What can be -happening? Spin, spin, spin, spin. It goes round and round, round and -round for evermore." - -He stood with his hand circling - -"It's all right, old chap," said Isbister with the air of an old friend. -"Don't worry yourself. Trust to me." - -The man dropped his hand and turned again. They went over the brow in -single file and to the headland beyond Penally, with the sleepless man -gesticulating ever and again, and speaking fragmentary things concerning -his whirling brain. At the headland they stood for a space by the seat -that looks into the dark mysteries of Blackapit, and then he sat down. -Isbister had resumed his talk whenever the path had widened sufficiently -for them to walk abreast. He was enlarging upon the complex difficulty -of making Boscastle Harbour in bad weather, when suddenly and quite -irrelevantly his companion interrupted him again. - -"My head is not like what it was," he said, gesticulating for want -of expressive phrases. "It's not like what it was. There is a sort of -oppression, a weight. No--not drowsiness, would God it were! It is like -a shadow, a deep shadow falling suddenly and swiftly across something -busy. Spin, spin into the darkness. The tumult of thought, the confusion, -the eddy and eddy. I can't express it. I can hardly keep my mind on -it--steadily enough to tell you." - -He stopped feebly. - -"Don't trouble, old chap," said Isbister. "I think I can understand. At -any rate, it don't matter very much just at present about telling me, -you know." - -The sleepless man thrust his knuckles into his eyes and rubbed them. -Isbister talked for awhile while this rubbing continued, and then he had -a fresh idea. "Come down to my room," he said, "and try a pipe. I can -show you some sketches of this Blackapit. If you'd care?" - -The other rose obediently and followed him down the steep. - -Several times Isbister heard him stumble as they came down, and his -movements were slow and hesitating. "Come in with me," said Isbister, -"and try some cigarettes and the blessed gift of alcohol. If you take -alcohol?" - -The stranger hesitated at the garden gate. He seemed no longer clearly -aware of his actions. "I don't drink," he said slowly, coming up the -garden path, and after a moment's interval repeated absently, "No--I -don't drink. It goes round. Spin, it goes--spin--" - -He stumbled at the doorstep and entered the room with the bearing of one -who sees nothing. - -Then he sat down abruptly and heavily in the easy chair, seemed almost -to fall into it. He leant forward with his brows on his hands and became -motionless. - -Presently he made a faint sound in his throat. Isbister moved about -the room with the nervousness of an inexperienced host, making little -remarks that scarcely required answering. He crossed the room to his -portfolio, placed it on the table and noticed the mantel clock. - -"I don't know if you'd care to have supper with me," he said with an -unlighted cigarette in his hand--his mind troubled with a design of -the furtive administration of chloral. "Only cold mutton, you know, but -passing sweet. Welsh. And a tart, I believe." He repeated this after -momentary silence. - -The seated man made no answer. Isbister stopped, match in hand, -regarding him. - -The stillness lengthened. The match went out, the cigarette was put down -unlit. The man was certainly very still. Isbister took up the portfolio, -opened it, put it down, hesitated, seemed about to speak. "Perhaps," he -whispered doubtfully. Presently he glanced at the door and back to -the figure. Then he stole on tiptoe out of the room, glancing at his -companion after each elaborate pace. - -He closed the door noiselessly. The house door was standing open, and -he went out beyond the porch, and stood where the monkshood rose at -the corner of the garden bed. From this point he could see the stranger -through the open window, still and dim, sitting head on hand. He had not -moved. - -A number of children going along the road stopped and regarded the -artist curiously. A boatman exchanged civilities with him. He felt -that possibly his circumspect attitude and position seemed peculiar and -unaccountable. Smoking, perhaps, might seem more natural. He drew pipe -and pouch from his pocket, filled the pipe slowly. - -"I wonder,"... he said, with a scarcely perceptible loss of complacency. -"At any rate we must give him a chance." He struck a match in the virile -way, and proceeded to light his pipe. - -Presently he heard his landlady behind him, coming with his lamp lit -from the kitchen. He turned, gesticulating with his pipe, and stopped -her at the door of his sitting-room. He had some difficulty in -explaining the situation in whispers, for she did not know he had a -visitor. She retreated again with the lamp, still a little mystified to -judge from her manner, and he resumed his hovering at the corner of the -porch, flushed and less at his ease. - -Long after he had smoked out his pipe, and when the bats were abroad, -his curiosity dominated his complex hesitations, and he stole back into -his darkling sitting-room. He paused in the doorway. The stranger -was still in the same attitude, dark against the window. Save for the -singing of some sailors aboard one of the little slate-carrying ships -in the harbour, the evening was very still. Outside, the spikes of -monkshood and delphinium stood erect and motionless against the shadow -of the hillside. Something flashed into Isbister's mind; he started, and -leaning over the table, listened. An unpleasant suspicion grew stronger; -became conviction. Astonishment seized him and became--dread! - -No sound of breathing came from the seated figure! - -He crept slowly and noiselessly round the table, pausing twice to -listen. At last he could lay his hand on the back of the armchair. He -bent down until the two heads were ear to ear. - -Then he bent still lower to look up at his visitor's face. He started -violently and uttered an exclamation. The eyes were void spaces of -white. - -He looked again and saw that they were open and with the pupils rolled -under the lids. He was suddenly afraid. Overcome by the strangeness of -the man's condition, he took him by the shoulder and shook him. "Are you -asleep?" he said, with his voice jumping into alto, and again, "Are you -asleep?" - -A conviction took possession of his mind that this man was dead. He -suddenly became active and noisy, strode across the room, blundering -against the table as he did so, and rang the bell. - -"Please bring a light at once," he said in the passage. "There is -something wrong with my friend." - -Then he returned to the motionless seated figure, grasped the shoulder, -shook it, and shouted. The room was flooded with yellow glare as his -astonished landlady entered with the light. His face was white as he -turned blinking towards her. "I must fetch a doctor at once," he said. -"It is either death or a fit. Is there a doctor in the village? Where is -a doctor to be found?" - - - - -CHAPTER II. THE TRANCE - -The state of cataleptic rigour into which this man had fallen, lasted -for an unprecedented length of time, and then he passed slowly to the -flaccid state, to a lax attitude suggestive of profound repose. Then it -was his eyes could be closed. - -He was removed from the hotel to the Boscastle surgery, and from the -surgery, after some weeks, to London. But he still resisted every -attempt at reanimation. After a time, for reasons that will appear -later, these attempts were discontinued. For a great space he lay in -that strange condition, inert and still neither dead nor living but, as -it were, suspended, hanging midway between nothingness and existence. -His was a darkness unbroken by a ray of thought or sensation, a -dreamless inanition, a vast space of peace. The tumult of his mind had -swelled and risen to an abrupt climax of silence. Where was the man? -Where is any man when insensibility takes hold of him? - -"It seems only yesterday," said Isbister. "I remember it all as -though it happened yesterday--clearer perhaps, than if it had happened -yesterday." - -It was the Isbister of the last chapter, but he was no longer a -young man. The hair that had been brown and a trifle in excess of the -fashionable length, was iron grey and clipped close, and the face that -had been pink and white was buff and ruddy. He had a pointed beard shot -with grey. He talked to an elderly man who wore a summer suit of drill -(the summer of that year was unusually hot). This was Warming, a London -solicitor and next of kin to Graham, the man who had fallen into the -trance. And the two men stood side by side in a room in a house in -London regarding his recumbent figure. - -It was a yellow figure lying lax upon a water-bed and clad in a flowing -shirt, a figure with a shrunken face and a stubby beard, lean limbs and -lank nails, and about it was a case of thin glass. This glass seemed -to mark off the sleeper from the reality of life about him, he was a -thing apart, a strange, isolated abnormality. The two men stood close to -the glass, peering in. - -"The thing gave me a shock," said Isbister "I feel a queer sort of -surprise even now when I think of his white eyes. They were white, you -know, rolled up. Coming here again brings it all back to me. - -"Have you never seen him since that time?" asked Warming. - -"Often wanted to come," said Isbister; "but business nowadays is too -serious a thing for much holiday keeping. I've been in America most of -the time." - -"If I remember rightly," said Warming, "you were an artist?" - -"Was. And then I became a married man. I saw it was all up with black -and white, very soon--at least for a mediocre man, and I jumped on to -process. Those posters on the Cliffs at Dover are by my people." - -"Good posters," admitted the solicitor, "though I was sorry to see them -there." - -"Last as long as the cliffs, if necessary," exclaimed Isbister with -satisfaction. "The world changes. When he fell asleep, twenty years -ago, I was down at Boscastle with a box of water-colours and a noble, -old-fashioned ambition. I didn't expect that some day my pigments would -glorify the whole blessed coast of England, from Land's End round again -to the Lizard. Luck comes to a man very often when he's not looking." - -Warming seemed to doubt the quality of the luck. "I just missed seeing -you, if I recollect aright." - -"You came back by the trap that took me to Camelford railway station. -It was close on the Jubilee, Victoria's Jubilee, because I remember the -seats and flags in Westminster, and the row with the cabman at Chelsea." - -"The Diamond Jubilee, it was," said Warming; "the second one." - -"Ah, yes! At the proper Jubilee--the Fifty Year affair--I was down at -Wookey--a boy. I missed all that.... What a fuss we had with him! My -landlady wouldn't take him in, wouldn't let him stay--he looked so queer -when he was rigid. We had to carry him in a chair up to the hotel. And -the Boscastle doctor--it wasn't the present chap, but the G.P. before -him--was at him until nearly two, with, me and the landlord holding -lights and so forth." - -"It was a cataleptic rigour at first, wasn't it?" - -"Stiff!--wherever you bent him he stuck. You might have stood him on -his head and he'd have stopped. I never saw such stiffness. Of course -this"--he indicated the prostrate figure by a movement of his head--"is -quite different. And, of course, the little doctor--what was his name?" - -"Smithers?" - -"Smithers it was--was quite wrong in trying to fetch him round too soon, -according to all accounts. The things he did. Even now it makes me feel -all--ugh! Mustard, snuff, pricking. And one of those beastly little -things, not dynamos--" - -"Induction coils." - -"Yes. You could see his muscles throb and jump, and he twisted about. -There was just two flaring yellow candles, and all the shadows were -shivering, and the little doctor nervous and putting on side, and -him--stark and squirming in the most unnatural ways. Well, it made me -dream." - -Pause. - -"It's a strange state," said Warming. - -"It's a sort of complete absence," said Isbister. - -"Here's the body, empty. Not dead a bit, and yet not alive. It's like a -seat vacant and marked 'engaged.' No feeling, no digestion, no beating -of the heart--not a flutter. _That_ doesn't make me feel as if there was -a man present. In a sense it's more dead than death, for these doctors -tell me that even the hair has stopped growing. Now with the proper -dead, the hair will go on growing--" - -"I know," said Warming, with a flash of pain in his expression. - -They peered through the glass again. Graham was indeed in a strange -state, in the flaccid phase of a trance, but a trance unprecedented in -medical history. Trances had lasted for as much as a year before--but at -the end of that time it had ever been waking or a death; sometimes first -one and then the other. Isbister noted the marks the physicians had -made in injecting nourishment, for that device had been resorted to to -postpone collapse; he pointed them out to Warming, who had been trying -not to see them. - -"And while he has been lying here," said Isbister, with the zest of a -life freely spent, "I have changed my plans in life; married, raised -a family, my eldest lad--I hadn't begun to think of sons then--is an -American citizen, and looking forward to leaving Harvard. There's -a touch of grey in my hair. And this man, not a day older nor wiser -(practically) than I was in my downy days. It's curious to think of." - -Warming turned. "And I have grown old too. I played cricket with him -when I was still only a lad. And he looks a young man still. Yellow -perhaps. But that is a young man nevertheless." - -"And there's been the War," said Isbister. - -"From beginning to end." - -"And these Martians." - -"I've understood," said Isbister after a pause, "that he had some -moderate property of his own?" - -"That is so," said Warming. He coughed primly. "As it happens--have -charge of it." - -"Ah!" Isbister thought, hesitated and spoke: "No doubt--his keep here is -not expensive--no doubt it will have improved--accumulated?" - -"It has. He will wake up very much better off--if he wakes--than when he -slept." - -"As a business man," said Isbister, "that thought has naturally been in -my mind. I have, indeed, sometimes thought that, speaking commercially, -of course, this sleep may be a very good thing for him. That he knows -what he is about, so to speak, in being insensible so long. If he had -lived straight on--" - -"I doubt if he would have premeditated as much," said Warming. "He was -not a far-sighted man. In fact--" - -"Yes?" - -"We differed on that point. I stood to him somewhat in the relation of -a guardian. You have probably seen enough of affairs to recognise that -occasionally a certain friction--. But even if that was the case, there -is a doubt whether he will ever wake. This sleep exhausts slowly, but -it exhausts. Apparently he is sliding slowly, very slowly and tediously, -down a long slope, if you can understand me?" - -"It will be a pity to lose his surprise. There's been a lot of change -these twenty years. It's Rip Van Winkle come real." - -"It's Bellamy," said Warming. "There has been a lot of change certainly. -And, among other changes, I have changed. I am an old man." - -Isbister hesitated, and then feigned a belated surprise. "I shouldn't -have thought it." - -"I was forty-three when his bankers--you remember you wired to his -bankers--sent on to me." - -"I got their address from the cheque book in his pocket," said Isbister. - -"Well, the addition is not difficult," said Warming. - -There was another pause, and then Isbister gave way to an unavoidable -curiosity. "He may go on for years yet," he said, and had a moment of -hesitation. "We have to consider that. His affairs, you know, may fall -some day into the hands of--someone else, you know." - -"That, if you will believe me, Mr. Isbister, is one of the problems most -constantly before my mind. We happen to be--as a matter of fact, there -are no very trustworthy connections of ours. It is a grotesque and -unprecedented position." - -"It is," said Isbister. "As a matter of fact, it's a case for a public -trustee, if only we had such a functionary." - -"It seems to me it's a case for some public body, some practically -undying guardian. If he really is going on living--as the doctors, some -of them, think. As a matter of fact, I have gone to one or two public -men about it. But, so far, nothing has been done." - -"It wouldn't be a bad idea to hand him over to some public body--the -British Museum Trustees, or the Royal College of Physicians. Sounds a -bit odd, of course, but the whole situation is odd." - -"The difficulty is to induce them to take him." - -"Red tape, I suppose?" - -"Partly." - -Pause. "It's a curious business, certainly," said Isbister. "And -compound interest has a way of mounting up." - -"It has," said Warming. "And now the gold supplies are running short -there is a tendency towards ... appreciation." - -"I've felt that," said Isbister with a grimace. "But it makes it better -for him." - -"If he wakes." - -"If he wakes," echoed Isbister. "Do you notice the pinched-ill look of -his nose, and the way in which his eyelids sink?" - -Warming looked and thought for a space. "I doubt if he will wake," he -said at last. - -"I never properly understood," said Isbister, "what it was brought this -on. He told me something about overstudy. I've often been curious." - -"He was a man of considerable gifts, but spasmodic, emotional. He had -grave domestic troubles, divorced his wife, in fact, and it was as a -relief from that, I think, that he took up politics of the rabid sort. -He was a fanatical Radical--a Socialist--or typical Liberal, -as they used to call themselves, of the advanced school. -Energetic--flighty--undisciplined. Overwork upon a controversy did this -for him. I remember the pamphlet he wrote--a curious production. Wild, -whirling stuff. There were one or two prophecies. Some of them are -already exploded, some of them are established facts. But for the -most part to read such a thesis is to realise how full the world is of -unanticipated things. He will have much to learn, much to unlearn, when -he wakes. If ever a waking comes." - -"I'd give anything to be there," said Isbister, "just to hear what he -would say to it all." - -"So would I," said Warming. "Aye! so would I," with an old man's sudden -turn to self pity. "But I shall never see him wake." - -He stood looking thoughtfully at the waxen figure. "He will never wake," -he said at last. He sighed "He will never wake again." - - - -CHAPTER III. THE AWAKENING - -But Warming was wrong in that. An awakening came. - -What a wonderfully complex thing! this simple seeming unity--the self! -Who can trace its reintegration as morning after morning we awaken, the -flux and confluence of its countless factors interweaving, rebuilding, -the dim first stirrings of the soul, the growth and synthesis of -the unconscious to the subconscious, the sub-conscious to dawning -consciousness, until at last we recognise ourselves again. And as it -happens to most of us after the night's sleep, so it was with Graham at -the end of his vast slumber. A dim cloud of sensation taking shape, a -cloudy dreariness, and he found himself vaguely somewhere, recumbent, -faint, but alive. - -The pilgrimage towards a personal being seemed to traverse vast gulfs, -to occupy epochs. Gigantic dreams that were terrible realities at the -time, left vague perplexing memories, strange creatures, strange -scenery, as if from another planet. There was a distinct impression, -too, of a momentous conversation, of a name--he could not tell what -name--that was subsequently to recur, of some queer long-forgotten -sensation of vein and muscle, of a feeling of vast hopeless effort, the -effort of a man near drowning in darkness. Then came a panorama of -dazzling unstable confluent scenes. - -Graham became aware his eyes were open and regarding some unfamiliar -thing. - -It was something white, the edge of something, a frame of wood. He -moved his head slightly, following the contour of this shape. It went up -beyond the top of his eyes. He tried to think where he might be. Did it -matter, seeing he was so wretched? The colour of his thoughts was a dark -depression. He felt the featureless misery of one who wakes towards -the hour of dawn. He had an uncertain sense of whispers and footsteps -hastily receding. - -The movement of his head involved a perception of extreme physical -weakness. He supposed he was in bed in the hotel at the place in the -valley--but he could not recall that white edge. He must have slept. He -remembered now that he had wanted to sleep. He recalled the cliff and -waterfall again, and then recollected something about talking to a -passer-by. - -How long had he slept? What was that sound of pattering feet? And that -rise and fall, like the murmur of breakers on pebbles? He put out a -languid hand to reach his watch from the chair whereon it was his habit -to place it, and touched some smooth hard surface like glass. This was -so unexpected that it startled him extremely. Quite suddenly he rolled -over, stared for a moment, and struggled into a sitting position. The -effort was unexpectedly difficult, and it left him giddy and weak--and -amazed. - -He rubbed his eyes. The riddle of his surroundings was confusing but his -mind was quite clear--evidently his sleep had benefited him. He was not -in a bed at all as he understood the word, but lying naked on a very -soft and yielding mattress, in a trough of dark glass. The mattress -was partly transparent, a fact he observed with a strange sense of -insecurity, and below it was a mirror reflecting him greyly. About -his arm--and he saw with a shock that his skin was strangely dry and -yellow--was bound a curious apparatus of rubber, bound so cunningly that -it seemed to pass into his skin above and below. And this strange bed -was placed in a case of greenish coloured glass (as it seemed to him), a -bar in the white framework of which had first arrested his attention. -In the corner of the case was a stand of glittering and delicately made -apparatus, for the most part quite strange appliances, though a maximum -and minimum thermometer was recognisable. - -The slightly greenish tint of the glass-like substance which surrounded -him on every hand obscured what lay behind, but he perceived it was a -vast apartment of splendid appearance, and with a very large and simple -white archway facing him. Close to the walls of the cage were articles -of furniture, a table covered with a silvery cloth, silvery like the -side of a fish, a couple of graceful chairs, and on the table a number -of dishes with substances piled on them, a bottle and two glasses. He -realised that he was intensely hungry. - -He could see no human being, and after a period of hesitation scrambled -off the translucent mattress and tried to stand on the clean white floor -of his little apartment. He had miscalculated his strength, however, -and staggered and put his hand against the glasslike pane before him to -steady himself. For a moment it resisted his hand, bending outward like -a distended bladder, then it broke with a slight report and vanished--a -pricked bubble. He reeled out into the general space of the hall, -greatly astonished. He caught at the table to save himself, knocking one -of the glasses to the floor--it rang but did not break--and sat down in -one of the armchairs. - -When he had a little recovered he filled the remaining glass from the -bottle and drank--a colourless liquid it was, but not water, with a -pleasing faint aroma and taste and a quality of immediate support and -stimulus. He put down the vessel and looked about him. - -The apartment lost none of its size and magnificence now that the -greenish transparency that had intervened was removed. The archway he -saw led to a flight of steps, going downward without the intermediation -of a door, to a spacious transverse passage. This passage ran between -polished pillars of some white-veined substance of deep ultramarine, -and along it came the sound of human movements and voices and a deep -undeviating droning note. He sat, now fully awake, listening alertly, -forgetting the viands in his attention. - -Then with a shock he remembered that he was naked, and casting about him -for covering, saw a long black robe thrown on one of the chairs beside -him. This he wrapped about him and sat down again, trembling. - -His mind was still a surging perplexity. Clearly he had slept, and had -been removed in his sleep. But here? And who were those people, the -distant crowd beyond the deep blue pillars? Boscastle? He poured out and -partially drank another glass of the colourless fluid. - -What was this place?--this place that to his senses seemed subtly -quivering like a thing alive? He looked about him at the clean and -beautiful form of the apartment, unstained by ornament, and saw that the -roof was broken in one place by a circular shaft full of light, and, as -he looked, a steady, sweeping shadow blotted it out and passed, and came -again and passed. "Beat, beat," that sweeping shadow had a note of its -own in the subdued tumult that filled the air. - -He would have called out, but only a little sound came into his throat. -Then he stood up, and, with the uncertain steps of a drunkard, made his -way towards the archway. He staggered down the steps, tripped on the -corner of the black cloak he had wrapped about himself, and saved -himself by catching at one of the blue pillars. - -The passage ran down a cool vista of blue and purple, and ended remotely -in a railed space like a balcony, brightly lit and projecting into a -space of haze, a space like the interior of some gigantic building. -Beyond and remote were vast and vague architectural forms. The tumult of -voices rose now loud and clear, and on the balcony and with their backs -to him, gesticulating and apparently in animated conversation, were -three figures, richly dressed in loose and easy garments of bright soft -colourings. The noise of a great multitude of people poured up over the -balcony, and once it seemed the top of a banner passed, and once some -brightly coloured object, a pale blue cap or garment thrown up into the -air perhaps, flashed athwart the space and fell. The shouts sounded like -English, there was a reiteration of "Wake!" He heard some indistinct -shrill cry, and abruptly the three men began laughing. - - -"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed one--a red-haired man in a short purple robe. -"When the Sleeper wakes--_When!_" - -He turned his eyes full of merriment along the passage. His face -changed, the whole man changed, became rigid. The other two turned -swiftly at his exclamation and stood motionless. Their faces assumed an -expression of consternation, an expression that deepened into awe. - -Suddenly Graham's knees bent beneath him, his arm against the pillar -collapsed limply, he staggered forward and fell upon his face. - - - -CHAPTER IV. THE SOUND OF A TUMULT - -Graham's last impression before he fainted was of a clamorous ringing of -bells. He learnt afterwards that he was insensible, hanging between life -and death, for the better part of an hour. When he recovered his senses, -he was back on his translucent couch, and there was a stirring warmth -at heart and throat. The dark apparatus, he perceived, had been removed -from his arm, which was bandaged. The white framework was still about -him, but the greenish transparent substance that had filled it was -altogether gone. A man in a deep violet robe, one of those who had been -on the balcony, was looking keenly into his face. - -Remote but insistent was a clamour of bells and confused sounds, that -suggested to his mind the picture of a great number of people shouting -together. Something seemed to fall across this tumult, a door suddenly -closed. - -Graham moved his head. "What does this all mean?" he said slowly. "Where -am I?" - -He saw the red-haired man who had been first to discover him. A voice -seemed to be asking what he had said, and was abruptly stilled. - -The man in violet answered in a soft voice, speaking English with a -slightly foreign accent, or so at least it seemed to the Sleeper's ears, -"You are quite safe. You were brought hither from where you fell asleep. -It is quite safe. You have been here some time--sleeping. In a trance." - -He said something further that Graham could not hear, and a little phial -was handed across to him. Graham felt a cooling spray, a fragrant mist -played over his forehead for a moment, and his sense of refreshment -increased. He closed his eyes in satisfaction. - -"Better?" asked the man in violet, as Graham's eyes reopened. He was a -pleasant-faced man of thirty, perhaps, with a pointed flaxen beard, and -a clasp of gold at the neck of his violet robe. - -"Yes," said Graham. - -"You have been asleep some time. In a cataleptic trance. You have heard? -Catalepsy? It may seem strange to you at first, but I can assure you -everything is well." - -Graham did not answer, but these words served their reassuring purpose. -His eyes went from face to face of the three people about him. They were -regarding him strangely. He knew he ought to be somewhere in Cornwall, -but he could not square these things with that impression. - -A matter that had been in his mind during his last waking moments at -Boscastle recurred, a thing resolved upon and somehow neglected. He -cleared his throat. - -"Have you wired my cousin?" he asked. "E. Warming, 27, Chancery Lane?" - -They were all assiduous to hear. But he had to repeat it. "What an odd -_blurr_ in his accent!" whispered the red-haired man. "Wire, sir?" said -the young man with the flaxen beard, evidently puzzled. - -"He means send an electric telegram," volunteered the third, a -pleasant-faced youth of nineteen or twenty. The flaxen-bearded man gave -a cry of comprehension. "How stupid of me! You may be sure everything -shall be done, sir," he said to Graham. "I am afraid it would be -difficult to--wire to your cousin. He is not in London now. But don't -trouble about arrangements yet; you have been asleep a very long time -and the important thing is to get over that, sir." (Graham concluded the -word was sir, but this man pronounced it "Sire.") - -"Oh!" said Graham, and became quiet. - -It was all very puzzling, but apparently these people in unfamiliar -dress knew what they were about. Yet they were odd and the room was odd. -It seemed he was in some newly established place. He had a sudden flash -of suspicion. Surely this wasn't some hall of public exhibition! If it -was he would give Warming a piece of his mind. But it scarcely had -that character. And in a place of public exhibition he would not have -discovered himself naked. - -Then suddenly, quite abruptly, he realised what had happened. There was -no perceptible interval of suspicion, no dawn to his knowledge. Abruptly -he knew that his trance had lasted for a vast interval; as if by some -processes of thought reading he interpreted the awe in the faces that -peered into his. He looked at them strangely, full of intense emotion. -It seemed they read his eyes. He framed his lips to speak and could not. -A queer impulse to hide his knowledge came into his mind almost at the -moment of his discovery. He looked at his bare feet, regarding then -silently. His impulse to speak passed. He was trembling exceedingly. - -They gave him some pink fluid with a greenish fluorescence and a meaty -taste, and the assurance of returning strength grew. - -"That--that makes me feel better," he said hoarsely, and there were -murmurs of respectful approval. He knew now quite clearly. He made to -speak again, and again he could not. - -He pressed his throat and tried a third time. - -"How long?" he asked in a level voice. "How long have I been asleep?" - -"Some considerable time," said the flaxen-bearded man, glancing quickly -at the others. - -"How long?" - -"A very long time." - -"Yes--yes," said Graham, suddenly testy. "But I want--Is it--it is--some -years? Many years? There was something--I forget what. I feel--confused. -But you--" He sobbed. "You need not fence with me. How long--?" - -He stopped, breathing irregularly. He squeezed his eyes with his -knuckles and sat waiting for an answer. - -They spoke in undertones. - -"Five or six?" he asked faintly. "More?" - -"Very much more than that." - -"More!" - -"More." - -He looked at them and it seemed as though imps were twitching the -muscles of his face. He looked his question. - -"Many years," said the man with the red beard. - -Graham struggled into a sitting position. He wiped a rheumy tear from -his face with a lean hand. "Many years!" he repeated. He shut his eyes -tight, opened them, and sat looking about him, from one unfamiliar thing -to another. - -"How many years?" he asked. - -"You must be prepared to be surprised." - -"Well?" - -"More than a gross of years." - -He was irritated at the strange word. "More than a _what_?" - -Two of them spoke together. Some quick remarks that were made about -"decimal" he did not catch. - -"How long did you say?" asked Graham. "How long? Don't look like that. -Tell me." - -Among the remarks in an undertone, his ear caught six words: "More than -a couple of centuries." - - -_"What?"_ he cried, turning on the youth who he thought had spoken. "Who -says--? What was that? A couple of centuries!" - -"Yes," said the man with the red beard. "Two hundred years." - -Graham repeated the words. He had been prepared to hear of a vast -repose, and yet these concrete centuries defeated him. - -"Two hundred years," he said again, with the figure of a great gulf -opening very slowly in his mind; and then, "Oh, but--!" - -They said nothing. - -"You--did you say--?" - -"Two hundred years. Two centuries of years," said the man with the red -beard. - -There was a pause. Graham looked at their faces and saw that what he had -heard was indeed true. - -"But it can't be," he said querulously. "I am dreaming. Trances. Trances -don't last. That is not right--this is a joke you have played upon -me! Tell me--some days ago, perhaps, I was walking along the coast of -Cornwall--?" - -His voice failed him. - -The man with the flaxen beard hesitated. "I'm not very strong in -history, sir," he said weakly, and glanced at the others. - -"That was it, sir," said the youngster. "Boscastle, in the old Duchy of -Cornwall--it's in the southwest country beyond the dairy meadows. There -is a house there still. I have been there." - -"Boscastle!" Graham turned his eyes to the youngster. "That was -it--Boscastle. Little Boscastle. I fell asleep--somewhere there. I don't -exactly remember. I don't exactly remember." - -He pressed his brows and whispered, "More than two hundred years!" - -He began to speak quickly with a twitching face, but his heart was cold -within him. "But if it is two hundred years, every soul I know, every -human being that ever I saw or spoke to before I went to sleep, must be -dead." - -They did not answer him. - -"The Queen and the Royal Family, her Ministers, of Church and State. -High and low, rich and poor, one with another--" - -"Is there England still?" - -"That's a comfort! Is there London? Eh?" "This _is_ London, eh? And you -are my assistant--custodian; assistant-custodian. And these--? Eh? -Assistant-custodians to?" - -He sat with a gaunt stare on his face. "But why am I here? No! Don't -talk. Be quiet. Let me--" - -He sat silent, rubbed his eyes, and, uncovering them, found another -little glass of pinkish fluid held towards him. He took the dose. It was -almost immediately sustaining. Directly he had taken it he began to weep -naturally and refreshingly. - -Presently he looked at their faces, suddenly laughed through his tears, -a little foolishly. "But--two--hun--dred--years!" he said. He grimaced -hysterically and covered up his face again. - -After a space he grew calm. He sat up, his hands hanging over his knees -in almost precisely the same attitude in which Isbister had found him -on the cliff at Pentargen. His attention was attracted by a thick -domineering voice, the footsteps of an advancing personage. "What are -you doing? Why was I not warned? Surely you could tell? Someone will -suffer for this. The man must be kept quiet. Are the doorways closed? -All the doorways? He must be kept perfectly quiet. He must not be told. -Has he been told anything?" - -The man with the fair beard made some inaudible remark, and Graham -looking over his shoulder saw approaching a very short, fat, and -thickset beardless man, with aquiline nose and heavy neck and chin. Very -thick black and slightly sloping eyebrows that almost met over his -nose and overhung deep grey eyes, gave his face an oddly formidable -expression. He scowled momentarily at Graham and then his regard -returned to the man with the flaxen beard. "These others," he said in a -voice of extreme irritation. "You had better go." - -"Go?" said the red-bearded man. - -"Certainly--go now. But see the doorways are closed as you go." - -The two men addressed turned obediently, after one reluctant glance at -Graham, and instead of going through the archway as he expected, walked -straight to the dead wall of the apartment opposite the archway. And -then came a strange thing; a long strip of this apparently solid wall -rolled up with a snap, hung over the two retreating men and fell again, -and immediately Graham was alone with the new comer and the purple-robed -man with the flaxen beard. - -For a space the thickset man took not the slightest notice of Graham, -but proceeded to interrogate the other--obviously his subordinate--upon -the treatment of their charge. He spoke clearly, but in phrases only -partially intelligible to Graham. The awakening seemed not only a matter -of surprise but of consternation and annoyance to him. He was evidently -profoundly excited. - -"You must not confuse his mind by telling him things," he repeated again -and again. "You must not confuse his mind." - -His questions answered, he turned quickly and eyed the awakened sleeper -with an ambiguous expression. - -"Feel queer?" he asked. - -"Very." - -"The world, what you see of it, seems strange to you?" - -"I suppose I have to live in it, strange as it seems." - -"I suppose so, now." - -"In the first place, hadn't I better have some clothes?" - -"They--" said the thickset man and stopped, and the flaxen-bearded man -met his eye and went away. "You will very speedily have clothes," said -the thickset man. - -"Is it true indeed, that I have been asleep two hundred--?" asked -Graham. - -"They have told you that, have they? Two hundred and three, as a matter -of fact." - -Graham accepted the indisputable now with raised eyebrows and depressed -mouth. He sat silent for a moment, and then asked a question, "Is there -a mill or dynamo near here?" He did not wait for an answer. "Things have -changed tremendously, I suppose?" he said. - -"What is that shouting?" he asked abruptly. - -"Nothing," said the thickset man impatiently. "It's people. You'll -understand better later--perhaps. As you say, things have changed." He -spoke shortly, his brows were knit, and he glanced about him like a man -trying to decide in an emergency. "We must get you clothes and so forth, -at any rate. Better wait here until some can come. No one will come near -you. You want shaving." - -Graham rubbed his chin. - -The man with the flaxen beard came back towards them, turned suddenly, -listened for a moment, lifted his eyebrows at the older man, and hurried -off through the archway towards the balcony. The tumult of shouting -grew louder, and the thickset man turned and listened also. He cursed -suddenly under his breath, and turned his eyes upon Graham with an -unfriendly expression. It was a surge of many voices, rising and -falling, shouting and screaming, and once came a sound like blows and -sharp cries, and then a snapping like the crackling of dry sticks. -Graham strained his ears to draw some single thread of sound from the -woven tumult. - -Then he perceived, repeated again and again, a certain formula. For a -time he doubted his ears. But surely these were the words: "Show us the -Sleeper! Show us the Sleeper!" - -The thickset man rushed suddenly to the archway. - -"Wild!" he cried, "How do they know? Do they know? Or is it guessing?" - -There was perhaps an answer. - -"I can't come," said the thickset man; "I have _him_ to see to. But -shout from the balcony." - -There was an inaudible reply. - -"Say he is not awake. Anything! I leave it to you." - -He came hurrying back to Graham. "You must have clothes at once," he -said. "You cannot stop here--and it will be impossible to--" - -He rushed away, Graham shouting unanswered questions after him. In a -moment he was back. - -"I can't tell you what is happening. It is too complex to explain. In -a moment you shall have your clothes made. Yes--in a moment. And then -I can take you away from here. You will find out our troubles soon -enough." - -"But those voices. They were shouting--?" - -"Something about the Sleeper--that's you. They have some twisted idea. I -don't know what it is. I know nothing." - -A shrill bell jetted acutely across the indistinct mingling of remote -noises, and this brusque person sprang to a little group of appliances -in the corner of the room. He listened for a moment, regarding a ball of -crystal, nodded, and said a few indistinct words; then he walked to the -wall through which the two men had vanished. It rolled up again like a -curtain, and he stood waiting. - -Graham lifted his arm and was astonished to find what strength the -restoratives had given him. He thrust one leg over the side of the couch -and then the other. His head no longer swam. He could scarcely credit -his rapid recovery. He sat feeling his limbs. - -The man with the flaxen beard re-entered from the archway, and as he did -so the cage of a lift came sliding down in front of the thickset -man, and a lean, grey-bearded man, carrying a roll, and wearing a -tightly-fitting costume of dark green, appeared therein. - -"This is the tailor," said the thickset man with an introductory -gesture. "It will never do for you to wear that black. I cannot -understand how it got here. But I shall. I shall. You will be as rapid -as possible?" he said to the tailor. - -The man in green bowed, and, advancing, seated himself by Graham on the -bed. His manner was calm, but his eyes were full of curiosity. "You will -find the fashions altered, Sire," he said. He glanced from under his -brows at the thickset man. - -He opened the roller with a quick movement, and a confusion of brilliant -fabrics poured out over his knees. "You lived, Sire, in a period -essentially cylindrical--the Victorian. With a tendency to the -hemisphere in hats. Circular curves always. Now--" He flicked out a -little appliance the size and appearance of a keyless watch, whirled the -knob, and behold--a little figure in white appeared kinetoscope fashion -on the dial, walking and turning. The tailor caught up a pattern of -bluish white satin. "That is my conception of your immediate treatment," -he said. - -The thickset man came and stood by the shoulder of Graham. - -"We have very little time," he said. - -"Trust me," said the tailor. "My machine follows. What do you think of -this?" - -"What is that?" asked the man from the nineteenth century. - -"In your days they showed you a fashion-plate," said the tailor, "but -this is our modern development See here." The little figure repeated -its evolutions, but in a different costume. "Or this," and with a click -another small figure in a more voluminous type of robe marched on to -the dial. The tailor was very quick in his movements, and glanced twice -towards the lift as he did these things. - -It rumbled again, and a crop-haired anaemic lad with features of the -Chinese type, clad in coarse pale blue canvas, appeared together with a -complicated machine, which he pushed noiselessly on little castors into -the room. Incontinently the little kinetoscope was dropped, Graham was -invited to stand in front of the machine and the tailor muttered some -instructions to the crop-haired lad, who answered in guttural tones and -with words Graham did not recognise. The boy then went to conduct an -incomprehensible monologue in the corner, and the tailor pulled out a -number of slotted arms terminating in little discs, pulling them out -until the discs were flat against the body of Graham, one at each -shoulder blade, one at the elbows, one at the neck and so forth, so that -at last there were, perhaps, two score of them upon his body and limbs. -At the same time, some other person entered the room by the lift, -behind Graham. The tailor set moving a mechanism that initiated a -faint-sounding rhythmic movement of parts in the machine, and in another -moment he was knocking up the levers and Graham was released. The tailor -replaced his cloak of black, and the man with the flaxen beard proffered -him a little glass of some refreshing fluid. Graham saw over the rim of -the glass a pale-faced young man regarding him with a singular fixity. - - -The thickset man had been pacing the room fretfully, and now turned and -went through the archway towards the balcony, from which the noise of -a distant crowd still came in gusts and cadences. The cropheaded lad -handed the tailor a roll of the bluish satin and the two began fixing -this in the mechanism in a manner reminiscent of a roll of paper in a -nineteenth century printing machine. Then they ran the entire thing on -its easy, noiseless bearings across the room to a remote corner where -a twisted cable looped rather gracefully from the wall. They made some -connexion and the machine became energetic and swift. - -"What is that doing?" asked Graham, pointing with the empty glass to -the busy figures and trying to ignore the scrutiny of the new comer. "Is -that--some sort of force--laid on?" - -"Yes," said the man with the flaxen beard. - -"Who is that?" He indicated the archway behind him. - -The man in purple stroked his little beard, hesitated, and answered in -an undertone, "He is Howard, your chief guardian. You see, Sire,--it's -a little difficult to explain. The Council appoints a guardian and -assistants. This hall has under certain restrictions been public. In -order that people might satisfy themselves. We have barred the doorways -for the first time. But I think--if you don't mind, I will leave him to -explain." - -"Odd" said Graham. "Guardian? Council?" Then turning his back on the new -comer, he asked in an undertone, "Why is this man glaring at me? Is he a -mesmerist?" - -"Mesmerist! He is a capillotomist." - -"Capillotomist!" - -"Yes--one of the chief. His yearly fee is sixdoz lions." - -It sounded sheer nonsense. Graham snatched at the last phrase with an -unsteady mind. "Sixdoz lions?" he said. - -"Didn't you have lions? I suppose not. You had the old pounds? They are -our monetary units." - -"But what was that you said--sixdoz?" - -"Yes. Six dozen, Sire. Of course things, even these little things, -have altered. You lived in the days of the decimal system, the Arab -system--tens, and little hundreds and thousands. We have eleven numerals -now. We have single figures for both ten and eleven, two figures for -a dozen, and a dozen dozen makes a gross, a great hundred, you know, a -dozen gross a dozand, and a dozand dozand a myriad. Very simple?" - -"I suppose so," said Graham. "But about this cap--what was it?" - -The man with the flaxen beard glanced over his shoulder. - -"Here are your clothes!" he said. Graham turned round sharply and saw -the tailor standing at his elbow smiling, and holding some palpably new -garments over his arm. The crop-headed boy, by means of one finger, -was impelling the complicated machine towards the lift by which he had -arrived. Graham stared at the completed suit. "You don't mean to say--!" - -"Just made," said the tailor. He dropped the garments at the feet of -Graham, walked to the bed on which Graham had so recently been lying, -flung out the translucent mattress, and turned up the looking glass. As -he did so a furious bell summoned the thickset man to the corner. The -man with the flaxen beard rushed across to him and then hurried out by -the archway. - -The tailor was assisting Graham into a dark purple combination garment, -stockings, vest, and pants in one, as the thickset man came back from -the corner to meet the man with the flaxen beard returning from the -balcony. They began speaking quickly in an undertone, their bearing had -an unmistakable quality of anxiety. Over the purple under-garment came a -complex but graceful garment of bluish white, and I Graham was clothed -in the fashion once more and saw himself, sallow-faced, unshaven and -shaggy still, but at least naked no longer, and in some indefinable -unprecedented way graceful. - -"I must shave," he said regarding himself in the glass. - -"In a moment," said Howard. - -The persistent stare ceased. The young man closed his eyes, reopened -them, and with a lean hand extended, advanced on Graham. Then he -stopped, with his hand slowly gesticulating, and looked about him. - -"A seat," said Howard impatiently, and in a moment the flaxen-bearded -man had a chair behind Graham. "Sit down, please," said Howard. - -Graham hesitated, and in the other hand of the wildeyed man he saw the -glint of steel. - -"Don't you understand, Sire?" cried the flaxen-bearded man with hurried -politeness. "He is going to cut your hair." - -"Oh!" cried Graham enlightened. "But you called him-- - -"A capillotomist--precisely! He is one of the finest artists in the -world." - -Graham sat down abruptly. The flaxen-bearded man disappeared. The -capillotomist came forward with graceful gestures, examined Graham's -ears and surveyed him, felt the back of his head, and would have sat -down again to regard him but for Howard's audible impatience. Forthwith -with rapid movements and a succession of deftly handled implements he -shaved Graham's chin, clipped his moustache, and cut and arranged his -hair. All this he did without a word, with something of the rapt air of -a poet inspired. And as soon as he had finished Graham was handed a pair -of shoes. - -Suddenly a loud voice shouted--it seemed from a piece of machinery in -the corner--"At once--at once. The people know all over the city. Work -is being stopped. Work is being stopped. Wait for nothing, but come." - -This shout appeared to perturb Howard exceedingly. By his gestures it -seemed to Graham that he hesitated between two directions. Abruptly -he went towards the corner where the apparatus stood about the little -crystal ball. As he did so the undertone of tumultuous shouting from the -archway that had continued during all these occurrences rose to a mighty -sound, roared as if it were sweeping past, and fell again as if receding -swiftly. It drew Graham after it with an irresistible attraction. He -glanced at the thickset man, and then obeyed his impulse. In two strides -he was down the steps and in the passage, and, in a score he was out -upon the balcony upon which the three men had been standing. - - - -CHAPTER V. THE MOVING WAYS - -He went to the railings of the balcony and stared upward. An exclamation -of surprise at his appearance, and the movements of a number of people -came from the spacious area below. - -His first impression was of overwhelming architecture. The place into -which he looked was an aisle of Titanic buildings, curving spaciously in -either direction. Overhead mighty cantilevers sprang together across the -huge width of the place, and a tracery of translucent material shut out -the sky. Gigantic globes of cool white light shamed the pale sunbeams -that filtered down through the girders and wires. Here and there a -gossamer suspension bridge dotted with foot passengers flung across the -chasm and the air was webbed with slender cables. A cliff of edifice -hung above him, he perceived as he glanced upward, and the opposite -facade was grey and dim and broken by great archings, circular -perforations, balconies, buttresses, turret projections, myriads of vast -windows, and an intricate scheme of architectural relief. Athwart these -ran inscriptions horizontally and obliquely in an unfamiliar lettering. -Here and there close to the roof cables of a peculiar stoutness were -fastened, and drooped in a steep curve to circular openings on the -opposite side of the space, and even as Graham noted these a remote -and tiny figure of a man clad in pale blue arrested his attention. -This little figure was far overhead across the space beside the higher -fastening of one of these festoons, hanging forward from a little ledge -of masonry and handling some well-nigh invisible strings dependent from -the line. Then suddenly, with a swoop that sent Graham's heart into his -mouth, this man had rushed down the curve and vanished through a round -opening on the hither side of the way. Graham had been looking up as he -came out upon the balcony, and the things he saw above and opposed to -him had at first seized his attention to the exclusion of anything else. -Then suddenly he discovered the roadway! It was not a roadway at all, -as Graham understood such things, for in the nineteenth century the -only roads and streets were beaten tracks of motionless earth, jostling -rivulets of vehicles between narrow footways. But this roadway was three -hundred feet across, and it moved; it moved, all save the middle, -the lowest part. For a moment, the motion dazzled his mind. Then he -understood. - -Under the balcony this extraordinary roadway ran swiftly to Graham's -right, an endless flow rushing along as fast as a nineteenth century -express train, an endless platform of narrow transverse overlapping -slats with little interspaces that permitted it to follow the curvatures -of the street. Upon it were seats, and here and there little kiosks, -but they swept by too swiftly for him to see what might be therein. From -this nearest and swiftest platform a series of others descended to the -centre of the space. Each moved to the right, each perceptibly slower -than the one above it, but the difference in pace was small enough to -permit anyone to step from any platform to the one adjacent, and so walk -uninterruptedly from the swiftest to the motionless middle way. Beyond -this middle way was another series of endless platforms rushing with -varying pace to Graham's left. And seated in crowds upon the two widest -and swiftest platforms, or stepping from one to another down the steps, -or swarming over the central space, was an innumerable and wonderfully -diversified multitude of people. - -"You must not stop here," shouted Howard suddenly at his side. "You must -come away at once." - -Graham made no answer. He heard without hearing. The platforms ran with -a roar and the people were shouting. He perceived women and girls -with flowing hair, beautifully robed, with bands crossing between the -breasts. These first came out of the confusion. Then he perceived that -the dominant note in that kaleidoscope of costume was the pale blue that -the tailor's boy had worn. He became aware of cries of "The Sleeper. -What has happened to the Sleeper?" and it seemed as though the rushing -platforms before him were suddenly spattered with the pale buff of -human faces, and then still more thickly. He saw pointing fingers. He -perceived that the motionless central area of this huge arcade just -opposite to the balcony was densely crowded with blue-clad people. Some -sort of struggle had sprung into life. People seemed to be pushed up the -running platforms on either side, and carried away against their will. -They would spring off so soon as they were beyond the thick of the -confusion, and run back towards the conflict. - -"It is the Sleeper. Verily it is the Sleeper," shouted voices. "That is -never the Sleeper," shouted others. More and more faces were turned to -him. At the intervals along this central area Graham noted openings, -pits, apparently the heads of staircases going down with people -ascending out of them and descending into them. The struggle it seemed -centred about the one of these nearest to him. People were running -down the moving platforms to this, leaping dexterously from platform to -platform. The clustering people on the higher platforms seemed to divide -their interest between this point and the balcony. A number of sturdy -little figures clad in a uniform of bright red, and working methodically -together, were employed it seemed in preventing access to this -descending staircase. About them a crowd was rapidly accumulating. -Their brilliant colour contrasted vividly with the whitish-blue of their -antagonists, for the struggle was indisputable. - -He saw these things with Howard shouting in his ear and shaking his arm. -And then suddenly Howard was gone and he stood alone. - -He perceived that the cries of "The Sleeper" grew in volume, and that -the people on the nearer platform were standing up. The nearer swifter -platform he perceived was empty to the right of him, and far across the -space the platform running in the opposite direction was coming crowded -and passing away bare. With incredible swiftness a vast crowd had -gathered in the central space before his eyes; a dense swaying mass -of people, and the shouts grew from a fitful crying to a voluminous -incessant clamour: "The Sleeper! The Sleeper!" and yells and cheers, a -waving of garments and cries of "Stop the ways!" They were also crying -another name strange to Graham. It sounded like "Ostrog." The slower -platforms were soon thick with active people, running against the -movement so as to keep themselves opposite to him. - -"Stop the ways," they cried. Agile figures ran up swiftly from the -centre to the swift road nearest to him, were borne rapidly past him, -shouting strange, unintelligible things, and ran back obliquely to the -central way. One thing he distinguished: "It is indeed the Sleeper. It -is indeed the Sleeper," they testified. - -For a space Graham stood without a movement. Then he became vividly -aware that all this concerned him. He was pleased at his wonderful -popularity, he bowed, and, seeking a gesture of longer range, waved his -arm. He was astonished at the violence of uproar that this provoked. The -tumult about the descending stairway rose to furious violence. He -became aware of crowded balconies, of men sliding along ropes, of men -in trapeze-like seats hurling athwart the space. He heard voices behind -him, a number of people descending the steps through the archway; he -suddenly perceived that his guardian Howard was back again and gripping -his arm painfully, and shouting inaudibly in his ear. - -He turned, and Howard's face was white. "Come back," he heard. "They -will stop the ways. The whole city will be in confusion." - -He perceived a number of men hurrying along the passage of blue pillars -behind Howard, the red-haired man, the man with the flaxen beard, a tall -man in vivid vermilion, a crowd of others in red carrying staves, and -all these people had anxious eager faces. - -"Get him away," cried Howard. - -"But why?" said Graham. "I don't see--" - -"You must come away!" said the man in red in a resolute voice. His face -and eyes were resolute, too. Graham's glances went from face to face, -and he was suddenly aware of that most disagreeable flavour in life, -compulsion. Some one gripped his arm.... He was being dragged away. It -seemed as though the tumult suddenly became two, as if half the shouts -that had come in from this wonderful roadway had sprung into the -passages of the great building behind him. Marvelling and confused, -feeling an impotent desire to resist, Graham was half led, half thrust, -along the passage of blue pillars, and suddenly he found himself alone -with Howard in a lift and moving swiftly upward. - - - -CHAPTER VI. THE HALL OF THE ATLAS - -From the moment when the tailor had bowed his farewell to the moment -when Graham found himself in the lift, was altogether barely five -minutes. And as yet the haze of his vast interval of sleep hung about -him, as yet the initial strangeness of his being alive at all in -this remote age touched everything with wonder, with a sense of the -irrational, with something of the quality of a realistic dream. He was -still detached, an astonished spectator, still but half involved in -life. What he had seen, and especially the last crowded tumult, framed -in the setting of the balcony, had a spectacular turn, like a thing -witnessed from the box of a theatre. "I don't understand," he said. -"What was the trouble? My mind is in a whirl. Why were they shouting? -What is the danger?" - -"We have our troubles," said Howard. His eyes avoided Graham's enquiry. -"This is a time of unrest. And, in fact, your appearance, your waking -just now, has a sort of connexion--" - -He spoke jerkily, like a man not quite sure of his breathing. He stopped -abruptly. - -"I don't understand," said Graham. - -"It will be clearer later," said Howard. - -He glanced uneasily upward, as though he found the progress of the lift -slow. - -"I shall understand better, no doubt, when I have seen my way about -a little," said Graham puzzled. "It will be--it is bound to be -perplexing. At present it is all so strange. Anything seems possible. -Anything. In the details even. Your counting, I understand, is -different." - -The lift stopped, and they stepped out into a narrow but very long -passage between high walls, along which ran an extraordinary number of -tubes and big cables. - -"What a huge place this is!" said Graham. "Is it all one building? What -place is it?" - -"This is one of the city ways for various public services. Light and so -forth." - -"Was it a social trouble--that--in the great roadway place? How are you -governed? Have you still a police?" "Several," said Howard. - -"Several?" - -"About fourteen." - -"I don't understand." - -"Very probably not. Our social order will probably seem very complex to -you. To tell you the truth, I don't understand it myself very clearly. -Nobody does. You will, perhaps--bye and bye. We have to go to the -Council." - -Graham's attention was divided between the urgent necessity of his -inquiries and the people in the passages and halls they were traversing. -For a moment his mind would be concentrated upon Howard and the halting -answers he made, and then he would lose the thread in response to some -vivid unexpected impression. Along the passages, in the halls, half the -people seemed to be men in the red uniform. The pale blue canvas -that had been so abundant in the aisle of moving ways did not appear. -Invariably these men looked at him, and saluted him and Howard as they -passed. - -He had a clear vision of entering a long corridor, and there were a -number of girls sitting on low seats and as though in a class. He saw -no teacher, but only a novel apparatus from which he fancied a voice -proceeded. The girls regarded him and his conductor, he thought, with -curiosity and astonishment. But he was hurried on before he could form a -clear idea of the gathering. He judged they knew Howard and not himself, -and that they wondered who he was. This Howard, it seemed, was a person -of importance. But then he was also merely Graham's guardian. That was -odd. - -There came a passage in twilight, and into this passage a footway hung -so that he could see the feet and ankles of people going to and fro -thereon, but no more of them. Then vague impressions of galleries and -of casual astonished passers-by turning round to stare after the two of -them with their red-clad guard. - -The stimulus of the restoratives he had taken was only temporary. He was -speedily fatigued by this excessive haste. He asked Howard to slacken -his speed. Presently he was in a lift that had a window upon the great -street space, but this was glazed and did not open, and they were too -high for him to see the moving platforms below. But he saw people going -to and fro along cables and along strange, frail-looking ridges. - -And thence they passed across the street and at a vast height above it. -They crossed by means of a narrow bridge closed in with glass, so clear -that it made him giddy even to remember it. The floor of it also was of -glass. From his memory of the cliffs between New Quay and Boscastle, so -remote in time, and so recent in his experience, it seemed to him that -they must be near four hundred feet above the moving ways. He stopped, -looked down between his legs upon the swarming blue and red multitudes, -minute and fore-shortened, struggling and gesticulating still towards -the little balcony far below, a little toy balcony, it seemed, where he -had so recently been standing. A thin haze and the glare of the mighty -globes of light obscured everything. A man seated in a little open-work -cradle shot by from some point still higher than the little narrow -bridge, rushing down a cable as swiftly almost as if he were falling. -Graham stopped involuntarily to watch this strange passenger vanish in -a great circular opening below, and then his eyes went back to the -tumultuous struggle. - -Along one of the swifter ways rushed a thick crowd of red spots. This -broke up into individuals as it approached the balcony, and went pouring -down the slower ways towards the dense struggling crowd on the central -area. These men in red appeared to be armed with sticks or truncheons; -they seemed to be striking and thrusting. A great shouting, cries of -wrath, screaming, burst out and came up to Graham, faint and thin. "Go -on," cried Howard, laying hands on him. - -Another man rushed down a cable. Graham suddenly glanced up to see -whence he came, and beheld through the glassy roof and the network of -cables and girders, dim rhythmically passing forms like the vans of -windmills, and between them glimpses of a remote and pallid sky. Then -Howard had thrust him forward across the bridge, and he was in a little -narrow passage decorated with geometrical patterns. - -"I want to see more of that," cried Graham, resisting. - -"No, no," cried Howard, still gripping his arm. - -"This way. You must go this way." And the men in red following them -seemed ready to enforce his orders. - -Some negroes in a curious wasp-like uniform of black and yellow appeared -down the passage, and one hastened to throw up a sliding shutter that -had seemed a door to Graham, and led the way through it. Graham found -himself in a gallery overhanging the end of a great chamber. The -attendant in black and yellow crossed this, thrust up a second shutter -and stood waiting. - -This place had the appearance of an ante-room. He saw a number of people -in the central space, and at the opposite end a large and imposing -doorway at the top of a flight of steps, heavily curtained but giving a -glimpse of some still larger hall beyond. He perceived white men in -red and other negroes in black and yellow standing stiffly about those -portals. - -As they crossed the gallery he heard a whisper from below, "The -Sleeper," and was aware of a turning of heads, a hum of observation. -They entered another little passage in the wall of this ante-chamber, -and then he found himself on an iron-railed gallery of metal that -passed round the side of the great hall he had already seen through the -curtains. He entered the place at the corner, so that he received -the fullest impression of its huge proportions. The black in the wasp -uniform stood aside like a well-trained servant, and closed the valve -behind him. - -Compared with any of the places Graham had see thus far, this second -hall appeared to be decorate with extreme richness. On a pedestal at -the remote end, and more brilliantly lit than any other object, was a -gigantic white figure of Atlas, strong and strenuous, the globe upon his -bowed shoulders. It was the first thing to strike his attention, it was -so vast, so patiently and painfully real, so white and simple. Save for -this figure and for a dais in the centre, the wide floor of the place -was a shining vacancy. The dais was remote in the greatness of the area; -it would have looked a mere slab of metal had it not been for the group -of seven men who stood about a table on it, and gave an inkling of its -proportions. They were all dressed in white robes, they seemed to have -arisen that moment from their seats, and they were regarding Graham -steadfastly. At the end of the table he perceived the glitter of some -mechanical appliances. - -Howard led him along the end gallery until they were opposite this -mighty labouring figure. Then he stopped. The two men in red who had -followed them into the gallery came and stood on either hand of Graham. - -"You must remain here," murmured Howard, "for a few moments," and, -without waiting for a reply, hurried away along the gallery. - -"But, _why?_" began Graham. - -He moved as if to follow Howard, and found his path obstructed by one of -the men in red. "You have to wait here, Sire," said the man in red. - -_"Why?"_ - -"Orders, Sire." - -"Whose orders?" - -"Our orders, Sire." - -Graham looked his exasperation. - -"What place is this?" he said presently. "Who are those men?" - -"They are the lords of the Council, Sire." - -"What Council?" - -"_The_ Council." - -"Oh!" said Graham, and after an equally ineffectual attempt at the other -man, went to the railing and stared at the distant men in white, who -stood watching him and whispering together. - -The Council? He perceived there were now eight, though how the newcomer -had arrived he had not observed. They made no gestures of greeting; they -stood regarding him as in the nineteenth century a group of men might -have stood in the street regarding a distant balloon that had suddenly -floated into view. What council could it be that gathered there, that -little body of men beneath the significant white Atlas, secluded from -every eavesdropper in this impressive spaciousness? And why should he -be brought to them, and be looked at strangely and spoken of inaudibly? -Howard appeared beneath, walking quickly across the polished floor -towards them. As he drew near he bowed and performed certain peculiar -movements, apparently of a ceremonious nature. Then he ascended the -steps of the dais, and stood by the apparatus at the end of the table. - -Graham watched that visible inaudible conversation. Occasionally, one -of the white-robed men would glance towards him. He strained his ears -in vain. The gesticulation of two of the speakers became animated. He -glanced from them to the passive faces of his attendants.... When he -looked again Howard was extending his hands and moving his head like -a man who protests. He was interrupted, it seemed, by one of the -white-robed men rapping the table. - -The conversation lasted an interminable time to Graham's sense. His -eyes rose to the still giant at whose feet the Council sat. Thence they -wandered at last to the walls of the hall. It was decorated in long -painted panels of a quasi-Japanese type, many of them very beautiful. -These panels were grouped in a great and elaborate framing of dark -metal, which passed into the metallic caryatidae of the galleries, and -the great structural lines of the interior. The facile grace of these -panels enhanced the mighty white effort that laboured in the centre -of the scheme. Graham's eyes came back to the Council, and Howard -was descending the steps. As he drew nearer his features could be -distinguished, and Graham saw that he was flushed and blowing out his -cheeks. His countenance was still disturbed when presently he reappeared -along the gallery. - -"This way," he said concisely, and they went on in silence to a little -door that opened at their approach. The two men in red stopped on either -side of this door. Howard and Graham passed in, and Graham, glancing -back, saw the white-robed Council still standing in a close group and -looking at him. Then the door closed behind him with a heavy thud, and -for the first time since his awakening he was in silence. The floor, -even, was noiseless to his feet. - -Howard opened another door, and they were in the first of two contiguous -chambers furnished in white and green. "What Council was that?" began -Graham. "What were they discussing? What have they to do with me?" -Howard closed the door carefully, heaved a huge sigh, and said something -in an undertone. He walked slanting ways across the room and turned, -blowing out his cheeks again. "Ugh!" he grunted, a man relieved. - -Graham stood regarding him. - -"You must understand," began Howard abruptly, avoiding Graham's eyes, -"that our social order is very complex. A half explanation, a bare -unqualified statement would give you false impressions. As a matter of -fact--it is a case of compound interest partly--your small fortune, and -the fortune of your cousin Warming which was left to you--and certain -other beginnings--have become very considerable. And in other ways -that will be hard for you to understand, you have become a person of -significance--of very considerable significance--involved in the world's -affairs." - -He stopped. - -"Yes?" said Graham. - -"We have grave social troubles." - -"Yes?" - -"Things have come to such a pass that, in fact, is advisable to seclude -you here." - -"Keep me prisoner!" exclaimed Graham. - -"Well--to ask you to keep in seclusion." - -Graham turned on him. "This is strange!" he said. - -"No harm will be done you." - -"No harm!" - -"But you must be kept here--" - -"While I learn my position, I presume." - -"Precisely." - -"Very well then. Begin. Why _harm?_" - -"Not now." - -"Why not?" - -"It is too long a story, Sire." - -"All the more reason I should begin at once. You say I am a person of -importance. What was that shouting I heard? Why is a great multitude -shouting and excited because my trance is over, and who are the men in -white in that huge council chamber?" - -"All in good time, Sire," said Howard. "But not crudely, not crudely. -This is one of those flimsy times when no man has a settled mind. Your -awakening. No one expected your awakening. The Council is consulting." - -"What council?" - -"The Council you saw." - -Graham made a petulant movement. "This is not right," he said. "I should -be told what is happening. - -"You must wait. Really you must wait." - -Graham sat down abruptly. "I suppose since I have waited so long to -resume life," he said, "that I must wait a little longer." - -"That is better," said Howard. "Yes, that is much better. And I must -leave you alone. For a space. While I attend the discussion in the -Council. I am sorry." - -He went towards the noiseless door, hesitated and vanished. - -Graham walked to the door, tried it, found it securely fastened in -some way he never came to understand, turned about, paced the room -restlessly, made the circuit of the room, and sat down. He remained -sitting for some time with folded arms and knitted brow, biting his -finger nails and trying to piece together the kaleidoscopic impressions -of this first hour of awakened life; the vast mechanical spaces, the -endless series of chambers and passages, the great struggle that roared -and splashed through these strange ways, the little group of remote -unsympathetic men beneath the colossal Atlas, Howard's mysterious -behaviour. There was an inkling of some vast inheritance already in -his mind--a vast inheritance perhaps misapplied--of some unprecedented -importance and opportunity. What had he to do? And this room's secluded -silence was eloquent of imprisonment! - -It came into Graham's mind with irresistible conviction that this series -of magnificent impressions was a dream. He tried to shut his eyes and -succeeded, but that time-honoured device led to no awakening. - -Presently he began to touch and examine all the unfamiliar appointments -of the two small rooms in which he found himself. - -In a long oval panel of mirror he saw himself and stopped astonished. He -was clad in a graceful costume of purple and bluish white, with a little -greyshot beard trimmed to a point, and his hair, its blackness streaked -now with bands of grey, arranged over his forehead in an unfamiliar but -graceful manner. He seemed a man of five-and-forty perhaps. For a moment -he did not perceive this was himself. - -A flash of laughter came with the recognition. "To call on old Warming -like this!" he exclaimed, "and make him take me out to lunch!" - -Then he thought of meeting first one and then another of the few -familiar acquaintances of his early manhood, and in the midst of his -amusement realised that every soul with whom he might jest had died -many score of years ago. The thought smote him abruptly and keenly; -he stopped short, the expression of his face changed to a white -consternation. - -The tumultuous memory of the moving platforms and the huge facade of -that wonderful street reasserted itself. The shouting multitudes came -back clear and vivid, and those remote, inaudible, unfriendly councilors -in white. He felt himself a little figure, very small and ineffectual, -pitifully conspicuous. And all about him, the world was--strange. - - - -CHAPTER VII. IN THE SILENT ROOMS - -Presently Graham resumed his examination of his apartments. Curiosity -kept him moving in spite of his fatigue. The inner room, he perceived, -was high, and its ceiling dome shaped, with an oblong aperture in the -centre, opening into a funnel in which a wheel of broad fans seemed to -be rotating, apparently driving the air up the shaft. The faint humming -note of its easy motion was the only clear sound in that quiet place. As -these vans sprang up one after the other, Graham could get transient -glimpses of the sky. He was surprised to see a star. - -This drew his attention to the fact that the bright lighting of these -rooms was due to a multitude of very faint glow lamps set about the -cornices. There were no windows. And he began to recall that along -all the vast chambers and passages he had traversed with Howard he had -observed no windows at all. Had there been windows? There were windows -on the street indeed, but were they for light? Or was the whole city lit -day and night for evermore, so that there was no night there? - -And another thing dawned upon him. There was no fireplace in either -room. Was the season summer, and were these merely summer apartments, or -was the whole City uniformly heated or cooled? He became interested in -these questions, began examining the smooth texture of the walls, the -simply constructed bed, the ingenious arrangements by which the labour -of bedroom service was practically abolished. And over everything was a -curious absence of deliberate ornament, a bare grace of form and -colour, that he found very pleasing to the eye. There were several very -comfortable chairs, a light table on silent runners carrying several -bottles of fluids and glasses, and two plates bearing a clear substance -like jelly. Then he noticed there were no books, no newspapers, no -writing materials. "The world has changed indeed," he said. - -He observed one entire side of the outer room was set with rows of -peculiar double cylinders inscribed with green lettering on white that -harmonized with the decorative scheme of the room, and in the centre of -this side projected a little apparatus about a yard square and having a -white smooth face to the room. A chair faced this. He had a transitory -idea that these cylinders might be books, or a modern substitute for -books, but at first it did not seem so. - -The lettering on the cylinders puzzled him. At first sight it seemed -like Russian. Then he noticed a suggestion of mutilated English about -certain of the words. - - "oi Man huwdbi Kin" - -forced itself on him as "The Man who would be King." "Phonetic -spelling," he said. He remembered reading a story with that title, then -he recalled the story vividly, one of the best stories in the world. But -this thing before him was not a book as he understood it. He puzzled out -the titles of two adjacent cylinders. 'The Heart of Darkness,' he had -never heard of before nor 'The Madonna of the Future'--no doubt if they -were indeed stories, they were by post Victorian authors. - -He puzzled over this peculiar cylinder for some time and replaced it. -Then he turned to the square apparatus and examined that. He opened a -sort of lid and found one of the double cylinders within, and on the -upper edge a little stud like the stud of an electric bell. He pressed -this and a rapid clicking began and ceased. He became aware of voices -and music, and noticed a play of colour on the smooth front face. He -suddenly realised what this might be, and stepped back to regard it. - -On the flat surface was now a little picture, very vividly coloured, -and in this picture were figures that moved. Not only did they move, but -they were conversing in clear small voices. It was exactly like reality -viewed through an inverted opera glass and heard through a long tube. -His interest was seized at once by the situation, which presented a -man pacing up and down and vociferating angry things to a pretty but -petulant woman. Both were in the picturesque costume that seemed so -strange to Graham. "I have worked," said the man, "but what have you -been doing?" - -"Ah!" said Graham. He forgot everything else, and sat down in the chair. -Within five minutes he heard himself named, heard "when the Sleeper -wakes," used jestingly as a proverb for remote postponement, and passed -himself by, a thing remote and incredible. But in a little while he knew -those two people like intimate friends. - -At last the miniature drama came to an end, and the square face of the -apparatus was blank again. - -It was a strange world into which he had been permitted to see, -unscrupulous, pleasure seeking, energetic, subtle, a world too of dire -economic struggle; there were allusions he did not understand, incidents -that conveyed strange suggestions of altered moral ideals, flashes of -dubious enlightenment. The blue canvas that bulked so largely in his -first impression of the city ways appeared again and again as -the costume of the common people. He had no doubt the story was -contemporary, and its intense realism was undeniable. And the end had -been a tragedy that oppressed him. He sat staring at the blankness. - -He started and rubbed his eyes. He had been so absorbed in the -latter-day substitute for a novel, that he awoke to the little green -and white room with more than a touch of the surprise of his first -awakening. - -He stood up, and abruptly he was back in his own wonderland. The -clearness of the kinetoscope drama passed, and the struggle in the vast -place of streets, the ambiguous Council, the swift phases of his waking -hour, came back. These people had spoken of the Council with suggestions -of a vague universality of power. And they had spoken of the Sleeper; it -had not really struck him vividly at the time that he was the Sleeper. -He had to recall precisely what they had said. - -He walked into the bedroom and peered up through the quick intervals of -the revolving fan. As the fan swept round, a dim turmoil like the noise -of machinery came in rhythmic eddies. All else was silence. - - -Though the perpetual day still irradiated his apartments, he perceived -the little intermittent strip of sky was now deep blue--black almost, -with a dust of little stars. - -He resumed his examination of the rooms. He could find no way of opening -the padded door, no bell nor other means of calling for attendance. -His feeling of wonder was in abeyance; but he was curious, anxious for -information. He wanted to know exactly how he stood to these new things. -He tried to compose himself to wait until someone came to him. Presently -he became restless and eager for information, for distraction, for fresh -sensations. - -He went back to the apparatus in the other room, and had soon puzzled -out the method of replacing the cylinders by others. As he did so, it -came into his mind that it must be these little appliances had fixed the -language so that it was still clear and understandable after two hundred -years. The haphazard cylinders he substituted displayed a musical -fantasia. At first it was beautiful, and then it was sensuous. He -presently recognized what appeared to him to be an altered version of -the story of Tannhauser. The music was unfamiliar. But the rendering was -realistic, and with a contemporary unfamiliarity. Tannhauser did not -go to a Venusberg, but to a Pleasure City. What was a Pleasure City? A -dream, surely, the fancy of a fantastic, voluptuous writer. - -He became interested, curious. The story developed with a flavour of -strangely twisted sentimentality. Suddenly he did not like it. He liked -it less as it proceeded. - -He had a revulsion of feeling. These were no pictures, no idealisations, -but photographed realities. He wanted no more of the twenty-second -century Venusberg. He forgot the part played by the model in nineteenth -century art, and gave way to an archaic indignation. He rose, angry and -half ashamed at himself for witnessing this thing even in solitude. He -pulled forward the apparatus, and with some violence sought for a means -of stopping its action. Something snapped. A violet spark stung and -convulsed his arm and the thing was still. When he attempted next day -to replace these Tannhauser cylinders by another pair, he found the -apparatus broken.... - -He struck out a path oblique to the room and paced to and fro, -struggling with intolerable vast impressions. The things he had derived -from the cylinders and the things he had seen, conflicted, confused him. -It seemed to him the most amazing thing of all that in his thirty years -of life he had never tried to shape a picture of these coming times. -"We were making the future," he said, "and hardly any of us troubled to -think what future we were making. And here it is!" - -"What have they got to, what has been done? How do I come into the midst -of it all?" The vastness of street and house he was prepared for, -the multitudes of people. But conflicts in the city ways! And the -systematised sensuality of a class of rich men! - -He thought of Bellamy, the hero of whose Socialistic Utopia had so -oddly anticipated this actual experience. But here was no Utopia, -no Socialistic state. He had already seen enough to realise that the -ancient antithesis of luxury, waste and sensuality on the one hand and -abject poverty on the other, still prevailed. He knew enough of the -essential factors of life to understand that correlation. And not only -were the buildings of the city gigantic and the crowds in the street -gigantic, but the voices he had heard in the ways, the uneasiness of -Howard, the very atmosphere spoke of gigantic discontent. What country -was he in? Still England it seemed, and yet strangely "un-English." His -mind glanced at the rest of the world, and saw only an enigmatical veil. - -He prowled about his apartment, examining everything as a caged animal -might do. He felt very tired, felt that feverish exhaustion that does -not admit of rest. He listened for long spaces under the ventilator to -catch some distant echo of the tumults he felt must be proceeding in the -city. - -He began to talk to himself. "Two hundred and three years!" he said to -himself over and over again, laughing stupidly. "Then I am two hundred -and thirty-three years old! The oldest inhabitant. Surely they haven't -reversed the tendency of our time and gone back to the rule of the -oldest. My claims are indisputable. Mumble, mumble. I remember the -Bulgarian atrocities as though it was yesterday. 'Tis a great age! -Ha ha!" He was surprised at first to hear himself laughing, and then -laughed again deliberately and louder. Then he realised that he was -behaving foolishly. "Steady," he said. "Steady!" - -His pacing became more regular. "This new world," he said. "I don't -understand it. _Why?_... But it is all _why!_" - -"I suppose they can fly and do all sorts of things Let me try and -remember just how it began." - -He was surprised at first to find how vague the memories of his first -thirty years had become. He remembered fragments, for the most part -trivial moments, things of no great importance that he had observed. His -boyhood seemed the most accessible at first, he recalled school books -and certain lessons in mensuration. Then he revived the more salient -features of his life, memories of the wife long since dead, her magic -influence now gone beyond corruption, of his rivals and friends and -betrayers, of the swift decision of this issue and that, and then of -his, last years of misery, of fluctuating resolves, and at last of his -strenuous studies. In a little while he perceived he had it all again; -dim perhaps, like metal long laid aside, but in no way defective or -injured, capable of re-polishing. And the hue of it was a deepening -misery. Was it worth re-polishing? By a miracle he had been lifted out -of a life that had become intolerable. - -He reverted to his present condition. He wrestled with the facts in -vain. It became an inextricable tangle. He saw the sky through the -ventilator pink with dawn. An old persuasion came out of the dark -recesses of his memory. "I must sleep," he said. It appeared as a -delightful relief from this mental distress and from the growing pain -and heaviness of his limbs. He went to the strange little bed, lay down -and was presently asleep. - -He was destined to become very familiar indeed with these apartments -before he left them, for he remained imprisoned for three days. During -that time no one, except Howard, entered his prison. The marvel of his -fate mingled with and in some way minimised the marvel of his survival. -He had awakened to mankind it seemed only to be snatched away into this -unaccountable solitude. Howard came regularly with subtly sustaining and -nutritive fluids, and light and pleasant foods, quite strange to Graham. -He always closed the door carefully as he entered. On matters of detail -he was increasingly obliging, but the bearing of Graham on the great -issues that were evidently being contested so closely beyond the -soundproof walls that enclosed him, he would not elucidate. He evaded, -as politely as possible, every question on the position of affairs in -the outer world. - -And in those three days Graham's incessant thoughts went far and wide. -All that he had seen, all this elaborate contrivance to prevent -him seeing, worked together in his mind. Almost every possible -interpretation of his position he debated--even as it chanced, the right -interpretation. Things that presently happened to him, came to him at -last credible, by virtue of this seclusion. When at length the moment of -his release arrived, it found him prepared. - -Howard's bearing went far to deepen Graham's impression of his own -strange importance; the door between its opening and closing seemed to -admit with him a breath of momentous happening. His enquiries became -more definite and searching. Howard retreated through protests and -difficulties. The awakening was unforeseen, he repeated; it happened to -have fallen in with the trend of a social convulsion. - -"To explain it I must tell you the history of a gross and a half of -years," protested Howard. - -"The thing is this," said Graham. "You are afraid of something I shall -do. In some way I am arbitrator--I might be arbitrator." - -"It is not that. But you have--I may tell you this much--the automatic -increase of your property puts great possibilities of interference in -your hands. And in certain other ways you have influence, with your -eighteenth century notions." - -"Nineteenth century," corrected Graham. - -"With your old world notions, anyhow, ignorant as you are of every -feature of our State." - -"Am I a fool?" - -"Certainly not." - -"Do I seem to be the sort of man who would act rashly?" - -"You were never expected to act at all. No one counted on your -awakening. No one dreamt you would ever awake. The Council had -surrounded you with antiseptic conditions. As a matter of fact, we -thought that you were dead--a mere arrest of decay. And--but it is too -complex. We dare not suddenly--while you are still half awake." - -"It won't do," said Graham. "Suppose it is as you say--why am I not -being crammed night and day with facts and warnings and all the wisdom -of the time to fit me for my responsibilities? Am I any wiser now than -two days ago, if it is two days, when I awoke?" - -Howard pulled his lip. - -"I am beginning to feel--every hour I feel more clearly--a sense of -complex concealment of which you are the salient point. Is this Council, -or committee, or whatever they are, cooking the accounts of my estate? -Is that it?" - -"That note of suspicion--" said Howard. - -"Ugh!" said Graham. "Now, mark my words, it will be ill for those who -have put me here. It will be ill. I am alive. Make no doubt of it, I -am alive. Every day my pulse is stronger and my mind clearer and more -vigorous. No more quiescence. I am a man come back to life. And I want -to _live_--" - -"_Live!_" - -Howard's face lit with an idea. He came towards Graham and spoke in an -easy confidential tone. - -"The Council secludes you here for your good. You are restless. -Naturally--an energetic man! You find it dull here. But we are anxious -that everything you may desire--every desire--every sort of desire... -There may be something. Is there any sort of company?" - -He paused meaningly. - -"Yes," said Graham thoughtfully. "There is." - -"Ah! _Now!_ We have treated you neglectfully." - -"The crowds in yonder streets of yours." - -"That," said Howard, "I am afraid--. But--" - -Graham began pacing the room. Howard stood near the door watching him. -The implication of Howard's suggestion was only half evident to Graham -Company? Suppose he were to accept the proposal, demand some sort -of _company_? Would there be any possibilities of gathering from -the conversation of this additional person some vague inkling of -the struggle that had broken out so vividly at his waking moment? He -meditated again, and the suggestion took colour. He turned on Howard -abruptly. - -"What do you mean by company?" - -Howard raised his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "Human beings," he -said, with a curious smile on his heavy face. - -"Our social ideas," he said, "have a certain increased liberality, -perhaps, in comparison with your times. If a man wishes to relieve such -a tedium as this--by feminine society, for instance. We think it no -scandal. We have cleared our minds of formulae. There is in our city a -class, a necessary class, no longer despised--discreet--" - -Graham stopped dead. - -"It would pass the time," said Howard. "It is a thing I should -perhaps have thought of before, but, as a matter of fact, so much is -happening--" - -He indicated the exterior world. - -Graham hesitated. For a moment the figure of a possible woman that -his imagination suddenly created dominated his mind with an intense -attraction. Then he flashed into anger. - -"No!" he shouted. - -He began striding rapidly up and down the room. - -"Everything you say, everything you do, convinces me--of some great -issue in which I am concerned. I do not want to pass the time, as you -call it. Yes, I know. Desire and indulgence are life in a sense--and -Death! Extinction! In my life before I slept I had worked out -that pitiful question. I will not begin again. There is a city, a -multitude--. And meanwhile I am here like a rabbit in a bag." - -His rage surged high. He choked for a moment and began to wave his -clenched fists. He gave way to an anger fit, he swore archaic curses. -His gestures had the quality of physical threats. - -"I do not know who your party may be. I am in the dark, and you keep -me in the dark. But I know this, that I am secluded here for no -good purpose. For no good purpose. I warn you, I warn you of the -consequences. Once I come at my power--" - -He realised that to threaten thus might be a danger to himself. He -stopped. Howard stood regarding him with a curious expression. - -"I take it this is a message to the Council," said Howard. - -Graham had a momentary impulse to leap upon the man, fell or stun him. -It must have shown upon his face; at any rate Howard's movement was -quick. In a second the noiseless door had closed again, and the man from -the nineteenth century was alone. - -For a moment he stood rigid, with clenched hands half raised. Then he -flung them down. "What a fool I have been!" he said, and gave way to -his anger again, stamping about the room and shouting curses. For a long -time he kept himself in a sort of frenzy, raging at his position, at his -own folly, at the knaves who had imprisoned him. He did this because -he did not want to look calmly at his position. He clung to his -anger--because he was afraid of Fear. - -Presently he found himself reasoning with himself This imprisonment was -unaccountable, but no doubt the legal forms--new legal forms--of the -time permitted it. It must, of course, be legal. These people were two -hundred years further on in the march of civilisation than the Victorian -generation. It was not likely they would be less--humane. Yet they -had cleared their minds of formulae! Was humanity a formula as well as -chastity? - -His imagination set to work to suggest things that might be done to him. -The attempts of his reason to dispose of these suggestions, though -for the most part logically valid, were quite unavailing. "Why should -anything be done to me?" - -"If the worst comes to the worst," he found himself saying at last, "I -can give up what they want. But what do they want? And why don't they -ask me for it instead of cooping me up?" - -He returned to his former preoccupation with the Council's possible -intentions. He began to reconsider the details of Howard's behaviour, -sinister glances, inexplicable hesitations. Then, for a time, his mind -circled about the idea of escaping from these rooms; but whither could -he escape into this vast, crowded world? He would be worse off than -a Saxon yeoman suddenly dropped into nineteenth century London. And -besides, how could anyone escape from these rooms? - -"How can it benefit anyone if harm should happen to me?" - -He thought of the tumult, the great social trouble of which he was so -unaccountably the axis. A text, irrelevant enough and yet curiously -insistent, came floating up out of the darkness of his memory. This also -a Council had said: - -"It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people." - - - -CHAPTER VIII. THE ROOF SPACES - -As the fans in the circular aperture of the inner room rotated and -permitted glimpses of the night, dim sounds drifted in thereby. And -Graham, standing underneath, wrestling darkly with the unknown powers -that imprisoned him, and which he had now deliberately challenged, was -startled by the sound of a voice. - -He peered up and saw in the intervals of the rotation, dark and dim, -the face and shoulders of a man regarding him. When a dark hand was -extended, the swift fan struck it, swung round and beat on with a little -brownish patch on the edge of its thin blade, and something began to -fall therefrom upon the floor, dripping silently. - -Graham looked down, and there were spots of blood at his feet. He looked -up again in a strange excitement. The figure had gone. - -He remained motionless--his every sense intent upon the flickering patch -of darkness, for outside it was high night. He became aware of some -faint, remote, dark specks floating lightly through the outer air. They -came down towards him, fitfully, eddyingly, and passed aside out of -the uprush from the fan. A gleam of light flickered, the specks flashed -white, and then the darkness came again. Warmed and lit as he was, he -perceived that it was snowing within a few feet of him. - -Graham walked across the room and came back to the ventilator again. He -saw the head of a man pass near. There was a sound of whispering. Then -a smart blow on some metallic substance, effort, voices, and the vans -stopped. A gust of snowflakes whirled into the room, and vanished before -they touched the floor. "Don't be afraid," said a voice. - -Graham stood under the fan. "Who are you?" he whispered. - -For a moment there was nothing but a swaying of the fan, and then the -head of a man was thrust cautiously into the opening. His face appeared -nearly inverted to Graham; his dark hair was wet with dissolving flakes -of snow upon it. His arm went up into the darkness holding something -unseen. He had a youthful face and bright eyes, and the veins of his -forehead were swollen. He seemed to be exerting himself to maintain his -position. - -For several seconds neither he nor Graham spoke. - -"You were the Sleeper?" said the stranger at last. - -"Yes," said Graham. "What do you want with me?" - -"I come from Ostrog, Sire." - -"Ostrog?" - -The man in the ventilator twisted his head round so that his profile was -towards Graham. He appeared to be listening. Suddenly there was a hasty -exclamation, and the intruder sprang back just in time to escape the -sweep of the released fan. And when Graham peered up there was nothing -visible but the slowly falling snow. - -It was perhaps a quarter of an hour before anything returned to the -ventilator. But at last came the same metallic interference again; the -fans stopped and the face reappeared. Graham had remained all this time -in the same place, alert and tremulously excited. - -"Who are you? What do you want?" he said. - -"We want to speak to you, Sire," said the intruder. - -"We want--I can't hold the thing. We have been trying to find a way to -you these three days." - -"Is it rescue?" whispered Graham. "Escape?" - -"Yes, Sire. If you will." - -"You are my party--the party of the Sleeper?" - -"Yes, Sire." - -"What am I to do?" said Graham. - -There was a struggle. The stranger's arm appeared, and his hand was -bleeding. His knees came into view over the edge of the funnel. "Stand -away from me," he said, and he dropped rather heavily on his hands and -one shoulder at Graham's feet. The released ventilator whirled noisily. -The stranger rolled over, sprang up nimbly and stood panting, hand to a -bruised shoulder, and with his bright eyes on Graham. - -"You are indeed the Sleeper," he said. "I saw you asleep. When it was -the law that anyone might see you." - -"I am the man who was in the trance," said Graham. "They have imprisoned -me here. I have been here since I awoke--at least three days." - -The intruder seemed about to speak, heard something, glanced swiftly at -the door, and suddenly left Graham and ran towards it, shouting quick -incoherent words. A bright wedge of steel flashed in his hand, and he -began tap, tap, a quick succession of blows upon the hinges. "Mind!" -cried a voice. "Oh!" The voice came from above. - -Graham glanced up, saw the soles of two feet, ducked, was struck on the -shoulder by one of them, and a heavy weight bore him to the earth. He -fell on his knees and forward, and the weight went over his head. He -knelt up and saw a second man from above seated before him. - -"I did not see you, Sire," panted the man. He rose and assisted Graham -to arise. "Are you hurt, Sire?" he panted. A succession of heavy blows -on the ventilator began, something fell close to Graham's face, and a -shivering edge of white metal danced, fell over, and lay flat upon the -floor. - -"What is this?" cried Graham, confused and looking at the ventilator. -"Who are you? What are you going to do? Remember, I understand nothing." - -"Stand back," said the stranger, and drew him from under the ventilator -as another fragment of metal fell heavily. - -"We want you to come, Sire," panted the newcomer, and Graham glancing -at his face again, saw a new cut had changed from white to red on his -forehead, and a couple of little trickles of blood starting therefrom. -"Your people call for you." - -"Come where? My people?" - -"To the hall about the markets. Your life is in danger here. We have -spies. We learned but just in time. The Council has decided--this very -day--either to drug or kill you. And everything is ready. The people are -drilled, the wind-vane police, the engineers, and half the way-gearers -are with us. We have the halls crowded--shouting. The whole city shouts -against the Council. We have arms." He wiped the blood with his hand. -"Your life here is not worth--" "But why arms?" - -"The people have risen to protect you, Sire. What?" - -He turned quickly as the man who had first come down made a hissing -with his teeth. Graham saw the latter start back, gesticulate to them to -conceal themselves, and move as if to hide behind the opening door. - -As he did so Howard appeared, a little tray in one hand and his heavy -face downcast. He started, looked up, the door slammed behind him, the -tray tilted sideways, and the steel wedge struck him behind the ear. He -went down like a felled tree, and lay as he fell athwart the floor of -the outer room. The man who had struck him bent hastily, studied his -face for a moment, rose, and returned to his work at the door. - -"Your poison!" said a voice in Graham's ear. - -Then abruptly they were in darkness. The innumerable cornice lights -had been extinguished. Graham saw the aperture of the ventilator with -ghostly snow whirling above it and dark figures moving hastily. Three -knelt on the fan. Some dim thing--a ladder was being lowered through the -opening, and a hand appeared holding a fitful yellow light. - -He had a moment of hesitation. But the manner of these men, their swift -alacrity, their words, marched so completely with his own fears of -the Council, with his idea and hope of a rescue, that it lasted not a -moment. And his people awaited him! - -"I do not understand," he said, "I trust. Tell me what to do." - -The man with the cut brow gripped Graham's arm. - -"Clamber up the ladder," he whispered. "Quick. They will have heard--" - -Graham felt for the ladder with extended hands, put his foot on the -lower rung, and, turning his head, saw over the shoulder of the nearest -man, in the yellow flicker of the light, the first-comer astride over -Howard and still working at the door. Graham turned to the ladder again, -and was thrust by his conductor and helped up by those above, and then -he was standing on something hard and cold and slippery outside the -ventilating funnel. - -He shivered. He was aware of a great difference in the temperature. Half -a dozen men stood about him, and light flakes of snow touched hands and -face and melted. For a moment it was dark, then for a flash a ghastly -violet white, and then everything was dark again. - -He saw he had come out upon the roof of the vast city structure which -had replaced the miscellaneous houses, streets and open spaces of -Victorian London. The place upon which he stood was level, with huge -serpentine cables lying athwart it in every direction. The circular -wheels of a number of windmills loomed indistinct and gigantic through -the darkness and snowfall, and roared with a varying loudness as the -fitful white light smote up from below, touched the snow eddies with a -transient glitter, and made an evanescent spectre in the night; and -here and there, low down! some vaguely outlined wind-driven mechanism -flickered with livid sparks. - -All this he appreciated in a fragmentary manner as his rescuers stood -about him. Someone threw a thick soft cloak of fur-like texture about -him, and fastened it by buckled straps at waist and shoulders. Things -were said briefly, decisively. Someone thrust him forward. - -Before his mind was yet clear a dark shape gripped his arm. "This way," -said this shape, urging him along, and pointed Graham across the flat -roof in the direction of a dim semicircular haze of light. Graham -obeyed. - -"Mind!" said a voice, as Graham stumbled against a cable. "Between them -and not across them," said the voice. And, "We must hurry." - -"Where are the people?" said Graham. "The people you said awaited me?" - -The stranger did not answer. He left Graham's arm as the path grew -narrower, and led the way with rapid strides. Graham followed blindly. -In a minute he found himself running. "Are the others coming?" he -panted, but received no reply. His companion glanced back and ran on. -They came to a sort of pathway of open metal-work, transverse to the -direction they had come, and they turned aside to follow this. Graham -looked back, but the snowstorm had hidden the others. - -"Come on!" said his guide. Running now, they drew near a little windmill -spinning high in the air. "Stoop," said Graham's guide, and they avoided -an endless band running roaring up to the shaft of the vane. "This -way!" and they were ankle deep in a gutter full of drifted thawing snow, -between two low walls of metal that presently rose waist high. "I will -go first," said the guide. Graham drew his cloak about him and followed. -Then suddenly came a narrow abyss across which the gutter leapt to the -snowy darkness of the further side. Graham peeped over the side once and -the gulf was black. For a moment he regretted his flight. He dared not -look again, and his brain spun as he waded through the half liquid snow. - -Then out of the gutter they clambered and hurried across a wide flat -space damp with thawing snow, and for half its extent dimly translucent -to lights that went to and fro underneath. He hesitated at this unstable -looking substance, but his guide ran on unheeding, and so they came to -and clambered up slippery steps to the rim of a great dome of glass. -Round this they went. Far below a number of people seemed to be dancing, -and music filtered through the dome.... Graham fancied he heard a -shouting through the snowstorm, and his guide hurried him on with a new -spurt of haste. They clambered panting to a space of huge windmills, one -so vast that only the lower edge of its vans came rushing into sight and -rushed up again and was lost in the night and the snow. They hurried for -a time through the colossal metallic tracery of its supports, and came -at last above a place of moving platforms like the place into which -Graham had looked from the balcony. They crawled across the sloping -transparency that covered this street of platforms, crawling on hands -and knees because of the slipperiness of the snowfall. - -For the most part the glass was bedewed, and Graham saw only hazy -suggestions of the forms below, but near the pitch of the transparent -roof the glass was clear, and he found himself looking sheerly down upon -it all. For awhile, in spite of the urgency of his guide, he gave way -to vertigo and lay spread-eagled on the glass, sick and paralysed. Far -below, mere stirring specks and dots, went the people of the unsleeping -city in their perpetual daylight, and the moving platforms ran on their -incessant journey. Messengers and men on unknown businesses shot along -the drooping cables and the frail bridges were crowded with men. It was -like peering into a gigantic glass hive, and it lay vertically below him -with only a tough glass of unknown thickness to save him from a fall. -The street showed warm and lit, and Graham was wet now to the skin with -thawing snow, and his feet were numbed with cold. For a space he could -not move. - -"Come on!" cried his guide, with terror in his voice. "Come on!" - -Graham reached the pitch of the roof by an effort. - -Over the ridge, following his guide's example, he turned about and slid -backward down the opposite slope very swiftly, amid a little avalanche -of snow While he was sliding he thought of what would happen if some -broken gap should come in his way. At the edge he stumbled to his feet -ankle deep in slush thanking heaven for an opaque footing again. His -guide was already clambering up a metal screen to a level expanse. - -Through the spare snowflakes above this loomed another line of vast -windmills, and then suddenly the amorphous tumult of the rotating wheels -was pierced with a deafening sound. It was a mechanical shrilling of -extraordinary intensity that seemed to come simultaneously from every -point of the compass. - -"They have missed us already!" cried Graham's guide in an accent of -terror, and suddenly, with a blinding flash, the night became day. - -Above the driving snow, from the summits of the wind-wheels, appeared -vast masts carrying globes of livid light. They receded in illimitable -vistas in every direction. As far as his eye could penetrate the -snowfall they glared. - -"Get on this," cried Graham's conductor, and thrust him forward to a -long grating of snowless metal that ran like a band between two slightly -sloping expanses of snow. It felt warm to Graham's benurrled feet, and a -faint eddy of steam rose from it. - -"Come on!" shouted his guide ten yards off, and, without waiting, ran -swiftly through the incandescent glare towards the iron supports of the -next range of wind-wheels. Graham, recovering from his astonishment, -followed as fast, convinced of his imminent capture. - -In a score of seconds they were within a tracery of glare and black -shadows shot with moving bars beneath the monstrous wheels. Graham's -conductor ran on for some time, and suddenly darted sideways and -vanished into a black shadow in the corner of the foot of a huge -support. In another moment Graham was beside him. - -They cowered panting and stared out. - -The scene upon which Graham looked was very wild and strange. The snow -had now almost ceased; only a belated flake passed now and again across -the picture. But the broad stretch of level before them was a ghastly -white, broken only by gigantic masses and moving shapes and lengthy -strips of impenetrable darkness, vast ungainly Titans of shadow. All -about them, huge metallic structures, iron girders, inhumanly vast as it -seemed to him, interlaced, and the edges of wind-wheels, scarcely moving -in the lull, passed in great shining curves steeper and steeper up -into a luminous haze. Wherever the snow-spangled light struck down, -beams and girders, and incessant bands running with a halting, -indomitable resolution passed upward and downward into the black. And -with all that mighty activity, with an omnipresent sense of motive and -design, this snow-clad desolation of mechanism seemed void of all -human presence save themselves, seemed as trackless and deserted and -unfrequented by men as some inaccessible Alpine snowfield. - -"They will be chasing us," cried the leader. "We are scarcely halfway -there yet. Cold as it is we must hide here for a space--at least until -it snows more thickly again." - -His teeth chattered in his head. - -"Where are the markets?" asked Graham staring out. "Where are all the -people?" - -The other made no answer. - - -"Look!" whispered Graham, crouched close, and became very still. - -The snow had suddenly become thick again, and sliding with the whirling -eddies out of the black pit of the sky came something, vague and large -and very swift. It came down in a steep curve and swept round, wide -wings extended and a trail of white condensing steam behind it, rose -with an easy swiftness and went gliding up the air, swept horizontally -forward in a wide curve, and vanished again in the steaming specks of -snow. And, through the ribs of its body, Graham saw two little men, very -minute and active, searching the snowy areas about him, as it seemed to -him, with field glasses. For a second they were clear, then hazy through -a thick whirl of snow, then small and distant, and in a minute they were -gone. - -"Now!" cried his companion. "Come!" - -He pulled Graham's sleeve, and incontinently the two were running -headlong down the arcade of ironwork beneath the wind-wheels. Graham, -running blindly, collided with his leader, who had turned back on him -suddenly. He found himself within a dozen yards of a black chasm. It -extended as far as he could see right and left. It seemed to cut off -their progress in either direction. - -"Do as I do," whispered his guide. He lay down and crawled to the edge, -thrust his head over and twisted until one leg hung. He seemed to feel -for something with his foot, found it, and went sliding over the edge -into the gulf. His head reappeared. "It is a ledge," he whispered. "In -the dark all the way along. Do as I did." - -Graham hesitated, went down upon all fours, crawled to the edge, and -peered into a velvety blackness. For a sickly moment he had courage -neither to go on nor retreat, then he sat and hung his leg down, felt -his guide's hands pulling at him, had a horrible sensation of sliding -over the edge into the unfathomable, splashed, and felt himself in a -slushy gutter, impenetrably dark. - -"This way," whispered the voice, and he began crawling along the gutter -through the trickling thaw, pressing himself against the wall. They -continued along it for some minutes. He seemed to pass through a hundred -stages of misery, to pass minute after minute through a hundred degrees -of cold, damp, and exhaustion. In a little while he ceased to feel his -hands and feet. - -The gutter sloped downwards. He observed that they were now many feet -below the edge of the buildings. Rows of spectral white shapes like the -ghosts of blind-drawn windows rose above them. They came to the end of -a cable fastened above one of these white windows, dimly visible and -dropping into impenetrable shadows. Suddenly his hand came against his -guide's. - -"Still!" whispered the latter very softly. - -He looked up with a start and saw the huge wings of the flying machine -gliding slowly and noiselessly overhead athwart the broad band of -snow-flecked grey-blue sky. In a moment it was hidden again. - -"Keep still; they were just turning." - -For awhile both were motionless, then Graham's companion stood up, -and reaching towards the fastenings of the cable fumbled with some -indistinct tackle. - -"What is that?" asked Graham. - -The only answer was a faint cry. The man crouched motionless. Graham -peered and saw his face dimly. He was staring down the long ribbon of -sky, and Graham, following his eyes, saw the flying machine small and -faint and remote. Then he saw that the wings spread on either side, -that it headed towards them, that every moment it grew larger. It was -following the edge of the chasm towards them. - -The man's movements became convulsive. He thrust two cross bars into -Graham's hand. Graham could not see them, he ascertained their form by -feeling. They were slung by thin cords to the cable. On the cord were -hand grips of some soft elastic substance. "Put the cross between your -legs," whispered the guide hysterically, "and grip the holdfasts. Grip -tightly, grip!" - -Graham did as he was told. - -"Jump," said the voice. "In heaven's name, jump!" - -For one momentous second Graham could not speak. He was glad afterwards -that darkness hid his face. He said nothing. He began to tremble -violently. He looked sideways at the swift shadow that swallowed up the -sky as it rushed upon him. - -"Jump! Jump--in God's name! Or they will have us," cried Graham's guide, -and in the violence of his passion thrust him forward. - -Graham tottered convulsively, gave a sobbing cry, a cry in spite of -himself, and then, as the flying machine swept over them, fell forward -into the pit of that darkness, seated on the cross wood and holding -the ropes with the clutch of death. Something cracked, something rapped -smartly against a wall. He heard the pulley of the cradle hum on its -rope. He heard the aeronauts shout. He felt a pair of knees digging into -his back.... He was sweeping headlong through the air, falling through -the air. All his strength was in his hands. He would have screamed but -he had no breath. - -He shot into a blinding light that made him grip the tighter. He -recognised the great passage with the running ways, the hanging lights -and interlacing girders. They rushed upward and by him. He had a -momentary impression of a great circular aperture yawning to swallow him -up. - -He was in the dark again, falling, falling, gripping with aching hands, -and behold! a clap of sound, a burst of light, and he was in a brightly -lit hall with a roaring multitude of people beneath his feet. The -people! His people! A proscenium, a stage rushed up towards him, and his -cable swept down to a circular aperture to the right of this. He felt he -was travelling slower, and suddenly very much slower. He distinguished -shouts of "Saved! The Master. He is safe!" The stage rushed up towards -him with rapidly diminishing swiftness. Then-- - -He heard the man clinging behind him shout as if suddenly terrified, -and this shout was echoed by a shout from below. He felt that he was no -longer gliding along the cable but falling with it. There was a tumult -of yells, screams and cries. He felt something soft against his extended -hand, and the impact of a broken fall quivering through his arm... - -He wanted to be still and the people were lifting him. He believed -afterwards he was carried to the platform and given some drink, but he -was never sure. He did not notice what became of his guide. When his -mind was clear again he was on his feet; eager hands were assisting him -to stand. He was in a big alcove, occupying the position that in his -previous experience had been devoted to the lower boxes. If this was -indeed a theatre. - -A mighty tumult was in his ears, a thunderous roar, the shouting of a -countless multitude. "It is the Sleeper! The Sleeper is with us!" - -"The Sleeper is with us! The Master--the Owner! The Master is with us. -He is safe." - -Graham had a surging vision of a great hall crowded with people. He saw -no individuals, he was conscious of a froth of pink faces, of waving -arms and garments, he felt the occult influence of a vast crowd pouring -over him, buoying him up. There were balconies, galleries, great -archways giving remoter perspectives, and everywhere people, a vast -arena of people, densely packed and cheering. Across the nearer space -lay the collapsed cable like a huge snake. It had been cut by the men -of the flying machine at its upper end, and had crumpled down into the -hall. Men seemed to be hauling this out of the way. But the whole effect -was vague, the very buildings throbbed and leapt with the roar of the -voices. - -He stood unsteadily and looked at those about him. Someone supported him -by one arm. "Let me go into a little room," he said, weeping; "a little -room," and could say no more. A man in black stepped forward, took his -disengaged arm. He was aware of officious men opening a door before -him. Someone guided him to a seat. He staggered. He sat down heavily and -covered his face with his hands; he was trembling violently, his nervous -control was at an end. He was relieved of his cloak, he could not -remember how; his purple hose he saw were black with wet. People were -running about him, things were happening, but for some time he gave no -heed to them. - -He had escaped. A myriad of cries told him that. He was safe. These were -the people who were on his side. For a space he sobbed for breath, -and then he sat still with his face covered. The air was full of the -shouting of innumerable men. - - - -CHAPTER IX. THE PEOPLE MARCH - -He became aware of someone urging a glass of clear fluid upon his -attention, looked up and discovered this was a dark young man in a -yellow garment. He took the dose forthwith, and in a moment he was -glowing. A tall man in a black robe stood by his shoulder, and pointed -to the half open door into the hall. This man was shouting close to -his ear and yet what was said was indistinct because of the tremendous -uproar from the great theatre. Behind the man was a girl in a silvery -grey robe, whom Graham, even in this confusion, perceived to be -beautiful. Her dark eyes, full of wonder and curiosity, were fixed on -him, her lips trembled apart. A partially opened door gave a glimpse -of the crowded hall, and admitted a vast uneven tumult, a hammering, -clapping and shouting that died away and began again, and rose to a -thunderous pitch, and so continued intermittently all the time that -Graham remained in the little room. He watched the lips of the man in -black and gathered that he was making some clumsy explanation. - -He stared stupidly for some moments at these things and then stood up -abruptly; he grasped the arm of this shouting person. - -"Tell me!" he cried. "Who am I? Who am I?" - -The others came nearer to hear his words. "Who am I?" His eyes searched -their faces. - -"They have told him nothing!" cried the girl. - -"Tell me, tell me!" cried Graham. - -"You are the Master of the Earth. You are owner of half the world." - -He did not believe he heard aright. He resisted the persuasion. He -pretended not to understand, not to hear. He lifted his voice again. "I -have been awake three days--a prisoner three days. I judge there is some -struggle between a number of people in this city--it is London?" - -"Yes," said the younger man. - -"And those who meet in the great hall with the white Atlas? How does it -concern me? In some way it has to do with me. Why, I don't know. Drugs? -It seems to me that while I have slept the world has gone mad. I have -gone mad." - -"Who are those Councillors under the Atlas? Why should they try to drug -me?" - -"To keep you insensible," said the man in yellow. - -"To prevent your interference." - -"But _why?_" - -"Because _you_ are the Atlas, Sire," said the man in yellow. "The world -is on your shoulders. They rule it in your name." - -The sounds from the hall had died into a silence threaded by one -monotonous voice. Now suddenly, trampling on these last words, came -a deafening tumult, a roaring and thundering, cheer crowded on cheer, -voices hoarse and shrill, beating, overlapping, and while it lasted the -people in the little room could not hear each other shout. - -Graham stood, his intelligence clinging helplessly to the thing he had -just heard. "The Council," he repeated blankly, and then snatched at a -name that had struck him. "But who is Ostrog?" he said. - -"He is the organiser--the organiser of the revolt. Our Leader--in your -name." - -"In my name?--And you? Why is he not here?" - -"He--has deputed us. I am his brother--his half-brother, Lincoln. He -wants you to show yourself to these people and then come on to him. That -is why he has sent. He is at the wind-vane offices directing. The people -are marching." - -"In your name," shouted the younger man. "They have ruled, crushed, -tyrannised. At last even--" - -"In my name! My name! Master?" - -The younger man suddenly became audible in a pause of the outer thunder, -indignant and vociferous, a high penetrating voice under his red -aquiline nose and bushy moustache. "No one expected you to wake. No one -expected you to wake. They were cunning. Damned tyrants! But they were -taken by surprise. They did not know whether to drug you, hypnotise you, -kill you." - -Again the hall dominated everything. - -"Ostrog is at the wind-vane offices ready--. Even now there is a rumour -of fighting beginning." - - -The man who had called himself Lincoln came close to him. "Ostrog has it -planned. Trust him. We have our organisations ready. We shall seize the -flying stages--. Even now he may be doing that. Then--" - -"This public theatre," bawled the man in yellow, "is only a contingent. -We have five myriads of drilled men--" - -"We have arms," cried Lincoln. "We have plans. A leader. Their police -have gone from the streets and are massed in the--" (inaudible). "It -is now or never. The Council is rocking--They cannot trust even their -drilled men--" - -"Hear the people calling to you!" - -Graham's mind was like a night of moon and swift clouds, now dark and -hopeless, now clear and ghastly. He was Master of the Earth, he was a -man sodden with thawing snow. Of all his fluctuating impressions the -dominant ones presented an antagonism; on the one hand was the White -Council, powerful, disciplined, few, the White Council from which he -had just escaped; and on the other, monstrous crowds, packed masses of -indistinguishable people clamouring his name, hailing him Master. -The other side had imprisoned him, debated his death. These shouting -thousands beyond the little doorway had rescued him. But why these -things should be so he could not understand. - -The door opened, Lincoln's voice was swept away and drowned, and a rush -of people followed on the heels of the tumult. These intruders came -towards him and Lincoln gesticulating. The voices without explained -their soundless lips. "Show us the Sleeper, show us the Sleeper!" was -the burden of the uproar Men were bawling for "Order! Silence!" - -Graham glanced towards the open doorway, and saw a tall, oblong picture -of the hall beyond, a waving, incessant confusion of crowded, shouting -faces, men and women together, waving pale blue garments, extended -hands. Many were standing, one man in rags of dark brown, a gaunt -figure, stood on the seat and waved a black cloth. He met the wonder and -expectation of the girl's eyes. What did these people expect from him. -He was dimly aware that the tumult outside had changed its character, -was in some way beating, marching. His own mind, too, changed for a -space he did not recognise the influence that was transforming him. -But a moment that was near to panic passed. He tried to make audible -inquiries of what was required of him. - -Lincoln was shouting in his ear, but Graham was deafened to that. All -the others save the woman gesticulated towards the hall. He perceived -what had happened to the uproar. The whole mass of people was chanting -together. It was not simply a song, the voices were gathered together -and upborne by a torrent of instrumental music, music like the music of -an organ, a woven texture of sounds, full of trumpets, full of flaunting -banners, full of the march and pageantry of opening war. And the feet of -the people were beating time--tramp, tramp. - -He was urged towards the door. He obeyed mechanically. The strength -of that chant took hold of him, stirred him, emboldened him. The hall -opened to him, a vast welter of fluttering colour swaying to the music. - -"Wave your arm to them," said Lincoln. "Wave your arm to them." - -"This," said a voice on the other side, "he must have this." Arms were -about his neck detaining him in the doorway, and a black subtly-folding -mantle hung from his shoulders. He threw his arm free of this and -followed Lincoln. He perceived the girl in grey close to him, her face -lit, her gesture onward. For the instant she became to him, flushed and -eager as she was, an embodiment of the song. He emerged in the alcove -again. Incontinently the mounting waves of the song broke upon his -appearing, and flashed up into a foam of shouting. Guided by Lincoln's -hand he marched obliquely across the centre of the stage facing the -people. - -The hall was a vast and intricate space--galleries, balconies, broad -spaces of amphitheatral steps, and great archways. Far away, high up, -seemed the mouth of a huge passage full of struggling humanity. The -whole multitude was swaying in congested masses. Individual figures -sprang out of the tumult, impressed him momentarily, and lost definition -again. Close to the platform swayed a beautiful fair woman, carried by -three men, her hair across her face and brandishing a green staff. Next -this group an old careworn man in blue canvas maintained his place in -the crush with difficulty, and behind shouted a hairless face, a -great cavity of toothless mouth. A voice called that enigmatical word -"Ostrog." All his impressions were vague save the massive emotion -of that trampling song. The multitude were beating time with their -feet--marking time, tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp. The green weapons waved, -flashed and slanted. Then he saw those nearest to him on a level space -before the stage were marching in front of him, passing towards a great -archway, shouting "To the Council!" Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp. He -raised his arm, and the roaring was redoubled. He remembered he had to -shout "March!" His mouth shaped inaudible heroic words. He waved his arm -again and pointed to the archway, shouting "Onward!" They were no longer -marking time, they were marching; tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp. In that -host were bearded men, old men, youths, fluttering robed bare-armed -women, girls. Men and women of the new age! Rich robes, grey rags -fluttered together in the whirl of their movement amidst the dominant -blue. A monstrous black banner jerked its way to the right. He perceived -a blue-clad negro, a shrivelled woman in yellow, then a group of tall -fair-haired, white-faced, blue-clad men pushed theatrically past him. -He noted two Chinamen. A tall, sallow, dark-haired, shining-eyed youth, -white clad from top to toe, clambered up towards the platform shouting -loyally, and sprang down again and receded, looking backward. Heads, -shoulders, hands clutching weapons, all were swinging with those -marching cadences. - -Faces came out of the confusion to him as he stood there, eyes met his -and passed and vanished. Men gesticulated to him, shouted inaudible -personal things. Most of the faces were flushed, but many were ghastly -white. And disease was there, and many a hand that waved to him was -gaunt and lean. Men and women of the new age! Strange and incredible -meeting! As the broad stream passed before him to the right, tributary -gangways from the remote uplands of the hall thrust downward in an -incessant replacement of people; tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp. The unison -of the song was enriched and complicated by the massive echoes of arches -and passages. Men and women mingled in the ranks; tramp, tramp, tramp, -tramp. The whole world seemed marching. Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp; his -brain was tramping. The garments waved onward, the faces poured by more -abundantly. - - -Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp; at Lincoln's pressure he turned towards the -archway, walking unconsciously in that rhythm, scarcely noticing his -movement for the melody and stir of it. The multitude, the gesture and -song, all moved in that direction, the flow of people smote downward -until the upturned faces were below the level of his feet. He was aware -of a path before him, of a suite about him, of guards and dignities, and -Lincoln on his right hand. Attendants intervened, and ever and again -blotted out the sight of the multitude to the left. Before him went the -backs of the guards in black--three and three and three. He was marched -along a little railed way, and crossed above the archway, with the -torrent dipping to flow beneath, and shouting up to him. He did not -know whither he went; he did not want to know. He glanced back across a -flaming spaciousness of hall. Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp. - - - -CHAPTER X. THE BATTLE OF THE DARKNESS - -He was no longer in the hall. He was marching along a gallery -overhanging one of the great streets of the moving platforms that -traversed the city. Before him and behind him tramped his guards. The -whole concave of the moving ways below was a congested mass of people -marching, tramping to the left, shouting, waving hands and arms, pouring -along a huge vista, shouting as they came into view, shouting as they -passed, shouting as they receded, until the globes of electric light -receding in perspective dropped down it seemed and hid the swarming bare -heads. Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp. - -The song roared up to Graham now, no longer upborne by music, but coarse -and noisy, and the beating of the marching feet, tramp, tramp, tramp, -tramp, interwove with a thunderous irregularity of footsteps from the -undisciplined rabble that poured along the higher ways. - -Abruptly he noted a contrast. The buildings on the opposite side of the -way seemed deserted, the cables and bridges that laced across the aisle -were empty and shadowy. It came into Graham's mind that these also -should have swarmed with people. - -He felt a curious emotion--throbbing--very fast! He stopped again. The -guards before him marched on; those about him stopped as he did. He saw -the direction of their faces. The throbbing had something to do with the -lights. He too looked up. - -At first it seemed to him a thing that affected the lights simply, an -isolated phenomenon, having no bearing on the things below. Each huge -globe of blinding whiteness was as it were clutched, compressed in a -systole that was followed by a transitory diastole, and again a systole -like a tightening grip, darkness, light, darkness, in rapid alternation. - -Graham became aware that this strange behaviour of the lights had to -do with the people below. The appearance of the houses and ways, the -appearance of the packed masses changed, became a confusion of vivid -lights and leaping shadows. He saw a multitude of shadows had sprung -into aggressive existence, seemed rushing up, broadening, widening, -growing with steady swiftness--to leap suddenly back and return -reinforced. The song and the tramping had ceased. The unanimous march, -he discovered, was arrested, there were eddies, a flow sideways, shouts -of "The lights!" Voices were crying together one thing. "The lights!" -cried these voices. "The lights!" He looked down. In this dancing death -of the lights the area of the street had suddenly become a monstrous -struggle. The huge white globes became purple-white, purple with a -reddish glow, flickered, flickered faster and faster, fluttered between -light and extinction, ceased to flicker and became mere fading specks -of glowing red in a vast obscurity. In ten seconds the extinction -was accomplished, and there was only this roaring darkness, a black -monstrosity that had suddenly swallowed up those glittering myriads of -men. - -He felt invisible forms about him; his arms were gripped. Something -rapped sharply against his shin. A voice bawled in his ear, "It is all -right--all right." - -Graham shook off the paralysis of his first astonishment. He struck his -forehead against Lincoln's and bawled, "What is this darkness?" - -"The Council has cut the currents that light the city. We must -wait--stop. The people will go on. They will--" - -His voice was drowned. Voices were shouting, "Save the Sleeper. Take -care of the Sleeper." A guard stumbled against Graham and hurt his hand -by an inadvertent blow of his weapon. A wild tumult tossed and whirled -about him, growing, as it seemed, louder, denser, more furious each -moment. Fragments of recognisable sounds drove towards him, were whirled -away from him as his mind reached out to grasp them. Voices seemed to be -shouting conflicting orders, other voices answered. There were suddenly -a succession of piercing screams close beneath them. - -A voice bawled in his ear, "The red police," and receded forthwith -beyond his questions. - -A crackling sound grew to distinctness, and there with a leaping of -faint flashes along the edge of the further ways. By their light Graham -saw the heads and bodies of a number of men, armed with weapons like -those of his guards, leap into an instant's dim visibility. The whole -area began to crackle, to flash with little instantaneous streaks of -light, and abruptly the darkness rolled back like a curtain. - -A glare of light dazzled his eyes, a vast seething expanse of struggling -men confused his mind. A shout, a burst of cheering, came across the -ways. He looked up to see the source of the light. A man hung far -overhead from the upper part of a cable, holding by a rope the blinding -star that had driven the darkness back. He wore a red uniform. - -Graham's eyes fell to the ways again. A wedge of red a little way along -the vista caught his eye. He saw it was a dense mass of red-clad men -jammed the higher further way, their backs against the pitiless cliff -of building, and surrounded by a dense crowd of antagonists. They were -fighting. Weapons flashed and rose and fell, heads vanished at the edge -of the contest, and other heads replaced them, the little flashes from -the green weapons became little jets of smoky grey while the light -lasted. - -Abruptly the flare was extinguished and the ways were an inky darkness -once more, a tumultuous mystery. - -He felt something thrusting against him. He was being pushed along the -gallery. Someone was shouting--it might be at him. He was too confused -to hear. He was thrust against the wall, and a number of people -blundered past him. It seemed to him that his guards were struggling -with one another. - -Suddenly the cable-hung star-holder appeared again, and the whole scene -was white and dazzling. The band of red-coats seemed broader and nearer; -its apex was half-way down the ways towards the central aisle. And -raising his eyes Graham saw that a number of these men had also appeared -now in the darkened lower galleries of the opposite building, and were -firing over the heads of their fellows below at the boiling confusion of -people on the lower ways. The meaning of these things dawned upon him. -The march of the people had come upon an ambush at the very outset. -Thrown into confusion by the extinction of the lights they were now -being attacked by the red police. Then he became aware that he was -standing alone, that his guards and Lincoln were along the gallery in -the direction along which he had come before the darkness fell. He saw -they were gesticulating to him wildly, running back towards him. A great -shouting came from across the ways. Then it seemed as though the whole -face of the darkened building opposite was lined and speckled with -red-clad men. And they were pointing over to him and shouting. "The -Sleeper! Save the Sleeper!" shouted a multitude of throats. - -Something struck the wall above his head. He looked up at the impact and -saw a star-shaped splash of silvery metal. He saw Lincoln near him. Felt -his arm gripped. Then, pat, pat; he had been missed twice. - -For a moment he did not understand this. The street was hidden, -everything was hidden, as he looked. The second flare had burned out. - -Lincoln had gripped Graham by the arm, was lugging him along the -gallery. "Before the next light!" he cried. His haste was contagious. -Graham's instinct of self-preservation overcame the paralysis of his -incredulous astonishment. He became for a time the blind creature of -the fear of death. He ran, stumbling because of the uncertainty of the -darkness, blundered into his guards as they turned to run with him. -Haste was his one desire, to escape this perilous gallery upon which he -was exposed. A third glare came close on its predecessors. With it came -a great shouting across the ways, an answering tumult from the ways. -The red-coats below, he saw, had now almost gained the central passage. -Their countless faces turned towards him, and they shouted. The white -facade opposite was densely stippled with red. All these wonderful -things concerned him, turned upon him as a pivot. These were the guards -of the Council attempting to recapture him. - -Lucky it was for him that these shots were the first fired in anger for -a hundred and fifty years. He heard bullets whacking over his head, felt -a splash of molten metal sting his ear, and perceived without looking -that the whole opposite facade, an unmasked ambuscade of red police, was -crowded and bawling and firing at him. - -Down went one of his guards before him, and Graham, unable to stop, -leapt the writhing body. - -In another second he had plunged, unhurt, into a black passage, and -incontinently someone, coming, it may be, in a transverse direction, -blundered violently into him. He was hurling down a staircase in -absolute darkness. He reeled, and was struck again, and came against a -wall with his hands. He was crushed by a weight of struggling bodies, -whirled round, and thrust to the right. A vast pressure pinned him. -He could not breathe, his ribs seemed cracking. He felt a momentary -relaxation, and then the whole mass of people moving together, bore him -back towards the great theatre from which he had so recently come. - -There were moments when his feet did not touch the ground. Then he was -staggering and shoving. He heard shouts of "They are coming!" and a -muffled cry close to him. His foot blundered against something soft, he -heard a hoarse scream under foot. He heard shouts of "The Sleeper!" but -he was too confused to speak. He heard the green weapons crackling. For -a space he lost his individual will, became an atom in a panic, blind, -unthinking, mechanical. He thrust and pressed back and writhed in the -pressure, kicked presently against a step, and found himself ascending -a slope. And abruptly the faces all about him leapt out of the black, -visible, ghastly-white and astonished, terrified, perspiring, in a livid -glare. One face, a young man's, was very near to him, not twenty inches -away. At the time it was but a passing incident of no emotional value, -but afterwards it came back to him in his dreams. For this young man, -wedged upright in the crowd for a time, had been shot and was already -dead. - -A fourth white star must have been lit by the man on the cable. Its -light came glaring in through vast windows and arches and showed Graham -that he was now one of a dense mass of flying black figures pressed back -across the lower area of the great theatre. This time the picture was -livid and fragmentary slashed and barred with black shadows. He saw that -quite near to him the red guards were fighting their way through the -people. He could not tell whether they saw him. He looked for Lincoln -and his guards. He saw Lincoln near the stage of the theatre surrounded -in a crowd of black-badged revolutionaries, lifted up and staring to -and fro as if seeking him. Graham perceived that he himself was near -the opposite edge of the crowd, that behind him, separated by a barrier, -sloped the now vacant seats of the theatre. A sudden idea came to him, -and he began fighting his way towards the barrier. As he reached it the -glare came to an end. - -In a moment he had thrown off the great cloak that not only impeded -his movements but made him conspicuous, and had slipped it from his -shoulders. He heard someone trip in its folds. In another he was scaling -the barrier and had dropped into the blackness on the further side. Then -feeling his way he came to the lower end of an ascending gangway. In -the darkness the sound of firing ceased and the roar of feet and voices -lulled. Then suddenly he came to an unexpected step and tripped and -fell. As he did so pools and islands amidst the darkness about him leapt -to vivid light again, the uproar surged louder and the glare of the -fifth white star shone through the vast fenestrations of the theatre -walls. - -He rolled over among some seats, heard a shouting and the whirring -rattle of weapons, struggled up and was knocked back again, perceived -that a number of black-badged men were all about him firing at the -rebels below, leaping from seat to seat, crouching among the seats -to reload. Instinctively he crouched amidst the seats, as stray shots -ripped the pneumatic cushions and cut bright slashes on their soft metal -frames. Instinctively he marked the direction of the gangways, the most -plausible way of escape for him so soon as the veil of darkness fell -again. - -A young man in faded blue garments came vaulting over the seats. -"Hullo!" he said, with his flying feet within six inches of the -crouching Sleeper's face. - -He stared without any sign of recognition, turned to fire, fired, and, -shouting, "To hell with the Council!" was about to fire again. Then it -seemed to Graham that the half of this man's neck had vanished. A -drop of moisture fell on Graham's cheek. The green weapon stopped -half raised. For a moment the man stood still with his face suddenly -expressionless, then he began to slant forward. His knees bent. Man and -darkness fell together. At the sound of his fall Graham rose up and ran -for his life until a step down to the gangway tripped him. He scrambled -to his feet, turned up the gangway and ran on. - -When the sixth star glared he was already close to the yawning throat of -a passage. He ran on the swifter for the light, entered the passage -and turned a corner into absolute night again. He was knocked sideways, -rolled over, and recovered his feet. He found himself one of a crowd of -invisible fugitives pressing in one direction. His one thought now -was their thought also; to escape out of this fighting. He thrust and -struck, staggered, ran, was wedged tightly, lost ground and then was -clear again. - -For some minutes he was running through the darkness along a winding -passage, and then he crossed some wide and open space, passed down a -long incline, and came at last down a flight of steps to a level place. -Many people were shouting, "They are coming! The guards are coming. They -are firing. Get out of the fighting. The guards are firing. It will be -safe in Seventh Way. Along here to Seventh Way!" There were women and -children in the crowd as well as men. Men called names to him. The crowd -converged on an archway, passed through a short throat and emerged on a -wider space again, lit dimly. The black figures about him spread out and -ran up what seemed in the twilight to be a gigantic series of steps. He -followed. The people dispersed to the right and left.... He perceived -that he was no longer in a crowd. He stopped near the highest step. -Before him, on that level, were groups of seats and a little kiosk. He -went up to this and, stopping in the shadow of its eaves, looked about -him panting. - -Everything was vague and gray, but he recognised that these great steps -were a series of platforms of the "ways," now motionless again. The -platform slanted up on either side, and the tall buildings rose beyond, -vast dim ghosts, their inscriptions and advertisements indistinctly -seen, and up through the girders and cables was a faint interrupted -ribbon of pallid sky. A number of people hurried by. From their shouts -and voices, it seemed they were hurrying to join the fighting. Other -less noisy figures flitted timidly among the shadows. - -From very far away down the street he could hear the sound of a -struggle. But it was evident to him that this was not the street into -which the theatre opened. That former fight, it seemed, had suddenly -dropped out of sound and hearing. And--grotesque thought!--they were -fighting for him! - -For a space he was like a man who pauses in the reading of a vivid book, -and suddenly doubts what he has been taking unquestioningly. At that -time he had little mind for details; the whole effect was a huge -astonishment. Oddly enough, while the flight from the Council prison, -the great crowd in the hall, and the attack of the red police upon the -swarming people were clearly present in his mind, it cost him an effort -to piece in his awakening and to revive the meditative interval of the -Silent Rooms. At first his memory leapt these things and took him back -to the cascade at Pentargen quivering in the wind, and all the sombre -splendours of the sunlit Cornish coast. The contrast touched everything -with unreality. And then the gap filled, and he began to comprehend his -position. - -It was no longer absolutely a riddle, as it had been in the Silent -Rooms. At least he had the strange, bare outline now. He was in some way -the owner of half the world, and great political parties were fighting -to possess him. On the one hand was the White Council, with its red -police, set resolutely, it seemed, on the usurpation of his property and -perhaps his murder; on the other, the revolution that had liberated him, -with this unseen "Ostrog" as its leader. And the whole of this gigantic -city was convulsed by their struggle. Frantic development of his -world! "I do not understand," he cried. "I do not understand!" - -He had slipped out between the contending parties into this liberty of -the twilight. What would happen next? What was happening? He figured -the redclad men as busily hunting him, driving the blackbadged -revolutionists before them. - -At any rate chance had given him a breathing space. He could lurk -unchallenged by the passers-by, and watch the course of things. His eye -followed up the intricate dim immensity of the twilight buildings, and -it came to him as a thing infinitely wonderful, that above there the -sun was rising, and the world was lit and glowing with the old familiar -light of day. In a little while he had recovered his breath. His -clothing had already dried upon him from the snow. - -He wandered for miles along these twilight ways, speaking to no one, -accosted by no one--a dark figure among dark figures--the coveted man -out of the past, the inestimable unintentional owner of half the world. -Wherever there were lights or dense crowds, or exceptional excitement -he was afraid of recognition, and watched and turned back or went up and -down by the middle stairways, into some transverse system of ways at a -lower or higher level. And though he came on no more fighting, the -whole city stirred with battle. Once he had to run to avoid a marching -multitude of men that swept the street. Everyone abroad seemed involved. -For the most part they were men, and they carried what he judged were -weapons. It seemed as though the struggle was concentrated mainly in -the quarter of the city from which he came. Ever and again a distant -roaring, the remote suggestion of that conflict, reached his ears. -Then his caution and his curiosity struggled together. But his caution -prevailed, and he continued wandering away from the fighting--so far as -he could judge. He went unmolested, unsuspected through the dark. After -a time he ceased to hear even a remote echo of the battle, fewer and -fewer people passed him, until at last the Titanic streets became -deserted. The frontages of the buildings grew plain and harsh; he seemed -to have come to a district of vacant warehouses. Solitude crept upon -him--his pace slackened. - -He became aware of a growing fatigue. At times he would turn aside -and seat himself on one of the numerous seats of the upper ways. But -a feverish restlessness, the knowledge of his vital implication in his -struggle, would not let him rest in any place for long. Was the struggle -on his behalf alone? - -And then in a desolate place came the shock of an earthquake--a roaring -and thundering--a mighty wind of cold air pouring through the city, -the smash of glass, the slip and thud of falling masonry--a series of -gigantic concussions. A mass of glass and ironwork fell from the remote -roofs into the middle gallery, not a hundred yards away from him, and -in the distance were shouts and running. He, too, was startled to an -aimless activity, and ran first one way and then as aimlessly back. - -A man came running towards him. His self-control returned. "What have -they blown up?" asked the man breathlessly. "That was an explosion," and -before Graham could speak he had hurried on. - -The great buildings rose dimly, veiled by a perplexing twilight, albeit -the rivulet of sky above was now bright with day. He noted many strange -features, understanding none at the time; he even spelt out many of the -inscriptions in Phonetic lettering. But what profits it to decipher a -confusion of odd-looking letters resolving itself, after painful strain -of eye and mind, into "Here is Eadhamite," or, "Labour Bureau--Little -Side?" Grotesque thought, that in all probability some or all of these -cliff-like houses were his! - -The perversity of his experience came to him vividly. In actual fact he -had made such a leap in time as romancers have imagined again and again. -And that fact realised, he had been prepared, his mind had, as it were, -seated itself for a spectacle. And no spectacle, but a great vague -danger, unsympathetic shadows and veils of darkness. Somewhere through -the labyrinthine obscurity his death sought him. Would he, after all, be -killed before he saw? It might be that even at the next shadowy corner -his destruction ambushed. A great desire to see, a great longing to -know, arose in him. - -He became fearful of corners. It seemed to him that there was safety -in concealment. Where could he hide to be inconspicuous when the lights -returned? At last he sat down upon a seat in a recess on one of the -higher ways, conceiving he was alone there. - -He squeezed his knuckles into his weary eyes. Suppose when he looked -again he found the dark through of parallel ways and that intolerable -altitude of edifice, gone? Suppose he were to discover the whole story -of these last few days, the awakening, the shouting multitudes, the -darkness and the fighting, a phantasmagoria, a new and more vivid sort -of dream. It must be a dream; it was so inconsecutive, so reasonless. -Why were the people fighting for him? Why should this saner world regard -him as Owner and Master? - -So he thought, sitting blinded, and then he looked again, half hoping -in spite of his ears to see some familiar aspect of the life of the -nineteenth century, to see, perhaps, the little harbour of Boscastle -about him, the cliffs of Pentargen, or the bedroom of his home. But fact -takes no heed of human hopes. A squad of men with a black banner tramped -athwart the nearer shadows, intent on conflict, and beyond rose that -giddy wall of frontage, vast and dark, with the dim incomprehensible -lettering showing faintly on its face. - -"It is no dream," he said, "no dream." And he bowed his face upon his -hands. - - - -CHAPTER XI. THE OLD MAN WHO KNEW EVERYTHING - -He was startled by a cough close at hand. - -He turned sharply, and peering, saw a small, hunched-up figure sitting a -couple of yards off in the shadow of the enclosure. - -"Have ye any news?" asked the high-pitched wheezy voice of a very old -man. - -Graham hesitated. "None," he said. - -"I stay here till the lights come again," said the old man. "These blue -scoundrels are everywhere--everywhere." - -Graham's answer was inarticulate assent. He tried to see the old man but -the darkness hid his face. He wanted very much to respond, to talk, but -he did not know how to begin. - -"Dark and damnable," said the old man suddenly. "Dark and damnable. -Turned out of my room among all these dangers." - -"That's hard," ventured Graham. "That's hard on you." - -"Darkness. An old man lost in the darkness. And all the world gone mad. -War and fighting. The police beaten and rogues abroad. Why don't they -bring some negroes to protect us?... No more dark passages for me. I -fell over a dead man." - -"You're safer with company," said the old man, "if it's company of -the right sort," and peered frankly. He rose suddenly and came towards -Graham. - -Apparently the scrutiny was satisfactory. The old man sat down as if -relieved to be no longer alone. "Eh!" he said, "but this is a terrible -time! War and fighting, and the dead lying there--men, strong men, dying -in the dark. Sons! I have three sons. God knows where they are tonight." - -The voice ceased. Then repeated quavering: "God knows where they are -tonight." - -Graham stood revolving a question that should not betray his ignorance. -Again the old man's voice ended the pause. - -"This Ostrog will win," he said. "He will win. And what the world will -be like under him no one can tell. My sons are under the wind-vanes, -all three. One of my daughters-in-law was his mistress for a while. -His mistress! We're not common people. Though they've sent me to wander -tonight and take my chance.... I knew what was going on. Before most -people. But this darkness! And to fall over a dead body suddenly in the -dark!" - -His wheezy breathing could be heard. - -"Ostrog!" said Graham. - -"The greatest Boss the world has ever seen," said the voice. - -Graham ransacked his mind. "The Council has few friends among the -people," he hazarded. - -"Few friends. And poor ones at that. They've had their time. Eh! They -should have kept to the clever ones. But twice they held election. And -Ostrog. And now it has burst out and nothing can stay it, nothing can -stay it. Twice they rejected Ostrog--Ostrog the Boss. I heard of his -rages at the time--he was terrible. Heaven save them! For nothing on -earth can now, he has raised the Labour Companies upon them. No one else -would have dared. All the blue canvas armed and marching! He will go -through with it. He will go through." - -He was silent for a little while. "This Sleeper," he said, and stopped. - -"Yes," said Graham. "Well?" - -The senile voice sank to a confidential whisper, the dim, pale face came -close. "The real Sleeper--" - -"Yes," said Graham. - -"Died years ago." - -"What?" said Graham, sharply. - -"Years ago. Died. Years ago." - -"You don't say so!" said Graham. - -"I do. I do say so. He died. This Sleeper who's woke up--they changed in -the night. A poor, drugged insensible creature. But I mustn't tell all I -know. I mustn't tell all I know." - -For a little while he muttered inaudibly. His secret was too much for -him. "I don't know the ones that put him to sleep--that was before my -time--but I know the man who injected the stimulants and woke him again. -It was ten to one--wake or kill. Wake or kill. Ostrog's way." - -Graham was so astonished at these things that he had to interrupt, to -make the old man repeat his words, to re-question vaguely, before he was -sure of the meaning and folly of what he heard. And his awakening had -not been natural! Was that an old man's senile superstition, too, or -had it any truth in it? Feeling in the dark corners of his memory, he -presently came on something that might conceivably be an impression of -some such stimulating effect. It dawned upon him that he had happened -upon a lucky encounter, that at last he might learn something of the -new age. The old man wheezed a while and spat, and then the piping, -reminiscent voice resumed: - -"The first time they rejected him. I've followed it all." - -"Rejected whom?" said Graham. "The Sleeper?" - -"Sleeper? No. Ostrog. He was terrible--terrible! And he was promised -then, promised certainly the next time. Fools they were--not to be more -afraid of him. Now all the city's his millstone, and such as we dust -ground upon it. Dust ground upon it. Until he set to work--the workers -cut each other's throats, and murdered a Chinaman or a Labour policeman -at times, and left the rest of us in peace. Dead bodies! Robbing! -Darkness! Such a thing hasn't been this gross of years. Eh!--but 'tis -ill on small folks when the great fall out! It's ill." - -"Did you say--there had not been what?--for a gross of years?" - -"Eh?" said the old man. - -The old man said something about clipping his words, and made him repeat -this a third time. "Fighting and slaying, and weapons in hand, and fools -bawling freedom and the like," said the old man. "Not in all my life has -there been that. These are like the old days--for sure--when the Paris -people broke out--three gross of years ago. That's what I mean hasn't -been. But it's the world's way. It had to come back. I know. I know. -This five years Ostrog has been working, and there has been trouble and -trouble, and hunger and threats and high talk and arms. Blue canvas and -murmurs. No one safe. Everything sliding and slipping. And now here we -are! Revolt and fighting, and the Council come to its end." - -"You are rather well-informed on these things," said Graham. - -"I know what I hear. It isn't all Babble Machine with me." - -"No," said Graham, wondering what Babble Machine might be. "And you are -certain this Ostrog--you are certain Ostrog organised this rebellion and -arranged for the waking of the Sleeper? Just to assert himself--because -he was not elected to the Council? - -"Everyone knows that, I should think," said the old man. "Except--just -fools. He meant to be master somehow. In the Council or not. Everyone -who knows anything knows that. And here we are with dead bodies lying -in the dark! Why, where have you been if you haven't heard all about -the trouble between Ostrog and the Verneys? And what do you think the -troubles are about? The Sleeper? Eh? You think the Sleeper's real and -woke of his own accord--eh?" - -"I'm a dull man, older than I look, and forgetful," said Graham. "Lots -of things that have happened--especially of late years--. If I was the -Sleeper, to tell you the truth, I couldn't know less about them." - -"Eh!" said the voice. "Old, are you? You don't sound so very old! But -its not everyone keeps his memory to my time of life--truly. But these -notorious things! But you're not so old as me--not nearly so old as me. -Well! I ought not to judge other men by myself, perhaps. I'm young--for -so old a man. Maybe you're old for so young." - -"That's it," said Graham. "And I've a queer history. I know very little. -And history! Practically I know no history. The Sleeper and Julius -Caesar are all the same to me. It's interesting to hear you talk of -these things." - -"I know a few things," said the old man. "I know a thing or two. But--. -Hark!" - -The two men became silent, listening. There was heavy thud, a concussion -that made their seat shiver. The passers-by stopped, shouted to one -another. The old man was full of questions; he shouted to a man who -passed near. Graham, emboldened by his example, got up and accosted -others. None knew what had happened. - -He returned to the seat and found the old man muttering vague -interrogations in an undertone. For a while they said nothing to one -another. - -The sense of this gigantic struggle, so near and yet so remote oppressed -Graham's imagination. Was this old man right, was the report of the -people right, and were the revolutionaries winning? Or were they all in -error, and were the red guards driving all before them? At any time the -flood of warfare might pour into this silent quarter of the city and -seize upon him again. It behooved him to learn all he could while there -was time. He turned suddenly to the old man with a question and left it -unsaid. But his motion moved the old man to speech again. - -"Eh! but how things work together!" said the old man. "This Sleeper that -all the fools put their trust in! I've the whole history of it--I was -always a good one for histories. When I was a boy--I'm that old--I -used to read printed books. You'd hardly think it. Likely you've seen -none--they rot and dust so--and the Sanitary Company burns them to make -ashlarite. But they were convenient in their dirty way. Oh I learnt a -lot. These new-fangled Babble Machines--they don't seem new-fangled to -you, eh?--they're easy to hear, easy to forget. But I've traced all the -Sleeper business from the first." - - -"You will scarcely believe it," said Graham slowly, "I'm so -ignorant--I've been so preoccupied in my own little affairs, my -circumstances have been so odd--I know nothing of this Sleeper's -history. Who was he?" - -"Eh!" said the old man. "I know. I know. He was a poor nobody, and set -on a playful woman, poor soul! And he fell into a trance. There's the -old things they had, those brown things--silver photographs--still -showing him as he lay, a gross and a half years ago--a gross and a half -of years." - -"Set on a playful woman, poor soul," said Graham softly to himself, and -then aloud, "Yes--well! go on." - -"You must know he had a cousin named Warming a solitary man without -children, who made a big fortune speculating in roads--the first -Eadhamite roads. But surely you've heard? No? Why? He bought all the -patent rights and made a big company. In those days there were grosses -of grosses of separate businesses and business companies. Grosses of -grosses! His roads killed the railroads--the old things--in two dozen -years; he bought up and Eadhamited the tracks. And because he didn't -want to break up his great property or let in shareholders, he left it -all to the Sleeper, and put it under a Board of Trustees that he had -picked and trained. He knew then the Sleeper wouldn't wake, that he -would go on sleeping, sleeping till he died. He knew that quite well! -And plump! a man in the United States, who had lost two sons in a boat -accident, followed that up with another great bequest. His trustees -found themselves with a dozen myriads of lions'-worth or more of -property at the very beginning." - -"What was his name?" - -"Graham." - -"No, I mean--that American's." - -"Isbister." - -"Isbister!" cried Graham. "Why, I don't even know the name." - -"Of course not," said the old man. "Of course not. People don't learn -much in the schools nowadays. But I know all about him. He was a rich -American who went from England, and he left the Sleeper even more than -Warming. How he made it? That I don't know. Something about pictures by -machinery. But he made it and left it, and so the Council had its start. -It was just a council of trustees at first." - -"And how did it grow?" - -"Eh!--but you're not up to things. Money attracts money--and twelve -brains are better than one. They played it cleverly. They worked -politics with money, and kept on adding to the money by working currency -and tariffs. They grew--they grew. And for years the twelve trustees -hid the growing of the Sleeper's estate, under double names and company -titles and all that. The Council spread by title deed, mortgage, share, -every political party, every newspaper, they bought. If you listen to -the old stories you will see the Council growing and growing. Billions -and billions of lions at last--the Sleeper's estate. And all growing -out of a whim--out of this Warming's will, and an accident to Isbister's -sons. - -"Men are strange," said the old man. "The strange, thing to me is how -the Council worked together so long. As many as twelve. But they worked -in cliques from the first. And they've slipped back. In my young days -speaking of the Council was like an ignorant man speaking of God. We -didn't think they could do wrong. We didn't know of their women and all -that! Or else I've got wiser. - -"Men are strange," said the old man. "Here are you, young and -ignorant, and me--sevendy years old, and I might reasonably be -forgetting--explaining it all to you short and clear. - -"Sevendy," he said, "sevendy, and I hear and see--hear better than I -see. And reason clearly, and keep myself up to all the happenings of -things. Sevendy! - -"Life is strange. I was twaindy before Ostrog was a baby. I remember him -long before he'd pushed his way to the head of the Wind Vanes Control. -I've seen many changes. Eh! I've worn the blue. And at last I've come to -see this crush and darkness and tumult and dead men carried by in heaps -on the ways. And all his doing! All his doing!" - -His voice died away in scarcely articulate praises of Ostrog. - -Graham thought. "Let me see," he said, "if I have it right." - -He extended a hand and ticked off points upon his fingers. "The Sleeper -has been asleep--" - -"Changed," said the old man. - -"Perhaps. And meanwhile the Sleeper's property grew in the hands of -Twelve Trustees, until it swallowed up nearly all the great ownership of -the world. The Twelve Trustees--by virtue of this property have become -virtually masters of the world. Because they are the paying power--just -as the old English Parliament used to be--" - -"Eh!" said the old man. "That's so--that's a good comparison. You're not -so--" - -"And now this Ostrog--has suddenly revolutionised the world by waking -the Sleeper--whom no one but the superstitious, common people had ever -dreamt would wake again--raising the Sleeper to claim his property from -the Council, after all these years." - -The old man endorsed this statement with a cough. "It's strange," -he said, "to meet a man who learns these things for the first time -tonight." - -"Aye," said Graham, "it's strange." - -"Have you been in a Pleasure City?" said the old man. "All my life I've -longed--" He laughed. "Even now," he said, "I could enjoy a little -fun. Enjoy seeing things, anyhow." He mumbled a sentence Graham did not -understand. - -"The Sleeper--when did he awake?" said Graham suddenly. - -"Three days ago." - -"Where is he?" - -"Ostrog has him. He escaped from the Council not four hours ago. My -dear sir, where were you at the time? He was in the hall of the -markets--where the fighting has been. All the city was screaming about -it. All the Babble Machines! Everywhere it was shouted. Even the fools -who speak for the Council were admitting it. Everyone was rushing off to -see him--everyone was getting arms. Were you drunk or asleep? And even -then! But you're joking! Surely you're pretending. It was to stop the -shouting of the Babble Machines and prevent the people gathering that -they turned off the electricity--and put this damned darkness upon us. -Do you mean to say--?" - -"I had heard the Sleeper was rescued," said Graham. "But--to come back a -minute. Are you sure Ostrog has him?" - -"He won't let him go," said the old man. - -"And the Sleeper. Are you sure he is not genuine? I have never heard--" - -"So all the fools think. So they think. As if there wasn't a thousand -things that were never heard. I know Ostrog too well for that. Did -I tell you? In a way I'm a sort of relation of Ostrog's. A sort of -relation. Through my daughter-in-law." - - -"I suppose--" - -"Well?" - -"I suppose there's no chance of this Sleeper asserting himself. I -suppose he's certain to be a puppet--in Ostrog's hands or the Council's, -as soon as the struggle is over." - -"In Ostrog's hands--certainly. Why shouldn't he be a puppet? Look at his -position. Everything done for him, every pleasure possible. Why should -he want to assert himself?" - -"What are these Pleasure Cities?" said Graham, abruptly. - -The old man made him repeat the question. When at last he was assured -of Graham's words, he nudged him violently. "That's too much," said he. -"You're poking fun at an old man. I've been suspecting you know more -than you pretend." - -"Perhaps I do," said Graham. "But no! why should I go on acting? No, I -do not know what a Pleasure City is." - -The old man laughed in an intimate way. - -"What is more, I do not know how to read your letters, I do not know -what money you use, I do not know what foreign countries there are. I -do not know where I am. I cannot count. I do not know where to get food, -nor drink, nor shelter." - -"Come, come," said the old man, "if you had a glass of drink, now, would -you put it in your ear or your eye?" - -"I want you to tell me all these things." - -"He, he! Well, gentlemen who dress in silk must have their fun." A -withered hand caressed Graham's arm for a moment. "Silk. Well, well! -But, all the same, I wish I was the man who was put up as the Sleeper. -He'll have a fine time of it. All the pomp and pleasure. He's a queer -looking face. When they used to let anyone go to see him, I've got -tickets and been. The image of the real one, as the photographs show -him, this substitute used to be. Yellow. But he'll get fed up. It's a -queer world. Think of the luck of it. The luck of it. I expect he'll be -sent to Capri. It's the best fun for a greener." - -His cough overtook him again. Then he began mumbling enviously of -pleasures and strange delights. "The luck of it, the luck of it! All my -life I've been in London, hoping to get my chance." - -"But you don't know that the Sleeper died," said Graham, suddenly. - -The old man made him repeat his words. - -"Men don't live beyond ten dozen. It's not in the order of things," said -the old man. "I'm not a fool. Fools may believe it, but not me." - -Graham became angry with the old man's assurance. "Whether you are a -fool or not," he said, "it happens you are wrong about the Sleeper." - -"Eh?" - -"You are wrong about the Sleeper. I haven't told you before, but I will -tell you now. You are wrong about the Sleeper." - -"How do you know? I thought you didn't know anything--not even about -Pleasure Cities." - -Graham paused. - -"You don't know," said the old man. "How are you to know? It's very few -men--" - -"I _am_ the Sleeper." - -He had to repeat it. - -There was a brief pause. "There's a silly thing to say, sir, if you'll -excuse me. It might get you into trouble in a time like this," said the -old man. Graham, slightly dashed, repeated his assertion. - -"I was saying I was the Sleeper. That years and years ago I did, indeed, -fall asleep, in a little stonebuilt village, in the days when there were -hedgerows, and villages, and inns, and all the countryside cut up into -little pieces, little fields. Have you never heard of those days? And it -is I--I who speak to you--who awakened again these four days since." - -"Four days since!--the Sleeper! But they've got the Sleeper. They have -him and they won't let him go. Nonsense! You've been talking sensibly -enough up to now. I can see it as though I was there. There will be -Lincoln like a keeper just behind him; they won't let him go about -alone. Trust them. You're a queer fellow. One of these fun pokers. I see -now why you have been clipping your words so oddly, but--" - -He stopped abruptly, and Graham could see his gesture. - -"As if Ostrog would let the Sleeper run about alone! No, you're telling -that to the wrong man altogether. Eh! as if I should believe. What's -your game? And besides, we've been talking of the Sleeper." - -Graham stood up. "Listen," he said. "I am the Sleeper." - -"You're an odd man," said the old man, "to sit here in the dark, talking -clipped, and telling a lie of that sort. But--" - -Graham's exasperation fell to laughter. "It is preposterous," he cried. -"Preposterous. The dream must end. It gets wilder and wilder. Here am -I--in this damned twilight--I never knew a dream in twilight before--an -anachronism by two hundred years and trying to persuade an old fool that -I am myself, and meanwhile--Ugh!" - -He moved in gusty irritation and went striding. In a moment the old man -was pursuing him. "Eh! but don't go!" cried the old man. "I'm an old -fool, I know. Don't go. Don't leave me in all this darkness." - -Graham hesitated, stopped. Suddenly the folly of telling his secret -flashed into his mind. - -"I didn't mean to offend you--disbelieving you," said the old man coming -near. "It's no manner of harm. Call yourself the Sleeper if it pleases -you. 'Tis a foolish trick." - -Graham hesitated, turned abruptly and went on his way. - -For a time he heard the old man's hobbling pursuit and his wheezy cries -receding. But at last the darkness swallowed him, and Graham saw him no -more. - - - -CHAPTER XII. OSTROG - -Graham could now take a clearer view of his position. For a long time -yet he wandered, but after the talk of the old man his discovery of this -Ostrog was clear in his mind as the final inevitable decision. One -thing was evident, those who were at the headquarters of the revolt had -succeeded very admirably in suppressing the fact of his disappearance. -But every moment he expected to hear the report of his death or of his -recapture by the Council. - -Presently a man stopped before him. "Have you heard?" he said. - -"No!" said Graham starting. - -"Near a dozand," said the man, "a dozand men!" and hurried on. - -A number of men and a girl passed in the darkness, gesticulating and -shouting: "Capitulated! Given up!" "A dozand of men." "Two dozand of -men." "Ostrog, Hurrah! Ostrog, Hurrah!" These cries receded, became -indistinct. - -Other shouting men followed. For a time his attention was absorbed -in the fragments of speech he heard. He had a doubt whether all were -speaking English. Scraps floated to him, scraps like Pigeon English, -like 'nigger' dialect, blurred and mangled distortions. He dared -accost no one with questions. The impression the people gave him jarred -altogether with his preconceptions of the struggle and confirmed the -old man's faith in Ostrog. It was only slowly he could bring himself -to believe that all these people were rejoicing at the defeat of the -Council, that the Council which had pursued him with such power and -vigour was after all the weaker of the two sides in conflict. And if -that was so, how did it affect him? Several times he hesitated on the -verge of fundamental questions. Once he turned and walked for a long -way after a little man of rotund inviting outline, but he was unable to -master confidence to address him. - -It was only slowly that it came to him that he might ask for the -"wind-vane offices," whatever the "wind-vane offices" might be. -His first enquiry simply resulted in a direction to go on towards -Westminster. His second led to the discovery of a short cut in which -he was speedily lost. He was told to leave the ways to which he had -hitherto confined himself knowing no other means of transit--and -to plunge down one of the middle staircases into the blackness of a -crossway. Thereupon came some trivial adventures; chief of these an -ambiguous encounter with a gruff-voiced invisible creature speaking in -a strange dialect that seemed at first a strange tongue, a thick flow of -speech with the drifting corpses of English words therein, the dialect -of the latter-day vile. Then another voice drew near, a girl's voice -singing, "tralala tralala." She spoke to Graham, her English touched -with something of the same quality. She professed to have lost her -sister, she blundered needlessly into him he thought, caught hold of him -and laughed. But a word of vague remonstrance sent her into the unseen -again. - -The sounds about him increased. Stumbling people passed him, speaking -excitedly. "They have surrendered!" "The Council! Surely not the -Council!" "They are saying so in the Ways." The passage seemed wider. -Suddenly the wall fell away. He was in a great space and people were -stirring remotely. He inquired his way of an indistinct figure. "Strike -straight across," said a woman's voice. He left his guiding wall, and in -a moment had stumbled against a little table on which were utensils of -glass. Graham's eyes, now attuned to darkness, made out a long vista -with pallid tables on either side. He went down this. At one or two of -the tables he heard a clang of glass and a sound of eating. There were -people then cool enough to dine, or daring enough to steal a meal -in spite of social convulsion and darkness. Far off and high up he -presently saw a pallid light of a semi-circular shape. As he approached -this, a black edge came up and hid it. He stumbled at steps and found -himself in a gallery. He heard a sobbing, and found two scared little -girls crouched by a railing. These children became silent at the near -sound of feet. He tried to console them, but they were very still until -he left them. Then as he receded he could hear them sobbing again. - -Presently he found himself at the foot of a staircase and near a wide -opening. He saw a dim twilight above this and ascended out of the -blackness into a street of moving Ways again. Along this a disorderly -swarm of people marched shouting. They were singing snatches of the song -of the revolt, most of them out of tune. Here and there torches flared -creating brief hysterical shadows. He asked his way and was twice -puzzled by that same thick dialect. His third attempt won an answer -he could understand. He was two miles from the wind-vane offices in -Westminster, but the way was easy to follow. - -When at last he did approach the district of the wind-vane offices it -seemed to him, from the cheering processions that came marching along -the Ways, from the tumult of rejoicing, and finally from the restoration -of the lighting of the city, that the overthrow of the Council must -already be accomplished. And still no news of his absence came to his -ears. - -The re-illumination of the city came with startling abruptness. Suddenly -he stood blinking, all about him men halted dazzled, and the world was -incandescent. The light found him already upon the outskirts of the -excited crowds that choked the Ways near the wind-vane offices, and the -sense of visibility and exposure that came with it turned his colourless -intention of joining Ostrog to a keen anxiety. - -For a time he was jostled, obstructed, and endangered by men hoarse and -weary with cheering his name, some of them bandaged and bloody in his -cause. The frontage of the wind-vane offices was illuminated by some -moving picture, but what it was he could not see, because in spite -of his strenuous attempts the density of the crowd prevented his -approaching it. From the fragments of speech he caught, he judged it -conveyed news of the fighting about the Council House. Ignorance and -indecision made him slow and ineffective in his movements. For a time he -could not conceive how he was to get within the unbroken facade of this -place. He made his way slowly into the midst of this mass of people, -until he realised that the descending staircase of the central Way led -to the interior of the buildings. This gave him a goal, but the crowding -in the central path was so dense that it was long before he could reach -it. And even then he encountered intricate obstruction, and had an hour -of vivid argument first in this guard room and then in that before he -could get a note taken to the one man of all men who was most eager -to see him. His story was laughed to scorn at one place, and wiser for -that, when at last he reached a second stairway he professed simply to -have news of extraordinary importance for Ostrog. What it was he would -not say. They sent his note reluctantly. For a long time he waited in -a little room at the foot of the lift shaft, and thither at last came -Lincoln, eager, apologetic, astonished. He stopped in the doorway -scrutinising Graham, then rushed forward effusively. - -"Yes," he cried. "It is you. And you are not dead!" - -Graham made a brief explanation. - -"My brother is waiting," explained Lincoln. "He is alone in the -wind-vane offices. We feared you had been killed in the theatre. He -doubted--and things are very urgent still in spite of what we are -telling them _there_--or he would have come to you." - -They ascended a lift, passed along a narrow passage, crossed a -great hall, empty save for two hurrying messengers, and entered a -comparatively little room, whose only furniture was a long settee and a -large oval disc of cloudy, shifting grey, hung by cables from the wall. -There Lincoln left Graham for a space, and he remained alone without -understanding the shifting smoky shapes that drove slowly across this -disc. - -His attention was arrested by a sound that began abruptly. It was -cheering, the frantic cheering of a vast but very remote crowd, a -roaring exultation. This ended as sharply as it had begun, like a sound -heard between the opening and shutting of a door. In the outer room was -a noise of hurrying steps and a melodious clinking as if a loose chain -was running over the teeth of a wheel. - -Then he heard the voice of a woman, the rustle of unseen garments. "It -is Ostrog!" he heard her say. A little bell rang fitfully, and then -everything was still again. - -Presently came voices, footsteps and movement without. The footsteps -of some one person detached itself from the other sounds and drew -near, firm, evenly measured steps. The curtain lifted slowly. A tall, -white-haired man, clad in garments of cream coloured silk, appeared, -regarding Graham from under his raised arm. - -For a moment the white form remained holding the curtain, then dropped -it and stood before it. Graham's first impression was of a very broad -forehead, very pale blue eyes deep sunken under white brows, an aquiline -nose, and a heavily-lined resolute mouth. The folds of flesh over the -eyes, the drooping of the corners of the mouth contradicted the -upright bearing, and said the man was old. Graham rose to his feet -instinctively, and for a moment the two men stood in silence, regarding -each other. - -"You are Ostrog?" said Graham. - -"I am Ostrog." - -"The Boss?" - -"So I am called." - -Graham felt the inconvenience of the silence. "I have to thank you -chiefly, I understand, for my safety," he said presently. - -"We were afraid you were killed," said Ostrog. - -"Or sent to sleep again--for ever. We have been doing everything to keep -our secret--the secret of your disappearance. Where have you been? How -did you get here?" - -Graham told him briefly. - -Ostrog listened in silence. - -He smiled faintly. "Do you know what I was doing when they came to tell -me you had come?" - -"How can I guess?" - -"Preparing your double." - -"My double?" - -"A man as like you as we could find. We were going to hypnotise him, to -save him the difficulty of acting. It was imperative. The whole of this -revolt depends on the idea that you are awake, alive, and with us. Even -now a great multitude of people has gathered in the theatre clamouring -to see you. They do not trust... You know, of course--something of your -position?" - -"Very little," said Graham. - -"It is like this." Ostrog walked a pace or two into the room and turned. -"You are absolute owner," he said, "of more than half the world. As a -result of that you are practically King. Your powers are limited in -many intricate ways, but you are the figure head, the popular symbol of -government. This White Council, the Council of Trustees as it is called." - -"I have heard the vague outline of these things." - -"I wondered." - -"I came upon a garrulous old man." - -"I see... Our masses--the word comes from your days--you know of course, -that we still have masses--regard you as our actual ruler. Just as a -great number of people in your days regarded the Crown as the ruler. -They are discontented--the masses all over the earth--with the rule -of your Trustees. For the most part it is the old discontent, the old -quarrel of the common man with his commonness--the misery of work and -discipline and unfitness. But your Trustees have ruled ill. In certain -matters, in the administration of the Labour Companies, for example, -they have been unwise. They have given endless opportunities. Already we -of the popular party were agitating for reforms--when your waking came. -Came! If it had been contrived it could not have come more opportunity." -He smiled. "The public mind, making no allowance for your years of -quiescence, had already hit on the thought of waking you and appealing -to you, and--Flash!" - -He indicated the outbreak by a gesture, and Graham moved his head to -show that he understood. - -"The Council muddled--quarreled. They always do. They could not decide -what to do with you. You know how they imprisoned you?" - -"I see. I see. And now--we win?" - -"We win. Indeed we win. Tonight, in five swift hours. Suddenly we struck -everywhere. The windvane people, the Labour Company and its millions, -burst the bonds. We got the pull of the aeropiles." - -He paused. "Yes," said Graham, guessing that aeropile meant flying -machine. - -"That was, of course, essential. Or they could have got away. All the -city rose, every third man almost was in it! All the blue, all the -public services, save only just a few aeronauts and about half the red -police. You were rescued, and their own police of the Ways--not half of -them could be massed at the Council House--have been broken up, disarmed -or killed. All London is ours--now. Only the Council House remains. - -"Half of those who remain to them of the red police were lost in that -foolish attempt to recapture you. They lost their heads when they lost -you. They flung all they had at the theatre. We cut them off from -the Council House there. Truly tonight has been a night of victory. -Everywhere your star has blazed. A day ago--the White Council ruled as -it has ruled for a gross of years, for a century and a half of years, -and then, with only a little whispering, a covert arming here and there, -suddenly--So!" - -"I am very ignorant," said Graham. "I suppose--. I do not clearly -understand the conditions of this fighting. If you could explain. Where -is the Council? Where is the fight?" - -Ostrog stepped across the room, something clicked, and suddenly, -save for an oval glow, they were in darkness. For a moment Graham was -puzzled. - -Then he saw that the cloudy grey disc had taken depth and colour, had -assumed the appearance of an oval window looking out upon a strange -unfamiliar scene. - -At the first glance he was unable to guess what this scene might be. -It was a daylight scene, the daylight of a wintry day, grey and clear. -Across the picture and halfway as it seemed between him and the remoter -view, a stout cable of twisted white wire stretched vertically. Then he -perceived that the rows of great windwheels he saw, the wide intervals, -the occasional gulfs of darkness, were akin to those through which he -had fled from the Council House. He distinguished an orderly file of red -figures marching across an open space between files of men in black, -and realised before Ostrog spoke that he was looking down on the upper -surface of latter-day London. The overnight snows had gone. He judged -that this mirror was some modern replacement of the camera obscura, but -that matter was not explained to him. He saw that though the file of red -figures was trotting from left to right, yet they were passing out of -the picture to the left. He wondered momentarily, and then saw that the -picture was passing slowly, panorama fashion, across the oval. - -"In a moment you will see the fighting," said Ostrog at his elbow. -"Those fellows in red you notice are prisoners. This is the roof space -of London--all the houses are practically continuous now. The streets -and public squares are covered in. The gaps and chasms of your time have -disappeared." - -Something out of focus obliterated half the picture. Its form suggested -a man. There was a gleam of metal, a flash, something that swept across -the oval, as the eyelid of a bird sweeps across its eye, and the picture -was clear again. And now Graham beheld men running down among the -wind-wheels, pointing weapons from which jetted out little -smoky flashes. They swarmed thicker and thicker to the right, -gesticulating--it might be they were shouting, but of that the picture -told nothing. They and the windwheels passed slowly and steadily across -the field of the mirror. - -"Now," said Ostrog, "comes the Council House," and slowly a black edge -crept into view and gathered Graham's attention. Soon it was no longer -an edge but a cavity, a huge blackened space amidst the clustering -edifices, and from it thin spires of smoke rose into the pallid winter -sky. Gaunt ruinous masses of the building, mighty truncated piers and -girders, rose dismally out of this cavernous darkness. And over these -vestiges of some splendid place, countless minute men were clambering, -leaping, swarming. - -"This is the Council House," said Ostrog. "Their last stronghold. And -the fools wasted enough ammunition to hold out for a month in blowing up -the buildings all about them--to stop our attack. You heard the smash? -It shattered half the brittle glass in the city." - -And while he spoke, Graham saw that beyond this sea of ruins, -overhanging it and rising to a great height, was a ragged mass of white -building. This mass had been isolated by the ruthless destruction of -its surroundings. Black gaps marked the passages the disaster had torn -apart; big halls had been slashed open and the decoration of their -interiors showed dismally in the wintry dawn, and down the jagged wall -hung festoons of divided cables and twisted ends of lines and metallic -rods. And amidst all the vast details moved little red specks, the -red-clothed defenders of the Council. Every now and then faint flashes -illuminated the bleak shadows. At the first sight it seemed to Graham -that an attack upon this isolated white building was in progress, but -then he perceived that the party of the revolt was not advancing, but -sheltered amidst the colossal wreckage that encircled this last ragged -stronghold of the red-garbed men, was keeping up a fitful firing. - -And not ten hours ago he had stood beneath the ventilating fans in a -little chamber within that remote building wondering what was happening -in the world! - -Looking more attentively as this warlike episode moved silently across -the centre of the mirror, Graham saw that the white building was -surrounded on every side by ruins, and Ostrog proceeded to describe -in concise phrases how its defenders had sought by such destruction to -isolate themselves from a storm. He spoke of the loss of men that huge -downfall had entailed in an indifferent tone. He indicated an improvised -mortuary among the wreckage showed ambulances swarming like cheese-mites -along a ruinous groove that had once been a street of moving ways. He -was more interested in pointing out the parts of the Council House, the -distribution of the besiegers. In a little while the civil contest -that had convulsed London was no longer a mystery to Graham. It was -no tumultuous revolt had occurred that night, no equal warfare, but -a splendidly organised _coup d'etat_. Ostrog's grasp of details was -astonishing; he seemed to know the business of even the smallest knot of -black and red specks that crawled amidst these places. - -He stretched a huge black arm across the luminous picture, and showed -the room whence Graham had escaped, and across the chasm of ruins the -course of his flight. Graham recognised the gulf across which the gutter -ran, and the wind-wheels where he had crouched from the flying machine. -The rest of his path had succumbed to the explosion. He looked again at -the Council House, and it was already half hidden, and on the right a -hillside with a cluster of domes and pinnacles, hazy, dim and distant, -was gliding into view. - -"And the Council is really overthrown?" he said. - -"Overthrown," said Ostrog. - -"And I--. Is it indeed true that I?" - -"You are Master of the World." - -"But that white flag--" - -"That is the flag of the Council--the flag of the Rule of the World. It -will fall. The fight is over. Their attack on the theatre was their last -frantic struggle. They have only a thousand men or so, and some of these -men will be disloyal. They have little ammunition. And we are reviving -the ancient arts. We are casting guns." - -"But--help. Is this city the world?" - -"Practically this is all they have left to them of their empire. -Abroad the cities have either revolted with us or wait the issue. Your -awakening has perplexed them, paralysed them." - -"But haven't the Council flying machines? Why is there no fighting with -them?" - -"They had. But the greater part of the aeronauts were in the revolt with -us. They wouldn't take the risk of fighting on our side, but they would -not stir against us. We had to get a pull with the aeronauts. Quite half -were with us, and the others knew it. Directly they knew you had got -away, those looking for you dropped. We killed the man who shot at -you--an hour ago. And we occupied the flying stages at the outset in -every city we could, and so stopped and captured the airplanes, and as -for the little flying machines that turned out--for some did--we kept up -too straight and steady a fire for them to get near the Council House. -If they dropped they couldn't rise again, because there's no clear space -about there for them to get up. Several we have smashed, several others -have dropped and surrendered, the rest have gone off to the Continent -to find a friendly city if they can before their fuel runs out. Most of -these men were only too glad to be taken prisoner and kept out of harm's -way. Upsetting in a flying machine isn't a very attractive prospect. -There's no chance for the Council that way. Its days are done." - -He laughed and turned to the oval reflection again to show Graham what -he meant by flying stages. Even the four nearer ones were remote and -obscured by a thin morning haze. But Graham could perceive they were -very vast structures, judged even by the standard of the things about -them. - -And then as these dim shapes passed to the left there came again the -sight of the expanse across which the disarmed men in red had been -marching. And then the black ruins, and then again the beleaguered -white fastness of the Council. It appeared no longer a ghostly pile, but -glowing amber in the sunlight, for a cloud shadow had passed. About it -the pigmy struggle still hung in suspense, but now the red defenders -were no longer firing. - -So, in a dusky stillness, the man from the nineteenth century saw the -closing scene of the great revolt, the forcible establishment of his -rule. With a quality of startling discovery it came to him that this -was his world, and not that other he had left behind; that this was no -spectacle to culminate and cease; that in this world lay whatever -life was still before him, lay all his duties and dangers and -responsibilities. He turned with fresh questions. Ostrog began to answer -them, and then broke off abruptly. "But these things I must explain more -fully later. At present there are--duties. The people are coming by the -moving ways towards this ward from every part of the city--the markets -and theatres are densely crowded. You are just in time for them. They -are clamouring to see you. And abroad they want to see you. Paris, -New York, Chicago, Denver, Capri--thousands of cities are up and in a -tumult, undecided, and clamouring to see you. They have clamoured that -you should be awakened for years, and now it is done they will scarcely -believe--" - -"But surely--I can't go..." - -Ostrog answered from the other side of the room, and the picture -on the oval disc paled and vanished as the light jerked back again. -"There are kinetotele-photographs," he said. "As you bow to the people -here--all over the world myriads of myriads of people, packed and still -in darkened halls, will see you also. In black and white, of course--not -like this. And you will hear their shouts reinforcing the shouting in -the hall. - -"And there is an optical contrivance we shall use," said Ostrog, "used -by some of the posturers and women dancers. It may be novel to you. You -stand in a very bright light, and they see not you but a magnified -image of you thrown on a screen--so that even the furtherest man in the -remotest gallery can, if he chooses, count your eyelashes." - -Graham clutched desperately at one of the questions in his mind. "What -is the population of London?" - -"Eight and twaindy myriads." - -"Eight and what?" - -"More than thirty-three millions." - -These figures went beyond Graham's imagination "You will be expected to -say something," said Ostrog. "Not what you used to call a Speech, but -what our people call a Word--just one sentence, six or seven words. -Something formal. If I might suggest--'I have awakened and my heart is -with you.' That is the sort of thing they want." - -"What was that?" asked Graham. - -"'I am awakened and my heart is with you.' And bow--bow royally. But -first we must get you black robes--for black is your colour. Do you -mind? And then they will disperse to their homes." - -Graham hesitated. "I am in your hands," he said. - -Ostrog was clearly of that opinion. He thought for a moment, turned -to the curtain and called brief directions to some unseen attendants. -Almost immediately a black robe, the very fellow of the black robe -Graham had worn in the theatre, was brought. And as he threw it about -his shoulders there came from the room without the shrilling of a -high-pitched bell. Ostrog turned in interrogation to the attendant, -then suddenly seemed to change his mind, pulled the curtain aside and -disappeared. - -For a moment Graham stood with the deferential attendant listening -to Ostrog's retreating steps. There was a sound of quick question and -answer and of men running. The curtain was snatched back and Ostrog -reappeared, his massive face glowing with excitement. He crossed the -room in a stride, clicked the room into darkness, gripped Grahams arm -and pointed to the mirror. - -"Even as we turned away," he said. - -Graham saw his index finger, black and colossal, above the mirrored -Council House. For a moment he did not understand. And then he perceived -that the flagstaff that had carried the white banner was bare. - -"Do you mean--?" he began. - -"The Council has surrendered. Its rule is at an end for evermore." - -"Look!" and Ostrog pointed to a coil of black that crept in little jerks -up the vacant flagstaff, unfolding as it rose. - -The oval picture paled as Lincoln pulled the curtain aside and entered. - -"They are clamourous," he said. - -Ostrog kept his grip of Graham's arm. - -"We have raised the people," he said. "We have given them arms. For -today at least their wishes must be law." - -Lincoln held the Curtain open for Graham and Ostrog to pass through. - -On his way to the markets Graham had a transitory glance of a long -narrow white-walled room in which men in the universal blue canvas -were carrying covered things like biers, and about which men in medical -purple hurried to and fro. From this room came groans and wailing. -He had an impression of an empty blood-stained couch, of men on other -couches, bandaged and blood-stained. It was just a glimpse from a railed -footway and then a buttress hid the place and they were going on towards -the markets. - -The roar of the multitude was near now: it leapt to thunder. And, -arresting his attention, a fluttering of black banners, the waving of -blue canvas and brown rags, and the swarming vastness of the theatre -near the public markets came into view down a long passage. The picture -opened out. He perceived they were entering the great theatre of his -first appearance, the great theatre he had last seen as a chequer-work -of glare and blackness in his flight from the red police. This time he -entered it along a gallery at a level high above the stage. The place -was now brilliantly lit again. He sought the gangway up which he had -fled, but he could not tell it from among its dozens of fellows; nor -could he see anything of the smashed seats, deflated cushions, and such -like traces of the fight because of the density of the people. Except -the stage the whole place was closely packed. Looking down the effect -was a vast area of stippled pink, each dot a still upturned face -regarding him. At his appearance with Ostrog the cheering died away, the -singing died away, a common interest stilled and unified the disorder. -It seemed as though every individual of those myriads was watching him. - - - -CHAPTER XIII. THE END OF THE OLD ORDER - - -So far as Graham was able to judge, it was near midday when the white -banner of the Council fell. But some hours had to elapse before it was -possible to effect the formal capitulation, and so after he had spoken -his "Word" he retired to his new apartments in the wind-vane offices. -The continuous excitement of the last twelve hours had left him -inordinately fatigued, even his curiosity was exhausted; for a space he -sat inert and passive with open eyes, and for a space he slept. He -was roused by two medical attendants, come prepared with stimulants to -sustain him through the next occasion. After he had taken their drugs -and bathed by their advice in cold water, he felt a rapid return of -interest and energy, and was presently able and willing to accompany -Ostrog through several miles (as it seemed) of passages, lifts, and -slides to the closing scene of the White Council's rule. - -The way ran deviously through a maze of buildings. They came at last to -a passage that curved about, and showed broadening before him an oblong -opening, clouds hot with sunset, and the ragged skyline of the ruinous -Council House. A tumult of shouts came drifting up to him. In another -moment they had come out high up on the brow of the cliff of torn -buildings that overhung the wreckage. The vast area opened to Graham's -eyes, none the less strange and wonderful for the remote view he had had -of it in the oval mirror. - -This rudely amphitheatral space seemed now the better part of a mile to -its outer edge. It was gold lit on the left hand, catching the sunlight, -and below and to the right clear and cold in the shadow. Above the -shadowy grey Council House that stood in the midst of it, the great -black banner of the surrender still hung in sluggish folds against -the blazing sunset. Severed rooms, halls and passages gaped strangely, -broken masses of metal projected dismally from the complex wreckage, -vast masses of twisted cable dropped like tangled seaweed, and from its -base came a tumult of innumerable voices, violent concussions, and -the sound of trumpets. All about this great white pile was a ring of -desolation; the smashed and blackened masses, the gaunt foundations and -ruinous lumber of the fabric that had been destroyed by the Council's -orders, skeletons of girders, Titanic masses of wall, forests of stout -pillars. Amongst the sombre wreckage beneath, running water flashed and -glistened, and far away across the space, out of the midst of a vague -vast mass of buildings, there thrust the twisted end of a water-main, -two hundred feet in the air, thunderously spouting a shining cascade. -And everywhere great multitudes of people. - -Wherever there was space and foothold, people swarmed, little people, -small and minutely clear, except where the sunset touched them to -indistinguishable gold. They clambered up the tottering walls, they -clung in wreaths and groups about the high-standing pillars. They -swarmed along the edges of the circle of ruins. The air was full of -their shouting, and were pressing and swaying towards the central space. - -The upper storeys of the Council House seemed deserted, not a human -being was visible. Only the drooping banner of the surrender hung -heavily against the light. The dead were within the Council House, or -hidden by the swarming people, or carried away. Graham could see only -a few neglected bodies in gaps and corners of the ruins, and amidst the -flowing water. - -"Will you let them see you, Sire?" said Ostrog. "They are very anxious -to see you." - -Graham hesitated, and then walked forward to where the broken verge -of wall dropped sheer. He I stood looking down, a lonely, tall, black -figure against the sky. - -Very slowly the swarming ruins became aware of him. And as they did so -little bands of black-uniformed men appeared remotely, thrusting through -the crowds towards the Council House. He saw little black heads become -pink, looking at him, saw by that means a wave of recognition sweep -across the space. It occurred to him that he should accord them some -recognition. He held up his arm, then pointed to the Council House and -dropped his hand. The voices below became unanimous, gathered volume, -came up to him as multitudinous wavelets of cheering. - -The western sky was a pallid bluish green, and Jupiter shone high in -the south, before the capitulation was accomplished. Above was a slow -insensible change, the advance of night serene and beautiful; below was -hurry, excitement, conflicting orders, pauses, spasmodic developments of -organisation, a vast ascending clamour and confusion. Before the Council -came out, toiling perspiring men, directed by a conflict of shouts, -carried forth hundreds of those who had perished in the hand-to-hand -conflict within those long passages and chambers. - -Guards in black lined the way that the Council would come, and as far -as the eye could reach into the hazy blue twilight of the ruins, and -swarming now at every possible point in the captured Council House -and along the shattered cliff of its circumadjacent buildings, were -innumerable people, and their voices even when they were not cheering, -were as the soughing of the sea upon a pebble beach. Ostrog had chosen -a huge commanding pile of crushed and overthrown masonry, and on this -a stage of timbers and metal girders was being hastily constructed. -Its essential parts were complete, but humming and clangorous machinery -still glared fitfully in the shadows beneath this temporary edifice. - -The stage had a small higher portion on which Graham stood with Ostrog -and Lincoln close beside him, a little in advance of a group of minor -officers. A broader lower stage surrounded this quarter deck, and on -this were the black-uniformed guards of the revolt armed with the little -green weapons whose very names Graham still did not know. Those standing -about him perceived that his eyes wandered perpetually from the swarming -people in the twilight ruins about him to the darkling mass of the White -Council House, whence the Trustees would presently come, and to the -gaunt cliffs of ruin that encircled him, and so back to the people. The -voices of the crowd swelled to a deafening tumult. - -He saw the Councillors first afar off in the glare of one of the -temporary lights that marked their path, a little group of white figures -blinking in a black archway. In the Council House they had been in -darkness. He watched them approaching, drawing nearer past first this -blazing electric star and then that; the minatory roar of the crowd over -whom their power had lasted for a hundred and fifty years marched along -beside them. As they drew still nearer their faces came out weary, white -and anxious. He saw them blinking up through the glare about him and -Ostrog. He contrasted their strange cold looks in the Hall of Atlas.... -Presently he could recognise several of them; the man who had rapped -the table at Howard, a burly man with a red beard, and one -delicate-featured, short, dark man with a peculiarly long skull. He -noted that two were whispering together and looking behind him at -Ostrog. Next there came a tall, dark and handsome man, walking downcast. -Abruptly he glanced up, his eyes touched Graham for a moment, and -passed beyond him to Ostrog. The way that had been made for them was so -contrived that they had to march past and curve about before they came -to the sloping path of planks that ascended to the stage where their -surrender was to be made. - -"The Master, the Master! God and the Master," shouted the people. "To -hell with the Council!" Graham looked at their multitudes, receding -beyond counting into a shouting haze, and then at Ostrog beside him, -white and steadfast and still. His eye went again to the little group -of White Councillors. And then he looked up at the familiar quiet stars -overhead. The marvellous element in his fate was suddenly vivid. Could -that be his indeed, that little life in his memory two hundred years -gone by--and this as well? - - - -CHAPTER XIV. FROM THE CROW'S NEST - -And so after strange delays and through an avenue of doubt and battle, -this man from the nineteenth century came at last to his position at the -head of that complex world. - -At first when he rose from the long deep sleep that followed his rescue -and the surrender of the Council, he did not recognise his surroundings. -By an effort he gained a clue in his mind, and all that had happened -came back to him, at first with a quality of insincerity like a story -heard, like something read out of a book. And even before his memories -were clear, the exultation of his escape, the wonder of his prominence -were back in his mind. He was owner of half the world; Master of the -Earth. This new great age was in the completest sense his. He no longer -hoped to discover his experiences a dream; he became anxious now to -convince himself that they were real. - -An obsequious valet assisted him to dress under the direction of a -dignified chief attendant, a little man whose face proclaimed him -Japanese, albeit he spoke English like an Englishman. From the latter he -learnt something of the state of affairs. Already the revolution was an -accepted fact; already business was being resumed throughout the city. -Abroad the downfall of the Council had been received for the most part -with delight. Nowhere was the Council popular, and the thousand cities -of Western America, after two hundred years still jealous of New York, -London, and the East, had risen almost unanimously two days before at -the news of Graham's imprisonment. Paris was fighting within itself. The -rest of the world hung in suspense. - -While he was breaking his fast, the sound of a telephone bell jetted -from a corner, and his chief attendant called his attention to the voice -of Ostrog making polite enquiries. Graham interrupted his refreshment -to reply. Very shortly Lincoln arrived, and Graham at once expressed -a strong desire to talk to people and to be shown more of the new life -that was opening before him. Lincoln informed him that in three hours' -time a representative gathering of officials and their wives would be -held in the state apartments of the wind-vane Chief. Graham's desire -to traverse the ways of the city was, however, at present impossible, -because of the enormous excitement of the people. It was, however, quite -possible for him to take a bird's eye view of the city from the crow's -nest of the windvane keeper. To this accordingly Graham was conducted -by his attendant. Lincoln, with a graceful compliment to the attendant, -apologised for not accompanying them, on account of the present pressure -of administrative work. - -Higher even than the most gigantic wind-wheels hung this crow's nest, -a clear thousand feet above the roofs, a little disc-shaped speck on a -spear of metallic filigree, cable stayed. To its summit Graham was drawn -in a little wire-hung cradle. Halfway down the frail-seeming stem was -a light gallery about which hung a cluster of tubes--minute they looked -from above--rotating slowly on the ring of its outer rail. These were -the specula, _en rapport_ with the wind-vane keeper's mirrors, in one -of which Ostrog had shown him the coming of his rule. His Japanese -attendant ascended before him and they spent nearly an hour asking and -answering questions. - -It was a day full of the promise and quality of spring. The touch of the -wind warmed. The sky was an intense blue and the vast expanse of London -shone dazzling under the morning sun. The air was clear of smoke and -haze, sweet as the air of a mountain glen. - -Save for the irregular oval of ruins about the House of the Council and -the black flag of the surrender that fluttered there, the mighty city -seen from above showed few signs of the swift revolution that had, to -his imagination, in one night and one day, changed the destinies of the -world. A multitude of people still swarmed over these ruins, and the -huge openwork stagings in the distance from which started in times of -peace the service of aeroplanes to the various great cities of Europe -and America, were also black with the victors. Across a narrow way of -planking raised on trestles that crossed the ruins a crowd of workmen -were busy restoring the connection between the cables and wires of the -Council House and the rest of the city, preparatory to the transfer -thither of Ostrog's headquarters from the Wind-Vane buildings. - -For the rest the luminous expanse was undisturbed. So vast was its -serenity in comparison with the areas of disturbance, that presently -Graham, looking beyond them, could almost forget the thousands of men -lying out of sight in the artificial glare within the quasi-subterranean -labyrinth, dead or dying of the overnight wounds, forget the improvised -wards with the hosts of surgeons, nurses, and bearers feverishly busy, -forget, indeed, all the wonder, consternation and novelty under the -electric lights. Down there in the hidden ways of the anthill he knew -that the revolution triumphed, that black everywhere carried the day, -black favours, black banners, black festoons across the streets. And out -here, under the fresh sunlight, beyond the crater of the fight, as if -nothing had happened to the earth, the forest of Wind Vanes that had -grown from one or two while the Council had ruled, roared peacefully -upon their incessant duty. - -Far away, spiked, jagged and indented by the wind vanes, the Surrey -Hills rose blue and faint; to the north and nearer, the sharp contours -of Highgate and Muswell Hill were similarly jagged. And all over the -countryside, he knew, on every crest and hill, where once the hedges -had interlaced, and cottages, churches, inns, and farmhouses had nestled -among their trees, wind wheels similar to those he saw and bearing like -vast advertisements, gaunt and distinctive symbols of the new age, cast -their whirling shadows and stored incessantly the energy that flowed -away incessantly through all the arteries of the city. And underneath -these wandered the countless flocks and herds of the British Food Trust -with their lonely guards and keepers. - -Not a familiar outline anywhere broke the cluster of gigantic shapes -below. St. Paul's he knew survived, and many of the old buildings in -Westminster, embedded out of sight, arched over and covered in among the -giant growths of this great age. The Themes, too, made no fall and gleam -of silver to break the wilderness of the city; the thirsty water mains -drank up every drop of its waters before they reached the walls. Its bed -and estuary scoured and sunken, was now a canal of sea water and a race -of grimy bargemen brought the heavy materials of trade from the Pool -thereby beneath the very feet of the workers. Faint and dim in the -eastward between earth and sky hung the clustering masts of the colossal -shipping in the Pool. For all the heavy traffic, for which there was -no need of haste, came in gigantic sailing ships from the ends of the -earth, and the heavy goods for which there was urgency in mechanical -ships of a smaller swifter sort. - -And to the south over the hills, came vast aqueducts with sea water -for the sewers and in three separate directions, ran pallid lines--the -roads, stippled with moving grey specks. On the first occasion that -offered he was determined to go out and see these roads. That would come -after the flying ship he was presently to try. His attendant officer -described them as a pair of gently curving surfaces a hundred yards -wide, each one for the traffic going in one direction, and made of a -substance called Eadhamite--an artificial substance, so far as he could -gather, resembling toughened glass. Along this shot a strange traffic of -narrow rubber-shod vehicles, great single wheels, two and four wheeled -vehicles, sweeping along at velocities of from one to six miles -a minute. Railroads had vanished; a few embankments remained as -rust-crowned trenches here and there. Some few formed the cores of -Eadhamite ways. - -Among the first things to strike his attention had been the great fleets -of advertisement balloons and kites that receded in irregular vistas -northward and southward along the lines of the aeroplane journeys. No -aeroplanes were to be seen. Their passages had ceased, and only one -little-seeming aeropile circled high in the blue distance above the -Surrey Hills, an unimpressive soaring speck. - -A thing Graham had already learnt, and which he found very hard to -imagine, was that nearly all the towns in the country, and almost all -the villages, had disappeared. Here and there only, he understood, -some gigantic hotel-like edifice stood amid square miles of some single -cultivation and preserved the name of a town--as Bournemouth, Wareham, -or Swanage. Yet the officer had speedily convinced him how inevitable -such a change had been. The old order had dotted the country with -farmhouses, and every two or three miles was the ruling landlord's -estate, and the place of the inn and cobbler, the grocer's shop and -church--the village. Every eight miles or so was the country town, -where lawyer, corn merchant, wool-stapler, saddler, veterinary surgeon, -doctor, draper, milliner and so forth lived. Every eight miles--simply -because that eight mile marketing journey, four there and back, was as -much as was comfortable for the farmer. But directly the railways came -into play, and after them the light railways, and all the swift new -motor cars that had replaced waggons and horses, and so soon as the high -roads began to be made of wood, and rubber, and Eadhamite, and all sorts -of elastic durable substances--the necessity of having such frequent -market towns disappeared. And the big towns grew. They drew the worker -with the gravitational force of seemingly endless work, the employer -with their suggestions of an infinite ocean of labour. - -And as the standard of comfort rose, as the complexity of the mechanism -of living increased life in the country had become more and more costly, -or narrow and impossible. The disappearance of vicar and squire, the -extinction of the general practitioner by the city specialist, had -robbed the village of its last touch of culture. After telephone, -kinematograph and phonograph had replaced newspaper, book, schoolmaster, -and letter, to live outside the range of the electric cables was to live -an isolated savage. In the country were neither means of being clothed -nor fed (according to the refined conceptions of the time), no efficient -doctors for an emergency, no company and no pursuits. - -Moreover, mechanical appliances in agriculture made one engineer the -equivalent of thirty labourers. So, inverting the condition of the city -clerk in the days when London was scarce inhabitable because of the -coaly foulness of its air, the labourers now came hurrying by road or -air to the city and its life and delights at night to leave it again in -the morning. The city had swallowed up humanity; man had entered upon a -new stage in his development. First had come the nomad, the hunter, then -had followed the agriculturist of the agricultural state, whose towns -and cities and ports were but the headquarters and markets of the -countryside. And now, logical consequence of an epoch of invention, -was this huge new aggregation of men. Save London, there were only -four other cities in Britain--Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Manchester and -Shrewsbury. Such things as these, simple statements of fact though they -were to contemporary men, strained Graham's imagination to picture. And -when he glanced "over beyond there" at the strange things that existed -on the Continent, it failed him altogether. - -He had a vision of city beyond city, cities on great plains, cities -beside great rivers, vast cities along the sea margin, cities girdled by -snowy mountains. Over a great part of the earth the English tongue was -spoken; taken together with its Spanish American and Hindoo and Negro -and "Pidgin" dialects, it was the everyday language of two-thirds of -the people of the earth. On the Continent, save as remote and curious -survivals, three other languages alone held sway--German, which reached -to Antioch and Genoa and jostled Spanish-English at Gdiz, a Gallicised -Russian which met the Indian English in Persia and Kurdistan and the -"Pidgin" English in Pekin, and French still clear and brilliant, the -language of lucidity, which shared the Mediterranean with the Indian -English and German and reached through a negro dialect to the Congo. - -And everywhere now, through the city-set earth, save in the administered -"black belt" territories of the tropics, the same cosmopolitan social -organisation prevailed, and everywhere from Pole to Equator his property -and his responsibilities extended. The whole world was civilised; the -whole world dwelt in cities; the whole world was property. Over the -British Empire and throughout America his ownership was scarcely -disguised, Congress and Parliament were usually regarded as antique, -curious gatherings. And even in the two Empires of Russia and Germany, -the influence of his wealth was conceivably of enormous weight. There, -of course, came problems--possibilities, but, uplifted as he was, even -Russia and Germany seemed sufficiently remote. And of the quality of the -black belt administration, and of what that might mean for him he -thought, after the fashion of his former days, not at all. That it -should hang like a threat over the spacious vision before him could not -enter his nineteenth century mind. But his mind turned at once from the -scenery to the thought of a vanished dread. "What of the yellow peril?" -he asked and Asano made him explain. The Chinese spectre had vanished. -Chinaman and European were at peace. The twentieth century had -discovered with reluctant certainty that the average Chinaman was as -civilised, more moral, and far more intelligent than the average -European serf, and had repeated on a gigantic scale the fraternisation -of Scot and Englishman that happened in the seventeenth century. As -Asano put it; "They thought it over. They found we were white men after -all." Graham turned again to the view and his thoughts took a new -direction. - -Out of the dim south-west, glittering and strange, voluptuous, and -in some way terrible, shone those Pleasure Cities, of which the -kinematograph-phonograph and the old man in the street had spoken. -Strange places reminiscent of the legendary Sybaris, cities of art and -beauty, mercenary art and mercenary beauty, sterile wonderful cities -of motion and music, whither repaired all who profited by the fierce, -inglorious, economic struggle that went on in the glaring labyrinth -below. - -Fierce he knew it was. How fierce he could judge from the fact that -these latter-day people referred back to the England of the nineteenth -century as the figure of an idyllic easy-going life. He turned his eyes -to the scene immediately before him again, trying to conceive the big -factories of that intricate maze. - -Northward he knew were the potters, makers not only of earthenware and -china, but of the kindred pastes and compounds a subtler mineralogical -chemistry had devised; there were the makers of statuettes and wall -ornaments and much intricate furniture; there too were the factories -where feverishly competitive authors devised their phonograph discourses -and advertisements and arranged the groupings and developments for their -perpetually startling and novel kinematographic dramatic works. Thence, -too, flashed the world-wide messages, the world-wide falsehoods of the -news-tellers, the chargers of the telephonic machines that had replaced -the newspapers of the past. - -To the westward beyond the smashed Council House were the voluminous -offices of municipal control and government; and to the eastward, -towards the port, the trading quarters, the huge public markets, the -theatres, houses of resort, betting palaces, miles of billiard saloons, -baseball and football circuses, wild beast rings and the innumerable -temples of the Christian and quasi-Christian sects, the Mahomedans, -Buddhists, Gnostics, Spook Worshippers, the Incubus Worshippers, the -Furniture Worshippers, and so forth; and to the south again a vast -manufacture of textiles, pickles, wines and condiments. And from point -to point tore the countless multitudes along the roaring mechanical -ways. A gigantic hive, of which the winds were tireless servants, and -the ceaseless wind-vanes an appropriate crown and symbol. - -He thought of the unprecedented population that had been sucked up by -this sponge of halls and galleries--the thirty-three million lives that -were playing out each its own brief ineffectual drama below him, and the -complacency that the brightness of the day and the space and splendour -of the view, and above all the sense of his own importance had begotten, -dwindled and perished. Looking down from this height over the city -it became at last possible to conceive this overwhelming multitude of -thirty-three millions, the reality of the responsibility he would take -upon himself, the vastness of the human Maelstrom over which his slender -kingship hung. - -He tried to figure the individual life. It astonished him to realise how -little the common man had changed in spite of the visible change in his -conditions. Life and property, indeed, were secure from violence almost -all over the world, zymotic diseases, bacterial diseases of all sorts -had practically vanished, everyone had a sufficiency of food and -clothing, was warmed in the city ways and sheltered from the weather--so -much the almost mechanical progress of science and the physical -organisation of society had accomplished. But the crowd, he was already -beginning to discover, was a crowd still, helpless in the hands of -demagogue and organiser, individually cowardly, individually swayed by -appetite, collectively incalculable. The memory of countless figures in -pale blue canvas came before his mind. Millions of such men and women -below him, he knew, had never been out of the city, had never seen -beyond the little round of unintelligent grudging participation in the -world's business, and unintelligent dissatisfied sharing in its tawdrier -pleasures. He thought of the hopes of his vanished contemporaries, -and for a moment the dream of London in Morris's quaint old _News -from Nowhere_, and the perfect land of Hudson's beautiful _Crystal -Age_--appeared before him in an atmosphere of infinite loss. He thought -of his own hopes. - -For in the latter days of that passionate life that lay now so far -behind him, the conception of a free and equal manhood had become a very -real thing to him. He had hoped, as indeed his age had hoped, rashly -taking it for granted, that the sacrifice of the many to the few would -some day cease, that a day was near when every child born of woman -should have a fair and assured chance of happiness. And here, after -two hundred years, the same hope, still unfulfilled, cried passionately -through the city. After two hundred years, he knew, greater than ever, -grown with the city to gigantic proportions, were poverty and helpless -labour and all the sorrows of his time. - -Already he knew something of the history of the intervening years. -He had heard now of the moral decay that had followed the collapse of -supernatural religion in the minds of ignoble man, the decline of public -honour, the ascendency of wealth. For men who had lost their belief in -God had still kept their faith in property, and wealth ruled a venial -world. - -His Japanese attendant, Asano, in expounding the political history of -the intervening two centuries, drew an apt image from a seed eaten by -insect parasites. First there is the original seed, ripening vigorously -enough. And then comes some insect and lays an egg under the skin, and -behold! in a little while the seed is a hollow shape with an active grub -inside that has eaten out its substance. And then comes some secondary -parasite, some ichneumon fly, and lays an egg within this grub, and -behold! that, too, is a hollow shape, and the new living thing is inside -its predecessor's skin which itself is snug within the seed coat. And -the seed coat still keeps its shape, most people think it a seed still, -and for all one knows it may still think itself a seed, vigorous and -alive. "Your Victorian kingdom," said Asano, "was like that--kingship -with the heart eaten out. The landowners--the barons and gentry--began -ages ago with King John; there were lapses, but they beheaded King -Charles, and ended practically with King George mere husk of a king... -the real power in the hands of their parliament. But the Parliament--the -organ of the land-holding tenant-ruling gentry--did not keep its -power long. The change had already come in the nineteenth century. The -franchises had been broadened until it included masses of ignorant -men, 'urban myriads,' who went in their featureless thousands to vote -together. And the natural consequence of a swarming constituency is the -rule of the party organisation. Power was passing even in the Victorian -time to the party machinery, secret, complex, and corrupt. Very speedily -power was in the hands of great men of business who financed the -machines. A time came when the real power and interest of the Empire -rested visibly between the two party councils, ruling by newspapers and -electoral organisations--two small groups of rich and able men, working -at first in opposition, then presently together." - -There was a reaction of a genteel ineffectual sort. There were -numberless books in existence, Asano said, to prove that--the -publication of some of them was as early as Graham's sleep--a whole -literature of reaction in fact. The party of the reaction seems to -have locked itself into its study and rebelled with unflinching -determination--on paper. The urgent necessity of either capturing or -depriving the party councils of power is a common suggestion underlying -all the thoughtful work of the early twentieth century, both in America -and England. In most of these things America was a little earlier than -England, though both countries drove the same way. - -That counter-revolution never came. It could never organise and keep -pure. There was not enough of the old sentimentality, the old faith in -righteousness, left among men. Any organisation that became big enough -to influence the polls became complex enough to be undermined, broken -up, or bought outright by capable rich men. Socialistic and Popular, -Reactionary and Purity Parties were all at last mere Stock Exchange -counters, selling their principles to pay for their electioneering. And -the great concern of the rich was naturally to keep property intact, the -board clear for the game of trade. Just as the feudal concern had -been to keep the board clear for hunting and war. The whole world was -exploited, a battle field of businesses; and financial convulsions, the -scourge of currency manipulation, tariff wars, made more human misery -during the twentieth century--because the wretchedness was dreary life -instead of speedy death--than had war, pestilence and famine, in the -darkest hours of earlier history. - -His own part in the development of this time he now knew clearly enough. -Through the successive phases in the development of this mechanical -civilisation, aiding and presently directing its development, there had -grown a new power, the Council, the board of his trustees. At first it -had been a mere chance union of the millions of Isbister and Warming, a -mere property holding company, the creation of two childless testators' -whims, but the collective talent of its first constitution had speedily -guided it to a vast influence, until by title deed, loan and share, -under a hundred disguises and pseudonyms it had ramified through the -fabric of the American and English States. - -Wielding an enormous influence and patronage, the Council had early -assumed a political aspect; and in its development it had continually -used its wealth to tip the beam of political decisions and its political -advantages to grasp yet more and more wealth. At last the party -organisations of two hemispheres were in its hands; it became an inner -council of political control. Its last struggle was with the tacit -alliance of the great Jewish families. But these families were linked -only by a feeble sentiment, at any time inheritance might fling a huge -fragment of their resources to a minor, a woman or a fool, marriages and -legacies alienated hundreds of thousands at one blow. The Council had no -such breach in its continuity. Steadily, steadfastly it grew. - -The original Council was not simply twelve men of exceptional ability; -they fused, it was a council of genius. It struck boldly for riches, -for political influence, and the two subserved each other. With amazing -foresight it spent great sums of money on the art of flying, holding -that invention back against an hour foreseen. It used the patent laws, -and a thousand half-legal expedients, to hamper all investigators who -refused to work with it. In the old days it never missed a capable man. -It paid his price. Its policy in those days was vigorous--unerring, -and against it as it grew steadily and incessantly was only the chaotic -selfish rule of the casually rich. In a hundred years Graham had become -almost exclusive owner of Africa, of South America, of France, of -London, of England and all its influence--for all practical purposes, -that is--a power in North America--then the dominant power in America. -The Council bought and organised China, drilled Asia, crippled the Old -World empires, undermined them financially, fought and defeated them. - -And this spreading usurpation of the world was so dexterously -performed--a proteus--hundreds of banks, companies, syndicates, masked -the Council's operations--that it was already far advanced before common -men suspected the tyranny that had come. The Council never hesitated, -never faltered. Means of communication, land, buildings, governments, -municipalities, the territorial companies of the tropics, every human -enterprise, it gathered greedily. And it drilled and marshalled its men, -its railway police, its roadway police, its house guards, and drain and -cable guards, its hosts of land-workers. Their unions it did not fight, -but it undermined and betrayed and bought them. It bought the world -at last. And, finally, its culminating stroke was the introduction of -flying. - -When the Council, in conflict with the workers in some of its huge -monopolies, did something flagrantly illegal and that without even the -ordinary civility of bribery, the old Law, alarmed for the profits of -its complaisance, looked about it for weapons. But there were no -more armies, no fighting navies; the age of Peace had come. The -only possible war ships were the great steam vessels of the Council's -Navigation Trust. The police forces they controlled; the police of -the railways, of the ships, of their agricultural estates, their -time-keepers and order-keepers, outnumbered the neglected little forces -of the old country and municipal organisations ten to one. And they -produced flying machines. There were men alive still who could remember -the last great debate in the London House of Commons--the legal party, -the party against the Council was in a minority, but it made a desperate -fight--and how the members came crowding out upon the terrace to see -these great unfamiliar winged shapes circling quietly overhead. The -Council had soared to its power. The last sham of a democracy that had -permitted unlimited irresponsible property was at an end. - -Within one hundred and fifty years of Graham's falling asleep, his -Council had thrown off its disguises and ruled openly, supreme in his -name. Elections had become a cheerful formality, a septennial folly, -an ancient unmeaning custom; a social Parliament as ineffectual as the -convocation of the Established Church in Victorian times assembled now -and then; and a legitimate King of England, disinherited, drunken -and witless, played foolishly in a second-rate music-hall. So the -magnificent dream of the nineteenth century, the noble project of -universal individual liberty and universal happiness, touched by a -disease of honour, crippled by a superstition of absolute property, -crippled by the religious feuds that had robbed the common citizens of -education, robbed men of standards of conduct, and brought the sanctions -of morality to utter contempt, had worked itself out in the face of -invention and ignoble enterprise, first to a warring plutocracy, and -finally to the rule of a supreme plutocrat. His Council at last -had ceased even to trouble to have its decrees endorsed by the -constitutional authorities, and he a motionless, sunken, yellow-skinned -figure had lain, neither dead nor living, recognisably and immediately -Master of the Earth. And awoke at last to find himself--Master of that -inheritance! Awoke to stand under the cloudless empty sky and gaze down -upon the greatness of his dominion. - -To what end had he awakened? Was this city, this hive of hopeless -toilers, the final refutation of his ancient hopes? Or was the fire of -liberty, the fire that had blazed and waned in the years of his past -life, still smouldering below there? He thought of the stir and impulse -of the song of the revolution. Was that song merely the trick of a -demagogue, to be forgotten when its purpose was served? Was the hope -that still stirred within him only the memory of abandoned things, -the vestige of a creed outworn? Or had it a wider meaning, an import -interwoven with the destiny of man? To what end had he awakened, what -was there for him to do? Humanity was spread below him like a map. He -thought of the millions and millions of humanity following each other -unceasingly for ever out of the darkness of non-existence into the -darkness of death. To what end? Aim there must be, but it transcended -his power of thought. He saw for the first time clearly his own infinite -littleness, saw stark and terrible the tragic contrast of human strength -and the craving of the human heart. For that little while he knew -himself for the petty accident he was, and knew therewith the greatness -of his desire. And suddenly his littleness was intolerable, his -aspiration was intolerable, and there came to him an irresistible -impulse to pray. And he prayed. He prayed vague, incoherent, -contradictory things, his soul strained up through time and space and -all the fleeting multitudinous confusion of being, towards something--he -scarcely knew what--towards something that could comprehend his striving -and endure. - -A man and a woman were far below on a roof space to the southward -enjoying the freshness of the morning air. The man had brought out a -perspective glass to spy upon the Council House and he was showing her -how to use it. Presently their curiosity was satisfied, they could see -no traces of bloodshed from their position, and after a survey of the -empty sky she came round to the crow's nest. And there she saw two -little black figures, so small it was hard to believe they were men, -one who watched and one who gesticulated with hands outstretched to the -silent emptiness of Heaven. - -She handed the glass to the man. He looked and exclaimed: - -"I believe it is the Master. Yes. I am sure. It is the Master!" - -He lowered the glass and looked at her. "Waving his hands about almost -as if he was praying. I wonder what he is up to. Worshipping the sun? -There weren't Parses in this country in his time, were there?" - -He looked again. "He's stopped it now. It was a chance attitude, I -suppose." He put down the glass and became meditative. "He won't have -anything to do but enjoy himself--just enjoy himself. Ostrog will boss -the show of course. Ostrog will have to, because of keeping all these -Labourer fools in bounds. Them and their song! And got it all by -sleeping, dear eyes--just sleeping. It's a wonderful world." - - - -CHAPTER XV. PROMINENT PEOPLE - -The state apartments of the Wind Vane Keeper would have seemed -astonishingly intricate to Graham had he entered them fresh from his -nineteenth century life, but already he was growing accustomed to the -scale of the new time. They can scarcely be described as halls and -rooms, seeing that a complicated system of arches, bridges, passages and -galleries divided and united every part of the great space. He came -out through one of the now familiar sliding panels upon a. plateau of -landing at the head of a flight of very broad and gentle steps, with -men and women far more brilliantly dressed than any he had hitherto seen -ascending and descending. From this position he looked down a vista of -intricate ornament in lustreless white and mauve and purple, spanned by -bridges that seemed wrought of porcelain and filigree, and terminating -far off in a cloudy mystery of perforated screens. - -Glancing upward, he saw tier above tier of ascending galleries -with faces looking down upon him. The air was full of the babble of -innumerable voices and of a music that descended from above, a gay and -exhilarating music whose source he never discovered. - -The central aisle was thick with people, but by no means uncomfortably -crowded; altogether that assembly must have numbered many thousands. -They were brilliantly, even fantastically dressed, the men as fancifully -as the women, for the sobering influence of the Puritan conception of -dignity upon masculine dress had long since passed away. The hair of -the men, too, though it was rarely worn long, was commonly curled in -a manner that suggested the barber, and baldness had vanished from -the earth. Frizzy straight-cut masses that would have charmed Rossetti -abounded, and one gentleman, who was pointed out to Graham under the -mysterious title of an "amorist", wore his hair in two becoming plaits a -la Marguerite. The pigtail was in evidence; it would seem that citizens -of Chinese extraction were no longer ashamed of their race. There was -little uniformity of fashion apparent in the forms of clothing worn. The -more shapely men displayed their symmetry in trunk hose, and here were -puffs and slashes, and there a cloak and there a robe. The fashions of -the days of Leo the Tenth were perhaps the prevailing influence, but -the aesthetic conceptions of the far east were also patent. Masculine -embonpoint, which, in Victorian times, would have been subjected to -the tightly buttoned perils, the ruthless exaggeration of tight-legged -tight-armed evening dress, now formed but the basis of a wealth of -dignity and drooping folds. Graceful slenderness abounded also. To -Graham, a typically stiff man from a typically stiff period, not only -did these men seem altogether too graceful in person, but altogether too -expressive in their vividly expressive faces. They gesticulated, they -expressed surprise, interest, amusement, above all, they expressed -the emotions excited in their minds by the ladies about them with -astonishing frankness. Even at the first glance it was evident that -women were in a great majority. - -The ladies in the company of these gentlemen displayed in dress, bearing -and manner alike, less emphasis and more intricacy. Some affected a -classical simplicity of robing and subtlety of fold, after the fashion -of the First French Empire, and flashed conquering arms and shoulders as -Graham passed. Others had closely-fitting dresses without seam or belt -at the waist, sometimes with long folds falling from the shoulders. The -delightful confidences of evening dress had not been diminished by the -passage of two centuries. - -Everyone's movements seemed graceful. Graham remarked to Lincoln that -he saw men as Raphael's cartoons walking, and Lincoln told him that -the attainment of an appropriate set of gestures was part of every -rich person's education. The Master's entry was greeted with a sort of -tittering applause, but these people showed their distinguished manners -by not crowding upon him nor annoying him by any persistent scrutiny, as -he descended the steps towards the floor of the aisle. - -He had already learnt from Lincoln that these were the leaders of -existing London society; almost every person there that night was either -a powerful official or the immediate connexion of a powerful official. -Many had returned from the European Pleasure Cities expressly to welcome -him. The aeronautic authorities, whose defection had played a part -in the overthrow of the Council only second to Graham's were very -prominent, and so, too, was the Wind Vane Control. Amongst others there -were several of the more prominent officers of the Food Trust; the -controller of the European Piggeries had a particularly melancholy and -interesting countenance and a daintily cynical manner. A bishop in full -canonicals passed athwart Graham's vision, conversing with a gentleman -dressed exactly like the traditional Chaucer, including even the laurel -wreath. - -"Who is that?" he asked almost involuntarily - -"The Bishop of London," said Lincoln. - -"No--the other, I mean." - -"Poet Laureate." - -"You still?" - -"He doesn't make poetry, of course. He's a cousin of Wotton--one of -the Councillors. But he's one of the Red Rose Royalists--a delightful -club--and they keep up the tradition of these things." - -"Asano told me there was a King." - -"The King doesn't belong. They had to expel him. It's the Stuart blood, -I suppose; but really--" - -"Too much?" - -"Far too much." - -Graham did not quite follow all this, but it seemed part of the -general inversion of the new age. He bowed condescendingly to his first -introduction. It was evident that subtle distinctions of class prevailed -even in this assembly, that only to a small proportion of the guests, -to an inner group, did Lincoln consider it appropriate to introduce him. -This first introduction was the Master Aeronaut, a man whose suntanned -face contrasted oddly with the delicate complexions about him. Just -at present his critical defection from the Council made him a very -important person indeed. - -His manner contrasted very favourably, according to Graham's ideas, with -the general bearing. He made a few commonplace remarks, assurances of -loyalty and frank inquiries about the Master's health. His manner was -breezy, his accent lacked the easy staccato of latter-day English. He -made it admirably clear to Graham that he was a bluff "aerial dog"--he -used that phrase--that there was no nonsense about him, that he was -a thoroughly manly fellow and old-fashioned at that, that he didn't -profess to know much, and that what he did not know was not worth -knowing He made a manly bow, ostentatiously free from obsequiousness and -passed. - -"I am glad to see that type endures," said Graham - -"Phonographs and kinematographs," said Lincoln, a little spitefully. "He -has studied from the life." Graham glanced at the burly form again. It -was oddly reminiscent. - -"As a matter of fact we bought him," said Lincoln. "Partly. And partly -he was afraid of Ostrog. Everything rested with him." - -He turned sharply to introduce the Surveyor-General of the Public School -Trust. This person was a willowy figure in a blue-grey academic gown, he -beamed down upon Graham through _pince-nez_ of a Victorian pattern, and -illustrated his remarks by gestures of a beautifully manicured hand. -Graham was immediately interested in this gentleman's functions, and -asked him a number of singularly direct questions. The Surveyor-General -seemed quietly amused at the Master's fundamental bluntness. He was a -little vague as to the monopoly of education his Company possessed; it -was done by contract with the syndicate that ran the numerous London -Municipalities, but he waxed enthusiastic over educational progress -since the Victorian times. "We have conquered Cram," he said, -"completely conquered Cram--there is not an examination left in the -world. Aren't you glad?" - -"How do you get the work done?" asked Graham. - -"We make it attractive--as attractive as possible. And if it does not -attract then--we let it go. We cover an immense field." - -He proceeded to details, and they had a lengthy conversation. The -Surveyor-General mentioned the names of Pestalozzi and Froebel -with profound respect, although he displayed no intimacy with their -epoch-making works. Graham learnt that University Extension still -existed in a modified form. "There is a certain type of girl, for -example," said the Surveyor-General, dilating with a sense of his -usefulness, "with a perfect passion for severe studies--when they are -not too difficult you know. We cater for them by the thousand. At -this moment," he said with a Napoleonic touch, "nearly five hundred -phonographs are lecturing in different parts of London on the influence -exercised by Plato and Swift on the love affairs of Shelley, Hazlitt, -and Burns. And afterwards they write essays on the lectures, and the -names in order of merit are put in conspicuous places. You see how your -little germ has grown? The illiterate middle-class of your days has -quite passed away." - -"About the public elementary schools," said Graham. "Do you control -them?" - -The Surveyor-General did, "entirely." Now, Graham, in his later -democratic days, had taken a keen interest in these and his questioning -quickened. Certain casual phrases that had fallen from the old man -with whom he had talked in the darkness recurred to him. The -Surveyor-General, in effect, endorsed the old man's words. "We have -abolished Cram," he said, a phrase Graham was beginning to interpret -as the abolition of all sustained work. The Surveyor-General became -sentimental. "We try and make the elementary schools very pleasant for -the little children. They will have to work so soon. Just a few simple -principles--obedience--industry." - -"You teach them very little?" - -"Why should we? It only leads to trouble and discontent. We amuse them. -Even as it is--there are troubles--agitations. Where the labourers get -the ideas, one cannot tell. They tell one another. There are socialistic -dreams--anarchy even! Agitators will get to work among them. I take -it--I have always taken it--that my foremost duty is to fight against -popular discontent. Why should people be made unhappy?" - -"I wonder," said Graham thoughtfully. "But there are a great many things -I want to know." - -Lincoln, who had stood watching Graham's face throughout the -conversation, intervened. "There are others," he said in an undertone. - -The Surveyor-General of schools gesticulated himself away. "Perhaps," -said Lincoln, intercepting a casual glance, "you would like to know some -of these ladies?" - -The daughter of the Manager of the Piggeries of the European Food Trust -was a particularly charming little person with red hair and animated -blue eyes. Lincoln left him awhile to converse with her, and she -displayed herself as quite an enthusiast for the "dear old times," -as she called them, that had seen the beginning of his trance. As -she talked she smiled, and her eyes smiled in a manner that demanded -reciprocity. - -"I have tried," she said, "countless times--to imagine those old -romantic days. And to you they are memories. How strange and crowded the -world must seem to you! I have seen photographs and pictures of the old -times, the little isolated houses built of bricks made out of burnt mud -and all black with soot from your fires, the railway bridges, the simple -advertisements, the solemn savage Puritanical men in strange black -coats and those tall hats of theirs, iron railway trains on iron bridges -overhead, horses and cattle, and even dogs running half wild about the -streets. And suddenly, you have come into this!" - -"Into this," said Graham. - -"Out of your life--out of all that was familiar." - -"The old life was not a happy one," said Graham. "I do not regret that." - -She looked at him quickly. There was a brief pause. She sighed -encouragingly. "No?" - -"No," said Graham. "It was a little life--and unmeaning. But this--. -We thought the world complex and crowded and civilised enough. Yet I -see--although in this world I am barely four days old--looking back on -my own time, that it was a queer, barbaric time--the mere beginning of -this new order. The mere beginning of this new order. You will find it -hard to understand how little I know." - -"You may ask me what you like," she said, smiling at him. - -"Then tell me who these people are. I'm still very much in the dark -about them. It's puzzling. Are there any Generals?" - -"Men in hats and feathers?" - -"Of course not. No. I suppose they are the men who control the great -public businesses. Who is that distinguished looking man?" - -"That? He's a most important officer. That is Morden. He is managing -director of the Antibilious Pill Company. I have heard that his workers -sometimes turn out a myriad myriad pills a day in the twenty-four hours. -Fancy a myriad myriad!" - -"A myriad myriad. No wonder he looks proud," said Graham. "Pills! What a -wonderful time it is! That man in purple?" - -"He is not quite one of the inner circle, you know. But we like him. He -is really clever and very amusing. He is one of the heads of the -Medical Faculty of our London University. All medical men, you know, are -shareholders in the Medical Faculty Company, and wear that purple. You -have to be--to be qualified. But of course, people who are paid by fees -for doing something--" She smiled away the social pretensions of all -such people. - -"Are any of your great artists or authors here?" - -"No authors. They are mostly such queer people--and so preoccupied about -themselves. And they quarrel so dreadfully! They will fight, some of -them, for precedence on staircases! Dreadful isn't it? But I think -Wraysbury, the fashionable capillotomist, is here. From Capri." - -"Capillotomist," said Graham. "Ah! I remember. An artist! Why not?" - -"We have to cultivate him," she said apologetically. "Our heads are in -his hands." She smiled. - -Graham hesitated at the invited compliment, but his glance was -expressive. "Have the arts grown with the rest of civilised things?" he -said. "Who are your great painters?" - -She looked at him doubtfully. Then laughed. "For a moment," she said, "I -thought you meant--" She laughed again. "You mean, of course, those good -men you used to think so much of because they could cover great spaces -of canvas with oil-colours? Great oblongs. And people used to put the -things in gilt frames and hang them up in rows in their square rooms. We -haven't any. People grew tired of that sort of thing." - -"But what did you think I meant?" - -She put a finger significantly on a cheek whose glow was above -suspicion, and smiled and looked very arch and pretty and inviting. "And -here," and she indicated her eyelid. - -Graham had an adventurous moment. Then a grotesque memory of a picture -he had somewhere seen of Uncle Toby and the Widow flashed across his -mind. An archaic shame came upon him. He became acutely aware that he -was visible to a great number of interested people. "I see," he remarked -inadequately. He turned awkwardly away from her, fascinating facility. -He looked about him to meet a number of eyes that immediately occupied -themselves with other things. Possibly he coloured a little. "Who is -that talking with the lady in saffron?" he asked, avoiding her eyes. - -The person in question he learnt was one of the great organisers of the -American theatres just fresh from a gigantic production at Mexico. His -face reminded Graham of a bust of Caligula. Another striking looking -man was the Black Labour Master. The phrase at the time made no deep -impression, but afterwards it recurred;--the Black Labour Master? The -little lady, in no degree embarrassed, pointed out to him a charming -little woman as one of the subsidiary wives of the Anglican Bishop of -London. She added encomiums on the episcopal courage--hitherto there had -been a rule of clerical monogamy--"neither a natural nor an expedient -condition of things. Why should the natural development of the -affections be dwarfed and restricted because a man is a priest?" - -"And, bye the bye," she added, "are you an Anglican?" Graham was on the -verge of hesitating inquiries about the status of a "subsidiary wife," -apparently an euphemistic phrase, when Lincoln's return broke off this -very suggestive and interesting conversation. They crossed the aisle to -where a tall man in crimson, and two charming persons in Burmese costume -(as it seemed to him) awaited him diffidently. From their civilities he -passed to other presentations. - -In a little while his multitudinous impressions began to organise -themselves into a general effect. At first the glitter of the gathering -had raised all the democrat in Graham; he had felt hostile and -satirical. But it is not in human nature to resist an atmosphere of -courteous regard. Soon the music, the light, the play of colours, the -shining arms and shoulders about him, the touch of hands, the transient -interest of smiling faces, the frothing sound of skillfully modulated -voices, the atmosphere of compliment, interest and respect, had woven -together into a fabric of indisputable pleasure. Graham for a time -forgot his spacious resolutions. He gave way insensibly to the -intoxication of the position that was conceded him, his manner became -less conscious, more convincingly regal, his feet walked assuredly, the -black robe fell with a bolder fold and pride ennobled his voice. After -all this was a brilliant interesting world. - -His glance went approvingly over the shifting colours of the people, -it rested here and there in kindly criticism upon a face. Presently it -occurred to him that he owed some apology to the charming little person -with the red hair and blue eyes. He felt guilty of a clumsy snub. It -was not princely to ignore her advances, even if his policy necessitated -their rejection. He wondered if he should see her again. And suddenly -a little thing touched all the glamour of this brilliant gathering and -changed its quality. - -He looked up and saw passing across a bridge of porcelain and looking -down upon him, a face that was almost immediately hidden, the face of -the girl he had seen overnight in the little room beyond the theatre -after his escape from the Council. And she was looking with much the -same expression of curious expectation, of uncertain intentness, upon -his proceedings. For the moment he did not remember when he had seen -her, and then with recognition came a vague memory of the stirring -emotions of their first encounter. But the dancing web of melody about -him kept the air of that great marching song from his memory. - -The lady to whom he was talking repeated her remark, and Graham recalled -himself to the quasiregal flirtation upon which he was engaged. - -But from that moment a vague restlessness, a feeling that grew to -dissatisfaction, came into his mind. He was troubled as if by some -half forgotten duty, by the sense of things important slipping from -him amidst this light and brilliance. The attraction that these bright -ladies who crowded about him were beginning to exercise ceased. He no -longer made vague and clumsy responses to the subtly amorous advances -that he was now assured were being made to him, and his eyes wandered -for another sight of that face that had appealed so strongly to his -sense of beauty. But he did not see her again until he was awaiting -Lincoln's return to leave this assembly. In answer to his request -Lincoln had promised that an attempt should be made to fly that -afternoon, if the weather permitted. He had gone to make certain -necessary arrangements. - -Graham was in one of the upper galleries in conversation with a -bright-eyed lady on the subject of Eadhamite--the subject was his -choice and not hers. He had interrupted her warm assurances of personal -devotion with a matter-of-fact inquiry. He found her, as he had already -found several other latter-day women that night, less well informed -than charming. Suddenly, struggling against the eddying drift of nearer -melody, the song of the Revolt, the great song he had heard in the Hall, -hoarse and massive, came beating down to him. - -He glanced up startled, and perceived above him an _oeil de boeuf_ -through which this song had come, and beyond, the upper courses of -cable, the blue haze, and the pendant fabric of the lights of the public -ways. He heard the song break into a tumult of voices and cease. But now -he perceived quite clearly the drone and tumult of the moving platforms -and a murmur of many people. He had a vague persuasion that he could not -account for, a sort of instinctive feeling that outside in the ways a -huge crowd must be watching this place in which their Master amused -himself. He wondered what they might be thinking. - -Though the song had stopped so abruptly, though the special music of -this gathering reasserted itself, the motif of the marching song, once -it had begun, lingered in his mind. - -The bright-eyed lady was still struggling with the mysteries of -Eadhamite when he perceived the girl he had seen in the theatre again. -She was coming now along the gallery towards him; he saw her first -before she saw him. She was dressed in a faintly luminous grey, her dark -hair about her brows was like a cloud, and as he saw her the cold light -from the circular opening into the ways fell upon her downcast face. - -The lady in trouble about the Eadhamite saw the change in his -expression, and grasped her opportunity to escape. "Would you care to -know that girl, Sire?" she asked boldly. "She is Helen Wotton--a niece -of Ostrog's. She knows a great many serious things. She is one of the -most serious persons alive. I am sure you will like her." - -In another moment Graham was talking to the girl, and the bright-eyed -lady had fluttered away. - -"I remember you quite well," said Graham. "You were in that little -room. When all the people were singing and beating time with their feet. -Before I walked across the Hall." - -Her momentary embarrassment passed. She looked up at him, and her face -was steady. "It was wonderful," she said, hesitated, and spoke with -a sudden effort. "All those people would have died for you, Sire. -Countless people did die for you that night." - -Her face glowed. She glanced swiftly aside to see that no other heard -her words. - -Lincoln appeared some way off along the gallery, making his way through -the press towards them. She saw him and turned to Graham strangely -eager, with a swift change to confidence and intimacy. "Sire," she said -quickly, "I cannot tell you now and here. But the common people are very -unhappy; they are oppressed--they are misgoverned. Do not forget the -people, who faced death--death that you might live." - -"I know nothing--" began Graham. - -"I cannot tell you now." - -Lincoln's face appeared close to them. He bowed an apology to the girl. - -"You find the new world pleasant, Sire?" asked Lincoln, with smiling -deference, and indicating the space and splendour of the gathering by -one comprehensive gesture. "At any rate, you find it changed." - -"Yes," said Graham, "changed. And yet, after all, not so greatly -changed." - -"Wait till you are in the air," said Lincoln. "The wind has fallen; even -now an aeropile awaits you." - -The girl's attitude awaited dismissal. - -Graham glanced at her face, was on the verge of a question, found a -warning in her expression, bowed to her and turned to accompany Lincoln. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. THE AEROPHILE - -For a while, as Graham went through the passages of the Wind-Vane -offices with Lincoln, he was preoccupied. But, by an effort, he attended -to the things which Lincoln was saying. Soon his preoccupation vanished. -Lincoln was talking of flying. Graham had a strong desire to know more -of this new human attainment. He began to ply Lincoln with questions. -He had followed the crude beginnings of aerial navigation very keenly in -his previous life; he was delighted to find the familiar names of -Maxim and Pilcher, Langley and Chanute, and, above all, of the aerial -proto-martyr Lillienthal, still honoured by men. - -Even during his previous life two lines of investigation had pointed -clearly to two distinct types of contrivance as possible, and both of -these had been realised. On the one hand was the great engine-driven -aeroplane, a double row of horizontal floats with a big aerial screw -behind, and on the other the nimbler aeropile. The aeroplanes flew -safely only in a calm or moderate wind, and sudden storms, occurrences -that were now accurately predictable, rendered them for all practical -purposes useless. They were built of enormous size--the usual stretch -of wing being six hundred feet or more, and the length of the fabric a -thousand feet. They were for passenger traffic alone. The lightly swung -car they carried was from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet in -length. It Was hung in a peculiar manner in order to minimise the -complex vibration that even a moderate wind produced, and for the same -reason the little seats within the car--each passenger remained seated -during the voyage--were slung with great freedom of movement. The -starting of the mechanism was only possible from a gigantic car on -the rail of a specially constructed stage. Graham had seen these vast -stages, the flying stages, from the crow's nest very well. Six huge -blank areas they were, with a giant "carrier" stage on each. - -The choice of descent was equally circumscribed, an accurately plane -surface being needed for safe grounding. Apart from the destruction that -would have been caused by the descent of this great expanse of sail and -metal, and the impossibility of its rising again, the concussion of an -irregular surface, a tree-set hillside, for instance, or an embankment, -would be sufficient to pierce or damage the framework, to smash the ribs -of the body, and perhaps kill those aboard. - -At first Graham felt disappointed with these cumbersome contrivances, -but he speedily grasped the fact that smaller machines would have been -unremunerative, for the simple reason that their carrying power would be -disproportionately diminished with diminished size. Moreover, the huge -size of these things enabled them--and it was a consideration of primary -importance--to traverse the air at enormous speeds, and so run no risks -of unanticipated weather. The briefest journey performed, that from -London to Paris, took about three-quarters of an hour, but the velocity -attained was not high; the leap to New York occupied about two hours, -and by timing oneself carefully at the intermediate stations it was -possible in quiet weather to go around the world in a day. - -The little aeropiles (as for no particular reason they were -distinctively called) were of an altogether different type. Several of -these were going to and fro in the air. They were designed to carry only -one or two persons, and their manufacture and maintenance was so costly -as to render them the monopoly of the richer sort of people. Their -sails, which were brilliantly coloured, consisted only of two pairs of -lateral air floats in the same plane, and of a screw behind. Their -small size rendered a descent in any open space neither difficult nor -disagreeable, and it was possible to attach pneumatic wheels or even the -ordinary motors for terrestrial traffic to them, and so carry them to a -convenient starting place. They required a special sort of swift car to -throw them into the air, but such a car was efficient in any open place -clear of high buildings or trees. Human aeronautics, Graham perceived, -were evidently still a long way behind the instinctive gift of the -albatross or the fly-catcher. One great influence that might have -brought the aeropile to a more rapid perfection had been withheld; these -inventions had never been used in warfare. The last great international -struggle had occurred before the usurpation of the Council. - -The Flying Stages of London were collected together in an irregular -crescent on the southern side of the river. They formed three groups of -two each and retained the names of ancient suburban hills or villages. -They were named in order, Roehampton, Wimbledon Park, Streatham, -Norwood, Blackheath, and Shooter's Hill. They were uniform structures -rising high above the general roof surfaces. Each was about four -thousand yards long and a thousand broad, and constructed of the -compound of aluminium and iron that had replaced iron in architecture. -Their higher tiers formed an openwork of girders through which lifts -and staircases ascended. The upper surface was a uniform expanse, with -portions--the starting carriers--that could be raised and were then able -to run on very slightly inclined rails to the end of the fabric. Save -for any aeropiles or aeroplanes that were in port these open surfaces -were kept clear for arrivals. - -During the adjustment of the aeroplanes it was the custom for passengers -to wait in the system of theatres, restaurants, news-rooms, and places -of pleasure and indulgence of various sorts that interwove with the -prosperous shops below. This portion of London was in consequence -commonly the gayest of all its districts, with something of the -meretricious gaiety of a seaport or city of hotels. And for those who -took a more serious view of aeronautics, the religious quarters had -flung out an attractive colony of devotional chapels, while a host -of brilliant medical establishments competed to supply physical -preparatives for the journey. At various levels through the mass of -chambers and passages beneath these, ran, in addition to the main moving -ways of the city which laced and gathered here, a complex system of -special passages and lifts and slides, for the convenient interchange of -people and luggage between stage and stage. And a distinctive feature of -the architecture of this section was the ostentatious massiveness of the -metal piers and girders that everywhere broke the vistas and spanned the -halls and passages, crowding and twining up to meet the weight of the -stages and the weighty impact of the aeroplanes overhead. - -Graham went to the flying stages by the public ways. He was accompanied -by Asano, his Japanese attendant. Lincoln was called away by Ostrog, -who was busy with his administrative concerns. A strong guard of the -Wind-Vane police awaited the Master outside the Wind-Vane offices, and -they cleared a space for him on the upper moving platform. His passage -to the flying stages was unexpected, nevertheless a considerable crowd -gathered and followed him to his destination. As he went along, he could -hear the people shouting his name, and saw numberless men and women and -children in blue come swarming up the staircases in the central path, -gesticulating and shouting. He could not hear what they shouted. He was -struck again by the evident existence of a vulgar dialect among the -poor of the city. When at last he descended, his guards were immediately -surrounded by a dense excited crowd. Afterwards it occurred to him that -some had attempted to reach him with petitions. His guards cleared a -passage for him with difficulty. - -He found an aeropile in charge of an aeronaut awaiting him on the -westward stage. Seen close this mechanism was no longer small. As it lay -on its launching carrier upon the wide expanse of the flying stage, its -aluminium body skeleton was as big as the hull of a twenty-ton yacht. -Its lateral supporting sails braced and stayed with metal nerves -almost like the nerves of a bee's wing, and made of some sort of glassy -artificial membrane, cast their shadow over many hundreds of square -yards. The chairs for the engineer and his passenger hung free to swing -by a complex tackle, within the protecting ribs of the frame and well -abaft the middle. The passenger's chair was protected by a wind-guard -and guarded about with metallic rods carrying air cushions. It could, -if desired, be completely closed in, but Graham was anxious for novel -experiences, and desired that it should be left open. The aeronaut -sat behind a glass that sheltered his face. The passenger could secure -himself firmly in his seat, and this was almost unavoidable on landing, -or he could move along by means of a little rail and rod to a locker -at the stem of the machine, where his personal luggage, his wraps and -restoratives were placed, and which also with the seats, served as a -makeweight to the parts of the central engine that projected to the -propeller at the stern. - -The engine was very simple in appearance. Asano, pointing out the -parts of this apparatus to him, told him that, like the gas-engine of -Victorian days, it was of the explosive type, burning a small drop of -a substance called "fomile" at each stroke. It consisted simply of -reservoir and piston about the long fluted crank of the propeller shaft. -So much Graham saw of the machine. - -The flying stage about him was empty save for Asano and their suite of -attendants. Directed by the aeronaut he placed himself in his seat. He -then drank a mixture containing ergot--a dose, he learnt, invariably -administered to those about to fly, and designed to counteract the -possible effect of diminished air pressure upon the system. Having done -so, he declared himself ready for the journey. Asano took the empty -glass from him, stepped through the bars of the hull, and stood below on -the stage waving his hand. Suddenly he seemed to slide along the stage -to the right and vanish. - -The engine was beating, the propeller spinning, and for a second the -stage and the buildings beyond were gliding swiftly and horizontally -past Graham's eye; then these things seemed to tilt up abruptly. He -gripped the little rods on either side of him instinctively. He felt -himself moving upward, heard the air whistle over the top of the -wind screen. The propeller screw moved round with powerful rhythmic -impulses--one, two, three, pause; one, two, three--which the engineer -controlled very delicately. The machine began a quivering vibration that -continued throughout the flight, and the roof areas seemed running away -to starboard very quickly and growing rapidly smaller. He looked from -the face of the engineer through the ribs of the machine. Looking -sideways, there was nothing very startling in what he saw--a rapid -funicular railway might have given the same sensations. He recognised -the Council House and the Highgate Ridge. And then he looked straight -down between his feet. - -For a moment physical terror possessed him, a passionate sense of -insecurity. He held tight. For a second or so he could not lift his -eyes. Some hundred feet or more sheer below him was one of the big -windvanes of south-west London, and beyond it the southernmost flying -stage crowded with little black dots. These things seemed to be falling -away from him. For a second he had an impulse to pursue the earth. He -set his teeth, he lifted his eyes by a muscular effort, and the moment -of panic passed. - -He remained for a space with his teeth set hard, his eyes staring into -the sky. Throb, throb, throb--beat, went the engine; throb, throb, -throb,--beat. He gripped his bars tightly, glanced at the aeronaut, and -saw a smile upon his sun-tanned face. He smiled in return--perhaps a -little artificially. "A little strange at first," he shouted before he -recalled his dignity. But he dared not look down again for some time. -He stared over the aeronaut's head to where a rim of vague blue horizon -crept up the sky. For a little while he could not banish the thought -of possible accidents from his mind. Throb, throb, throb--beat; suppose -some trivial screw went wrong in that supporting engine! Suppose--! He -made a grim effort to dismiss all such suppositions. After a while they -did at least abandon the foreground of his thoughts. And up he went -steadily, higher and higher into the clear air. - -Once the mental shock of moving unsupported through the air was -over, his sensations ceased to be unpleasant, became very speedily -pleasurable. He had been warned of air sickness. But he found the -pulsating movement of the aeropile as it drove up the faint south-west -breeze was very little in excess of the pitching of a boat head on to -broad rollers in a moderate gale, and he was constitutionally a good -sailor. And the keenness of the more rarefied air into which they -ascended produced a sense of lightness and exhilaration. He looked up -and saw the blue sky above fretted with cirrus clouds. His eye came -cautiously down through the ribs and bars to a shining flight of white -birds that hung in the lower sky. For a space he watched these. Then -going lower and less apprehensively, he saw the slender figure of -the Wind-Vane keeper's crow's nest shining golden in the sunlight and -growing smaller every moment. As his eye fell with more confidence now, -there came a blue line of hills, and then London, already to leeward, -an intricate space of roofing. Its near edge came sharp and clear, and -banished his last apprehensions in a shock of surprise. For the boundary -of London was like a wall, like a cliff, a steep fall of three or four -hundred feet, a frontage broken only by terraces here and there, a -complex decorative facade. - -That gradual passage of town into country through an extensive sponge -of suburbs, which was so characteristic a feature of the great cities of -the nineteenth century, existed no longer. Nothing remained of it but -a waste of ruins here, variegated and dense with thickets of the -heterogeneous growths that had once adorned the gardens of the belt, -interspersed among levelled brown patches of sown ground, and verdant -stretches of winter greens. The latter even spread among the vestiges -of houses. But for the most part the reefs and skerries of ruins, the -wreckage of suburban villas, stood among their streets and roads, queer -islands amidst the levelled expanses of green and brown, abandoned -indeed by the inhabitants years since, but too substantial, it seemed', -to be cleared out of the way of the wholesale horticultural mechanisms -of the time. - -The vegetation of this waste undulated and frothed amidst the countless -cells of crumbling house walls, and broke along the foot of the city -wall in a surf of bramble and holly and ivy and teazle and tall grasses. -Here and there gaudy pleasure palaces towered amidst the puny remains -of Victorian times, and cable ways slanted to them from the city. That -winter day they seemed deserted. Deserted, too, were the artificial -gardens among the ruins. The city limits were indeed as sharply defined -as in the ancient days when the gates were shut at nightfall and the -robber foreman prowled to the very walls. A huge semi-circular throat -poured out a vigorous traffic upon the Eadhamite Bath Road. So the first -prospect of the world beyond the city flashed on Graham, and dwindled. -And when at last he could look vertically downward again, he saw below -him the vegetable fields of the Thames valley--innumerable minute -oblongs of ruddy brown, intersected by shining threads, the sewage -ditches. - -His exhilaration increased rapidly, became a sort of intoxication. He -found himself drawing deep breaths of air, laughing aloud, desiring -to shout. After a time that desire became too strong for him, and he -shouted. - -The machine had now risen as high as was customary with aeropiles, and -they began to curve about towards the south. Steering, Graham perceived, -was effected by the opening or closing of one or two thin strips of -membrane in one or other of the otherwise rigid wings, and by the -movement of the whole engine backward or forward along its supports. The -aeronaut set the engine gliding slowly forward along its rail and -opened the valve of the leeward wing until the stem of the aeropile was -horizontal and pointing southward. And in that direction they drove with -a slight list to leeward, and with a slow alternation of movement, first -a short, sharp ascent and then a long downward glide that was very -swift and pleasing. During these downward glides the propellor was -inactive altogether. These ascents gave Graham a glorious sense of -successful effort; the descents through the rarefied air were beyond all -experience. He wanted never to leave the upper air again. - -For a time he was intent upon the minute details of the landscape that -ran swiftly northward beneath him. Its minute, clear detail pleased him -exceedingly. He was impressed by the ruin of the houses that had once -dotted the country, by the vast treeless expanse of country from which -all farms and villages had gone, save for crumbling ruins. He had known -the thing was so, but seeing it so was an altogether different matter. -He tried to make out places he had known within the hollow basin of -the world below, but at first he could distinguish no data now that the -Thames valley was left behind. Soon, however, they were driving over a -sharp chalk hill that he recognised as the Guildford Hog's Back, because -of the familiar outline of the gorge at its eastward end, and because of -the ruins of the town that rose steeply on either lip of this gorge. -And from that he made out other points, Leith Hill, the sandy wastes -of Aldershot, and so forth. The Downs escarpment was set with gigantic -slow-moving wind-wheels. Save where the broad Eadhamite Portsmouth -Road, thickly dotted with rushing shapes, followed the course of the old -railway, the gorge of the Wey was choked with thickets. - -The whole expanse of the Downs escarpment, so far as the grey haze -permitted him to see, was set with wind-wheels to which the largest of -the city was but a younger brother. They stirred with a stately motion -before the south-west wind. And here and there were patches dotted -with the sheep of the British Food Trust, and here and there a mounted -shepherd made a spot of black. Then rushing under the stern of the -aeropile came the Wealden Heights, the line of Hindhead, Pitch Hill, and -Leith Hill, with a second row of wind-wheels that seemed striving to rob -the downland whirlers of their share of breeze. The purple heather was -speckled with yellow gorse, and on the further side a drove of black -oxen stampeded before a couple of mounted men. Swiftly these swept -behind, and dwindled and lost colour, and became scarce moving specks -that were swallowed up in haze. - -And when these had vanished in the distance Graham heard a peewit -wailing close at hand. He perceived he was now above the South Downs, -and staring over his shoulder saw the battlements of Portsmouth Landing -Stage towering over the ridge of Portsdown Hill. In another moment there -came into sight a spread of shipping like floating cities, the little -white cliffs of the Needles dwarfed and sunlit, and the grey and -glittering waters of the narrow sea. They seemed to leap the Solent in -a moment, and in a few seconds the Isle of Wight was running past, and -then beneath him spread a wider and wide extent of sea, here purple with -the shadow of a cloud, here grey, here a burnished mirror, and here -a spread of cloudy greenish blue. The Isle of Wight grew smaller and -smaller. In a few more minutes a strip of grey haze detached itself from -other strips that were clouds, descended out of the sky and became a -coastline--sunlit and pleasant--the coast of northern France. It rose, -it took colour, became definite and detailed, and the counterpart of the -Downland of England was speeding by below. - -In a little time, as it seemed, Paris came above the horizon, and hung -there for a space, and sank out of sight again as the aeropile circled -about to the north again. But he perceived the Eiffel Tower still -standing, and beside it a huge dome surmounted by a pinpoint Colossus. -And he perceived, too, though he did not understand it at the time, a -slanting drift of smoke. The aeronaut said something about "trouble in -the underways," that Graham did not heed at the time. But he marked the -minarets and towers and slender masses that streamed skyward above the -city windvanes, and knew that in the matter of grace at least Paris -still kept in front of her larger rival. And even as he looked a pale -blue shape ascended very swiftly from the city like a dead leaf driving -up before a gale. It curved round and soared towards them growing -rapidly larger and larger. The aeronaut was saying something. "What?" -said Graham, loath to take his eyes from this. "Aeroplane, Sire," bawled -the aeronaut pointing. - -They rose and curved about northward as it drew nearer. Nearer it came -and nearer, larger and larger. The throb, throb, throb--beat, of the -aeropile's flight, that had seemed so potent and so swift, suddenly -appeared slow by comparison with this tremendous rush. How great the -monster seemed, how swift and steady! It passed quite closely beneath -them, driving along silently, a vast spread of wirenetted translucent -wings, a thing alive. Graham had a momentary glimpse of the rows and -rows of wrapped-up passengers, slung in their little cradles behind -wind-screens, of a white-clothed engineer crawling against the gale -along a ladder way, of spouting engines beating together, of the -whirling wind screw, and of a wide waste of wing. He exulted in the -sight. And in an instant the thing had passed. - -It rose slightly and their own little wings swayed in the rush of its -flight. It fell and grew smaller. Scarcely had they moved, as it seemed, -before it was again only a flat blue thing that dwindled in the sky. -This was the aeroplane that went to and fro between London and Paris. In -fair weather and in peaceful times it came and went four times a day. - -They beat across the Channel, slowly as it seemed now, to Graham's -enlarged ideas, and Beachy Head rose greyly to the left of them. - -"Land," called the aeronaut, his voice small against the whistling of -the air over the wind-screen. - -"Not yet," bawled Graham, laughing. "Not land yet. I want to learn more -of this machine." - -"I meant--" said the aeronaut. - -"I want to learn more of this machine," repeated Graham. - -"I'm coming to you," he said, and had flung himself free of his chair -and taken a step along the guarded rail between them. He stopped for a -moment, and his colour changed and his hands tightened. Another step and -he was clinging close to the aeronaut. He felt a weight on his shoulder, -the pressure of the air. His hat was a whirling speck behind. The wind -came in gusts over his wind-screen and blew his hair in streamers past -his cheek. The aeronaut made some hasty adjustments for the shifting of -the centres of gravity and pressure. - -"I want to have these things explained," said Graham. "What do you do -when you move that engine forward?" - -The aeronaut hesitated. Then he answered, "They are complex, Sire." - -"I don't mind," shouted Graham. "I don't mind." - -There was a moment's pause. "Aeronautics is the secret--the privilege--" - -"I know. But I'm the Master, and I mean to know." He laughed, full of -this novel realisation of power that was his gift from the upper air. - -The aeropile curved about, and the keen fresh wind cut across Graham's -face and his garment lugged at his body as the stem pointed round to the -west. The two men looked into each other's eyes. - -"Sire, there are rules--" - -"Not where I am concerned," said Graham. "You seem to forget." - -The aeronaut scrutinised his face. "No," he said. "I do not forget, -Sire. But in all the earth--no man who is not a sworn aeronaut--has ever -a chance. They come as passengers--" - -"I have heard something of the sort. But I'm not going to argue these -points. Do you know why I have slept two hundred years? To fly!" - -"Sire," said the aeronaut, "the rules--if I break the rules--" - -Graham waved the penalties aside. - -"Then if you will watch me--" - -"No," said Graham, swaying and gripping tight as the machine lifted its -nose again for an ascent. "That's not my game. I want to do it myself. -Do it myself if I smash for it! No! I will. See. I am going to clamber -by this to come and share your seat. Steady! I mean to fly of my own -accord if I smash at the end of it. I will have something to pay for -my sleep. Of all other things--. In my past it was my dream to fly. -Now--keep your balance." - -"A dozen spies are watching me, Sire!" - -Graham's temper was at end. Perhaps he chose it should be. He swore. -He swung himself round the intervening mass of levers and the aeropile -swayed. - -"Am I Master of the earth?" he said. "Or is your Society? Now. Take your -hands off those levers, and hold my wrists. Yes--so. And now, how do we -turn her nose down to the glide?" - -"Sire," said the aeronaut. - -"What is it?" - -"You will protect me?" - -"Lord! Yes! If I have to burn London. Now!" - -And with that promise Graham bought his first lesson in aerial -navigation. "It's clearly to your advantage, this journey," he said with -a loud laugh--for the air was like strong wine--"to teach me quickly and -well. Do I pull this? Ah! So! Hullo!" - -"Back, Sire! Back!" - -"Back--right. One--two--three--good God! Ah! Up she goes! But this is -living!" - -And now the machine began to dance the strangest figures in the air. Now -it would sweep round a spiral of scarcely a hundred yards diameter, now -it would rush up into the air and swoop down again, steeply, swiftly, -falling like a hawk, to recover in a rushing loop that swept it high -again. In one of these descents it seemed driving straight at the -drifting park of balloons in the southeast, and only curved about -and cleared them by a sudden recovery of dexterity. The extraordinary -swiftness and smoothness of the motion, the extraordinary effect of the -rarefied air upon his constitution, threw Graham into a careless fury. - -But at last a queer incident came to sober him, to send him flying down -once more to the crowded life below with all its dark insoluble riddles. -As he swooped, came a tap and something flying past, and a drop like a -drop of rain. Then as he went on down he saw something like a white rag -whirling down in his wake. "What was that?" he asked. "I did not see." - -The aeronaut glanced, and then clutched at the lever to recover, for -they were sweeping down. When the aeropile was rising again he drew a -deep breath and replied. "That," and he indicated the white thing still -fluttering down, "was a swan." - -"I never saw it," said Graham. - -The aeronaut made no answer, and Graham saw little drops upon his -forehead. - -They drove horizontally while Graham clambered back to the passenger's -place out of the lash of the wind. And then came a swift rush down, -with the wind-screw whirling to check their fall, and the flying stage -growing broad and dark before them. The sun, sinking over the chalk -hills in the west, fell with them, and left the sky a blaze of gold. - -Soon men could be seen as little specks. He heard a noise coming up to -meet him, a noise like the sound of waves upon a pebbly beach, and -saw that the roofs about the flying stage were dark with his people -rejoicing over his safe return. A dark mass was crushed together under -the stage, a darkness stippled with innumerable faces, and quivering -with the minute oscillation of waved white handkerchiefs and waving -hands. - - - -CHAPTER XVII. THREE DAYS - -Lincoln awaited Graham in an apartment beneath the flying stages. He -seemed curious to learn all that had happened, pleased to hear of the -extraordinary delight and interest which Graham took in flying Graham -was in a mood of enthusiasm. "I must learn to fly," he cried. "I -must master that. I pity all poor souls who have died without this -opportunity. The sweet swift air! It is the most wonderful experience in -the world." - -"You will find our new times full of wonderful experiences," said -Lincoln. "I do not know what you will care to do now. We have music that -may seem novel." - -"For the present," said Graham, "flying holds me. Let me learn more of -that. Your aeronaut was saying there is some trades union objection to -one's learning." - -"There is, I believe," said Lincoln. "But for you--! If you would' -like to occupy yourself with that, we can make you a sworn aeronaut -tomorrow." - -Graham expressed his wishes vividly and talked of his sensations for a -while. "And as for affairs," he asked abruptly. "How are things going -on?" - -Lincoln waved affairs aside. "Ostrog will tell you that tomorrow," he -said. "Everything is settling down. The Revolution accomplishes itself -all over the world. Friction is inevitable here and there, of course; -but your rule is assured. You may rest secure with things in Ostrog's -hands." - -"Would it be possible for me to be made a sworn aeronaut, as you call -it, forthwith--before I sleep?" said Graham, pacing. "Then I could be at -it the very first thing tomorrow again. - -"It would be possible," said Lincoln thoughtfully. "Quite possible. -Indeed, it shall be done." He laughed. "I came prepared to suggest -amusements, but you have found one for yourself. I will telephone to the -aeronautical offices from here and we will return to your apartments in -the Wind-Vane Control. By the time you have dined the aeronauts will -be able to come. You don't think that after you have dined, you might -prefer--?" He paused. - -"Yes," said Graham. - -"We had prepared a show of dancers--they have been brought from the -Capri theatre." - -"I hate ballets," said Graham, shortly. "Always did. That other--. -That's not what I want to see. We had dancers in the old days. For the -matter of that, they had them in ancient Egypt. But flying--" - -"True," said Lincoln. "Though our dancers--" - -"They can afford to wait," said Graham; "they can afford to wait. -I know. I'm not a Latin. There's questions I want to ask some -expert--about your machinery. I'm keen. I want no distractions." - -"You have the world to choose from," said Lincoln; "whatever you want is -yours." - -Asano appeared, and under the escort of a strong guard they returned -through the city streets to Graham's apartments. Far larger crowds had -assembled to witness his return than his departure had gathered, and -the shouts and cheering of these masses of people sometimes drowned -Lincoln's answers to the endless questions Graham's aerial journey had -suggested. At first Graham had acknowledged the cheering and cries -of the crowd by bows and gestures, but Lincoln warned him that such a -recognition would be considered incorrect behaviour. Graham, already -a little wearied by rhythmic civilities, ignored his subjects for the -remainder of his public progress. - -Directly they arrived at his apartments Asano departed in search -of kinematographic renderings of machinery in motion, and Lincoln -despatched Graham's commands for models of machines and small machines -to illustrate the various mechanical advances of the last two centuries. -The little group of appliances for telegraphic communication attracted -the Master so strongly that his delightfully prepared dinner, served by -a number of charmingly dexterous girls, waited for a space. The habit -of smoking had almost ceased from the face of the earth, but when he -expressed a wish for that indulgence, inquiries were made and some -excellent cigars were discovered in Florida, and sent to him by -pneumatic dispatch while the dinner was still in progress. Afterwards -came the aeronauts, and a feast of ingenious wonders in the hands of a -latter-day engineer. For the time, at any rate, the neat dexterity of -counting and numbering machines, building machines, spinning engines, -patent doorways, explosive motors, grain and water elevators, -slaughter-house machines and harvesting appliances, was more fascinating -to Graham than any bayadere. "We were savages," was his refrain, "we -were savages. We were in the stone age--compared with this.... And what -else have you?" - -There came also practical psychologists with some very interesting -developments in the art of hypnotism. The names of Milne Bramwell, -Fechner, Liebault, William James, Myers and Gurney, he found, bore -a value now that would have astonished their contemporaries. Several -practical applications of psychology were now in general use; it had -largely superseded drugs, antiseptics and anaesthetics in medicine; was -employed by almost all who had any need of mental concentration. A -real enlargement of human faculty seemed to have been effected in this -direction. The feats of "calculating boys," the wonders, as Graham had -been wont to regard them, of mesmerisers, were now within the range of -anyone who could afford the services of a skilled hypnotist. Long ago -the old examination methods in education had been destroyed by these -expedients. Instead of years of study, candidates had substituted a few -weeks of trances, and during the trances expert coaches had simply -to repeat all the points necessary for adequate answering, adding a -suggestion of the post hypnotic recollection of these points. In process -mathematics particularly, this aid had been of singular service, and it -was now invariably invoked by such players of chess and games of manual -dexterity as were still to be found. In fact, all operations conducted -under finite rules, of a quasi-mechanical sort that is, were now -systematically relieved from the wanderings of imagination and emotion, -and brought to an unexampled pitch of accuracy. Little children of -the labouring classes, so soon as they were of sufficient age to -be hypnotised, were thus converted into beautifully punctual and -trustworthy machine minders, and released forthwith from the long, long -thoughts of youth. Aeronautical pupils, who gave way to giddiness, -could be relieved from their imaginary terrors. In every street were -hypnotists ready to print permanent memories upon the mind. If anyone -desired to remember a name, a series of numbers, a song or a speech, it -could be done by this method, and conversely memories could be effaced, -habits removed, and desires eradicated--a sort of psychic surgery was, -in fact, in general use. Indignities, humbling experiences, were thus -forgotten, amorous widows would obliterate their previous husbands, -angry lovers release themselves from their slavery. To graft desires, -however, was still impossible, and the facts of thought transference -were yet unsystematised. The psychologists illustrated their expositions -with some astounding experiments in mnemonics made through the agency of -a troupe of pale-faced children in blue. - -Graham, like most of the people of his former time, distrusted the -hypnotist, or he might then and there have eased his mind of many -painful preoccupations. But in spite of Lincoln's assurances he held to -the old theory that to be hypnotised was in some way the surrender of -his personality, the abdication of his will. At the banquet of wonderful -experiences that was beginning, he wanted very keenly to remain -absolutely himself. - -The next day, and another day, and yet another day passed in such -interests as these. Each day Graham spent many hours in the glorious -entertainment of flying. On the third day he soared across middle -France, and within sight of the snow-clad Alps. These vigorous exercises -gave him restful sleep, and each day saw a great stride in his health -from the spiritless anaemia of his first awakening. And whenever he was -not in the air, and awake, Lincoln was assiduous in the cause of his -amusement; all that was novel and curious in contemporary invention was -brought to him, until at last his appetite for novelty was well-nigh -glutted. One might fill a dozen inconsecutive volumes with the strange -things they exhibited. Each afternoon he held his court for an hour -or so. He speedily found his interest in his contemporaries becoming -personal and intimate. At first he had been alert chiefly for -unfamiliarity and peculiarity; any foppishness in their dress, any -discordance with his preconceptions of nobility in their status and -manners had jarred upon him, and it was remarkable to him how soon that -strangeness and the faint hostility that arose from it, disappeared; how -soon he came to appreciate the true perspective of his position, and see -the old Victorian days remote and quaint. He found himself particularly -amused by the red-haired daughter of the Manager of the European -Piggeries. On the second day after dinner he made the acquaintance of a -latter-day dancing girl, and found her an astonishing artist. And after -that, more hypnotic wonders. On the third day Lincoln was moved to -suggest that the Master should repair to a Pleasure City, but this -Graham declined, nor would he accept the services of the hypnotists in -his aeronautical experiments. The link of locality held him to London; -he found a perpetual wonder in topographical identifications that he -would have missed abroad. "Here--or a hundred feet below here," he could -say, "I used to eat my midday cutlets during my London University -days. Underneath here was Waterloo and the perpetual hunt for confusing -trains. Often have I stood waiting down there, bag in hand, and stared -up into the sky above the forest of signals, little thinking I should -walk some day a hundred yards in the air. And now in that very sky that -was once a grey smoke canopy, I circle in an aeropile." - -During those three days Graham was so occupied with such distractions -that the vast political movements in progress outside his quarters had -but a small share of his attention. Those about him told him little. -Daily came Ostrog, the Boss, his Grand Vizier, his mayor of the palace, -to report in vague terms the steady establishment of his rule; "a little -trouble" soon to be settled in this city, "a slight disturbance" in -that. The song of the social revolt came to him no more; he never -learned that it had been forbidden in the municipal limits; and all the -great emotions of the crow's nest slumbered in his mind. - -But on the second and third of the three days he found himself, in spite -of his interest in the daughter of the Pig Manager, or it may be by, -reason of the thoughts her conversation suggested, remembering the girl -Helen Wotton, who had spoken to him so oddly at the Wind-Vane Keeper's -gathering. The impression she had made was a deep one, albeit the -incessant surprise of novel circumstances had kept him from brooding -upon it for a space. But now her memory was coming to its own. He -wondered what she had meant by those broken half-forgotten sentences; -the picture of her eyes and the earnest passion of her face became more -vivid as his mechanical interests faded. Her beauty came compellingly -between him and certain immediate temptations of ignoble passion. But he -did not see her again until three full days were past. - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. GRAHAM REMEMBERS - -She came upon him at last in a little gallery that ran from the Wind -Vane Offices toward his state apartments. The gallery was long and -narrow, with a series of recesses, each with an arched fenestration that -looked upon a court of palms. He came upon her suddenly in one of -these recesses. She was seated. She turned her head at the sound of -his footsteps and started at the sight of him. Every touch of colour -vanished from her face. She rose instantly, made a step toward him as -if to address him, and hesitated. He stopped and stood still, expectant. -Then he perceived that a nervous tumult silenced her, perceived too, -that she must have sought speech with him to be waiting for him in this -place. - -He felt a regal impulse to assist her. "I have wanted to see you," he -said. "A few days ago you wanted to tell me something--you wanted to -tell me of the people. What was it you had to tell me?" - -She looked at him with troubled eyes. - -"You said the people were unhappy?" - -For a moment she was silent still. - -"It must have seemed strange to you," she said abruptly. - -"It did. And yet--" - -"It was an impulse." - -"Well?" - -"That is all." - -She looked at him with a face of hesitation. She spoke with an effort. -"You forget," she said, drawing a deep breath. - -"What?" - -"The people--" - -"Do you mean--?" - -"You forget the people." - -He looked interrogative. - -"Yes. I know you are surprised. For you do not understand what you are. -You do not know the things that are happening." - -"Well?" - -"You do not understand." - -"Not clearly, perhaps. But--tell me." - -She turned to him with sudden resolution. "It is so hard to explain. I -have meant to, I have wanted to. And now--I cannot. I am not ready with -words. But about you--there is something. It is Wonder. Your sleep--your -awakening. These things are miracles. To me at least--and to all the -common people. You who lived and suffered and died, you who were a -common citizen, wake again, live again, to find yourself Master almost -of the earth." - -"Master of the earth," he said. "So they tell me. But try and imagine -how little I know of it." - -"Cities--Trusts--the Labour Company--" - -"Principalities, powers, dominions--the power and the glory. Yes, I have -heard them shout. I know. I am Master. King, if you wish. With Ostrog, -the Boss--" - -He paused. - -She turned upon him and surveyed his face with a curious scrutiny. -"Well?" - -He smiled. "To take the responsibility." - -"That is what we have begun to fear." For a moment she said no more. -"No," she said slowly. "You will take the responsibility. You will take -the responsibility. The people look to you." - -She spoke softly. "Listen! For at least half the years of your sleep--in -every generation--multitudes of people, in every generation greater -multitudes of people, have prayed that you might awake--prayed." - -Graham moved to speak and did not. - -She hesitated, and a faint colour crept back to her cheek. "Do you know -that you have been to myriads--King Arthur, Barbarossa--the King who -would come in his own good time and put the world right for them?" - -"I suppose the imagination of the people--" - -"Have you not heard our proverb, 'When the Sleeper wakes?' While you lay -insensible and motionless there--thousands came. Thousands. Every first -of the month you lay in state with a white robe upon you and the people -filed by you. When I was a little girl I saw you like that, with your -face white and calm." - -She turned her face from him and looked steadfastly at the painted wall -before her. Her voice fell. "When I was a little girl I used to look -at your face....it seemed to me fixed and waiting, like the patience of -God." - -"That is what we thought of you," she said. "That is how you seemed to -us." - -She turned shining eyes to him, her voice was clear and strong. "In the -city, in the earth, a myriad myriad men and women are waiting to see -what you will do, full of strange incredible expectations." - -"Yes?" - -"Ostrog--no one--can take that responsibility." - -Graham looked at her in surprise, at her face lit with emotion. She -seemed at first to have spoken with an effort, and to have fired herself -by speaking. - -"Do you think," she said, "that you who have lived that little life so -far away in the past, you who have fallen into and risen out of this -miracle of sleep--do you think that the wonder and reverence and hope -of half the world has gathered about you only that you may live another -little life?... That you may shift the responsibility to any other man?" - -"I know how great this kingship of mine is," he said haltingly. "I know -how great it seems. But is it real? It is incredible--dreamlike. Is it -real, or is it only a great delusion?" - -"It is real," she said; "if you dare." - -"After all, like all kingship, my kingship is Belief. It is an illusion -in the minds of men." - -"If you dare!" she said. - -"But--" - - - -"Countless men," she said, "and while it is in their minds--they will -obey." - -"But I know nothing. That is what I had in mind. I know nothing. And -these others--the Councillors, Ostrog. They are wiser, cooler, they know -so much, every detail. And, indeed, what are these miseries of which you -speak? What am I to know? Do you mean--" - -He stopped blankly. - -"I am still hardly more than a girl," she said. "But to me the world -seems full of wretchedness. The world has altered since your day, -altered very strangely. I have prayed that I might see you and tell you -these things. The world has changed. As if a canker had seized it--and -robbed life of--everything worth having." - -She turned a flushed face upon him, moving suddenly. "Your days were the -days of freedom. Yes--I have thought. I have been made to think, for my -life--has not been happy. Men are no longer free--no greater, no better -than the men of your time. That is not all. This city--is a prison. -Every city now is a prison. Mammon grips the key in his hand. Myriads, -countless myriads, toil from the cradle to the grave. Is that right? Is -that to be--for ever? Yes, far worse than in your time. All about us, -beneath us, sorrow and pain. All the shallow delight of such life as -you find about you, is separated by just a little from a life of -wretchedness beyond any telling Yes, the poor know it--they know they -suffer. These countless multitudes who faced death for you two nights -since--! You owe your life to them." - -"Yes," said Graham, slowly. "Yes. I owe my life to them." - -"You come," she said, "from the days when this new tyranny of the cities -was scarcely beginning. It is a tyranny--a tyranny. In your days the -feudal war lords had gone, and the new lordship of wealth had still -to come. Half the men in the world still lived out upon the free -countryside. The cities had still to devour them. I have heard the -stories out of the old books--there was nobility! Common men led lives -of love and faithfulness then--they did a thousand things. And you--you -come from that time." - -"It was not--. But never mind. How is it now--?" - -"Gain and the Pleasure Cities! Or slavery--unthanked, unhonoured, -slavery." - -"Slavery!" he said. - -"Slavery." - -"You don't mean to say that human beings are chattels." - -"Worse. That is what I want you to know, what I want you to see. I know -you do not know. They will keep things from you, they will take you -presently to a Pleasure City. But you have noticed men and women and -children in pale blue canvas, with thin yellow faces and dull eyes?" - -"Everywhere." - -"Speaking a horrible dialect, coarse and weak." - -"I have heard it." - -"They are the slaves--your slaves. They are the slaves of the Labour -Company you own." - -"The Labour Company! In some way--that is familiar. Ah! now I remember. -I saw it when I was wandering about the city, after the lights returned, -great fronts of buildings coloured pale blue. Do you really mean--?" - -"Yes. How can I explain it to you? Of course the blue uniform struck -you. Nearly a third of our people wear it--more assume it now every day. -This Labour Company has grown imperceptibly." - -"What is this Labour Company?" asked Graham. - -"In the old times, how did you manage with starving people?" - -"There was the workhouse--which the parishes maintained." - -"Workhouse! Yes--there was something. In our history lessons. I remember -now. The Labour Company ousted the workhouse. It grew--partly--out -of something--you, perhaps, may remember it--an emotional religious -organisation called the Salvation Army--that became a business company. -In the first place it was almost a charity. To save people from -workhouse rigours. Now I come to think of it, it was one of the earliest -properties your Trustees acquired. They bought the Salvation Army and -reconstructed it as this. The idea in the first place was to give work -to starving homeless people." - -"Yes." - -"Nowadays there are no workhouses, no refuges and charities, nothing but -that Company. Its offices are everywhere. That blue is its colour. -And any man, woman or child who comes to be hungry and weary and with -neither home nor friend nor resort, must go to the Company in the -end--or seek some way of death. The Euthanasy is beyond their means--for -the poor there is no easy death. And at any hour in the day or night -there is food, shelter and a blue uniform for all comers--that is the -first condition of the Company's incorporation--and in return for a -day's shelter the Company extracts a day's work, and then returns the -visitor's proper clothing and sends him or her out again." - -"Yes?" - -"Perhaps that does not seem so terrible to you. In your days men starved -in your streets. That was bad. But they died--men. These people in -blue--. The proverb runs: 'Blue canvas once and ever.' The Company -trades in their labour, and it has taken care to assure itself of the -supply. People come to it starving and helpless--they eat and sleep for -a night and day, they--work for a day, and at the end of the day they go -out again. If they have worked well they have a penny or so--enough -for a theatre or a cheap dancing place, or a kinematograph story, or -a dinner or a bet. They wander about after that is spent. Begging is -prevented by the police of the ways. Besides, no one gives. They come -back again the next day or the day after--brought back by the same -incapacity that brought them first. At last their proper clothing wears -out, or their rags get so shabby that they are ashamed. Then they must -work for months to get fresh. If they want fresh. A great number of -children are born under the Company's care. The mother owes them a -month thereafter--the children they cherish and educate until they -are fourteen, and they pay two years' service. You may be sure these -children are educated for the blue canvas. And so it is the Company -works." - -"And none are destitute in the city?" - -"None. They are either in blue canvas or in prison." - -"If they will not work?" - -"Most people will work at that pitch, and the Company has powers. There -are stages of unpleasantness in the work--stoppage of food--and a man or -woman who has refused to work once is known by a thumb-marking system -in the Company's offices all over the world. Besides, who can leave the -city poor? To go to Paris costs two Lions. And for insubordination -there are the prisons--dark and miserable--out of sight below. There are -prisons now for many things." - -"And a third of the people wear this blue canvas?" - -"More than a third. Toilers, living without pride or delight or hope, -with the stories of Pleasure Cities ringing in their ears, mocking their -shameful lives, their privations and hardships. Too poor even for the -Euthanasy, the rich man's refuge from life. Dumb, crippled millions, -countless millions, all the world about, ignorant of anything but -limitations and unsatisfied desires. They are born, they are thwarted -and they die. That is the state to which we have come." - -For a space Graham sat downcast. - -"But there has been a revolution," he said. "All these things will be -changed." Ostrog--" - -"That is our hope. That is the hope of the world. But Ostrog will not -do it. He is a politician. To him it seems things must be like this. -He does not mind. He takes it for granted. All the rich, all the -influential, all who are happy, come at last to take these miseries for -granted. They use the people in their politics, they live in ease by -their degradation. But you--you who come from a happier age--it is to -you the people look. To you." - -He looked at her face. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. He felt -a rush of emotion. For a moment he forgot this city, he forgot the race, -and all those vague remote voices, in the immediate humanity of her -beauty. - -"But what am I to do?" he said with his eyes upon her. - -"Rule," she answered, bending towards him and speaking in a low tone. -"Rule the world as it has never been ruled, for the good and happiness -of men. For you might rule it--you could rule it. - -"The people are stirring. All over the world the people are stirring. It -wants but a word--but a word from you--to bring them all together. Even -the middle sort of people are restless unhappy. - -"They are not telling you the things that are happening. The people will -not go back to their drudgery--they refuse to be disarmed. Ostrog has -awakened something greater than he dreamt of--he has awakened hopes." - -His heart was beating fast. He tried to seem judicial, to weigh -considerations. - -"They only want their leader," she said. - -"And then?" - -"You could do what you would;--the world is yours." - -He sat, no longer regarding her. Presently he spoke. "The old dreams, -and the thing I have dreamt, liberty, happiness. Are they dreams? Could -one man--one man--?" His voice sank and ceased. - -"Not one man, but all men--give them only a leader to speak the desire -of their hearts." - -He shook his head, and for a time there was silence. - -He looked up suddenly, and their eyes met. "I have not your faith," -he said. "I have not your youth. I am here with power that mocks me. -No--let me speak. I want to do--not right--I have not the strength -for that--but something rather right than wrong. It will bring no -millennium, but I am resolved now that I will rule. What you have said -has awakened me.... You are right. Ostrog must know his place. And I -will learn--.... One thing I promise you. This Labour slavery shall -end." - -"And you will rule?" - -"Yes. Provided--. There is one thing." - -"Yes?" - -"That you will help me." - -"I!--a girl!" - -"Yes. Does it not occur to you I am absolutely alone?" - -She started and for an instant her eyes had pity. "Need you ask whether -I will help you?" she said. - -She stood before him, beautiful, worshipful, and her enthusiasm and the -greatness of their theme was like a great gulf fixed between them. To -touch her, to clasp her hand, was a thing beyond hope. "Then I will rule -indeed," he said slowly. "I will rule-" He paused. "With you." - -There came a tense silence, and then the beating a clock striking the -hour. She made him no answer. Graham rose. - -"Even now," he said, "Ostrog will be waiting." He hesitated, facing her. -"When I have asked him certain questions--. There is much I do not know. -It may be, that I will go to see with my own eyes the things of which -you have spoken. And when I return--?" - -"I shall know of your going and coming. I will wait for you here again." - -He stood for a moment regarding her. - -"I knew," she said, and stopped. - -He waited, but she said no more. They regarded one another steadfastly, -questioningly, and then he turned from her towards the Wind Vane office. - - - -CHAPTER XIX. OSTROG'S POINT OF VIEW - -Graham found Ostrog waiting to give a formal account of his day's -stewardship. On previous occasions he had passed over this ceremony as -speedily as possible, in order to resume his aerial experiences, but now -he began to ask quick short questions. He was very anxious to take -up his empire forthwith. Ostrog brought flattering reports of the -development of affairs abroad. In Paris and Berlin, Graham perceived -that he was saying, there had been trouble, not organised resistance -indeed, but insubordinate proceedings. "After all these years," said -Ostrog, when Graham pressed enquiries, "the Commune has lifted its head -again. That is the real nature of the struggle, to be explicit." But -order had been restored in these cities. Graham, the more deliberately -judicial for the stirring emotions he felt, asked if there had been -any fighting. "A little," said Ostrog. "In one quarter only. But the -Senegalese division of our African agricultural police--the Consolidated -African Companies have a very well drilled police--was ready, and so -were the aeroplanes. We expected a little trouble in the continental -cities, and in America. But things are very quiet in America. They are -satisfied with the overthrow of the Council. For the time." - - -"Why should you expect trouble?" asked Graham abruptly. - -"There is a lot of discontent--social discontent." - -"The Labour Company?" - -"You are learning," said Ostrog with a touch of surprise. "Yes. It is -chiefly the discontent with the Labour Company. It was that discontent -supplied the motive force of this overthrow--that and your awakening." - -"Yes?" - -Ostrog smiled. He became explicit. "We had to stir up their discontent, -we had to revive the old ideals of universal happiness--all men -equal--all men happy--no luxury that everyone may not share--ideas that -have slumbered for two hundred years. You know that? We had to revive -these ideals, impossible as they are--in order to overthrow the Council. -And now--" - -"Well?" - -"Our revolution is accomplished, and the Council is overthrown, and -people whom we have stirred up remain surging. There was scarcely -enough fighting... We made promises, of course. It is extraordinary how -violently and rapidly this vague out-of-date humanitarianism has revived -and spread. We who sowed the seed even, have been astonished. In Paris, -as I say--we have had to call in a little external help." - -"And here?" - -"There is trouble. Multitudes will not go back to work. There is a -general strike. Half the factories are empty and the people are swarming -in the Ways. They are talking of a Commune. Men in silk and satin have -been insulted in the streets. The blue canvas is expecting all sorts of -things from you.... Of course there is no need for you to trouble. We -are setting the Babble Machines to work with counter suggestions in the -cause of law and order. We must keep the grip tight; that is all." - -Graham thought. He perceived a way of asserting himself. But he spoke -with restraint. - -"Even to the pitch of bringing a negro police," he said. - -"They are useful," said Ostrog. "They are fine loyal brutes, with no -wash of ideas in their heads--such as our rabble has. The Council -should have had them as police of the Ways, and things might have -been different. Of course, there is nothing to fear except rioting and -wreckage. You can manage your own wings now, and you can soar away to -Capri if there is any smoke or fuss. We have the pull of all the great -things; the aeronauts are privileged and rich, the closest trades union -in the world, and so are the engineers of the wind vanes. We have the -air, and the mastery of the air is the mastery of the earth. No one of -any ability is organising against us. They have no leaders--only the -sectional leaders of the secret society we organised before your very -opportune awakening. Mere busy bodies and sentimentalists they are and -bitterly jealous of each other. None of them is man enough for a -central figure. The only trouble will be a disorganised upheaval. To -be frank--that may happen. But it won't interrupt your aeronautics. The -days when the People could make revolutions are past." - -"I suppose they are," said Graham. "I suppose they are." He mused. "This -world of yours has been full of surprises to me. In the old days we -dreamt of a wonderful democratic life, of a time when all men would be -equal and happy." - -Ostrog looked at him steadfastly. "The day of democracy is past," he -said. "Past for ever. That day began with the bowmen of Crecy, it ended -when marching infantry, when common men in masses ceased to win the -battles of the world, when costly cannon, great ironclads, and strategic -railways became the means of power. To-day is the day of wealth. Wealth -now is power as it never was power before--it commands earth and sea and -sky. All power is for those who can handle wealth.... You must accept -facts, and these are facts. The world for the Crowd! The Crowd as Ruler! -Even in your days that creed had been tried and condemned. To-day it has -only one believer--a multiplex, silly one--the mall in the Crowd." - -Graham did not answer immediately. He stood lost in sombre -preoccupations. - -"No," said Ostrog. "The day of the common man is past. On the open -countryside one man is as good as another, or nearly as good. The -earlier aristocracy had a precarious tenure of strength and audacity. -They were tempered--tempered. There were insurrections, duels, riots. -The first real aristocracy, the first permanent aristocracy, came in -with castles and armour, and vanished before the musket and bow. But -this is the second aristocracy. The real one. Those days of gunpowder -and democracy were only an eddy in the stream. The common man now is a -helpless unit. In these days we have this great machine of the city, and -an organisation complex beyond his understanding." - -"Yet," said Graham, "there is something resists, something you are -holding down--something that stirs and presses." - -"You will see," said Ostrog, with a forced smile that would brush these -difficult questions aside. "I have not roused the force to destroy -myself--trust me." - -"I wonder," said Graham. - -Ostrog stared. - -"Must the world go this way?" said Graham, with his emotions at the -speaking point. "Must it indeed go in this way? Have all our hopes been -vain?" - -"What do you mean?" said Ostrog. "Hopes?" - -"I came from a democratic age. And I find an aristocratic tyranny!" - -"Well,--but you are the chief tyrant." - -Graham shook his head. - -"Well," said Ostrog, "take the general question. It is the way that -change has always travelled. Aristocracy, the prevalence of the -best--the suffering and extinction of the unfit, and so to better -things." - -"But aristocracy! those people I met--" - -"Oh! not those!" said Ostrog. "But for the most part they go to their -death. Vice and pleasure! They have no children. That sort of stuff will -die out. If the world keeps to one road, that is, if there is no turning -back. An easy road to excess, convenient Euthanasia for the pleasure -seekers singed in the flame, that is the way to improve the race!" - -"Pleasant extinction," said Graham. "Yet--." He thought for an instant. -"There is that other thing--the Crowd, the great mass of poor men. Will -that die out? That will not die out. And it suffers, its suffering is a -force that even you--" - -Ostrog moved impatiently, and when he spoke, he spoke rather less evenly -than before. - -"Don't you trouble about these things," he said. "Everything will be -settled in a few days now. The Crowd is a huge foolish beast. What if -it does not die out? Even if it does not die, it can still be tamed -and driven. I have no sympathy with servile men. You heard those people -shouting and singing two nights ago. They were taught that song. If you -had taken any man there in cold blood and asked why he shouted, he could -not have told you. They think they are shouting for you, that they are -loyal and devoted to you. Just then they were ready to slaughter the -Council. To-day--they are already murmuring against those who have -overthrown the Council." - -"No, no," said Graham. "They shouted because their lives were dreary, -without joy or pride, and because in me--in me--they hoped." - -"And what was their hope? What is their hope? What right have they to -hope? They work ill and they want the reward of those who work well. The -hope of mankind--what is it? That some day the Over-man may come, -that some day the inferior, the weak and the bestial may be subdued or -eliminated. Subdued if not eliminated. The world is no place for the -bad, the stupid, the enervated. Their duty--it's a fine duty too!--is to -die. The death of the failure! That is the path by which the beast rose -to manhood, by which man goes on to higher things." - -Ostrog took a pace, seemed to think, and turned on Graham. "I can -imagine how this great world state of ours seems to a Victorian -Englishman. You regret all the old forms of representative -government--their spectres still haunt the world, the voting councils -and parliaments and all that eighteenth century tomfoolery You feel -moved against our Pleasure Cities. I might have thought of that,--had -I not been busy. But you will learn better. The people are mad with -envy--they would be in sympathy with you. Even in the streets now, they -clamour to destroy the Pleasure Cities. But the Pleasure Cities are the -excretory organs of the State, attractive places that year after year -draw together all that is weak and vicious, all that is lascivious and -lazy, all the easy roguery of the world, to a graceful destruction. They -go there, they have their time, they die childless, all the pretty silly -lascivious women die childless, and mankind is the better. If the people -were sane they would not envy the rich their way of death. And you would -emancipate the silly brainless workers that we have enslaved, and try to -make their lives easy and pleasant again. Just as they have sunk to what -they are fit for." He smiled a smile that irritated Graham oddly. "You -will learn better. I know those ideas; in my boyhood I read your Shelley -and dreamt of Liberty. There is no liberty, save wisdom and self -control. Liberty is within--not without. It is each man's own affair. -Suppose--which is impossible--that these swarming yelping fools in blue -get the upper hand of us, what then? They will only fall to other -masters. So long as there are sheep Nature will insist on beasts of -prey. It would mean but a few hundred years' delay. The coming of the -aristocrat is fatal and assured. The end will be the Over-man--for all -the mad protests of humanity. Let them revolt, let them win and kill me -and my like. Others will arise--other masters. The end will be the -same." - -"I wonder," said Graham doggedly. - -For a moment he stood downcast. - -"But I must see these things for myself," he said, suddenly assuming -a tone of confident mastery. "Only by seeing can I understand. I must -learn. That is what I want to tell you, Ostrog. I do not want to be King -in a Pleasure City; that is not my, pleasure. I have spent enough time -with aeronautics--and those other things. I must learn how people live -now, how the common life has developed. Then I shall understand these -things better. I must learn how common people live--the labour people -more especially--how they work, marry, bear children, die--" - -"You get that from our realistic novelists," suggested Ostrog, suddenly -preoccupied. - -"I want reality," said Graham, "not realism." - -"There are difficulties," said Ostrog, and thought. - -"On the whole perhaps-- - -"I did not expect--. - -"I had thought--. And yet, perhaps--. You say you want to go through the -Ways of the city and see the common people." - -Suddenly he came to some conclusion. "You would need to go disguised," -he said. "The city is intensely excited, and the discovery of your -presence among them might create a fearful tumult. Still this wish of -yours to go into this city--this idea of yours--. Yes, now I think the -thing over it seems to me not altogether--. It can be contrived. If you -would really find an interest in that! You are, of course, Master. You -can go soon if you like. A disguise for this excursion Asano will be -able to manage. He would go with you. After all it is not a bad idea of -yours." - -"You will not want to consult me in any matter?" asked Graham suddenly, -struck by an odd suspicion. - -"Oh, dear no! No! I think you may trust affairs to me for a time, at any -rate," said Ostrog, smiling. "Even if we differ--" - -Graham glanced; at him sharply. - -"There is no fighting likely to happen soon?" he asked abruptly. - -"Certainly not." - -"I have been thinking about these negroes. I don't believe the people -intend any hostility to me, and, after all, I am the Master. I do not -want any negroes brought to London. It is an archaic prejudice perhaps, -but I have peculiar feelings about Europeans and the subject races. Even -about Paris--" - -Ostrog stood watching him from under his drooping brows. "I am not -bringing negroes to London," he said slowly. "But if--" - -"You are not to bring armed negroes to London, whatever happens," said -Graham. "In that matter I am quite decided." - -Ostrog, after a pause, decided not to speak, and bowed deferentially. - - - -CHAPTER XX. IN THE CITY WAYS - -And that night, unknown and unsuspected, Graham, dressed in the costume -of an inferior wind-vane official keeping holiday, and accompanied by -Asano in Labour Company canvas, surveyed the city through which he -had wandered when it was veiled in darkness. But now he saw it lit and -waking, a whirlpool of life. In spite of the surging and swaying of the -forces of revolution, in spite of the unusual discontent, the mutterings -of the greater struggle of which the first revolt was but the prelude, -the myriad streams of commerce still flowed wide and strong. He knew now -something of the dimensions and quality of the new age, but he was not -prepared for the infinite surprise of the detailed view, for the torrent -of colour and vivid impressions that poured past him. - -This was his first real contact with the people of these latter days. -He realised that all that had gone before, saving his glimpses of the -public theatres and markets, had had its element of seclusion, had been -a movement within the comparatively narrow political quarter, that all -his previous experiences had revolved immediately about the question of -his own position. But here was the city at the busiest hours of night, -the people to a large extent returned to their own immediate interests, -the resumption of the real informal life, he common habits of the new -time. - -They emerged at first into a street whose opposite ways were crowded -with the blue canvas liveries. This swarm Graham saw was a portion of a -procession--it was odd to see a procession parading the city seated They -carried banners of coarse red stuff with red letters. "No disarmament," -said the banners, for the most part in crudely daubed letters and -with variant spelling, and "Why should we disarm?" "No disarming." "No -disarming." Banner after banner went by, a stream of banners flowing -past, and at last at the end, the song of the revolt and a noisy band of -strange instruments. "They all ought to be at work," said Asano. "They -have had no food these two days, or they have stolen it." - -Presently Asano made a detour to avoid the congested crowd that gaped -upon the occasional passage of dead bodies from hospital to a mortuary, -the gleanings after death's harvest of the first revolt. - -That night few people were sleeping, everyone was abroad. A vast -excitement, perpetual crowds perpetually changing, surrounded Graham; -his mind was confused and darkened by an incessant tumult, by the cries -and enigmatical fragments of the social struggle that was as yet -only beginning. Everywhere festoons and banners of black and strange -decorations, intensified the quality of his popularity. Everywhere he -caught snatches of that crude thick dialect that served the illiterate -class, the class, that is, beyond the reach of phonograph culture, in -their common-place intercourse. Everywhere this trouble of disarmament -was in the air, with a quality of immediate stress of which he had no -inkling during his seclusion in the Wind-Vane quarter. He perceived that -as soon as he returned he must discuss this with Ostrog, this and the -greater issues of which it was the expression, in a far more conclusive -way than he had so far done. Perpetually that night, even in the earlier -hours of their wanderings about the city, the spirit of unrest and -revolt swamped his attention, to the exclusion of countless strange -things he might otherwise have observed. - -This preoccupation made his impressions fragmentary. Yet amidst so much -that was strange and vivid, no subject, however personal and insistent, -could exert undivided sway. There were spaces when the revolutionary -movement passed clean out of his mind, was drawn aside like a curtain -from before some startling new aspect of the time. Helen had swayed his -mind to this intense earnestness of enquiry, but there came times when -she, even, receded beyond his conscious thoughts. At one moment, for -example, he found they were traversing the religious quarter, for -the easy transit about the city afforded by the moving ways rendered -sporadic churches and chapels no longer necessary--and his attention was -vividly arrested by the facade of one of the Christian sects. - -They were travelling seated on one of the swift upper ways, the place -leapt upon them at a bend and advanced rapidly towards them. It was -covered with inscriptions from top to base, in vivid white and blue, -save where a vast and glaring kinematograph transparency presented a -realistic New Testament scene, and where a vast festoon of black to show -that the popular religion followed the popular politics, hung across the -lettering Graham had already become familiar with the phonotype writing -and these inscriptions arrested him, being to his sense for the -most part almost incredible blasphemy. Among the less offensive were -"Salvation on the First Floor and turn to the Right." "Put your Money on -your Maker." "The Sharpest Conversion in London, Expert Operators! Look -Slippy!" "What Christ would say to the Sleeper;--Join the Up-to-date -Saints!" "Be a Christian--without hindrance to your present Occupation." -"All the Brightest Bishops on the Bench to-night and Prices as Usual." -"Brisk Blessings for Busy Business Men." - -"But this is appalling!" said Graham, as that deafening scream of -mercantile piety towered above them. - -"What is appalling?" asked his little officer, apparently seeking vainly -for anything unusual in this shrieking enamel. - -"_This!_ Surely the essence of religion is reverence." - -"Oh _that!_" Asano looked at Graham. "Does it shock you?" he said in the -tone of one who makes a discovery. "I suppose it would, of course. I had -forgotten. Nowadays the competition for attention is so keen, and people -simply haven't the leisure to attend to their souls, you know, as they -used to do." He smiled. "In the old days you had quiet Sabbaths and the -countryside. Though somewhere I've read of Sunday afternoons that--" - -"But, _that_," said Graham, glancing back at the receding blue and -white. "That is surely not the only--" - -"There are hundreds of different ways. But, of course, if a sect doesn't -tell it doesn't pay. Worship has moved with the times. There are high -class sects with quieter ways--costly incense and personal attentions -and all that. These people are extremely popular and prosperous. They -pay several dozen lions for those apartments to the Council--to you, I -should say." - -Graham still felt a difficulty with the coinage, and this mention of -a dozen lions brought him abruptly to that matter. In a moment the -screaming temples and their swarming touts were forgotten in this new -interest. A turn of a phrase suggested, and an answer confirmed the idea -that gold and silver were both demonetised, that stamped gold which had -begun its reign amidst the merchants of Phoenicia was at last dethroned. -The change had been graduated but swift, brought about by an extension -of the system of cheques that had even in his previous life already -practically superseded gold in all the larger business transactions. The -common traffic of the city, the common currency indeed of all the world, -was conducted by means of the little brown, green and pink council -cheques for small amounts, printed with a blank payee. Asano had several -with him, and at the first opportunity he supplied the gaps in his -set. They were printed not on tearable paper, but on a semi-transparent -fabric of silken, flexibility, interwoven with silk. Across them all -sprawled a facsimile of Graham's signature, his first encounter with the -curves and turns of that familiar autograph for two hundred and three -years. - -Some intermediary experiences made no impression sufficiently vivid to -prevent the matter of the disarmament claiming his thoughts again; -a blurred picture of a Theosophist temple that promised MIRACLES in -enormous letters of unsteady fire was least submerged perhaps, but -then came the view of the dining hall in Northumberland Avenue. That -interested him very greatly. - -By the energy and thought of Asano he was able to view this place from -a little screened gallery reserved for the attendants of the tables. The -building was pervaded by a distant muffled hooting, piping and bawling, -of which he did not at first understand the import, but which recalled -a certain mysterious leathery voice he had heard after the resumption of -the lights on the night of his solitary wandering. - -He had grown accustomed now to vastness and great numbers of people, -nevertheless this spectacle held him for a long time. It was as he -watched the table service more immediately beneath, and interspersed -with many questions and answers concerning details, that the realisation -of the full significance of the feast of several thousand people came to -him. - - -It was his constant surprise to find that points that one might have -expected to strike vividly at the very outset never occurred to him -until some trivial detail suddenly shaped as a riddle and pointed to the -obvious thing he had overlooked. In this matter, for instance, it had -not occurred to him that this continuity of the city, this exclusion of -weather, these vast halls and ways, involved the disappearance of the -household; that the typical Victorian "home," the little brick cell -containing kitchen and scullery, living rooms and bedrooms, had, save -for the ruins that diversified the countryside, vanished as surely as -the wattle hut. But now he saw what had indeed been manifest from -the first, that London, regarded as a living place, was no longer an -aggregation of houses but a prodigious hotel, an hotel with a thousand -classes of accommodation, thousands of dining halls, chapels, theatres, -markets and places of assembly, a synthesis of enterprises, of which he -chiefly was the owner. People had their sleeping rooms, with, it might -be, antechambers, rooms that were always sanitary at least whatever the -degree of comfort and privacy, and for the rest they lived much as many -people had lived in the new-made giant hotels of the Victorian days, -eating, reading, thinking, playing, conversing, all in places of public -resort, going to their work in the industrial quarters of the city or -doing business in their offices in the trading section. - -He perceived at once how necessarily this state of affairs had developed -from the Victorian city. The fundamental reason for the modern city had -ever been the economy of co-operation. The chief thing to prevent the -merging of the separate households in his own generation was simply the -still imperfect civilisation of the people, the strong barbaric pride, -passions, and prejudices, the jealousies, rivalries, and violence of the -middle and lower classes, which had necessitated the entire separation -of contiguous households. But the change, the taming of the people, had -been in rapid progress even then. In his brief thirty years of previous -life he had seen an enormous extension of the habit of consuming meals -from home, the casually patronised horse-box coffee-house had given -place to the open and crowded Aerated Bread Shop for instance, women's -clubs had had their beginning, and an immense development of reading -rooms, lounges and libraries had witnessed to the growth of social -confidence. These promises had by this time attained to their complete -fulfillment. The locked and barred household had passed away. - -These people below him belonged, he learnt, to the lower middle class, -the class just above the blue labourers, a class so accustomed in the -Victorian period to feed with every precaution of privacy that its -members, when occasion confronted them with a public meal, would -usually hide their embarrassment under horseplay or a markedly militant -demeanour. But these gaily, if lightly dressed people below, albeit -vivacious, hurried and uncommunicative, were dexterously mannered and -certainly quite at their ease with regard to one another. - -He noted a slight significant thing; the table, as far as he could see, -was and remained delightfully neat, there was nothing to parallel the -confusion, the broadcast crumbs, the splashes of viand and condiment, -the overturned drink and displaced ornaments, which would have marked -the stormy progress of the Victorian meal. The table furniture was -very different. There were no ornaments, no flowers, and the table was -without a cloth, being made, he learnt, of a solid substance having -the texture and appearance of damask. He discerned that this damask -substance was patterned with gracefully designed trade advertisements. - -In a sort of recess before each diner was a complete apparatus of -porcelain and metal. There was one plate of white porcelain, and by -means of taps for hot and cold volatile fluids the diner washed this -himself between the courses; he also washed his elegant white metal -knife and fork and spoon as occasion required. - -Soup and the chemical wine that was the common drink were delivered -by similar taps, and the remaining covers travelled automatically in -tastefully arranged dishes down the table along silver rails. The diner -stopped these and helped himself at his discretion. They appeared at -a little door at one end of the table, and vanished at the other. That -turn of democratic sentiment in decay, that ugly pride of menial souls, -which renders equals loth to wait on one another, was very strong he -found among these people. He was so preoccupied with these details that -it was only just as he was leaving the place that he remarked the huge -advertisement dioramas that marched majestically along the upper walls -and proclaimed the most remarkable commodities. - -Beyond this place they came into a crowded hall, and he discovered the -cause of the noise that had perplexed him. They paused at a turnstile at -which a payment was made. - -Graham's attention was immediately arrested by a violent, loud hoot, -followed by a vast leathery voice. "The Master is sleeping peacefully," -it said vociferately. "He is in excellent health. He is going to devote -the rest of his life to aeronautics. He says women are more beautiful -than ever. Galloop! Wow! Our wonderful civilisation astonishes him -beyond measure. Beyond all measure. Galloop. He puts great trust in Boss -Ostrog, absolute confidence in Boss Ostrog. Ostrog is to be his chief -minister; is authorised to remove or reinstate public officers--all -patronage will be in his hands. All patronage in the hands of Boss -Ostrog! The Councillors have been sent back to their own prison above -the Council House." - -Graham stopped at the first sentence, and, looking up, beheld a -foolish trumpet face from which this was brayed. This was the General -Intelligence Machine. For a space it seemed to be gathering breath, -and a regular throbbing from its cylindrical body was audible. Then it -trumpeted "Galloop, Galloop," and broke out again. - -"Paris is now pacified. All resistance is over. Galloop! The black -police hold every position of importance in the city. They fought with -great bravery, singing songs written in praise of their ancestors by -the poet Kipling. Once or twice they got out of hand, and tortured and -mutilated wounded and captured insurgents, men and women. Moral--don't -go rebelling. Haha! Galloop, Galloop! They are lively fellows. Lively -brave fellows. Let this be a lesson to the disorderly banderlog of this -city. Yah! Banderlog! Filth of the earth! Galloop, Galloop!" - -The voice ceased. There was a confused murmur of disapproval among the -crowd. "Damned niggers." A man began to harangue near them. "Is this the -Master's doing, brothers? Is this the Master's doing?" - -"Black police!" said Graham. "What is that? You don't mean--" - -Asano touched his arm and gave him a warning look, and forthwith another -of these mechanisms screamed deafeningly and gave tongue in a shrill -voice. "Yahaha, Yahah, Yap! Hear a live paper yelp! Live paper. Yaha! -Shocking outrage in Paris. Yahahah! The Parisians exasperated by the -black police to the pitch of assassination. Dreadful reprisals. Savage -times come again. Blood! Blood! Yaha!" The nearer Babble Machine hooted -stupendously, "Galloop, Galloop," drowned the end of the sentence, and -proceeded in a rather flatter note than before with novel comments on -the horrors of disorder. "Law and order must be maintained," said the -nearer Babble Machine. - -"But," began Graham. - -"Don't ask questions here," said Asano, "or you will be involved in an -argument." - -"Then let us go on," said Graham, "for I want to know more of this." - -As he and his companion pushed their way through the excited crowd that -swarmed beneath these voices, towards the exit, Graham conceived more -clearly the proportion and features of this room. Altogether, great -and small, there must have been nearly a thousand of these erections, -piping, hooting, bawling and gabbling in that great space, each with -its crowd of excited listeners, the majority of them men dressed in blue -canvas. There were all sizes of machines, from the little gossipping -mechanisms that chuckled out mechanical sarcasm in odd corners, through -a number of grades to such fifty-foot giants as that which had first -hooted over Graham. - -This place was unusually crowded, because of the intense public interest -in the course of affairs in Paris. Evidently the struggle had been much -more savage than Ostrog had represented it. All the mechanisms were -discoursing upon that topic, and the repetition of the people made the -huge hive buzz with such phrases as "Lynched policemen," "Women burnt -alive," "Fuzzy Wuzzy." "But does the Master allow such things?" asked a -man near him. "Is this the beginning of the Master's rule?" - -Is _this_ the beginning of the Master's rule? For a long time after he -had left the place, the hooting, whistling and braying of the machines -pursued him; "Galloop, Galloop," "Yahahah, Yaha, Yap! Yaha!" Is this the -beginning of the Master's rule? - -Directly they were out upon the ways he began to question Asano closely -on the nature of the Parisian struggle. "This disarmament! What was -their trouble? What does it all mean?" Asano seemed chiefly anxious to -reassure him that it was "all right." "But these outrages!" "You cannot -have an omelette," said Asano, "without breaking eggs. It is only the -rough people. Only in one part of the city. All the rest is all right. -The Parisian labourers are the wildest in the world, except ours." - -"What! the Londoners?" - -"No, the Japanese. They have to be kept in order." "But burning women -alive!" - -"A Commune!" said Asano. "They would rob you of your property. They -would do away with property and give the world over to mob rule. You are -Master, the world is yours. But there will be no Commune here. There is -no need for black police here. - -"And every consideration has been shown. It is their own negroes--French -speaking negroes. Senegal regiments, and Niger and Timbuctoo." - -"Regiments?" said Graham, "I thought there was only one--." - -"No," said Asano, and glanced at him. "There is more than one." - -Graham felt unpleasantly helpless. - -"I did not think," he began and stopped abruptly He went off at a -tangent to ask for information about these Babble Machines. For the most -part, the crowd present had been shabbily or even raggedly dressed, and -Graham learnt that so far as the more prosperous classes were concerned, -in all the more comfortable private apartments of the city were fixed -Babble Machines that would speak directly a lever was pulled. The tenant -of the apartment could connect this with the cables of any of the great -News Syndicates that he preferred. When he learnt this presently, he -demanded the reason of their absence from his own suite of apartments. -Asano stared. "I never thought," he said. "Ostrog must have had them -removed." - -Graham stared. "How was I to know?" he exclaimed. - -"Perhaps he thought they would annoy you," said Asano. - -"They must be replaced directly I return," said Graham after an -interval. - -He found a difficulty in understanding that this news room and the -dining hall were not great central places, that such establishments were -repeated almost beyond counting all over the city. But ever and again -during the night's expedition his ears, in some new quarter would pick -out from the tumult of the ways the peculiar hooting of the organ of -Boss Ostrog, "Galloop, Galloop!" or the shrill "Yahaha, Yaha, Yap!--Hear -a live paper yelp!" of its chief rival. - -Repeated, too, everywhere, were such _creches_ as the one he now -entered. It was reached by a lift, and by a glass bridge that flung -across the dining hall and traversed the ways at a slight upward angle. -To enter the first section of the place necessitated the use of his -solvent signature under Asano's direction. They were immediately -attended to by a man in a violet robe and gold clasp, the insignia of -practising medical men. He perceived from this man's manner that his -identity was known, and proceeded to ask questions on the strange -arrangements of the place without reserve. - -On either side of the passage, which was silent and padded, as if -to deaden the footfall, were narrow little doors, their size and -arrangement suggestive of the cells of a Victorian prison. But the upper -portion of each door was of the same greenish transparent stuff that -had enclosed him at his awakening, and within, dimly seen, lay, in every -case, a very young baby in a little nest of wadding. Elaborate apparatus -watched the atmosphere and rang a bell far away in the central office at -the slightest departure from the optimum of temperature and moisture. A -system of such _creches_ had almost entirely replaced the hazardous -adventures of the old-world nursing. The attendant presently called -Graham's attention to the wet nurses, a vista of mechanical figures, -with arms, shoulders and breasts of astonishingly realistic modelling, -articulation, and texture, but mere brass tripods below, and having in -the place of features a flat disc bearing advertisements likely to be of -interest to mothers. - -Of all the strange things that Graham came upon that night, none jarred -more upon his habits of thought than this place. The spectacle of the -little pink creatures, their feeble limbs swaying uncertainly in vague -first movements, left alone, without embrace or endearment, was wholly -repugnant to him. The attendant doctor was of a different opinion. His -statistical evidence showed beyond dispute that in the Victorian times -the most dangerous passage of life was the arms of the mother, that -there human mortality had ever been most terrible. On the other hand -this _creche_ company, the International Creche Syndicate, lost not -one-half per cent of the million babies or so that formed its peculiar -care. But Graham's prejudice was too strong even for those figures. - -Along one of the many passages of the place they presently came upon a -young couple in the usual blue canvas peering through the transparency -and laughing hysterically at the bald head of their first-born. Graham's -face must have showed his estimate of them, for their merriment ceased -and they looked abashed. But this little incident accentuated his sudden -realisation of the gulf between his habits of thought and the ways of -the new age. He passed on to the crawling rooms and the Kindergarten, -perplexed and distressed. He found the endless long playrooms were -empty! the latter-day children at least still spent their nights in -sleep. As they went through these, the little officer pointed out the -nature of the toys, developments of those devised by that inspired -sentimentalist Froebel. There were nurses here, but much was done by -machines that sang and danced and dandled. - -Graham was still not clear upon many points. "But so many orphans," he -said perplexed, reverting to a first misconception, and learnt again -that they were not orphans. - -So soon as they had left the _creche_ he began to speak of the horror -the babies in their incubating cases had caused him. "Is motherhood -gone?" he said. "Was it a cant? Surely it was an instinct. This seems so -unnatural--abominable almost." - -"Along here we shall come to the dancing place," said Asano by way of -reply. "It is sure to be crowded. In spite of all the political unrest -it will be crowded. The women take no great interest in politics--except -a few here and there. You will see the mothers--most young women in -London are mothers. In that class it is considered a creditable thing to -have one child--a proof of animation. Few middle class people have more -than one. With the Labour Company it is different. As for motherhood -They still take an immense pride in the children. They come here to look -at them quite often." - -"Then do you mean that the population of the world--?" - -"Is falling? Yes. Except among the people under the Labour Company. They -are reckless--." - -The air was suddenly dancing with music, and down a way they approached -obliquely, set with gorgeous pillars as it seemed of clear amethyst, -flowed a concourse of gay people and a tumult of merry cries and -laughter. He saw curled heads, wreathed brows, and a happy intricate -flutter of gamboge pass triumphant across the picture. - -"You will see," said Asano with a faint smile "The world has changed. -In a moment you will see the mothers of the new age. Come this way. We -shall see those yonder again very soon." - -They ascended a certain height in a swift lift, and changed to a slower -one. As they went on the music grew upon them, until it was near and -full and splendid, and, moving with its glorious intricacies they could -distinguish the beat of innumerable dancing feet. They made a payment -at a turnstile, and emerged upon the wide gallery that overlooked the -dancing place, and upon the full enchantment of sound and sight. - -"Here," said Asano, "are the fathers and mothers of the little ones you -saw." - -The hall was not so richly decorated as that of the Atlas, but saving -that, it was, for its size, the most splendid Graham had seen. The -beautiful white limbed figures that supported the galleries reminded -him once more of the restored magnificence of sculpture; they seemed -to writhe in engaging attitudes, their faces laughed. The source of the -music that filled the place was hidden, and the whole vast shining floor -was thick with dancing couples. "Look at them," said the little officer, -"see how much they show of motherhood." - -The gallery they stood upon ran along the upper edge of a huge screen -that cut the dancing hall on one side from a sort of outer hall that -showed through broad arches the incessant onward rush of the city ways. -In this outer hall was a great crowd of less brilliantly dressed people, -as numerous almost as those who danced within, the great majority -wearing the blue uniform of the Labour Company that was now so familiar -to Graham. Too poor to pass the turnstiles to the festival, they were -yet unable to keep away from the sound of its seductions. Some of them -even had cleared spaces, and were dancing also, fluttering their rags in -the air. Some shouted as they danced, jests and odd allusions Graham -did not understand. Once someone began whistling the refrain of the -revolutionary song, but it seemed as though that beginning was promptly -suppressed. The corner was dark and Graham could not see. He turned to -the hall again. Above the caryatidae were marble busts of men whom that -age esteemed great moral emancipators and pioneers; for the most part -their names were strange to Graham, though he recognised Grant Allen, -Le Gallienne, Nietzsche, Shelley and Goodwin. Great black festoons -and eloquent sentiments reinforced the huge inscription that partially -defaced the upper end of the dancing place, and asserted that "The -Festival of the Awakening" was in progress. - -"Myriads are taking holiday or staying from work because of that, quite -apart from the labourers who refuse to go back," said Asano. "These -people are always ready for holidays." - -Graham walked to the parapet and stood leaning over, looking down at the -dancers. Save for two or three remote whispering couples, who had stolen -apart, he and his guide had the gallery to themselves. A warm breath of -scent and vitality came up to him. Both men and women below were lightly -clad, bare-armed, open-necked, as the universal warmth of the city -permitted. The hair of the men was often a mass of effeminate curls, -their chins were always shaven, and many of them had flushed or coloured -cheeks. Many of the women were very pretty, and all were dressed with -elaborate coquetry. As they swept by beneath, he saw ecstatic faces with -eyes half closed in pleasure. - -"What sort of people are these?" he asked abruptly. - -"Workers--prosperous workers. What you would have called the middle -class. Independent tradesmen with little separate businesses have -vanished long ago, but there are store servers, managers, engineers of -a hundred sorts. Tonight is a holiday of course, and every dancing place -in the city will be crowded, and every place of worship." - -"But--the women?" - -"The same. There's a thousand forms of work for women now. But you had -the beginning of the independent working-woman in your days. Most women -are independent now. Most of these are married more or less--there are -a number of methods of contract--and that gives them more money, and -enables them to enjoy themselves." - -"I see," said Graham looking at the flushed faces, the flash and swirl -of movement, and still thinking of that nightmare of pink helpless -limbs. "And these are--mothers." - -"Most of them." - -"The more I see of these things the more complex I find your problems. -This, for instance, is a surprise. That news from Paris was a surprise." - -In a little while he spoke again: - -"These are mothers. Presently, I suppose, I shall get into the -modern way of seeing things. I have old habits of mind clinging about -me--habits based, I suppose, on needs that are over and done with. Of -course, in our time, a woman was supposed not only to bear children, -but to cherish them, to devote herself to them, to educate them--all -the essentials of moral and mental education a child owed its mother. Or -went without. Quite a number, I admit, went without. Nowadays, clearly, -there is no more need for such care than if they were butterflies. I see -that! Only there was an ideal--that figure of a grave, patient woman, -silently and serenely mistress of a home, mother and maker of men--to -love her was a sort of worship--" - -He stopped and repeated, "A sort of worship." - -"Ideals change," said the little man, "as needs change." - -Graham awoke from an instant reverie and Asano repeated his words. -Graham's mind returned to the thing at hand. - -"Of course I see the perfect reasonableness of this Restraint, -soberness, the matured thought, the unselfish a act, they are -necessities of the barbarous state, the life of dangers. Dourness is -man's tribute to unconquered nature. But man has conquered nature now -for all practical purposes--his political affairs are managed by Bosses -with a black police--and life is joyous." - -He looked at the dancers again. "Joyous," he said. - -"There are weary moments," said the little officer, reflectively. - -"They all look young. Down there I should be visibly the oldest man. And -in my own time I should have passed as middle-aged." - -"They are young. There are few old people in this class in the work -cities." - -"How is that?" - -"Old people's lives are not so pleasant as they used to be, unless they -are rich to hire lovers and helpers. And we have an institution called -Euthanasy." - -"Ah! that Euthanasy!" said Graham. "The easy death?" - -"The easy death. It is the last pleasure. The Euthanasy Company does it -well. People will pay the sum--it is a costly thing--long beforehand, -go off to some pleasure city and return impoverished and weary, very -weary." - -"There is a lot left for me to understand," said Graham after a pause. -"Yet I see the logic of it all. Our array of angry virtues and sour -restraints was the consequence of danger and insecurity. The Stoic, the -Puritan, even in my time, were vanishing types. In the old days man -was armed against Pain, now he is eager for Pleasure. There lies the -difference. Civilisation has driven pain and danger so far off--for -well-to-do people. And only well-to-do people matter now. I have been -asleep two hundred years." - -For a minute they leant on the balustrading, following the intricate -evolution of the dance. Indeed the scene was very beautiful. - -"Before God," said Graham, suddenly, "I would rather be a wounded -sentinel freezing in the snow than one of these painted fools!" - -"In the snow," said Asano, "one might think differently." - -"I am uncivilised," said Graham, not heeding him. "That is the trouble. -I am primitive--Palaeolithic. Their fountain of rage and fear and anger -is sealed and closed, the habits of a lifetime make them cheerful and -easy and delightful. You must bear with my nineteenth century shocks and -disgusts. These people, you say, are skilled workers and so forth. And -while these dance, men are fighting--men are dying in Paris to keep the -world--that they may dance." - -Asano smiled faintly. "For that matter, men are dying in London," he -said. - -There was a moment's silence. - -"Where do these sleep?" asked Graham. - -"Above and below--an intricate warren." - -"And where do they work? This is--the domestic life." - -"You will see little work to-night. Half the workers are out or under -arms. Half these people are keeping holiday. But we will go to the work -places if you wish it." - -For a time Graham watched the dancers, then suddenly turned away. "I -want to see the workers. I have seen enough of these," he said. - -Asano led the way along the gallery across the dancing hall. Presently -they came to a transverse passage that brought a breath of fresher, -colder air. - -Asano glanced at this passage as they went past, stopped, went back -to it, and turned to Graham with a smile. "Here, Sire," he said, "is -something--will be familiar to you at least--and yet--. But I will not -tell you. Come!" - -He led the way along a closed passage that presently became cold. The -reverberation of their feet told that this passage was a bridge. They -came into a circular gallery that was glazed in from the outer weather, -and so reached a circular chamber which seemed familiar, though Graham -could not recall distinctly when he had entered it before. In this was a -ladder--the first ladder he had seen since his awakening--up which they -went, and came into a high, dark, cold place in which was another almost -vertical ladder. This they ascended, Graham still perplexed. - -But at the top he understood, and recognized the metallic bars to which -he clung. He was in the cage under the ball of St. Paul's. The dome rose -but a little way above the general contour of the city, into the still -twilight, and sloped away, shining greasily under a few distant lights, -into a circumambient ditch of darkness. - -Out between the bars he looked upon the wind-clear northern sky and saw -the starry constellations all unchanged. Capella hung in the west, Vega -was rising, and the seven glittering points of the Great Bear swept -overhead in their stately circle about the Pole. - -He saw these stars in a clear gap of sky. To the east and south the -great circular shapes of complaining wind-wheels blotted out the -heavens, so that the glare about the Council House was hidden. To the -south-west hung Orion, showing like a pallid ghost through a tracery of -iron-work and interlacing shapes above a dazzling coruscation of lights. -A bellowing and siren screaming that came from the flying stages warned -the world that one of the aeroplanes was ready to start. He remained for -a space gazing towards the glaring stage. Then his eyes went back to the -northward constellations. - -For a long time he was silent. "This," he said at last, smiling in the -shadow, "seems the strangest thing of all. To stand in the dome of Saint -Paul's and look once more upon these familiar, silent stars!" - -Thence Graham was taken by Asano along devious ways to the great -gambling and business quarters where the bulk of the fortunes in the -city were lost and made. It impressed him as a well-nigh interminable -series of very high halls, surrounded by tiers upon tiers of galleries -into which opened thousands of offices, and traversed by a complicated -multitude of bridges, footways, aerial motor rails, and trapeze and -cable leaps. And here more than anywhere the note of vehement vitality, -of uncontrollable, hasty activity, rose high. Everywhere was violent -advertisement, until his brain swam at the tumult of light and colour. -And Babble Machines of a peculiarly rancid tone were abundant and filled -the air with strenuous squealing and an idiotic slang. "Skin your eyes -and slide," "Gewhoop, Bonanza," "Gollipers come and hark!" - -The place seemed to him to be dense with people either profoundly -agitated or swelling with obscure cunning, yet he learnt that the place -was comparatively empty, that the great political convulsion of the last -few days had reduced transactions to an unprecedented minimum. In one -huge place were long avenues of roulette tables, each with an excited, -undignified crowd about it; in another a yelping Babel of white-faced -women and red-necked leathery-lunged men bought and sold the shares of -an absolutely fictitious business undertaking which, every five minutes, -paid a dividend of ten per cent and cancelled a certain proportion of -its shares by means of a lottery wheel. - -These business activities were prosecuted with an energy that readily -passed into violence, and Graham approaching a dense crowd found at its -centre a couple of prominent merchants in violent controversy with teeth -and nails on some delicate point of business etiquette. Something still -remained in life to be fought for. Further he had a shock at a vehement -announcement in phonetic letters of scarlet flame, each twice the height -of a man, that "WE ASSURE THE PROPRAIET'R. WE ASSURE THE PROPRAIET'R." - -"Who's the proprietor?" he asked. - -"You." - - - -"But what do they assure me?" he asked. "What do they assure me?" - -"Didn't you have assurance?" - -Graham thought. "Insurance?" - -"Yes--Insurance. I remember that was the older word. They are insuring -your life. Dozands of people are taking out policies, myriads of lions -are being put on you. And further on other people are buying annuities. -They do that on everybody who is at all prominent. Look there!" - -A crowd of people surged and roared, and Graham saw a vast black screen -suddenly illuminated in still larger letters of burning purple. "Anuetes -on the Propraiet'r--x 5 pr. G." The people began to boo and shout -at this, a number of hard breathing, wildeyed men came running past, -clawing with hooked fingers at the air. There was a furious crush about -a little doorway. - -Asano did a brief calculation. "Seventeen per cent per annum is their -annuity on you. They would not pay so much per cent if they could see -you now, Sire. But they do not know. Your own annuities used to be a -very safe investment, but now you are sheer gambling, of course. This is -probably a desperate bid. I doubt if people will get their money." - -The crowd of would-be annuitants grew so thick about them that for some -time they could move neither forward no backward. Graham noticed what -appeared to him to be a high proportion of women among the speculators, -and was reminded again of the economical independence of their sex. They -seemed remarkably well able to take care of themselves in the crowd, -using their elbows with particular skill, as he learnt to his cost. -One curly-headed person caught in the pressure for a space, looked -steadfastly at him several times, almost as if she recognized him, and -then, edging deliberately towards him, touched his hand with her arm in -a scarcely accidental manner, and made it plain by a look as ancient as -Chaldea that he had found favour in her eyes. And then a lank, -grey-bearded man, perspiring copiously in a noble passion of self-help, -blind to all earthly things save that glaring, bait, thrust between them -in a cataclysmal rush towards that alluring "x 5 pr. G." - -"I want to get out of this," said Graham to Asano. "This is not what -I came to see. Show me the workers. I want to see the people in blue. -These parasitic lunatics--" - -He found himself wedged in a struggling mass of people, and this hopeful -sentence went unfinished. - - - -CHAPTER XXI. THE UNDER SIDE - -From the Business Quarter they presently passed by the running ways into -a remote quarter of the city, where the bulk of the manufactures was -done. On their way the platforms crossed the Thames twice, and passed in -a broad viaduct across one of the great roads that entered the city -from the North. In both cases his impression was swift and in both -very vivid. The river was a broad wrinkled glitter of black sea water, -overarched by buildings, and vanishing either way into a blackness -starred with receding lights. A string of black barges passed seaward, -manned by blue-clad men. The road was a long and very broad and high -tunnel, along which big-wheeled machines drove noiselessly and swiftly. -Here, too, the distinctive blue of the Labour Company was in abundance. -The smoothness of the double tracks, the largeness and the lightness -of the big pneumatic wheels in proportion to the vehicular body, struck -Graham most vividly. One lank and very high carriage with longitudinal -metallic rods hung with the dripping carcasses of many hundred sheep -arrested his attention unduly. Abruptly the edge of the archway cut and -blotted out the picture. - -Presently they left the way and descended by a lift and traversed a -passage that sloped downward, and so came to a descending lift again. -The appearance of things changed. Even the pretence of architectural -ornament disappeared, the lights diminished in number and size, the -architecture became more and more massive in proportion to the spaces as -the factory quarters were reached. And in the dusty biscuit-making place -of the potters, among the felspar mills in the furnace rooms of the -metal workers, among the incandescent lakes of crude Eadhamite, the blue -canvas clothing was on man, woman and child. - -Many of these great and dusty galleries were silent avenues of -machinery, endless raked out ashen furnaces testified to the -revolutionary dislocation, but wherever there was work it was being -done by slow-moving workers in blue canvas. The only people not in -blue canvas were the overlookers of the work-places and the orange-clad -Labour Police. And fresh from the flushed faces of the dancing halls, -the voluntary vigours of the business quarter, Graham could note -the pinched faces, the feeble muscles, and weary eyes of many of the -latter-day workers. Such as he saw at work were noticeably inferior -in physique to the few gaily dressed managers and forewomen who were -directing their labours. The burly labourers of the Victorian times -had followed the dray horse and all such living force producers, to -extinction; the place of his costly muscles was taken by some -dexterous machine. The latter-day labourer, male as well as female, was -essentially a machine-minder and feeder, a servant and attendant, or an -artist under direction. - -The women, in comparison with those Graham remembered, were as a class -distinctly plain and flat-chested. Two hundred years of emancipation -from the moral restraints of Puritanical religion, two hundred years -of city life, had done their work in eliminating the strain of feminine -beauty and vigour from the blue canvas myriads. To be brilliant -physically or mentally, to be in any way attractive or exceptional, had -been and was still a certain way of emancipation to the drudge, a line -of escape to the Pleasure City and its splendours and delights, and -at last to the Euthanasy and peace. To be steadfast against such -inducements was scarcely to be expected of meanly nourished souls. In -the young cities of Graham's former life, the newly aggregated labouring -mass had been a diverse multitude, still stirred by the tradition of -personal honour and a high morality; now it was differentiating into a -distinct class, with a moral and physical difference of its own--even -with a dialect of its own. - -They penetrated downward, ever downward, towards the working places. -Presently they passed underneath one of the streets of the moving ways, -and saw its platforms running on their rails far overhead, and chinks of -white lights between the transverse slits. The factories that were not -working were sparsely lighted; to Graham they and their shrouded aisles -of giant machines seemed plunged in gloom, and even where work was going -on the illumination was far less brilliant than upon the public ways. - -Beyond the blazing lakes of Eadhamite he came to the warren of the -jewellers, and, with some difficulty and by using his signature, -obtained admission to these galleries. They were high and dark, and -rather cold. In the first a few men were making ornaments of gold -filigree, each man at a little bench by himself, and with a little -shaded light. The long vista of light patches, with the nimble fingers -brightly lit and moving among the gleaming yellow coils, and the intent -face like the face of a ghost, in each shadow had the oddest effect. - -The work was beautifully executed, but without any strength of modelling -or drawing, for the most part intricate grotesques or the ringing of -the changes on a geometrical motif. These workers wore a peculiar white -uniform without pockets or sleeves. They assumed this on coming to -work, but at night they were stripped and examined before they left -the premises of the Company. In spite of every precaution, the -Labour policeman told them in a depressed tone, the Company was not -infrequently robbed. - -Beyond was a gallery of women busied in cutting and setting slabs of -artificial ruby, and next these were men and women busied together upon -the slabs of copper net that formed the basis of cloisonne tiles. Many -of these workers had lips and nostrils a livid white, due to a disease -caused by a peculiar purple enamel that chanced to be much in fashion. -Asano apologised to Graham for the offence of their faces, but excused -himself on the score of the convenience of this route. "This is what I -wanted to see," said Graham; "this is what I wanted to see," trying to -avoid a start at a particularly striking disfigurement that suddenly -stared him in the face. - -"She might have done better with herself than that," said Asano. - -Graham made some indignant comments. - -"But, Sire, we simply could not stand that stuff without the purple," -said Asano. "In your days people could stand such crudities, they were -nearer the barbaric by two hundred years." - -They continued along one of the lower galleries of this cloisonne -factory, and came to a little bridge that spanned a vault. Looking -over the parapet, Graham saw that beneath was a wharf under yet more -tremendous archings than any he had seen. Three barges, smothered in -floury dust, were being unloaded of their cargoes of powdered felspar -by a multitude of coughing men, each guiding a little truck; the dust -filled the place with a choking mist, and turned the electric glare -yellow. The vague shadows of these workers gesticulated about their -feet, and rushed to and fro against a long stretch of white-washed wall. -Every now and then one would stop to cough. - -A shadowy, huge mass of masonry rising out of the inky water, brought -to Graham's mind the thought of the multitude of ways and galleries and -lifts, that rose floor above floor overhead between him and the sky. The -men worked in silence under the supervision of two of the Labour Police; -their feet made a hollow thunder on the planks along which they went -to and fro. And as he looked at this scene, some hidden voice in the -darkness began to sing. - -"Stop that!" shouted one of the policemen, but the order was disobeyed, -and first one and then all the white-stained men who were working there -had taken up the beating refrain, singing it defiantly, the Song of -the Revolt. The feet upon the planks thundered now to the rhythm of the -song, tramp, tramp, tramp. The policeman who had shouted glanced at -his fellow, and Graham saw him shrug his shoulders. He made no further -effort to stop the singing. - -And so they went through these factories and places of toil, seeing many -painful and grim things. But why should the gentle reader be depressed? -Surely to a refined nature our present world is distressing enough -without bothering ourselves about these miseries to come. We shall not -suffer anyhow. Our children may, but what is that to us? That walk left -on Graham's mind a maze of memories, fluctuating pictures of swathed -halls, and crowded vaults seen through clouds of dust, of intricate -machines, the racing threads of looms, the heavy beat of stamping -machinery, the roar and rattle of belt and armature, of ill-lit -subterranean aisles of sleeping places, illimitable vistas of pin-point -lights. And here the smell of tanning, and here the reek of a brewery -and here, unprecedented reeks. And everywhere were pillars and cross -archings of such a massiveness as Graham had never before seen, thick -Titans of greasy, shining brickwork crushed beneath the vast weight of -that complex city world, even as these anemic millions were crushed -by its complexity. And everywhere were pale features, lean limbs, -disfigurement and degradation. - -Once and again, and again a third time, Graham heard the song of the -revolt during his long, unpleasant research in these places, and once -he saw a confused struggle down a passage, and learnt that a number of -these serfs had seized their bread before their work was done. Graham -was ascending towards the ways again when he saw a number of blue-clad -children running down a transverse passage, and presently perceived -the reason of their panic in a company of the Labour Police armed with -clubs, trotting towards some unknown disturbance. And then came a remote -disorder. But for the most part this remnant that worked, worked -hopelessly. All the spirit that was left in fallen humanity was above in -the streets that night, calling for the Master, and valiantly and -noisily keeping its arms. - -They emerged from these wanderings and stood blinking in the bright -light of the middle passage of the platforms again. They became aware -of the remote hooting and yelping of the machines of one of the General -Intelligence Offices, and suddenly came men running, and along the -platforms and about the ways everywhere was a shouting and crying. Then -a woman with a face of mute white terror, and another who gasped and -shrieked as she ran. - -"What has happened now?" said Graham, puzzled, for he could not -understand their thick speech. Then he heard it in English and perceived -that the thing that everyone was shouting, that men yelled to one -another, that women took up screaming, that was passing like the first -breeze of a thunderstorm, chill and sudden through the city, was this: -"Ostrog has ordered the Black Police to London. The Black Police are -coming from South Africa.... The Black Police. The Black Police." - -Asano's face was white and astonished; he hesitated, looked at Graham's -face, and told him the thing he already knew. "But how can they know?" -asked Asano. - -Graham heard someone shouting. "Stop all work. Stop all work," and a -swarthy hunchback, ridiculously gay in green and gold, came leaping down -the platforms toward him, bawling again and again in good English, "This -is Ostrog's doing, Ostrog, the Knave! The Master is betrayed." His voice -was hoarse and a thin foam dropped from his ugly shouting mouth. He -yelled an unspeakable horror that the Black Police had done in Paris, -and so passed shrieking, "Ostrog the Knave!" - -For a moment Graham stood still, for it had come upon him again that -these things were a dream. He looked up at the great cliff of buildings -on either side, vanishing into blue haze at last above the lights, and -down to the roaring tiers of platforms, and the shouting, running people -who were gesticulating past. "The Master is betrayed!" they cried. "The -Master is betrayed!" - -Suddenly the situation shaped itself in his mind real and urgent. His -heart began to beat fast and strong. - -"It has come," he said. "I might have known. The hour has come." - -He thought swiftly. "What am I to do?" - -"Go back to the Council House," said Asano. - -"Why should I not appeal--? The people are here." - -"You will lose time. They will doubt if it is you. But they will mass -about the Council House. There you will find their leaders. Your -strength is there with them." - -"Suppose this is only a rumour?" - -"It sounds true," said Asano. - -"Let us have the facts," said Graham. - -Asano shrugged his shoulders. "We had better get towards the Council -House," he cried. "That is where they will swarm. Even now the ruins may -be impassable." - -Graham regarded him doubtfully and followed him. - -They went up the stepped platforms to the swiftest one, and there Asano -accosted a labourer. The answers to his questions were in the thick, -vulgar speech. - -"What did he say?" asked Graham. - -"He knows little, but he told me that the Black Police would have -arrived here before the people knew--had not someone in the Wind-Vane -Offices Learnt. He said a girl." - -"A girl? Not?" - -"He said a girl--he did not know who she was. Who came out from the -Council House crying aloud, and told the men at work among the ruins." - -And then another thing was shouted, something that turned an aimless -tumult into determinate movements, it came like a wind along the street. -"To your Wards, to your Wards. Every man get arms. Every man to his -Ward!" - - - -CHAPTER XXII. THE STRUGGLE IN THE COUNCIL HOUSE - -As Asano and Graham hurried along to the ruins about the Council House, -they saw everywhere the excitement of the people rising. "To your Wards -To your Wards!" Everywhere men and women in blue were hurrying from -unknown subterranean employments, up the staircases of the middle -path--at one place Graham saw an arsenal of the revolutionary committee -besieged by a crowd of shouting men, at another a couple of men in the -hated yellow uniform of the Labour Police, pursued by a gathering -crowd, fled precipitately along the swift way that went in the opposite -direction. - -The cries of "To your Wards!" became at last a continuous shouting -as they drew near the Government quarter. Many of the shouts were -unintelligible. "Ostrog has betrayed us," one man bawled in a hoarse -voice, again and again, dinning that refrain into Graham's ear until -it haunted him. This person stayed close beside Graham and Asano on the -swift way, shouting to the people who swarmed on the lower platforms as -he rushed past them. His cry about Ostrog alternated with some -incomprehensible orders Presently he went leaping down and disappeared. - -Graham's mind was filled with the din. His plans were vague and -unformed. He had one picture of some commanding position from which he -could address the multitudes, another of meeting Ostrog face to face. He -was full of rage, of tense muscular excitement, his hands gripped, his -lips were pressed together. - -The way to the Council House across the ruins was impassable, but Asano -met that difficulty and took Graham into the premises of the central -post-office. The post-office was nominally at work, but the blue-clothed -porters moved sluggishly or had stopped to stare through the arches of -their galleries at the shouting men who were going by outside. "Every -man to his Ward! Every man to his Ward!" Here, by Asano's advice, Graham -revealed his identity. - -They crossed to the Council House by a cable cradle. Already in the -brief interval since the capitulation of the Councillors a great change -had been wrought in the appearance of the ruins. The spurting cascades -of the ruptured sea water-mains had been captured and tamed, and huge -temporary pipes ran overhead along a flimsy looking fabric of girders. -The sky was laced with restored cables and wires that served the Council -House, and a mass of new fabric with cranes and other building machines -going to and fro upon it, projected to the left of the white pile. - -The moving ways that ran across this area had been restored, albeit for -once running under the open sky. These were the ways that Graham had -seen from the little balcony in the hour of his awakening, not nine days -since, and the hall of his Trance had been on the further side, where -now shapeless piles of smashed and shattered masonry were heaped -together. - -It was already high day and the sun was shining brightly. Out of their -tall caverns of blue electric light came the swift ways crowded with -multitudes of people, who poured off them and gathered ever denser -over the wreckage and confusion of the ruins. The air was full of -their shouting, and they were pressing and swaying towards the central -building. For the most part that shouting mass consisted of shapeless -swarms, but here and there Graham could see that a rude discipline -struggled to establish itself. And every voice clamoured for order in -the chaos. "To your Wards! Every man to his Ward!" - -The cable carried them into a hall which Graham recognised as the -ante-chamber to the Hall of the Atlas, about the gallery of which he had -walked days ago with Howard to show himself to the vanished Council, an -hour from his awakening. Now the place was empty except for two cable -attendants. These men seemed hugely astonished to recognise the Sleeper -in the man who swung down from the cross seat. - -"Where is Helen Wotton?" he demanded. "Where is Helen Wotton?" - -They did not know. - -"Then where is Ostrog? I must see Ostrog forthwith. He has disobeyed me. -I have come back to take things out of his hands." Without waiting for -Asano, he went straight across the place, ascended the steps at the -further end, and, pulling the curtain aside, found himself facing the -perpetually labouring Titan. - -The hall was empty. Its appearance had changed very greatly since -his first sight of it. It had suffered serious injury in the violent -struggle of the first outbreak. On the right hand side of the great -figure the upper half of the wall had been torn away for nearly two -hundred feet of its length, and a sheet of the same glassy film that -had enclosed Graham at his awakening had been drawn across the gap. This -deadened, but did not altogether exclude the roar of the people outside. -"Wards! Wards! Wards!" they seemed to be saying. Through it there were -visible the beams and supports of metal scaffoldings that rose and -fell according to the requirements of a great crowd of workmen. An idle -building machine, with lank arms of red painted metal that caught -the still plastic blocks of mineral paste and swung them neatly into -position, stretched gauntly across this green tinted picture. On it were -still a number of workmen staring at the crowd below. For a moment he -stood regarding these things, and Asano overtook him. - -"Ostrog," said Asano, "will be in the small offices beyond there." The -little man looked livid now and his eyes searched Graham's face. - -They had scarcely advanced ten paces from the curtain before a little -panel to the left of the Atlas rolled up, and Ostrog, accompanied by -Lincoln and followed by two black and yellow clad negroes, appeared -crossing the remote corner of the hall, towards a second panel that was -raised and open. "Ostrog," shouted Graham, and at the sound of his voice -the little party turned astonished. - -Ostrog said something to Lincoln and advanced alone. - -Graham was the first to speak. His voice was loud and dictatorial. "What -is this I hear?" he asked. "Are you bringing negroes here--to keep the -people down?" - -"It is none too soon," said Ostrog. "They have been getting out of hand -more and more, since the revolt. I under-estimated--" - -"Do you mean that these infernal negroes are on the way?" - -"On the way. As it is, you have seen the people--outside?" - -"No wonder! But--after what was said. You have taken too much on -yourself, Ostrog." - -Ostrog said nothing, but drew nearer. - -"These negroes must not come to London," said Graham. "I am Master and -they shall not come." - -Ostrog glanced at Lincoln, who at once came towards them with his two -attendants close behind him. "Why not?" asked Ostrog. - -"White men must be mastered by white men. Besides--" - -"The negroes are only an instrument." - -"But that is not the question. I am the Master. I mean to be the Master. -And I tell you these negroes shall not come." - -"The people--" - -"I believe in the people." - -"Because you are an anachronism. You are a man out of the Past--an -accident. You are Owner perhaps of half the property in the world. But -you are not Master. You do not know enough to be Master." - -He glanced at Lincoln again. "I know now what you think--I can guess -something of what you mean to do. Even now it is not too late to warn -you. You dream of human equality--of a socialistic order--you have all -those worn-out dreams of the nineteenth century fresh and vivid in your -mind, and you would rule this age that you do not understand." - -"Listen!" said Graham. "You can hear it--a sound like the sea. Not -voices--but a voice. Do you altogether understand?" - -"We taught them that," said Ostrog. - -"Perhaps. Can you teach them to forget it? But enough of this! These -negroes must not come." - -There was a pause and Ostrog looked him in the eyes. - -"They will," he said. - -"I forbid it," said Graham. - -"They have started." - -"I will not have it." - -"No," said Ostrog. "Sorry as I am to follow the method of the Council--. -For your own good--you must not side with disorder. And now that you are -here--. It was kind of you to come here." - -Lincoln laid his hand on Graham's shoulder. Abruptly Graham realized -the enormity of his blunder in coming to the Council House. He turned -towards the curtains that separated the hall from the antechamber. -The clutching hand of Asano intervened. In another moment Lincoln had -grasped Graham's cloak. - -He turned and struck at Lincoln's face, and incontinently a negro -had him by collar and arm. He wrenched himself away, his sleeve tore -noisily, and he stumbled back, to be tripped by the other attendant. -Then he struck the ground heavily and he was staring at the distant -ceiling of the hall. - -He shouted, rolled over, struggling fiercely, clutched an attendant's -leg and threw him headlong, and struggled to his feet. - -Lincoln appeared before him, went down heavily again with a blow under -the point of the jaw and lay still. Graham made two strides, stumbled. -And then Ostrog's arm was round his neck, he was pulled over backward, -fell heavily, and his arms were pinned to the ground. After a few -violent efforts he ceased to struggle and lay staring at Ostrog's -heaving throat. - -"You--are--a prisoner," panted Ostrog, exulting. "You--were rather a -fool--to come back." - -Graham turned his head about and perceived through the irregular -green window in the walls of the hall the men who had been working the -building cranes gesticulating excitedly to the people below them. They -had seen! - -Ostrog followed his eyes and started. He shouted something to Lincoln, -but Lincoln did not move. A bullet smashed among the mouldings above -the Atlas The two sheets of transparent matter that had been stretched -across this gap were rent, the edges of the torn aperture darkened, -curved, ran rapidly towards the framework, and in a moment the Council -chamber stood open to the air. A chilly gust blew in by the gap, -bringing with it a war of voices from the ruinous spaces without, -an elvish babblement, "Save the Master!" "What are they doing to the -Master?" "The Master is betrayed!" - -And then he realised that Ostrog's attention was distracted, that -Ostrog's grip had relaxed, and, wrenching his arms free, he struggled -to his knees. In another moment he had thrust Ostrog back, and he was -on one foot, his hand gripping Ostrog's throat, and Ostrog's hands -clutching the silk about his neck. But now men were coming towards them -from the dais--men whose intentions he misunderstood. He had a -glimpse of someone running in the distance towards the curtains of the -antechamber, and then Ostrog had slipped from him and these newcomers -were upon him. To his infinite astonishment, they seized him. They -obeyed the shouts of Ostrog. - -He was lugged a dozen yards before he realised that they were not -friends--that they were dragging him towards the open panel. When he saw -this he pulled back, he tried to fling himself down, he shouted for help -with all his strength. And this time there were answering cries. - -The grip upon his neck relaxed, and behold! in the lower corner of the -rent upon the wall, first one and then a number of little black figures -appeared shouting and waving arms. They came leaping down from the gap -into the light gallery that had led to the Silent Rooms. They ran along -it, so near were they that Graham could see the weapons in their hands, -Then Ostrog was shouting in his ear to the men who held him, and once -more he was struggling with all his strength against their endeavours to -thrust him towards the opening that yawned to receive him. "They can't -come down," panted Ostrog. "They daren't fire. It's all right." "We'll -save him from them yet." - -For long minutes as it seemed to Graham that inglorious struggle -continued. His clothes were rent in a dozen places, he was covered in -dust, one hand had been trodden upon. He could hear the shouts of his -supporters, and once he heard shots. He could feel his strength giving -way, feel his efforts wild and aimless. But no help came, and surely, -irresistibly, that black, yawning opening came nearer. - -The pressure upon him relaxed and he struggled up. He saw Ostrog's grey -head receding and perceived that he was no longer held. He turned about -and came full into a man in black. One of the green weapons cracked -close to him, a drift of pungent smoke came into his face, and a steel -blade flashed. The huge chamber span about him. - -He saw a man in pale blue stabbing one of the black and yellow -attendants not three yards from his face. Then hands were upon him -again. - -He was being pulled in two, directions now. It seemed as though people -were shouting to him. He wanted to understand and could not. Someone -was clutching about his thighs, he was being hoisted in spite of his -vigorous efforts. He understood suddenly, he ceased to struggle. He was -lifted up on men's shoulders and carried away from that devouring panel. -Ten thousand throats were cheering. - -He saw men in blue and black hurrying after the retreating Ostrogites -and firing. Lifted up, he saw now across the whole expanse of the hall -beneath the Atlas image, saw that he was being carried towards the -raised platform in the centre of the place. The far end of the hall was -already full of people running towards him. They were looking at him and -cheering. - -He became aware that a sort of body-guard surrounded him. Active -men about him shouted vague orders. He saw close at hand the black -moustached man in yellow who had been among those who had greeted him -in the public theatre, shouting directions. The hall was already densely -packed with swaying people, the little metal gallery sagged with a -shouting load, the curtains at the end had been torn away, and the -ante-chamber was revealed densely crowded. He could scarcely make the -man near him hear for the tumult about them. "Where has Ostrog gone?" he -asked. - -The man he questioned pointed over the heads towards the lower panels -about the hall on the side opposite the gap. They stood open and -armed men, blue clad with black sashes, were running through them and -vanishing into the chambers and passages beyond. It seemed to Graham -that a sound of firing drifted through the riot. He was carried in a -staggering curve across the great hall towards an opening beneath the -gap. - -He perceived men working with a sort of rude discipline to keep the -crowd off him, to make a space clear about him. He passed out of the -hall, and saw a crude, new wall rising blankly before him topped by blue -sky. He was swung down to his feet; someone gripped his arm and guided -him. He found the man in yellow close at hand. They were taking him up -a narrow stairway of brick, and close at hand rose the great red painted -masses, the cranes and levers and the still engines of the big building -machine. - -He was at the top of the steps. He was hurried across a narrow railed -footway, and suddenly with a vast shouting the amphitheatre of ruins -opened again before him. "The Master is with us! The Master! The -Master!" The shout swept athwart the lake of faces like a wave, broke -against the distant cliff of ruins, and came back in a welter of cries. -"The Master is on our side!" - -Graham perceived that he was no longer encompassed by people, that he -was standing upon a little temporary platform of white metal, part of -a flimsy seeming scaffolding that laced about the great mass of the -Council House. Over all the huge expanse of the ruins, swayed and -eddied the shouting people; and here and there the black banners of -the revolutionary societies ducked and swayed and formed rare nuclei of -organisation in the chaos. Up the steep stairs of wall and scaffolding -by which his rescuers had reached the opening in the Atlas Chamber, -clung a solid crowd, and little energetic black figures clinging to -pillars and projections were strenuous to induce these congested masses -to stir. Behind him, at a higher point on the scaffolding, a number of -men struggled upwards with the flapping folds of a huge black standard. -Through the yawning gap in the walls below him he could look down upon -the packed attentive multitudes in the Hall of the Atlas. The distant -flying stages to the south came out bright and vivid, brought nearer -as it seemed by an unusual translucency of the air. A solitary aeropile -beat up from the central stage as if to meet the coming aeroplanes. - -"What had become of Ostrog?" asked Graham, and even as he spoke he saw -that all eyes were turned from him towards the crest of the Council -House building. He looked also in this direction of universal attention. -For a moment he saw nothing but the jagged corner of a wall, hard and -clear against the sky. Then in the shadow he perceived the interior of a -room and recognised with a start the green and white decorations of his -former prison. And coming quickly across this opened room and up to the -very verge of the cliff of the ruins came a little white clad figure -followed by two other smaller seeming figures in black and yellow. He -heard the man beside him exclaim "Ostrog," and turned to ask a question. -But he never did, because of the startled exclamation of another of -those who were with him and a lank finger suddenly pointing. He looked, -and behold the aeropile that had been rising from the flying stage when -last he had looked in that direction, was driving towards them. The -swift steady flight was still novel enough to hold his attention. - -Nearer it came, growing rapidly larger and larger, until it had swept -over the further edge of the ruins and into view of the dense multitudes -below. It drooped across the space and rose and passed overhead, rising -to clear the mass of the Council House, a filmy translucent shape with -the solitary aeronaut peering down through its ribs. It vanished beyond -the skyline of the ruins. - -Graham transferred his attention to Ostrog. He was signalling with his -hands, and his attendants busy breaking down the wall beside him. In -another moment the aeropile came into view again, a little thing far -away, coming round in a wide curve and going slower. - -Then suddenly the man in yellow shouted: "What are they doing? What are -the people doing? Why is Ostrog left there? Why is he not captured? They -will lift him--the aeropile will lift him! Ah!" - -The exclamation was echoed by a shout from the ruins. The rattling sound -of the green weapons drifted across the intervening gulf to Graham, and, -looking down, he saw a number of black and yellow uniforms running along -one of the galleries that lay open to the air below the promontory -upon which Ostrog stood. They fired as they ran at men unseen, and then -emerged a number of pale blue figures in pursuit. These minute fighting -figures had the oddest effect; they seemed as they ran like little model -soldiers in a toy. This queer appearance of a house cut open gave that -struggle amidst furniture and passages a quality of unreality. It was -perhaps two hundred yards away from him, and very nearly fifty above -the heads in the ruins below. The black and yellow men ran into an -open archway, and turned and fired a volley. One of the blue pursuers -striding forward close to the edge, flung up his arms, staggered -sideways, seemed to Graham's sense to hang over the edge for several -seconds, and fell headlong down. Graham saw him strike a projecting -corner, fly out, head over heels, head over heels, and vanish behind the -red arm of the building machine. - -And then a shadow came between Graham and the sun. He looked up and the -sky was clear, but he knew the aeropile had passed. Ostrog had vanished. -The man in yellow thrust before him, zealous and perspiring, pointing -and blatent. - -"They are grounding!" cried the man in yellow. "They are grounding. Tell -the people to fire at him. Tell them to fire at him!" - -Graham could not understand. He heard loud voices repeating these -enigmatical orders. - -Suddenly over the edge of the ruins he saw the prow of the aeropile come -gliding and stop with a jerk. In a moment Graham understood that the -thing had grounded in order that Ostrog might escape by it. He saw a -blue haze climbing out of the gulf, perceived that the people below him -were now firing up at the projecting stem. - -A man beside him cheered hoarsely, and he saw that the blue rebels -had gained the archway that had been contested by the men in black and -yellow a moment before, and were running in a continual stream along the -open passage. - -And suddenly the aeropile slipped over the edge of the Council House -and fell. It dropped, tilting at an angle of forty-five degrees, and -dropping so steeply that it seemed to Graham, it seemed perhaps to most -of these below, that it could not possibly rise again. - -It fell so closely past him that he could see Ostrog clutching the -guides of the seat, with his grey hair streaming; see the white-faced -aeronaut wrenching over the lever that drove the engine along its -guides. He heard the apprehensive vague cry of innumerable men below. - -Graham clutched the railing before him and gasped. The second seemed an -age. The lower fan of the aeropile passed within an ace of touching the -people, who yelled and screamed and trampled one another below. - -And then it rose. - -For a moment it looked as if it could not possibly clear the opposite -cliff, and then that it could not possibly clear the wind-wheel that -rotated beyond. - -And behold! it was clear and soaring, still heeling sideways, upward, -upward into the wind-swept sky. - -The suspense of the moment gave place to a fury of exasperation as the -swarming people realised that Ostrog had escaped them. With belated -activity they renewed their fire, until the rattling wove into a roar, -until the whole area became dim and blue and the air pungent with the -thin smoke of their weapons. - -Too late! The aeropile dwindled smaller and smaller, and curved about -and swept gracefully downward to the flying stage from which it had so -lately risen. Ostrog had escaped. - -For a while a confused babblement arose from the ruins, and then -the universal attention came back to Graham, perched high among the -scaffolding. He saw the faces of the people turned towards him, heard -their shouts at his rescue. From the throat of the ways came the song of -the revolt spreading like a breeze across that swaying sea of men. - -The little group of men about him shouted congratulations on his escape. -The man in yellow was close to him, with a set face and shining eyes. -And the song was rising, louder and louder; tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp. - -Slowly the realisation came of the full meaning of these things to him, -the perception of the swift change in his position. Ostrog, who had -stood beside him whenever he had faced that shouting multitude before, -was beyond there--the antagonist. There was no one to rule for him any -longer. Even the people about him, the leaders and organisers of the -multitude, looked to see what he would do, looked to him to act, awaited -his orders. He was King indeed. His puppet reign was at an end. - -He was very intent to do the thing that was expected of him. His nerves -and muscles were quivering, his mind was perhaps a little confused, -but he felt neither fear nor anger. His hand that had been trodden upon -throbbed and was hot. He was a little nervous about his bearing. He knew -he was not afraid, but he was anxious not to seem afraid. In his former -life he had often been more excited in playing games of skill. He was -desirous of immediate action, he knew he must not think too much in -detail of the huge complexity of the struggle about him lest he should -be paralysed by the sense of its intricacy. Over there those square blue -shapes, the flying stages, meant Ostrog; against Ostrog he was fighting -for the world. - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. WHILE THE AEROPLANES WERE COMING - -For a time the Master of the Earth was not even master of his own mind. -Even his will seemed a will not his own, his own acts surprised him -and were but a part of the confusion of strange experiences that poured -across his being. These things were definite, the aeroplanes were -coming, Helen Wotton had warned the people of their coming, and he was -Master of the Earth. Each of these facts seemed struggling for complete -possession of his thoughts. They protruded from a background of swarming -halls, elevated passages, rooms jammed with ward leaders in council -kinematograph and telephone rooms, and windows looking out on a seething -sea of marching men. The man in yellow, and men whom he fancied were -called Ward Leaders, were either propelling him forward or following -him obediently; it was hard to tell. Perhaps they were doing a little of -both. Perhaps some power unseen and unsuspected, propelled them all. He -was aware that he was going to make a proclamation to the People of the -Earth, aware of certain grandiose phrases floating in his mind as the -thing he meant to say. Many little things happened, and then he found -himself with the man in yellow entering a little room where this -proclamation of his was to be made. - -This room was grotesquely latter-day in its appointments. In the centre -was a bright oval lit by shaded electric lights from above. The rest -was in shadow, and the double finely fitting doors through which he came -from the swarming Hall of the Atlas made the place very still. The dead -thud of these as they closed behind him, the sudden cessation of the -tumult in which he had been living for hours, the quivering circle of -light, the whispers and quick noiseless movements of vaguely visible -attendants in the shadows, had a strange effect upon Graham. The huge -ears of a phonographic mechanism gaped in a battery for his words, the -black eyes of great photographic cameras awaited his beginning, beyond -metal rods and coils glittered dimly, and something whirled about with a -droning hum. He walked into the centre of the light, and his shadow drew -together black and sharp to a little blot at his feet. - -The vague shape of the thing he meant to say was already in his mind. -But this silence, this isolation, the sudden withdrawal from that -contagious crowd, this silent audience of gaping, glaring machines -had not been in his anticipation. All his supports seemed withdrawn -together; he seemed to have dropped into this suddenly, suddenly to have -discovered himself. In a moment he was changed. He found that he now -feared to be inadequate, he feared to be theatrical, he feared the -quality of his voice, the quality of his wit, astonished, he turned to -the man in yellow with a propitiatory gesture. "For a moment," he said, -"I must wait. I did not think it would be like this. I must think of the -thing I have to say." - -While he was still hesitating there came an agitated messenger with news -that the foremost aeroplanes were passing over Arawan. - -"Arawan?" he said. "Where is that? But anyhow, they are coming. They -will be here. When?" - -"By twilight." - -"Great God! In only a few hours. What news of the flying stages?" he -asked. - -"The people of the south-west wards are ready." - -"Ready!" - -He turned impatiently to the blank circles of the lenses again. - -"I suppose it must be a sort of speech. Would to God I knew certainly -the thing that should be said! Aeroplanes at Arawan! They must have -started before the main fleet. And the people only ready! Surely..." - -"Oh! what does it matter whether I speak well or ill?" he said, and felt -the light grow brighter. - -He had framed some vague sentence of democratic sentiment when suddenly -doubts overwhelmed him. His belief in his heroic quality and calling -he found had altogether lost its assured conviction. The picture of a -little strutting futility in a windy waste of incomprehensible destinies -replaced it. Abruptly it was perfectly clear to him that this revolt -against Ostrog was premature, foredoomed to failure, the impulse of -passionate inadequacy against inevitable things. He thought of that -swift flight of aeroplanes like the swoop of Fate towards him. He was -astonished that he could have seen things in any other light. In that -final emergency he debated, thrust debate resolutely aside, determined -at all costs to go through with the thing he had undertaken. And he -could find no word to begin. Even as he stood, awkward, hesitating, with -an indiscrete apology for his inability trembling on his lips, came the -noise of many people crying out, the running to and fro of feet. "Wait," -cried someone, and a door opened. "She is coming," said the voices. -Graham turned, and the watching lights waned. - -Through the open doorway he saw a slight grey figure advancing across -a spacious hall. His heart leapt. It was Helen Wotton. Behind and about -her marched a riot of applause. The man in yellow came out of the nearer -shadows into the circle of light. - -"This is the girl who told us what Ostrog had dune," he said. - -Her face was aflame, and the heavy coils of her black hair fell about -her shoulders. The folds of the soft silk robe she wore streamed from -her and floated in the rhythm of her advance. She drew nearer and -nearer, and his heart was beating fast. All his doubts were gone. The -shadow of the doorway fell athwart her face and she was near him. "You -have not betrayed us?" she cried. "You are with us?" - -"Where have you been?" said Graham. - -"At the office of the south-west wards. Until ten minutes since I did -not know you had returned. I went to the office of the south-west wards -to find the Ward Leaders in order that they might tell the people." - -"I came back so soon as I heard--." - -"I knew," she cried, "knew you would be with us. And it was I--it was -I that told them. They have risen. All the world is rising. The people -have awakened. Thank God that I did not act in vain! You are Master -still." - -"You told them" he said slowly, and he saw that in spite of her steady -eyes her lips trembled and her throat rose and fell. - -"I told them. I knew of the order. I was here. I heard that the negroes -were to come to London to guard you and to keep the people down--to keep -you a prisoner. And I stopped it. I came out and told the people. And -you are Master still." - -Graham glanced at the black lenses of the cameras, the vast listening -ears, and back to her face. "I am Master still," he said slowly, and the -swift rush of a fleet of aeroplanes passed across his thoughts. - -"And you did this? You, who are the niece of Ostrog." - -"For you," she cried. "For you! That you for whom the world has waited -should not be cheated of your power." - -Graham stood for a space, wordless, regarding her. His doubts and -questionings had fled before her presence. He remembered the things that -he had meant to say. He faced the cameras again and the light about him -grew brighter. He turned again towards her. - -"You have saved me," he said; "you have saved my power. And the battle -is beginning. God knows what this night will see--but not dishonour." - -He paused. He addressed himself to the unseen multitudes who stared upon -him through those grotesque black eyes. At first he spoke slowly. "Men -and women of the new age," he said; "You have arisen to do battle for -the race... There is no easy victory before us." - -He stopped to gather words. The thoughts that had been in his mind -before she came returned, but transfigured, no longer touched with the -shadow of a possible irrelevance. "This night is a beginning," he cried. -"This battle that is coming, this battle that rushes upon us to-night, -is only a beginning. All your lives, it may be, you must fight. Take no -thought though I am beaten, though I am utterly overthrown." - -He found the thing in his mind too vague for words. He paused -momentarily, and broke into vague exhortations, and then a rush of -speech came upon him. Much that he said was but the humanitarian -commonplace of a vanished age, but the conviction of his voice touched -it to vitality. He stated the case of the old days to the people of the -new age, to the woman at his side. "I come out of the past to you," -he said, "with the memory of an age that hoped. My age was an age of -dreams--of beginnings, an age of noble hopes; throughout the world -we had made an end of slavery; throughout the world we had spread the -desire and anticipation that wars might cease, that all men and women -might live nobly, in freedom and peace. ... So we hoped in the days that -are past. And what of those hopes? How is it with man after two hundred -years? - -"Great cities, vast powers, a collective greatness beyond our dreams. -For that we did not work, and that has come. But how is it with the -little lives that make up this greater life? How is it with the common -lives? As it has ever been--sorrow and labour, lives cramped and -unfulfilled, lives tempted by power, tempted by wealth, and gone to -waste and folly. The old faiths have faded and changed, the new faith--. -Is there a new faith?" - -Things that he had long wished to believe, he found that he believed. He -plunged at belief and seized it, and clung for a time at her level. He -spoke gustily, in broken incomplete sentences, but with all his heart -and strength, of this new faith within him. He spoke of the greatness of -self-abnegation, of his belief in an immortal life of Humanity in which -we live and move and have our being. His voice rose and fell, and the -recording appliances hummed their hurried applause, dim attendants -watched him out of the shadow. Through all those doubtful places his -sense of that silent spectator beside him sustained his sincerity. For a -few glorious moments he was carried away; he felt no doubt of his heroic -quality, no doubt of his heroic words, he had it all straight and plain. -His eloquence limped no longer. And at last he made an end to speaking. -"Here and now," he cried, "I make my will. All that is mine in the world -I give to the people of the world. All that is mine in the world I give -to the people of the world. I give it to you, and myself I give to you. -And as God wills, I will live for you, or I will die." - -He ended with a florid gesture and turned about. He found the light of -his present exaltation reflected in the face of the girl. Their eyes -met; her eyes were swimming with tears of enthusiasm. They seemed to be -urged towards each other. They clasped hands and stood gripped, facing -one another, in an eloquent silence. She whispered. "I knew," she -whispered. "I knew." He could not speak, he crushed her hand in his. His -mind was the theatre of gigantic passions. - - -The man in yellow was beside them. Neither had noted his coming. He was -saying that the south-west wards were marching. "I never expected it so -soon," he cried. "They have done wonders. You must send them a word to -help them on their way." - -Graham dropped Helen's hand and stared at him absent-mindedly. Then -with a start he returned to his previous preoccupation about the flying -stages. - -"Yes," he said. "That is good, that is good." He weighed a message. -"Tell them;--well done South West." - -He turned his eyes to Helen Wotton again. His face expressed his -struggle between conflicting ideas. "We must capture the flying stages," -he explained. "Unless we can do that they will land negroes. At all -costs we must prevent that." - -He felt even as he spoke that this was not what had been in his mind -before the interruption. He saw a touch of surprise in her eyes. She -seemed about to speak and a shrill bell drowned her voice. - -It occurred to Graham that she expected him to lead these marching -people, that that was the thing he had to do. He made the offer -abruptly. He addressed the man in yellow, but he spoke to her. He saw -her face respond. "Here I am doing nothing," he said. - -"It is impossible," protested the man in yellow. - -"It is a fight in a warren. Your place is here." - -He explained elaborately. He motioned towards the room where Graham must -wait, he insisted no other course was possible. "We must know where you -are," he said. "At any moment a crisis may arise needing your presence -and decision." The room was a luxurious little apartment with news -machines and a broken mirror that had once been en _rapport_ with the -crow's nest specula. It seemed a matter of course to Graham that Helen -should stop with him. - -A picture had drifted through his mind of such a vast dramatic struggle -as the masses in the ruins had suggested. But here was no spectacular -battle-field such as he imagined. Instead was seclusion--and suspense. -It was only as the afternoon wore on that he pieced together a truer -picture of the fight that was raging, inaudibly and invisibly, -within four miles of him, beneath the Roehampton stage. A strange and -unprecedented contest it was, a battle that was a hundred thousand -little battles, a battle in a sponge of ways and channels, fought out -of sight of sky or sun under the electric glare, fought out in a vast -confusion by multitudes untrained in arms, led chiefly by acclamation, -multitudes dulled by mindless labour and enervated by the tradition of -two hundred years of servile security against multitudes demoralised by -lives of venial privilege and sensual indulgence. They had no artillery, -no differentiation into this force or that; the only weapon on either -side was the little green metal carbine, whose secret manufacture and -sudden distribution in enormous quantities had been one of Ostrog's -culminating moves against the Council. Few had had any experience with -this weapon, many had never discharged one, many who carried it came -unprovided with ammunition; never was wilder firing in the history of -warfare. It was a battle of amateurs, a hideous experimental warfare, -armed rioters fighting armed rioters, armed rioters swept forward by -the words and fury of a song, by the tramping sympathy of their numbers, -pouring in countless myriads towards the smaller ways, the disabled -lifts, the galleries slippery with blood, the halls and passages choked -with smoke, beneath the flying stages, to learn there when retreat was -hopeless the ancient mysteries of warfare. And overhead save for a few -sharpshooters upon the roof spaces and for a few bands and threads of -vapour that multiplied and darkened towards the evening, the day was a -clear serenity. Ostrog it seems had no bombs at command and in all -the earlier phases of the battle the aeropiles played no part. Not the -smallest cloud was there to break the empty brilliance of the sky. It -seemed as though it held itself vacant until the aeroplanes should come. - -Ever and again there was news of these, drawing nearer, from this -Mediterranean port and then that, and presently from the south of -France. But of the new guns that Ostrog had made and which were known to -be in the city came no news in spite of Graham's urgency, nor any report -of successes from the dense felt of fighting strands about the flying -stages. Section after section of the Labour Societies reported itself -assembled, reported itself marching, and vanished from knowledge into -the labyrinth of that warfare What was happening there? Even the busy -ward leaders did not know. In spite of the opening and closing of -doors, the hasty messengers, the ringing of bells and the perpetual -clitter-clack of recording implements, Graham felt isolated, strangely -inactive, inoperative. - -Their isolation seemed at times the strangest, the most unexpected of -all the things that had happened since his awakening. It had something -of the quality of that inactivity that comes in dreams. A tumult, the -stupendous realisation of a world struggle between Ostrog and himself, -and then this confined quiet little room with its mouthpieces and bells -and broken mirror! - -Now the door would be closed and they were alone together; they seemed -sharply marked off then from all the unprecedented world storm that -rushed together without, vividly aware of one another, only concerned -with one another. Then the door would open again, messengers would -enter, or a sharp bell would stab their quiet privacy, and it was like -a window in a well built brightly lit house flung open suddenly to a -hurricane. The dark hurry and tumult, the stress and vehemence of the -battle rushed in and overwhelmed them. They were no longer persons -but mere spectators, mere impressions of a tremendous convulsion. -They became unreal even to themselves, miniatures of personality, -indescribably small, and the two antagonistic realities, the only -realities in being were first the city, that throbbed and roared yonder -in a belated frenzy of defence and secondly the aeroplanes hurling -inexorably towards them over the round shoulder of the world. - -At first their mood had been one of exalted confidence, a great pride -had possessed them, a pride in one another for the greatness of the -issues they had challenged. At first he had walked the room eloquent -with a transitory persuasion of his tremendous destiny. But slowly -uneasy intimations of their coming defeat touched his spirit. There came -a long period in which they were alone. He changed his theme, became -egotistical, spoke of the wonder of his sleep, of the little life of his -memories, remote yet minute and clear, like something seen through an -inverted opera-glass, and all the brief play of desires and errors that -had made his former life. She said little, but the emotion in her face -followed the tones in his voice, and it seemed to him he had at last a -perfect understanding. He reverted from pure reminiscence to that sense -of greatness she imposed upon him. "And through it all, this destiny was -before me," he said; "this vast inheritance of which I did not dream." - -Insensibly their heroic preoccupation with the revolutionary struggle -passed to the question of their relationship. He began to question -her. She told him of the days before his awakening, spoke with a brief -vividness of the girlish dreams that had given a bias to her life, of -the incredulous emotions his awakening had aroused. She told him too -of a tragic circumstance of her girlhood that had darkened her life, -quickened her sense of injustice and opened her heart prematurely to -the wider sorrows of the world. For a little time, so far as he -was concerned, the great war about them was but the vast ennobling -background to these personal things. - -In an instant these personal relations were submerged. There came -messengers to tell that a great fleet of aeroplanes was rushing between -the sky and Avignon. He went to the crystal dial in the corner and -assured himself that the thing was so. He went to the chart room and -consulted a map to measure the distances of Avignon, New Arawan, and -London. He made swift calculations. He went to the room of the Ward -Leaders to ask for news of the fight for the stages--and there was no -one there. After a time he came back to her. - -His face had changed. It had dawned upon him that the struggle was -perhaps more than half over, that Ostrog was holding his own, that -the arrival of the aeroplanes would mean a panic that might leave him -helpless. A chance phrase in the message had given him a glimpse of the -reality that came. Each of these soaring giants bore its thousand -half savage negroes to the death grapple of the city. Suddenly his -humanitarian enthusiasm showed flimsy. Only two of the Ward Leaders were -in their room, when presently he repaired thither, the Hall of the Atlas -seemed empty. He fancied a change in the bearing of the attendants in -the outer rooms. A sombre disillusionment darkened his mind. She looked -at him anxiously when he returned to her. - -"No news," he said with an assumed carelessness in answer to her eyes. - -Then he was moved to frankness. "Or rather--bad news. We are losing. We -are gaining no ground and the aeroplanes draw nearer and nearer." - -He walked the length of the room and turned. - -"Unless we can capture those flying stages in the next hour--there will -be horrible things. We shall be beaten. - -"No!" she said. "We have justice--we have the people. We have God on our -side." - -"Ostrog has discipline--he has plans. Do you know, out there just now I -felt--. When I heard that these aeroplanes were a stage nearer. I felt -as if I were fighting the machinery of fate." - -She made no answer for a while. "We have done right," she said at last. - -He looked at her doubtfully. "We have done what we could. But does this -depend upon us? Is it not an older sin, a wider sin?" - -"What do you mean?" she asked. - -"These blacks are savages, ruled by force, used as force. And they have -been under the rule of the whites two hundred years. Is it not a race -quarrel? The race sinned--the race pays." - -"But these labourers, these poor people of London--!" - -"Vicarious atonement. To stand wrong is to share the guilt." - -She looked keenly at him, astonished at the new aspect he presented. - -Without came the shrill ringing of a bell, the sound of feet and the -gabble of a phonographic message. The man in yellow appeared. "Yes?" -said Graham. - -"They are at Vichy." - -"Where are the attendants who were in the great Hall of the Atlas?" -asked Graham abruptly. - -Presently the Babble Machine rang again. "We may win yet," said the man -in yellow, going out to it. "If only we can find where Ostrog has hidden -his guns. Everything hangs on that now. Perhaps this--" - -Graham followed him. But the only news was of the aeroplanes. They had -reached Orleans. - -Graham returned to Helen. "No news," he said "No news." - -"And we can do nothing?" - -"Nothing." - -He paced impatiently. Suddenly the swift anger that was his nature swept -upon him. "Curse this complex world!" he cried, "and all the inventions -of men! That a man must die like a rat in a snare and never see his foe! -Oh, for one blow!..." - -He turned with an abrupt change in his manner. "That's nonsense," he -said. "I am a savage." - -He paced and stopped. "After all London and Paris are only two cities. -All the temperate zone has risen. What if London is doomed and Paris -destroyed? These are but accidents." Again came the mockery of news to -call him to fresh enquiries. He returned with a graver face and sat down -beside her. - -"The end must be near," he said. "The people it seems have fought and -died in tens of thousands, the ways about Roehampton must be like a -smoked beehive. And they have died in vain. They are still only at the -sub stage. The aeroplanes are near Paris. Even were a gleam of success -to come now, there would be nothing to do, there would be no time to do -anything before they were upon us. The guns that might have saved us are -mislaid. Mislaid! Think of the disorder of things! Think of this foolish -tumult, that cannot even find its weapons! Oh, for one aeropile--just -one! For the want of that I am beaten. Humanity is beaten and our cause -is lost! My kingship, my headlong foolish kingship will not last a -night. And I have egged on the people to fight--." - -"They would have fought anyhow." - -"I doubt it. I have come among them--" - -"No," she cried, "not that. If defeat comes--if you die--. But even that -cannot be, it cannot be, after all these years." - -"Ah! We have meant well. But--do you indeed believe--?" - -"If they defeat you," she cried, "you have spoken. Your word has gone -like a great wind through the world, fanning liberty into a flame. What -if the flame sputters a little! Nothing can change the spoken word. Your -message will have gone forth...." - -"To what end? It may be. It may be. You know I said, when you told me -of these things dear God! but that was scarcely a score of hours ago!--I -said that I had not your faith. Well--at any rate there is nothing to do -now...." - -"You have not my faith! Do you mean--? You are sorry?" - -"No," he said hurriedly, "no! Before God--no!" His voice changed. -"But--. I think--I have been indiscreet. I knew little--I grasped too -hastily...." - -He paused. He was ashamed of this avowal. "There is one thing that makes -up for all. I have known you. Across this gulf of time I have come to -you. The rest is done. It is done. With you, too, it has been something -more--or something less--" - -He paused with his face searching hers, and without clamoured the -unheeded message that the aeroplanes were rising into the sky of Amiens. - -She put her hand to her throat, and her lips were white. She stared -before her as if she saw some horrible possibility. Suddenly her -features changed. "Oh, but I have been honest!" she cried, and then, -"Have I been honest? I loved the world and freedom, I hated cruelty and -oppression. Surely it was that." - -"Yes," he said, "yes. And we have done what it lay in us to do. We have -given our message, our message! We have started Armageddon! But now--. -Now that we have, it may be our last hour, together, now that all these -greater things are done...." - -He stopped. She sat in silence. Her face was a white riddle. - -For a moment they heeded nothing of a sudden stir outside, a running -to and fro, and cries. Then Helen started to an attitude of tense -attention. "It is--," she cried and stood up, speechless, incredulous, -triumphant. And Graham, too, heard. Metallic voices were shouting -"Victory!" Yes it was "Victory!" He stood up also with the light of a -desperate hope in his eyes. - -Bursting through the curtains appeared the man in yellow, startled and -dishevelled with excitement. "Victory," he cried, "victory! The people -are winning. Ostrog's people have collapsed." - -She rose. "Victory?" And her voice was hoarse and faint. - -"What do you mean?" asked Graham. "Tell me! What?" - -"We have driven them out of the under galleries at Norwood, Streatham -is afire and burning wildly, and Roehampton is ours. Ours!--and we have -taken the aeropile that lay thereon." - -For an instant Graham and Helen stood in silence, their hearts were -beating fast, they looked at one another. For one last moment there -gleamed in Graham his dream of empire, of kingship, with Helen by his -side. It gleamed, and passed. - -A shrill bell rang. An agitated grey-headed man appeared from the room -of the Ward Leaders. "It is all over," he cried. - -"What matters it now that we have Roehampton? The aeroplanes have been -sighted at Boulogne!" - -"The Channel!" said the man in yellow. He calculated swiftly. "Half an -hour." - -"They still have three of the flying stages," said the old man. - -"Those guns?" cried Graham. - -"We cannot mount them--in half an hour." - -"Do you mean they are found?" - -"Too late," said the old man. - -"If we could stop them another hour!" cried the man in yellow. - -"Nothing can stop them now," said the old man, "they have near a hundred -aeroplanes in the first fleet." - -"Another hour?" asked Graham. - -"To be so near!" said the Ward Leader. "Now that we have found those -guns. To be so near--. If once we could get them out upon the roof -spaces." - -"How long would that take?" asked Graham suddenly. - -"An hour--certainly." - -"Too late," cried the Ward Leader, "too late." - -"Is it too late?" said Graham. "Even now--. An hour!" - -He had suddenly perceived a possibility. He tried to speak calmly, -but his face was white. "There is one chance. You said there was an -aeropile--?" - -"On the Roehampton stage, Sire." - -"Smashed?" - -"No. It is lying crossways to the carrier. It might be got upon the -guides--easily. But there is no aeronaut--." - -Graham glanced at the two men and then at Helen. He spoke after a long -pause. "We have no aeronauts?" - -"None." - -"The aeroplanes are clumsy," he said thoughtfully, "compared with the -aeropiles." - -He turned suddenly to Helen. His decision was made. "I must do it." - -"Do what?" - -"Go to this flying stage--to this aeropile." - -"What do you mean?" - -"I am an aeronaut. After all--. Those days for which you reproached me -were not wasted." - -He turned to the old man in yellow. "Put the aeropile upon the guides." - -The man in yellow hesitated. - -"What do you mean to do?" cried Helen. - -"This aeropile--it is a chance--." - -"You don't mean--?" - -"To fight--yes. To fight in the air. I have thought before--. An -aeroplane is a clumsy thing. A resolute man--!" - -"But--never since flying began--" cried the man in yellow. - -"There has been no need. But now the time has come. Tell them now--send -them my message--to put it upon the guides." - -The old man dumbly interrogated the man in yellow, nodded, and hurried -out. - -Helen made a step towards Graham. Her face was white. "But--How can one -fight? You will be killed." - -"Perhaps. Yet, not to do it--or to let someone else attempt it--." - -He stopped, he could speak no more, he swept the alternative aside by a -gesture, and they stood looking at one another. - -"You are right," she said at last in a low tone. "You are right. If it -can be done... must go." - -Those days for not altogether - -He moved a step towards her, and she stepped back, her white face -struggled against him and resisted him. "No," she gasped. "I cannot -bear--. Go now." - -He extended his hands stupidly. She clenched her fists. "Go now," she -cried. "Go now." - -He hesitated and understood. He threw his hands up in a queer -half-theatrical gesture. He had no word to say. He turned from her. - -The man in yellow moved towards the door with clumsy belated tact. But -Graham stepped past him. He went striding through the room where the -Ward Leader bawled at a telephone directing that the aeropile should be -put upon the guides. - -The man in yellow glanced at Helen's still figure, hesitated and hurried -after him. Graham did not once look back, he did not speak until the -curtain of the ante-chamber of the great hall fell behind him. Then he -turned his head with curt swift directions upon his bloodless lips. - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. THE COMING OF THE AEROPLANES - -Two men in pale blue were lying in the irregular line that stretched -along the edge of the captured Roehampton stage from end to end, -grasping their carbines and peering into the shadows of the stage called -Wimbledon Park. Now and then they spoke to one another. They spoke the -mutilated English of their class and period. The fire of the Ostrogites -had dwindled and ceased, and few of the enemy had been seen for some -time. But the echoes of the fight that was going on now far below in -the lower galleries of that stage, came every now and then between the -staccato of shots from the popular side. One of these men was describing -to the other how he had seen a man down below there dodge behind a -girder, and had aimed at a guess and hit him cleanly as he dodged too -far "He's down there still," said the marksman. "See that little patch. -Yes. Between those bars." A few yards behind them lay a dead stranger, -face upward to the sky, with the blue canvas of his jacket smoldering -in a circle about the neat bullet hole on his chest. Close beside him a -wounded man, with a leg swathed about, sat with an expressionless face -and watched the progress of that burning. Gigantic behind them, athwart -the carrier lay the captured aeropile. - -"I can't see him now," said the second man in a ton of provocation. - -The marksman became foul-mouthed and high-voiced in his earnest -endeavour to make things plain And suddenly, interrupting him, came a -noisy shouting from the substage. - -"What's going on now," he said, and raised himself on one arm to stare -at the stairheads in the central groove of the stage. A number of blue -figures were coming up these, and swarming across the stage to the -aeropile. - -"We don't want all these fools," said his friend. "They only crowd up -and spoil shots. What are they after?" - -"Ssh!--they're shouting something." - -The two men listened. The swarming new-comers had crowded densely about -the aeropile. Three Ward Leaders, conspicuous by their black mantles and -badges, clambered into the body and appeared above it. The rank and file -flung themselves upon the vans, gripping hold of the edges, until the -entire outline of the thing was manned, in some places three deep. One -of the marksmen knelt up. "They're putting it on the carrier--that's -what they're after." - -He rose to his feet, his friend rose also. "What's the good?" said his -friend. "We've got no aeronauts." - -"That's what they're doing anyhow." He looked at his rifle, looked at -the struggling crowd, and suddenly turning to the wounded man. "Mind -these, mate," he said, handing his carbine and cartridge belt; and in a -moment he was running towards the aeropile. For a quarter of an hour he -was a perspiring Titan, lugging, thrusting, shouting and heeding shouts, -and then the thing was done, and he stood with a multitude of others -cheering their own achievement. By this time he knew, what indeed -everyone in the city knew, that the Master, raw learner though he -was, intended to fly this machine himself, was coming even now to take -control of it, would let no other man attempt it. "He who takes the -greatest danger, he who bears the heaviest burden, that man is King," -so the Master was reported to have spoken. And even as this man cheered, -and while the beads of sweat still chased one another from the disorder -of his hair, he heard the thunder of a greater tumult, and in fitful -snatches the beat and impulse of the revolutionary song. He saw through -a gap in the people that a thick stream of heads still poured up -the stairway. "The Master is coming," shouted voices, "the Master is -coming," and the crowd about him grew denser and denser. He began to -thrust himself towards the central groove. "The Master is coming!" "The -Sleeper, the Master!" "God and the Master!" roared the Voices. - -And suddenly quite close to him were the black uniforms of the -revolutionary guard, and for the first and last time in his life he saw -Graham, saw him quite nearly. A tall, dark man in a flowing black robe, -with a white, resolute face and eyes fixed steadfastly before him; a man -who for all the little things about him held neither ears nor eyes -nor thoughts.... For all his days that man remembered the passing of -Graham's bloodless face. In a moment it had gone and he was fighting -in the swaying crowd. A lad weeping with terror thrust against him, -pressing towards the stairways, yelling "Clear for the aeropile!" The -bell that clears the flying stage became a loud unmelodious clanging. - -With that clanging in his ears Graham drew near the aeropile, marched -into the shadow of its tilting wing. He became aware that a number of -people about him were offering to accompany him, and waved their offers -aside. He wanted to think how one started the engine. The bell clanged -faster and faster, and the feet of the retreating people roared faster -and louder. The man in yellow was assisting him to mount through the -ribs of the body. He clambered into the aeronaut's place, fixing himself -very carefully and deliberately. What was it? The man in yellow was -pointing to two aeropiles driving upward in the southern sky. No doubt -they were looking for the coming aeroplanes. That--presently--the thing -to do now was to start. Things were being shouted at him, questions, -warnings. They bothered him. He wanted to think about the aeropile, to -recall every item of his previous experience. He waved the people from -him, saw the man in yellow dropping off through the ribs, saw the crowd -cleft down the line of the girders by his gesture. - -For a moment he was motionless, staring at the levers, the wheel by -which the engine shifted, and all the delicate appliances of which he -knew so little. His eye caught a spirit level with the bubble towards -him, and he remembered something, spent a dozen seconds in swinging the -engine forward until the bubble floated in the centre of the tube. -He noted that the people were not shouting, knew they watched his -deliberation. A bullet smashed on the bar above his head. Who fired? Was -the line clear of people? He stood up to see and sat down again. - -In another second the propeller was spinning, and he was rushing down -the guides. He gripped the wheel and swung the engine back to lift the -stem. Then it was the people shouted. In a moment he was throbbing with -the quiver of the engine, and the shouts dwindled swiftly behind, rushed -down to silence. The wind whistled over the edges of the screen, and the -world sank away from him very swiftly. - -Throb, throb, throb--throb, throb, throb; up he drove. He fancied -himself free of all excitement, felt cool and deliberate. He lifted the -stem still more, opened one valve on his left wing and swept round and -up. He looked down with a steady head, and up. One of the Ostrogite -aeropiles was driving across his course, so that he drove obliquely -towards it and would pass below it at a steep angle. Its little -aeronauts were peering down at him. What did they mean to do? His mind -became active. One, he saw held a weapon pointing, seemed prepared to -fire. What did they think he meant to do? In a moment he understood -their tactics, and his resolution was taken. His momentary lethargy was -past. He opened two more valves to his left, swung round, end on to this -hostile machine, closed his valves, and shot straight at it, stem and -wind-screen shielding him from the shot. They tilted a little as if to -clear him. He flung up his stem. - -Throb, throb, throb--pause--throb, throb--he set his teeth, his face -into an involuntary grimace, and crash! He struck it! He struck upward -beneath the nearer wing. - -Very slowly the wing of his antagonist seemed to broaden as the impetus -of his blow turned it up. He saw the full breadth of it and then it slid -downward out of his sight. - -He felt his stem going down, his hands tightened on the levers, whirled -and rammed the engine back. He felt the jerk of a clearance, the nose -of the machine jerked upward steeply, and for a moment he seemed to be -lying on his back. The machine was reeling and staggering, it seemed to -be dancing on its screw. He made a huge effort, hung for a moment on the -levers, and slowly the engine came forward again. He was driving upward -but no longer so steeply. He gasped for a moment and flung himself at -the levers again. The wind whistled about him. One further effort and -he was almost level. He could breathe. He turned his head for the first -time to see what had become of his antagonists. Turned back to the -levers for a moment and looked again. For a moment he could have -believed they were annihilated. And then he saw between the two stages -to the east was a chasm, and down this something, a slender edge, fell -swiftly and vanished, as a sixpence falls down a crack. - -At first he did not understand, and then a wild joy possessed him. He -shouted at the top of his voice, an inarticulate shout, and drove higher -and higher up the sky. Throb, throb, throb, pause, throb, throb, throb. -"Where was the other aeropile?" he thought. "They too--." As he looked -round the empty heavens he had a momentary fear that this machine had -risen above him, and then he saw it alighting on the Norwood stage. They -had meant shooting. To risk being rammed headlong two thousand feet in -the air was beyond their latter-day courage. The combat was declined. - -For a little while he circled, then swooped in a steep descent towards -the westward stage. Throb throb throb, throb throb throb. The twilight -was creeping on apace, the smoke from the Streatham stage that had been -so dense and dark, was now a pillar of fire, and all the laced curves -of the moving ways and the translucent roofs and domes and the chasms -between the buildings were glowing softly now, lit by the tempered -radiance of the electric light that the glare of the way overpowered. -The three efficient stages that the Ostrogites held--for Wimbledon Park -was useless because of the fire from Roehampton, and Streatham was a -furnace--were glowing with guide lights for the coming aeroplanes. As -he swept over the Roehampton stage he saw the dark masses of the people -thereon. He heard a clap of frantic cheering, heard a bullet from the -Wimbledon Park stage tweet through the air, and went beating up above -the Surrey wastes. He felt a breath of wind from the south-west, and -lifted his westward wing as he had learnt to do, and so drove upward -heeling into the rare swift upper air. Throb throb throb--throb throb -throb. - -Up he drove and up, to that pulsating rhythm, until the country beneath -was blue and indistinct, and London spread like a little map traced in -light, like the mere model of a city near the brim of the horizon. The -south-west was a sky of sapphire over the shadowy rim of the world, and -ever as he drove upward the multitude of stars increased. - -And behold! In the southward, low down and glittering swiftly nearer, -were two little patches of nebulous light. And then two more, and then a -nebulous glow of swiftly driving shapes. Presently he could count them. -There were four and twenty. The first fleet of aeroplanes had come! -Beyond appeared a yet greater glow. - -He swept round in a half circle, staring at this advancing fleet. -It flew in a wedge-like shape, a triangular flight of gigantic -phosphorescent shapes sweeping nearer through the lower air. He made a -swift calculation of their pace, and spun the little wheel that brought -the engine forward. He touched a lever and the throbbing effort of the -engine ceased. He began to fall, fell swifter and swifter. He aimed at -the apex of the wedge. He dropped like a stone through the whistling -air. It seemed scarce a second from that soaring moment before he struck -the foremost aeroplane. - -No man of all that black multitude saw the coming of his fate, no man -among them dreamt of the hawk that struck downward upon him out of -the sky. Those who were not limp in the agonies of air-sickness, were -craning their black necks and staring to see the filmy city that was -rising out of the haze, the rich and splendid city to which "Massa Boss" -had brought their obedient muscles. Bright teeth gleamed and the glossy -faces shone. They had heard of Paris. They knew they were to have lordly -times among the "poor white" trash. And suddenly Graham struck them. - -He had aimed at the body of the aeroplane, but at the very last instant -a better idea had flashed into his mind. He twisted about and struck -near the edge of the starboard wing with all his accumulated weight. He -was jerked back as he struck. His prow went gliding across its smooth -expanse towards the rim. He felt the forward rush of the huge fabric -sweeping him and his aeropile along with it, and for a moment that -seemed an age he could not tell what was happening. He heard a thousand -throats yelling, and perceived that his machine was balanced on the edge -of the gigantic float, and driving down, down; glanced over his shoulder -and saw the backbone of the aeroplane and the opposite float swaying up. -He had a vision through the ribs of sliding chairs, staring faces, and -hands clutching at the tilting guide bars. The fenestrations in the -further float flashed open as the aeronaut tried to right her. Beyond, -he saw a second aeroplane leaping steeply to escape the whirl of its -heeling fellow. The broad area of swaying wings seemed to jerk upward. -He felt his aeropile had dropped clear, that the monstrous fabric, clean -overturned, hung like a sloping wall above him. - -He did not clearly understand that he had struck the side float of the -aeroplane and slipped off, but he perceived that he was flying free on -the down glide and rapidly nearing earth. What had he done? His heart -throbbed like a noisy engine in his throat and for a perilous instant -he could not move his levers because of the paralysis of his hands. He -wrenched the levers to throw his engine back, fought for two seconds -against the weight of it, felt himself righting driving horizontally, -set the engine beating again. - -He looked upward and saw two aeroplanes glide shouting far overhead, -looked back, and saw the main body of the fleet opening out and rushing -upward and outward; saw the one he had struck fall edgewise on and -strike like a gigantic knife-blade along the wind-wheels below it. - -He put down his stern and looked again. He drove up heedless of his -direction as he watched. He saw the wind-vanes give, saw the huge fabric -strike the earth, saw its downward vans crumple with the weight of its -descent, and then the whole mass turned over and smashed, upside down, -upon the sloping wheels. Throb, throb, throb, pause. Suddenly from -the heaving wreckage a thin tongue of white fire licked up towards the -zenith. And then he was aware of a huge mass flying through the air -towards him, and turned upwards just in time to escape the charge--if -it was a charge--of a second aeroplane. It whirled by below, sucked -him down a fathom, and nearly turned him over in the gust of its close -passage. - -He became aware of three others rushing towards him, aware of the urgent -necessity of beating above them. Aeroplanes were all about him, circling -wildly to avoid him, as it seemed. They drove past him, above, below, -eastward and westward. Far away to the westward was the sound of a -collision, and two falling flares. Far away to the southward a second -squadron was coming. Steadily he beat upward. Presently all the -aeroplanes were below him, but for a moment he doubted the height he had -of them, and did not swoop again. And then he came down upon a second -victim and all its load of soldiers saw him coming. The big machine -heeled and swayed as the fear maddened men scrambled to the stern -for their weapons. A score of bullets sung through the air, and there -flashed a star in the thick glass wind-screen that protected him. The -aeroplane slowed and dropped to foil his stroke, and dropped too low. -Just in time he saw the wind-wheels of Bromley hill rushing up towards -him, and spun about and up as the aeroplane he had chased crashed among -them. All its voices wove into a felt of yelling. The great fabric -seemed to be standing on end for a second among the heeling and -splintering vans, and then it flew to pieces. Huge splinters came flying -through the air, its engines burst like shells. A hot rush of flame shot -overhead into the darkling sky. - -"_Two!_" he cried, with a bomb from overhead bursting as it fell, and -forthwith he was beating up again. A glorious exhilaration possessed -him now, a giant activity. His troubles about humanity, about his -inadequacy, were gone for ever. He was a man in battle rejoicing in his -power. Aeroplanes seemed radiating from him in every direction, intent -only upon avoiding him, the yelling of their packed passengers came in -short gusts as they swept by. He chose his third quarry, struck hastily -and did but turn it on edge. It escaped him, to smash against the tall -cliff of London wall. Flying from that impact he skimmed the darkling -ground so nearly he could see a frightened rabbit bolting up a slope. He -jerked up steeply, and found himself driving over south London with the -air about him vacant. To the right of him a wild riot of signal rockets -from the Ostrogites banged tumultuously in the sky. To the south the -wreckage of half a dozen air ships flamed, and east and west and north -the air ships fled before him. They drove away to the east and north, -and went about in the south, for they could not pause in the air. -In their present confusion any attempt at evolution would have meant -disastrous collisions. He could scarcely realize the thing he had done. -In every quarter aeroplanes were receding. They were receding. They -dwindled smaller and smaller. They were in flight! - -He passed two hundred feet or so above the Roehampton stage. It was -black with people and noisy with their frantic shouting. But why was -the Wimbledon Park stage black and cheering, too? The smoke and flame of -Streatham now hid the three further stages. He curved about and rose -to see them and the northern quarters. First came the square masses of -Shooter's Hill into sight from behind the smoke, lit and orderly with -the aeroplane that had landed and its disembarking negroes. Then came -Blackheath, and then under the corner of the reek the Norwood stage. On -Blackheath no aeroplane had landed but an aeropile lay upon the guides. -Norwood was covered by a swarm of little figures running to and fro in a -passionate confusion. Why? Abruptly he understood. The stubborn -defence of the flying stages was over, the people were pouring into the -under-ways of these last strongholds of Ostrog's usurpation. And then, -from far away on the northern border of the city, full of glorious -import to him, came a sound, a signal, a note of triumph, the leaden -thud of a gun. His lips fell apart, his face was disturbed with emotion. - -He drew an immense breath. "They win," he shouted to the empty air; "the -people win!" The sound of a second gun came like an answer. And then he -saw the aeropile on Blackheath was running down its guides to launch. -It lifted clean and rose. It shot up into the air, driving straight -southward and away from him. - -In an instant it came to him what this meant. It must needs be Ostrog -in flight. He shouted and dropped towards it. He had the momentum of -his elevation and fell slanting down the air and very swiftly. It rose -steeply at his approach. He allowed for its velocity and drove straight -upon it. - -It suddenly became a mere flat edge, and behold! he was past it, and -driving headlong down with all the force of his futile blow. - -He was furiously angry. He reeled the engine back along its shaft and -went circling up. He saw Ostrog's machine beating up a spiral before -him. He rose straight towards it, won above it by virtue of the impetus -of his swoop and by the advantage and weight of a man. He dropped -headlong--dropped and missed again! As he rushed past he saw the face of -Ostrog's aeronaut confident and cool and in Ostrog's attitude a wincing -resolution. Ostrog was looking steadfastly away from him--to the south. -He realized with a gleam of wrath how bungling his flight must be. Below -he saw the Croyden hills. He jerked upward and once more he gained on -his enemy. - -He glanced over his shoulder and his attention was arrested by a strange -thing. The eastward stage, the one on Shooter's Hill, appeared to lift; -a flash changing to a tall grey shape, a cowled figure of smoke and -dust, jerked into the air. For a moment this cowled figure stood -motionless, dropping huge masses of metal from its shoulders, and then -it began to uncoil a dense head of smoke. The people had blown it up, -aeroplane and all! As suddenly a second flash and grey shape sprang -up from the Norwood stage. And even as he stared at this came a dead -report, and the air wave of the first explosion struck him. He was flung -up and sideways. - -For a moment the aeropile fell nearly edgewise with her nose down, -and seemed to hesitate whether to overset altogether. He stood on his -wind-shield wrenching the wheel that swayed up over his head. And then -the shock of the second explosion took his machine sideways. - -He found himself clinging to one of the ribs of his machine, and the air -was blowing past him and upward. He seemed to be hanging quite still in -the air, with the wind blowing up past him. It occurred to him that he -was falling. Then he was sure that he was falling. He could not look -down. - -He found himself recapitulating with incredible swiftness all that had -happened since his awakening, the days of doubt the days of Empire, and -at last the tumultuous discovery of Ostrog's calculated treachery, he -was beaten but London was saved. London was saved! - -The thought had a quality of utter unreality. Who was he? Why was he -holding so tightly with his hands? Why could he not leave go? In such -a fall as this countless dreams have ended. But in a moment he would -wake.... - -His thoughts ran swifter and swifter. He wondered if he should see Helen -again. It seemed so unreasonable that he should not see her again. It -_must_ be a dream! Yet surely he would meet her. She at least was real. -She was real. He would wake and meet her. - -Although he could not look at it, he was suddenly aware that the earth -was very near. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's When the Sleeper Wakes, by Herbert George Wells - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES *** - -***** This file should be named 775.txt or 775.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/7/7/775/ - -Produced by John Bean - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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