The Runaway Skyscraper

_by_ Murray Leinster

COMPLETE IN THIS ISSUE. [*]

I. 

The whole thing started when the clock on the Metropolitan Towerbegan to run backward. It was not a graceful proceeding. The handshad been moving onward in their customary deliberate fashion, slowly and thoughtfully, but suddenly the people in the officesnear the clock's face heard an ominous creaking and groaning. There was a slight, hardly discernible shiver through the tower, and then something gave with a crash. The big hands on the clockbegan to move backward. 

Immediately after the crash all the creaking and groaning ceased, and instead, the usual quiet again hung over everything. One ortwo of the occupants of the upper offices put their heads out intothe halls, but the elevators were running as usual, the lightswere burning, and all seemed calm and peaceful. The clerks andstenographers went back to their ledgers and typewriters, thebusiness callers returned to the discussion of their errands, and the ordinary course of business was resumed. 

Arthur Chamberlain was dictating a letter to Estelle Woodward, his sole stenographer. When the crash came he paused, listened, and then resumed his task. 

It was not a difficult one. Talking to Estelle Woodward was atno time an onerous duty, but it must be admitted that ArthurChamberlain found it difficult to keep his conversation strictlyupon his business. 

He was at this time engaged in dictating a letter to his principalcreditors, the Gary & Milton Company, explaining that their demandfor the immediate payment of the installment then due upon his officefurniture was untimely and unjust. A young and budding engineer inNew York never has too much money, and when he is young as ArthurChamberlain was, and as fond of pleasant company, and not toofond of economizing, he is liable to find all demands for paymentuntimely and he usually considers them unjust as well. Arthurfinished dictating the letter and sighed. 

"Miss Woodward, " he said regretfully, "I am afraid I shall nevermake a successful man. "

Miss Woodward shook her head vaguely. She did not seem to take hisremark very seriously, but then, she had learned never to take any ofhis remarks seriously. She had been puzzled at first by his manner oftreating everything with a half-joking pessimism, but now ignored it. 

She was interested in her own problems. She had suddenly decidedthat she was going to be an old maid, and it bothered her. Shehad discovered that she did not like any one well enough to marry, and she was in her twenty-second year. 

She was not a native of New York, and the few young men she had metthere she did not care for. She had regretfully decided she was toofinicky, too fastidious, but could not seem to help herself. Shecould not understand their absorption in boxing and baseball andshe did not like the way they danced. 

She had considered the matter and decided that she would have toreconsider her former opinion of women who did not marry. Heretoforeshe had thought there must be something the matter with them. Now she believed that she would come to their own estate, andprobably for the same reason. She could not fall in love and shewanted to. 

She read all the popular novels and thrilled at the love-scenescontained in them, but when any of the young men she knew becamein the slightest degree sentimental she found herself bored, anddisgusted with herself for being bored. Still, she could not help it, and was struggling to reconcile herself to a life without romance. 

She was far too pretty for that, of course, and Arthur Chamberlainoften longed to tell her how pretty she really was, but herabstracted air held him at arms' length. 

He lay back at ease in his swivel-chair and considered, looking ather with unfeigned pleasure. She did not notice it, for she was somuch absorbed in her own thoughts that she rarely noticed anythinghe said or did when they were not in the line of her duties. 

"Miss Woodward, " he repeated, "I said I think I'll never make asuccessful man. Do you know what that means?"

She looked at him mutely, polite inquiry in her eyes. 

"It means, " he said gravely, "that I'm going broke. Unless somethingturns up in the next three weeks, or a month at the latest, I'llhave to get a job. "

"And that means--" she asked. 

"All this will go to pot, " he explained with a sweeping gesture. "Ithought I'd better tell you as much in advance as I could. "

"You mean you're going to give up your office--and me?" she asked, a little alarmed. 

"Giving up you will be the harder of the two, " he said with a smile, "but that's what it means. You'll have no difficulty finding a newplace, with three weeks in which to look for one, but I'm sorry. "

"I'm sorry, too, Mr. Chamberlain, " she said, her brow puckered. 

She was not really frightened, because she knew she could getanother position, but she became aware of rather more regret thanshe had expected. 

There was silence for a moment. 

"Jove!" said Arthur, suddenly. "It's getting dark, isn't it?"

It was. It was growing dark with unusual rapidity. Arthur went tohis window, and looked out. 

"Funny, " he remarked in a moment or two. "Things don't look justright, down there, somehow. There are very few people about. "

He watched in growing amazement. Lights came on in the streetsbelow, but none of the buildings lighted up. It grew darker anddarker. 

"It shouldn't be dark at this hour!" Arthur exclaimed. 

Estelle went to the window by his side. 

"It looks awfully queer, " she agreed. "It must be an eclipseor something. "

They heard doors open in the hall outside, and Arthur ran out. Thehalls were beginning to fill with excited people. 

"What on earth's the matter?" asked a worried stenographer. 

"Probably an eclipse, " replied Arthur. "Only it's odd we didn'tread about it in the papers. "

He glanced along the corridor. No one else seemed better informedthan he, and he went back into his office. 

Estelle turned from the window as he appeared. 

"The streets are deserted, " she said in a puzzled tone. "What'sthe matter? Did you hear?"

Arthur shook his head and reached for the telephone. 

"I'll call up and find out, " he said confidently. He held thereceiver to his ear. "What the--" he exclaimed. "Listen to this!"

A small-sized roar was coming from the receiver. Arthur hung upand turned a blank face upon Estelle. 

"Look!" she said suddenly, and pointed out of the window. 

All the city was now lighted up, and such of the signs as theycould see were brilliantly illumined. They watched in silence. The streets once more seemed filled with vehicles. They darted along, their headlamps lighting up the roadway brilliantly. There was, however, something strange even about their motion. Arthur andEstelle watched in growing amazement and perplexity. 

"Are--are you seeing what I am seeing?" asked Estellebreathlessly. "_I_ see them _going backward_!"

Arthur watched, and collapsed into a chair. 

"For the love of Mike!" he exclaimed softly. 

II. 

He was roused by another exclamation from Estelle. 

"It's getting light again, " she said. 

Arthur rose and went eagerly to the window. The darkness wasbecoming less intense, but in a way Arthur could hardly credit. 

Far to the west, over beyond the Jersey hills--easily visible fromthe height at which Arthur's office was located--a faint lightappeared in the sky, grew stronger and then took on a reddishtint. That, in turn, grew deeper, and at last the sun appeared, rising unconcernedly _in the west_. 

Arthur gasped. The streets below continued to be thronged withpeople and motor-cars. The sun was traveling with extraordinaryrapidity. It rose overhead, and as if by magic the streetswere thronged with people. Every one seemed to be runningat top-speed. The few teams they saw moved at a breakneckpace--backward! In spite of the suddenly topsyturvy state ofaffairs there seemed to be no accidents. 

Arthur put his hands to his head. 

"Miss Woodward, " he said pathetically, "I'm afraid I've gonecrazy. Do you see the same things I do?"

Estelle nodded. Her eyes wide open. 

"What _is_ the matter?" she asked helplessly. 

She turned again to the window. The square was almost empty oncemore. The motor-cars still traveling about the streets were going soswiftly they were hardly visible. Their speed seemed to increasesteadily. Soon it was almost impossible to distinguish them, and only a grayish blur marked their paths along Fifth Avenue andTwenty-Third Street. 

It grew dusk, and then rapidly dark. As their office was on thewestern side of the building they could not see that the sun hadsunk in the east, but subconsciously they realized that this mustbe the case. 

In silence they watched the panorama grow black except for thestreet-lamps, remain thus for a time, and then suddenly spring intobrilliantly illuminated activity. 

Again this lasted for a little while, and the west once more beganto glow. The sun rose somewhat more hastily from the Jersey hillsand began to soar overhead, but very soon darkness fell again. Withhardly an interval the city became illuminated, and then the westgrew red once more. 

"Apparently, " said Arthur, steadying his voice with a consciouseffort, "there's been a cataclysm somewhere, the direction ofthe earth's rotation has been reversed, and its speed immenselyincreased. It seems to take only about five minutes for a rotationnow. "

As he spoke darkness fell for the third time. Estelle turned fromthe window with a white face. 

"What's going to happen?" she cried. 

"I don't know, " answered Arthur. "The scientist fellows tell usif the earth were to spin fast enough the centrifugal force wouldthrow us all off into space. Perhaps that's what's going to happen. "

Estelle sank into a chair and stared at him, appalled. There was asudden explosion behind them. With a start, Estelle jumped to herfeet and turned. A little gilt clock over her typewriter-desk layin fragments. Arthur hastily glanced at his own watch. 

"Great bombs and little cannon-balls!" he shouted. "Look at this!"

His watch trembled and quivered in his hand. The hands were goingaround so swiftly it was impossible to watch the minute-hand, and the hour-hand traveled like the wind. 

While they looked, it made two complete revolutions. In one ofthem the glory of daylight had waxed, waned, and vanished. In theother, darkness reigned except for the glow from the electriclight overhead. 

There was a sudden tension and catch in the watch. Arthur droppedit instantly. It flew to pieces before it reached the floor. 

"If you've got a watch, " Arthur ordered swiftly, "stop it thisinstant!"

Estelle fumbled at her wrist. Arthur tore the watch from her handand threw open the case. The machinery inside was going so swiftlyit was hardly visible; Relentlessly, Arthur jabbed a penholder inthe works. There was a sharp click, and the watch was still. 

Arthur ran to the window. As he reached it the sun rushed up, daylasted a moment, there was darkness, and then the sun appeared again. 

"Miss Woodward!" Arthur ordered suddenly, "look at the ground!"

Estelle glanced down. The next time the sun flashed into viewshe gasped. 

The ground was white with snow!

"What _has_ happened?" she demanded, terrified. "Oh, what _has_happened?"

Arthur fumbled at his chin awkwardly, watching the astonishingpanorama outside. There was hardly any distinguishing betweenthe times the sun was up and the times it was below now, as thedarkness and light followed each other so swiftly the effect wasthe same as one of the old flickering motion-pictures. 

As Arthur watched, this effect became more pronounced. The tallFifth Avenue Building across the way began to disintegrate. In amoment, it seemed, there was only a skeleton there. Then thatvanished, story by story. A great cavity in the earth appeared, and then another building became visible, a smaller, brown-stone, unimpressive structure. 

With bulging eyes Arthur stared across the city. Except for theflickering, he could see almost clearly now. 

He no longer saw the sun rise and set. There was merely a streak ofunpleasantly brilliant light across the sky. Bit by bit, buildingby building, the city began to disintegrate and become replacedby smaller, dingier buildings. In a little while those began todisappear and leave gaps where they vanished. 

Arthur strained his eyes and looked far down-town. He saw a forestof masts and spars along the waterfront for a moment and whenhe turned his eyes again to the scenery near him it was almostbarren of houses, and what few showed were mean, small residences, apparently set in the midst of farms and plantations. 

Estelle was sobbing. 

"Oh, Mr. Chamberlain, " she cried. "What is the matter? What hashappened?"

Arthur had lost his fear of what their fate would be in hisabsorbing interest in what he saw. He was staring out of the window, wide-eyed, lost in the sight before him. At Estelle's cry, however, he reluctantly left the window and patted her shoulder awkwardly. 

"I don't know how to explain it, " he said uncomfortably, "but it'sobvious that my first surmise was all wrong. The speed of the earth'srotation can't have been increased, because if it had to the extentwe see, we'd have been thrown off into space long ago. But--haveyou read anything about the Fourth Dimension?"

Estelle shook her head hopelessly. 

"Well, then, have you ever read anything by Wells? The 'TimeMachine, ' for instance?"

Again she shook her head. 

"I don't know how I'm going to say it so you'll understand, buttime is just as much a dimension as length and breadth. From what Ican judge, I'd say there has been an earthquake, and the ground hassettled a little with our building on it, only instead of settlingdown toward the center of the earth, or side-wise, it's settled inthis fourth dimension. "

"But what does that mean?" asked Estelle uncomprehendingly. 

"If the earth had settled down, we'd have been lower. If it hadsettled to one side, we'd have been moved one way or another, but asit's settled back in the Fourth Dimension, we're going back in time. "

"Then--"

"We're in a runaway skyscraper, bound for some time back beforethe discovery of America!"

III. 

It was very still in the office. Except for the flickering outsideeverything seemed very much as usual. The electric light burnedsteadily, but Estelle was sobbing with fright and Arthur was tryingvainly to console her. 

"Have I gone crazy?" she demanded between her sobs. 

"Not unless I've gone mad, too, " said Arthur soothingly. Theexcitement had quite a soothing effect upon him. He had ceased tofeel afraid, but was simply waiting to see what had happened. "We'reway back before the founding of New York now, and still goingstrong. "

"Are you sure that's what has happened?"

"If you'll look outside, " he suggested, "you'll see the seasonsfollowing each other in reverse order. One moment the snow coversall the ground, then you catch a glimpse of autumn foliage, thensummer follows, and next spring. "

Estelle glanced out of the window and covered her eyes. 

"Not a house, " she said despairingly. "Not a building. Nothing, nothing, nothing!"

Arthur slipped, his arm about her and patted hers comfortingly. 

"It's all right, " he reassured her. "We'll bring up presently, and there we'll be. There's nothing to be afraid of. "

She rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed hopelessly fora little while longer, but presently quieted. Then, suddenly, realizing that Arthur's arm was about her and that she was cryingon his shoulder, she sprang away, blushing crimson. 

Arthur walked to the window. 

"Look there!" he exclaimed, but it was too late. "I'll swear toit I saw the Half Moon, Hudson's ship, " he declared excitedly. "We're way back now, and don't seem to be slacking up, either. "

Estelle came to the window by his side. The rapidly changing scenebefore her made her gasp. It was no longer possible to distinguishnight from day. 

A wavering streak, moving first to the right and then to the left, showed where the sun flashed across the sky. 

"What makes the sun wabble so?" she asked. 

"Moving north and south of the equator, " Arthur explainedcasually. "When it's farthest south--to the left--there's alwayssnow on the ground. When it's farthest right it's summer. See howgreen it is?"

A few moments' observation corroborated his statement. 

"I'd say, " Arthur remarked reflectively, "that it takes about fifteenseconds for the sun to make the round trip from farthest north tofarthest south. " He felt his pulse. "Do you know the normal rateof the heart-beat? We can judge time that way. A clock will goall to pieces, of course. "

"Why did your watch explode--and the clock?"

"Running forward in time unwinds a clock, doesn't it?" askedArthur. "It follows, of course, that when you move it backward intime it winds up. When you move it too far back, you wind it sotightly that the spring just breaks to pieces. "

He paused a moment, his fingers on his pulse. 

"Yes, it takes about fifteen seconds for all the four seasons topass. That means we're going backward in time about four years aminute. If we go on at this rate another hour we'll be back in thetime of the Northmen, and will be able to tell if they did discoverAmerica, after all. "

"Funny we don't hear any noises, " Estelle observed. She had caughtsome of Arthur's calmness. 

"It passes so quickly that though our ears hear it, we don't separatethe sounds. If you'll notice, you do hear a sort of humming. It's very high-pitched, though. "

Estelle listened, but could hear nothing. 

"No matter, " said Arthur. "It's probably a little higher than yourears will catch. Lots of people can't hear a bat squeak. "

"I never could, " said Estelle. "Out in the country, where I comefrom, other people could hear them, but I couldn't. "

They stood a while in silence, watching. 

"When are we going to stop?" asked Estelle uneasily. "It seems asif we're going to keep on indefinitely. "

"I guess we'll stop all right, " Arthur reassured her. "It's obviousthat whatever it was, only affected our own building, or we'd seesome other one with us. It looks like a fault or a flaw in the rockthe building rests on. And that can only give so far. "

Estelle was silent for a moment. 

"Oh, I can't be sane!" she burst out semihysterically. "This can'tbe happening!"

"You aren't crazy, " said Arthur sharply. "You're sane as I am. Justsomething queer is happening. Buck up. Say your multiplicationtables. Say anything you know. Say something sensible and you'llknow you're all right. But don't get frightened now. There'll beplenty to get frightened about later. "

The grimness in his tone alarmed Estelle. 

"What are you afraid of?" she asked quickly. 

"Time enough to worry when it happens, " Arthur retorted briefly. 

"You--you aren't afraid we'll go back before the beginning of theworld, are you?" asked Estelle in sudden access of fright. 

Arthur shook his head. 

"Tell me, " said Estelle more quietly, getting a grip on herself. "Iwon't mind. But please tell me. "

Arthur glanced at her. Her face was pale, but there was moreresolution in it than he had expected to find. 

"I'll tell you, then, " he said reluctantly. "We're going back alittle faster than we were, and the flaw seems to be a deeper onethan I thought. At the roughest kind of an estimate, we're all ofa thousand years before the discovery of America now, and I thinknearer three or four. And we're gaining speed all the time. So, though I am as sure as I can be sure of anything that we'll stopthis cave-in eventually, I don't know where. It's like a crevassein the earth opened by an earthquake which may be only a few feetdeep, or it may be hundreds of yards, or even a mile or two. Westarted off smoothly. We're going at a terrific rate. _What willhappen when we stop?_"

Estelle caught her breath. 

"What?" she asked quietly. 

"I don't know, " said Arthur in an irritated tone, to cover hisapprehension. "How could I know?"

Estelle turned from him to the window again. 

"Look!" she said, pointing. 

The flickering had begun again. While they stared, hope springingup once more in their hearts, it became more pronounced. Soon theycould distinctly see the difference between day and night. 

They were slowing up! The white snow on the ground remained therefor an appreciable time, autumn lasted quite a while. They couldcatch the flashes of the sun as it made its revolutions now, instead of its seeming like a ribbon of fire. At last day lastedall of fifteen or twenty minutes. 

It grew longer and longer. Then half an hour, then an hour. Thesun wavered in midheaven and was still. 

Far below them, the watchers in the tower of the skyscraper saw treesswaying and bending in the wind. Though there was not a house or ahabitation to be seen and a dense forest covered all of ManhattanIsland, such of the world as they could see looked normal. Whereveror rather in whatever epoch of time they were, they had arrived. 

IV. 

Arthur caught at Estelle's arm and the two made a dash for theelevators. Fortunately one was standing still, the door open, ontheir floor. The elevator-boy had deserted his post and was lookingwith all the rest of the occupants of the building at the strangelandscape that surrounded them. 

No sooner had the pair reached the car, however, than the boy camehurrying along the corridor, three or four other people followinghim also at a run. Without a word the boy rushed inside, the otherscrowded after him, and the car shot downward, all of the newcomerspanting from their sprint. 

Theirs was the first car to reach the bottom. They rushed out andto the western door. 

Here, where they had been accustomed to see Madison Square spreadout before them, a clearing of perhaps half an acre in extent showeditself. Where their eyes instinctively looked for the dark bronzefountain, near which soap-box orators aforetime held sway, they sawa tent, a wigwam of hides and bark gaily painted. And before thewigwam were two or three brown-skinned Indians, utterly petrifiedwith astonishment. 

Behind the first wigwam were others, painted like the first withdaubs of brightly colored clay. From them, too, Indians issued, and stared in incredulous amazement, their eyes growing widerand wider. When the group of white people confronted the Indiansthere was a moment's deathlike silence. Then, with a wild yell, the redskins broke and ran, not stopping to gather together theirbelongings, nor pausing for even a second glance at the weirdstrangers who invaded their domain. 

Arthur took two or three deep breaths of the fresh air andfound himself even then comparing its quality with that of thecity. Estelle stared about her with unbelieving eyes. She turnedand saw the great bulk of the office building behind her, thenfaced this small clearing with a virgin forest on its farther side. 

She found herself trembling from some undefined cause. Arthur glancedat her. He saw the trembling and knew she would have a fit of nervesin a moment if something did not come up demanding instant attention. 

"We'd better take a look at this village, " he said in an off-handvoice. "We can probably find out how long ago it is from the weaponsand so on. "

He grasped her arm firmly and led her in the direction of thetents. The other people, left behind, displayed their emotions indifferent ways. Two or three of them--women--sat frankly down onthe steps and indulged in tears of bewilderment, fright and reliefin a peculiar combination defying analysis. Two or three of themen swore, in shaken voices. 

Meantime, the elevators inside the building were rushing andclanging, and the hall filled with a white-faced mob, desperatelyanxious to find out what had happened and why. The people pouredout of the door and stared about blankly. There was a peculiarexpression of doubt on every one of their faces. Each one was askinghimself if he were awake, and having proved that by pinches, openlyadministered, the next query was whether they had gone mad. 

Arthur led Estelle cautiously among the tents. 

The village contained about a dozen wigwams. Most of them were madeof strips of birch-bark, cleverly overlapping each other, the seamscemented with gum. All had hide flaps for doors, and one or two werebuilt almost entirely of hides, sewed together with strips of sinew. 

Arthur made only a cursory examination of the village. His principalmotive in taking Estelle there was to give her some mental occupationto ward off the reaction from the excitement of the cataclysm. 

He looked into one or two of the tents and found merely couches ofhides, with minor domestic utensils scattered about. He broughtfrom one tent a bow and quiver of arrows. The workmanship was good, but very evidently the maker had no knowledge of metal tools. 

Arthur's acquaintance with archeological subjects was very slight, but he observed that the arrow-heads were chipped, and not rubbedsmooth. They were attached to the shafts with strips of gut ortendon. 

Arthur was still pursuing his investigation when a sob from Estellemade him stop and look at her. 

"Oh, what are we going to do?" she asked tearfully. "What _are_we going to do? Where are we?"

"You mean, _when_ are we, " Arthur corrected with a grim smile. "Idon't know. Way back before the discovery of America, though. Youcan see in everything in the village that there isn't a traceof European civilization. I suspect that we are several thousandyears back. I can't tell, of course, but this pottery makes methink so. See this bowl?"

He pointed to a bowl of red clay lying on the ground before one ofthe wigwams. 

"If you'll look, you'll see that it isn't really pottery at all. It'sa basket that was woven of reeds and then smeared with clay tomake it fire-resisting. The people who made that didn't know aboutbaking clay to make it stay put. When America was discovered nearlyall the tribes knew something about pottery. "

"But what are we going to do?" Estelle tearfully insisted. 

"We're going to muddle along as well as we can, " answered Arthurcheerfully, "until we can get back to where we started from. Maybethe people back in the twentieth century can send a relief partyafter us. When the skyscraper vanished it must have left a holeof some sort, and it may be possible for them to follow us down. "

"If that's so, " said Estelle quickly, "why can't we climb up itwithout waiting for them to come after us?"

Arthur scratched his head. He looked across the clearing at theskyscraper. It seemed to rest very solidly on the ground. He lookedup. The sky seemed normal. 

"To tell the truth, " he admitted, "there doesn't seem to be anyhole. I said that more to cheer you up than anything else. "

Estelle clenched her hands tightly and took a grip on herself. 

"Just tell me the truth, " she said quietly. "I was rather foolish, but tell me what you honestly think. "

Arthur eyed her keenly. 

"In that case, " he said reluctantly, "I'll admit we're in a prettybad fix. I don't know what has happened, how it happened, or anythingabout it. I'm just going to keep on going until I see a way clearto get out of this mess. There are two thousand of us people, more or less, and among all of us we must be able to find a way out. "

Estelle had turned very pale. 

"We're in no great danger from Indians, " went on Arthur thoughtfully, "or from anything else that I know of--except one thing. "

"What is that?" asked Estelle quickly. 

Arthur shook his head and led her back toward the skyscraper, whichwas now thronged with the people from all the floors who had comedown to the ground and were standing excitedly about the concourseasking each other what had happened. 

Arthur led Estelle to one of the corners. 

"Wait for me here, " he ordered. "I'm going to talk to this crowd. "

He pushed his way through until he could reach the confectionery andnews-stand in the main hallway. Here he climbed up on the counterand shouted:

"People, listen to me! I'm going to tell you what's happened!"

In an instant there was dead silence. He found himself the centerof a sea of white faces, every one contorted with fear and anxiety. 

"To begin with, " he said confidently, "there's nothing to be afraidof. We're going to get back to where we started from! I don'tknow how, yet, but we'll do it. Don't get frightened. Now I'lltell you what's happened. "

He rapidly sketched out for them, in words as simple as he could makethem, his theory that a flaw in the rock on which the foundationsrested had developed and let the skyscraper sink, not downward, but into the Fourth Dimension. 

"I'm an engineer, " he finished. "What nature can do, we canimitate. Nature let us into this hole. We'll climb out. In themean time, matters are serious. We needn't be afraid of not gettingback. We'll do that. What we've got to fight is--starvation!"

V. 

"We've got to fight starvation, and we've got to beat it, " Arthurcontinued doggedly. "I'm telling you this right at the outset, because I want you to begin right at the beginning and pitch in tohelp. We have very little food and a lot of us to eat it. First, I want some volunteers to help with rationing. Next, I want everyounce of food, in this place put under guard where it can be servedto those who need it most. Who will help out with this?"

The swift succession of shocks had paralyzed the faculties of mostof the people there, but half a dozen moved forward. Among them wasa single gray-haired man with an air of accustomed authority. Arthurrecognized him as the president of the bank on the ground floor. 

"I don't know who you are or if you're right in saying what hashappened, " said the gray-haired man. "But I see something's got tobe done, and--well, for the time being I'll take your word for whatthat is. Later on we'll thrash this matter out. "

Arthur nodded. He bent over and spoke in a low voice to thegray-haired man, who moved away. 

"Grayson, Walters, Terhune, Simpson, and Forsythe come here, "the gray-haired man called at a doorway. 

A number of men began to press dazedly toward him. Arthur resumedhis harangue. 

"You people--those of you who aren't too dazed to think--areremembering there's a restaurant in the building and no need tostarve. You're wrong. There are nearly two thousand of us here. Thatmeans six thousand meals a day. We've got to have nearly ten tonsof food a day, and we've got to have it at once. "

"Hunt?" some one suggested. 

"I saw Indians, " some one else shouted. "Can we trade with them?"

"We can hunt and we can trade with the Indians, " Arthur admitted, "but we need food by the ton--by the ton, people! The Indians don'tstore up supplies, and, besides, they're much too scattered to havea surplus for us. But we've got to have food. Now, how many of youknow anything about hunting, fishing, trapping, or any possibleway of getting food?"

There were a few hands raised--pitifully few. Arthur saw Estelle'shand up. 

"Very well, " he said. "Those of you who raised your hands thencome with me up on the second floor and we'll talk it over. The rest of you try to conquer your fright, and don't go outsidefor a while. We've got some things to attend to before it willbe quite safe for you to venture out. And keep away from therestaurant. There are armed guards over that food. Before we passit out indiscriminately, we'll see to it there's more for to-morrowand the next day. "

He stepped down from the counter and moved toward the stairway. Itwas not worth while to use the elevator for the ride of only onefloor. Estelle managed to join him, and they mounted the stepstogether. 

"Do you think we'll pull through all right?" she asked quietly. 

"We've got to!" Arthur told her, setting his chin firmly. "We'vesimply got to. "

The gray-haired president of the bank was waiting for them at thetop of the stairs. 

"My name is Van Deventer, " he said, shaking hands with Arthur, who gave his own name. 

"Where shall our emergency council sit?" he asked. 

"The bank has a board room right over the safety vault. I dare say wecan accommodate everybody there--everybody in the council, anyway. "

Arthur followed into the board-room, and the others trooped inafter him. 

"I'm just assuming temporary leadership, " Arthur explained, "becauseit's imperative some things be done at once. Later on we can talkabout electing officials to direct our activities. Right now weneed food. How many of you can shoot?"

About a quarter of the hands were raised. Estelle's was amongthe number. 

"And how many are fishermen?"

A few more went up. 

"What do the rest of you do?"

There was a chorus of "gardener, " "I have a garden in my yard, ""I grow peaches in New Jersey, " and three men confessed that theyraised chickens as a hobby. 

"We'll want you gardeners in a little while. Don't go yet. But themost important are huntsmen and fishermen. Have any of you weaponsin your offices?"

A number had revolvers, but only one man had a shotgun and shells. 

"I was going on my vacation this afternoon straight from the office, "he explained, "and have all my vacation tackle. "

"Good man!" Arthur exclaimed. "You'll go after the heavy game. "

"With a shotgun?" the sportsman asked, aghast. 

"If you get close to them a shotgun will do as well as anything, and we can't waste a shell on every bird or rabbit. Those shells ofyours are precious. You other fellows will have to turn fishermenfor a while. Your pistols are no good for hunting. "

"The watchmen at the bank have riot guns, " said Van Deventer, "and there are one or two repeating-rifles there. I don't knowabout ammunition. "

"Good! I don't mean about the ammunition, but about the guns. We'llhope for the ammunition. You fishermen get to work to improvisetackle out of anything you can get hold of. Will you do that?"

A series of nods answered his question. 

"Now for the gardeners. You people will have to roam through thewoods in company with the hunters and locate anything in the way ofedibles that grows. Do all of you know what wild plants look like?I mean wild fruits and vegetables that are good to eat. "

A few of them nodded, but the majority looked dubious. The consensusof opinion seemed to be that they would try. Arthur seemed a littlediscouraged. 

"I guess you're the man to tell about the restaurant, " Van Deventersaid quietly. "And as this is the food commission, or something ofthat sort, everybody here will be better for hearing it. Anyway, everybody will have to know it before night. I took over therestaurant as you suggested, and posted some of the men from thebank that I knew I could trust about the doors. But there washardly any use in doing it. "

"The restaurant stocks up in the afternoon, as most of itsbusiness is in the morning and at noon. It only carries a day'sstock of foodstuffs, and the--the cataclysm, or whatever it was, came at three o'clock. There is practically nothing in the place. We couldn't make sandwiches for half the women that are caughtwith us, let alone the men. Everybody will go hungry to-night. There will be no breakfast to-morrow, nor anything to eat until weeither make arrangements with the Indians for some supplies or elseget food for ourselves. "

Arthur leaned his jaw on his hand and considered. A slow flushcrept over his cheek. He was getting his fighting blood up. 

At school, when he began to flush slowly his schoolmates had knownthe symptom and avoided his wrath. Now he was growing angry withmere circumstances, but it would be none the less unfortunate forthose circumstances. 

"Well, " he said at last deliberately, "we've got to-- What's that?"

There was a great creaking and groaning. Suddenly a sort ofvibration was felt under foot. The floor began to take on a slightslant. 

"Great Heaven!" some one cried. "The building's turning over andwe'll be buried in the ruins!"

The tilt of the floor became more pronounced. An empty chair slidto one end of the room. There was a crash. 

VI. 

Arthur woke to find some one tugging at his shoulders, trying to draghim from beneath the heavy table, which had wedged itself acrosshis feet and pinned him fast, while a flying chair had struck himon the head and knocked him unconscious. 

"Oh, come and help, " Estelle's voice was callingdeliberately. "Somebody come and help! He's caught in here!"

She was sobbing in a combination of panic and some unknown emotion. 

"Help me, please!" she gasped, then her voice broke despondently, but she never ceased to tug ineffectually at Chamberlain, tryingto drag him out of the mass of wreckage. 

Arthur moved a little, dazedly. 

"Are you alive?" she called anxiously. "Are you alive? Hurry, oh, hurry and wriggle out. The building's falling to pieces!"

"I'm all right, " Arthur said weakly. "You get out before it allcomes down. "

"I won't leave you, " she declared "Where are you caught? Are youbadly hurt? Hurry, please hurry!"

Arthur stirred, but could not loosen his feet. He half-rolled over, and the table moved as if it had been precariously balanced, and slidheavily to one side. With Estelle still tugging at him, he managedto get to his feet on the slanting floor and stared about him. 

Arthur continued to stare about. 

"No danger, " he said weakly. "Just the floor of the one room gaveway. The aftermath of the rock-flaw. "

He made his way across the splintered flooring and piled-up chairs. 

"We're on top of the safe-deposit vault, " he said. "That's whywe didn't fall all the way to the floor below. I wonder how we'regoing to get down?"

Estelle followed him, still frightened for fear of the buildingfalling upon them. Some of the long floor-boards stretched overthe edge of the vault and rested on a tall, bronze grating thatprotected the approach to the massive strong-box. Arthur testedthem with his foot. 

"They seem to be pretty solid, " he said tentatively. 

His strength was coming back to him every moment. He had been nomore than stunned. He walked out on the planking to the bronzegrating and turned. 

"If you don't get dizzy, you might come on, " he said. "We can swingdown the grille here to the floor. "

Estelle followed gingerly and in a moment they were safely below. Thecorridor was quite empty. 

"When the crash came, " Estelle explained, her voice shaking withthe reaction from her fear of a moment ago, "every one thought thebuilding was coming to pieces, and ran out. I'm afraid they've allrun away. "

"They'll be back in a little while, " Arthur said quietly. 

They went along the big marble corridor to the same western door, out of which they had first gone to see the Indian village. Asthey emerged into the sunlight they met a few of the people whohad already recovered from their panic and were returning. 

A crowd of respectable size gathered in a few moments, all stillpale and shaken, but coming back to the building which was theirrefuge. Arthur leaned wearily against the cold stone. It seemed tovibrate under his touch. He turned quickly to Estelle. 

"Feel this, " he exclaimed. 

She did so. 

"I've been wondering what that rumble was, " she said. "I've beenhearing it ever since we landed here, but didn't understand whereit came from. "

"You hear a rumble?" Arthur asked, puzzled. "I can't hear anything. "

"It isn't as loud as it was, but I hear it, " Estelle insisted. "It'svery deep, like the lowest possible bass note of an organ. "

"You couldn't hear the shrill whistle when we were coming here, "Arthur exclaimed suddenly, "and you can't hear the squeak of abat. Of course your ears are pitched lower than usual, and you canhear sounds that are lower than I can hear. Listen carefully. Doesit sound in the least like a liquid rushing through somewhere?"

"Y-yes, " said Estelle hesitatingly. "Somehow, I don't quiteunderstand how, it gives me the impression of a tidal flow orsomething of that sort. "

Arthur rushed indoors. When Estelle followed him she found himexcitedly examining the marble floor about the base of the vault. 

"It's cracked, " he said excitedly. "It's cracked! The vault roseall of an inch!"

Estelle looked and saw the cracks. 

"What does that mean?"

"It means we're going to get back where we belong, " Arthur criedjubilantly. "It means I'm on the track of the whole trouble. It means everything's going to be all right. "

He prowled about the vault exultantly, noting exactly how the cracksin the flooring ran and seeing in each a corroboration of his theory. 

"I'll have to make some inspections in the cellar, " he went onhappily, "but I'm nearly sure I'm on the right track and can figureout a corrective. "

"How soon can we hope to start back?" asked Estelle eagerly. 

Arthur hesitated, then a great deal of the excitement ebbed fromhis face, leaving it rather worried and stern. 

"It may be a month, or two months, or a year, " he answeredgravely. "I don't know. If the first thing I try will work, itwon't be long. If we have to experiment, I daren't guess how longwe may be. But"--his chin set firmly--"we're going to get back. "

Estelle looked at him speculatively. Her own expression grew alittle worried, too. 

"But in a month, " she said dubiously, "we--there is hardly any hopeof our finding food for two thousand people for a month, is there?"

"We've got to, " Arthur declared. "We can't hope to get that muchfood from the Indians. It will be days before they'll dare to comeback to their village, if they ever come. It will be weeks beforewe can hope to have them earnestly at work to feed us, and that'sleaving aside the question of how we'll communicate with them, andhow we'll manage to trade with them. Frankly, I think everybody isgoing to have to draw his belt tight before we get through--if wedo. Some of us will get along, anyway. "

Estelle's eyes opened wide as the meaning of his last sentencepenetrated her mind. 

"You mean--that all of us won't--"

"I'm going to take care of you, " Arthur said gravely, "but thereare liable to be lively doings around here when people begin torealize they're really in a tight fix for food. I'm going to getVan Deventer to help me organize a police band to enforce martiallaw. We mustn't have any disorder, that's certain, and I don'ttrust a city-bred man in a pinch unless I know him. "

He stooped and picked up a revolver from the floor, left thereby one of the bank watchmen when he fled, in the belief that thebuilding was falling. 

VII. 

Arthur stood at the window of his office and stared out toward thewest. The sun was setting, but upon what a scene!

Where, from this same window Arthur had seen the sun setting behindthe Jersey hills, all edged with the angular roofs of factories, with their chimneys emitting columns of smoke, he now saw the samesun sinking redly behind a mass of luxuriant foliage. And wherehe was accustomed to look upon the tops of high buildings--eachentitled to the name of "skyscraper"--he now saw miles and milesof waving green branches. 

The wide Hudson flowed on placidly, all unruffled by the arrival ofthis strange monument upon its shores--the same Hudson Arthur knewas a busy thoroughfare of puffing steamers and chugging launches. Two or three small streams wandered unconcernedly across the landthat Arthur had known as the most closely built-up territory onearth. And far, far below him--Arthur had to lean well out of hiswindow to see it--stood a collection of tiny wigwams. Those smallbark structures represented the original metropolis of New York. 

His telephone rang. Van Deventer was on the wire. The exchange inthe building was still working. Van Deventer wanted Arthur to comedown to his private office. There were still a great many things tobe settled--the arrangements for commandeering offices for sleepingquarters for the women, and numberless other details. The men whoseemed to have best kept their heads were gathering there to settleupon a course of action. 

Arthur glanced out of the window again before going to theelevator. He saw a curiously compact dark cloud moving swiftlyacross the sky to the west. 

"Miss Woodward, " he said sharply, "What is that?"

Estelle came to the window and looked. 

"They are birds, " she told him. "Birds flying in a group. I'veoften seen them in the country, though never as many as that. "

"How do you catch birds?" Arthur asked her. "I know about shootingthem, and so on, but we haven't guns enough to count. Could wecatch them in traps, do you think?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, " said Estelle thoughtfully. "But it wouldbe hard to catch many. "

"Come down-stairs, " directed Arthur. "You know as much as any ofthe men here, and more than most, apparently. We're going to makeyou show us how to catch things. "

Estelle smiled, a trifle wanly. Arthur led the way to theelevator. In the car he noticed that she looked distressed. 

"What's the matter?" he asked. "You aren't really frightened, are you?"

"No, " she answered shakily, "but--I'm rather upset about thisthing. It's so--so terrible, somehow, to be back here, thousandsof miles, or years, away from all one's friends and everybody. "

"Please"--Arthur smiled encouragingly at her--"please count me yourfriend, won't you?"

She nodded, but blinked back some tears. Arthur would have tried tohearten her further, but the elevator stopped at their floor. Theywalked into the room where the meeting of cool heads was to takeplace. 

No more than a dozen men were in there talking earnestly butdispiritedly. When Arthur and Estelle entered Van Deventer cameover to greet them. 

"We've got to do something, " he said in a low voice. "A wave ofhomesickness has swept over the whole place. Look at those men. Everyone is thinking about his family and contrasting his cozy firesidewith all that wilderness outside. "

"You don't seem to be worried, " Arthur observed with a smile. 

Van Deventer's eyes twinkled. 

"I'm a bachelor, " he said cheerfully, "and I live in a hotel. I'vebeen longing for a chance to see some real excitement for thirtyyears. Business has kept me from it up to now, but I'm enjoyingmyself hugely. "

Estelle looked at the group of dispirited men. 

"We'll simply have to do something, " she said with a shaky smile. "Ifeel just as they do. This morning I hated the thought of havingto go back to my boarding-house to-night, but right now I feel asif the odor of cabbage in the hallway would seem like heaven. "

Arthur led the way to the flat-topped desk in the middle of the room. 

"Let's settle a few of the more important matters, " he said ina businesslike tone. "None of us has any authority to act forthe rest of the people in the tower, but so many of us are in astate of blue funk that those who are here must have charge for awhile. Anybody any suggestions?"

"Housing, " answered Van Deventer promptly. "I suggest that we drafta gang of men to haul all the upholstered settees and rugs thatare to be found to one floor, for the women to sleep on. "

"M--m. Yes. That's a good idea. Anybody a better plan?"

No one spoke. They all still looked much too homesick to take anygreat interest in anything, but they began to listen more or lesshalf-heartedly. 

"I've been thinking about coal, " said Arthur. "There's undoubtedlya supply in the basement, but I wonder if it wouldn't be well tocut the lights off most of the floors, only lighting up the oneswe're using. "

"That might be a good idea later, " Estelle said quietly, "but lightis cheering, somehow, and every one feels so blue that I wouldn'tdo it to-night. To-morrow they'll begin to get up their resolutionagain, and you can ask them to do things. "

"If we're going to starve to death, " one of the other men saidgloomily, "we might as well have plenty of light to do it by. "

"We aren't going to starve to death, " retorted Arthur sharply. "Justbefore I came down I saw a great cloud of birds, greater than Ihad ever seen before. When we get at those birds--"

"When, " echoed the gloomy one. 

"They were pigeons, " Estelle explained. "They shouldn't be hardto snare or trap. "

"I usually have my dinner before now, " the gloomy one protested, "and I'm told I won't get anything to-night. "

The other men began to straighten their shoulders. The peevishnessof one of their number seemed to bring out their latent courage. 

"Well, we've got to stand it for the present, " one of them saidalmost philosophically. "What I'm most anxious about is gettingback. Have we any chance?"

Arthur nodded emphatically. 

"I think so. I have a sort of idea as to the cause of our sinkinginto the Fourth Dimension, and when that is verified, a correctivecan be looked for and applied. "

"How long will that take?"

"Can't say, " Arthur replied frankly. "I don't know what tools, what materials, or what workmen we have, and what's rather more tothe point, I don't even know what work will have to be done. Thepressing problem is food. "

"Oh, bother the food, " some one protested impatiently. "I don'tcare about myself. I can go hungry to-night. I want to get back tomy family. "

"That's all that really matters, " a chorus of voices echoed. 

"We'd better not bother about anything else unless we find wecan't get back. Concentrate on getting back, " one man stated moreexplicitly. 

"Look here, " said Arthur incisively. "You've a family, and so have agreat many of the others in the tower, but your family and everybodyelse's family has got to wait. As an inside limit, we can hope tobegin to work on the problem of getting back when we're sure there'snothing else going to happen. I tell you quite honestly that I thinkI know what is the direct cause of this catastrophe. And I'll tellyou even more honestly that I think I'm the only man among us whocan put this tower back where it started from. And I'll tell youmost honestly of all that any attempt to meddle at this present timewith the forces that let us down here will result in a catastropheconsiderably greater than the one that happened to-day. "

"Well, if you're sure--" some one began reluctantly. 

"I am so sure that I'm going to keep to myself the knowledge of whatwill start those forces to work again, " Arthur said quietly. "Idon't want any impatient meddling. If we start them too soon Godonly knows what will happen. "

VIII. 

Van Deventer was eying Arthur Chamberlain keenly. 

"It isn't a question of your wanting pay in exchange for yourservices in putting us back, is it?" he asked coolly. 

Arthur turned and faced him. His face began to flush slowly. VanDeventer put up one hand. 

"I beg your pardon. I see. "

"We aren't settling the things we came here for, " Estelleinterrupted. 

She had noted the threat of friction and hastened to put in adiversion. Arthur relaxed. 

"I think that as a beginning, " he suggested, "we'd better getsleeping arrangements completed. We can get everybody togethersomewhere, I dare say, and then secure volunteers for the work. "

"Right. " Van Deventer was anxious to make amends for his blunderof a moment before. "Shall I send the bank watchmen to go on eachfloor in turn and ask everybody to come down-stairs?"

"You might start them, " Arthur said. "It will take a long timefor every one to assemble. "

Van Deventer spoke into the telephone on his desk. In a moment hehung up the receiver. 

"They're on their way, " he said. 

Arthur was frowning to himself and scribbling in a note-book. 

"Of course, " he announced abstractedly, "the pressing problemis food. We've quite a number of fishermen, and a few hunters. We've got to have a lot of food at once, and everything considered, I think we'd better count on the fishermen. At sunrise we'd betterhave some people begin to dig bait and wake our anglers. They'dbetter make their tackle to-night, don't you think?"

There was a general nod. 

"We'll announce that, then. The fishermen will go to the river underguard of the men we have who can shoot. I think what Indians thereare will be much too frightened to try to ambush any of us, but we'dbetter be on the safe side. They'll keep together and fish at nearlythe same spot, with our hunters patrolling the woods behind them, taking pot-shots at game, if they see any. The fishermen should makemore or less of a success, I think. The Indians weren't extensivefishers that I ever heard of, and the river ought fairly to swarmwith fish. "

He closed his note-book. 

"How many weapons can we count on altogether?" Arthur asked VanDeventer. 

"In the bank, about a dozen riot-guns and half a dozen repeatingrifles. Elsewhere I don't know. Forty or fifty men said they hadrevolvers, though. "

"We'll give revolvers to the men who go with the fishermen. TheIndians haven't heard firearms and will run at the report, even ifthey dare attack our men. "

"We can send out the gun-armed men as hunters, " some one suggested, "and send gardeners with them to look for vegetables and suchthings. "

"We'll have to take a sort of census, really, " Arthur suggested, "finding what every one can do and getting him to do it. "

"I never planned anything like this before, " Van Deventer remarked, "and I never thought I should, but this is much more fun thanrunning a bank. "

Arthur smiled. 

"Let's go and have our meeting, " he said cheerfully. 

But the meeting was a gloomy and despairing affair. Nearly everyone had watched the sun set upon a strange, wild landscape. Hardlyan individual among the whole two thousand of them had ever beenout of sight of a house before in his or her life. To look outat a vast, untouched wilderness where hitherto they had seen themost highly civilized city on the globe would have been startlingand depressing enough in itself, but to know that they were alonein a whole continent of savages and that there was not, indeed, in all the world a single community of people they could greet asbrothers was terrifying. 

Few of them thought so far, but there was actually--if Arthur'sestimate of several thousand years' drop back through time wascorrect--there was actually no other group of English-speaking peoplein the world. The English language was yet to be invented. EvenRome, the synonym for antiquity of culture, might still be anobscure village inhabited by a band of tatterdemalions under theleadership of an upstart Romulus. 

Soft in body as these people were, city-bred and unaccustomed toface other than the most conventionalized emergencies of life, theywere terrified. Hardly one of them had even gone without a meal inall his life. To have the prospect of having to earn their food, not by the manipulation of figures in a book, or by expert jugglingof profits and prices, but by literal wresting of that food from itssource in the earth or stream was a really terrifying thing for them. 

In addition, every one of them was bound to the life of moderntimes by a hundred ties. Many of them had families, a thousand yearsaway. All had interests, engrossing interests, in modern New York. 

One young man felt an anxiety that was really ludicrous becausehe had promised to take his sweetheart to the theater that night, and if he did not come she would be very angry. Another was to havebeen married in a week. Some of the people were, like Van Deventerand Arthur, so situated that they could view the episode as anadventure, or, like Estelle, who had no immediate fear becauseall her family was provided for without her help and lived farfrom New York, so they would not learn of the catastrophe forsome time. Many, however, felt instant and pressing fear for thefamilies whose expenses ran always so close to their incomes thatthe disappearance of the breadwinner for a week would mean actualwant or debt. There are very many such families in New York. 

The people, therefore, that gathered hopelessly at the call of VanDeventer's watchmen were dazed and spiritless. Their excitementafter Arthur's first attempt to explain the situation to them hadevaporated. They were no longer keyed up to a high pitch by thestartling thing that had happened to them. 

Nevertheless, although only half comprehending what had actuallyoccurred, they began to realize what that occurrence meant. No matter where they might go over the whole face of the globe, they would always be aliens and strangers. If they had been carriedaway to some unknown shore, some wilderness far from their ownland, they might have thought of building ships to return to theirhomes. They had seen New York vanish before their eyes, however. They had seen their civilization disappear while they watched. 

They were in a barbarous world. There was not, for example, a single sulfur match on the whole earth except those in therunaway skyscraper. 

IX. 

Arthur and Van Deventer, in turn with the others of the coolerheads, thundered at the apathetic people, trying to waken themto the necessity for work. They showered promises of inevitablereturn to modern times, they pledged their honor to the belief thata way would ultimately be found by which they would all yet findthemselves safely back home again. 

The people, however, had seen New York disintegrate, and Arthur'sexplanation sounded like some wild dream of an imaginativenovelist. Not one person in all the gathering could actually realizethat his home might yet be waiting for him, though at the same timehe felt a pathetic anxiety for the welfare of its inmates. 

Every one was in a turmoil of contradictory beliefs. On the one handthey knew that all of New York could not be actually destroyed andreplaced by a splendid forest in the space of a few hours, so theaccident or catastrophe must have occurred to those in the tower, and on the other hand, they had seen all of New York vanish bybits and fragments, to be replaced by a smaller and dingier town, had beheld that replaced in turn, and at last had landed in themidst of this forest. 

Every one, too, began to feel am unusual and uncomfortable sensationof hunger. It was a mild discomfort as yet, but few of them hadexperienced it before without an immediate prospect of assuaging thecraving, and the knowledge that there was no food to be had somehowincreased the desire for it. They were really in a pitiful state. 

Van Deventer spoke encouragingly, and then asked for volunteers forimmediate work. There was hardly any response. Every one seemedsunk in despondency. Arthur then began to talk straight from theshoulder and succeeded in rousing them a little, but every one wasstill rather too frightened to realize that work could help at all. 

In desperation the dozen or so men who had gathered in Van Deventer'soffice went about among the gathering and simply selected men atrandom, ordering them to follow and begin work. This began to awakenthe crowd, but they wakened to fear rather than resolution. Theywere city-bred, and unaccustomed to face the unusual or the alarming. 

Arthur noted the new restlessness, but attributed it to growinguneasiness rather than selfish panic. He was rather pleased that theywere outgrowing their apathy. When the meeting had come to an end hefelt satisfied that by morning the latent resolution among the peoplewould have crystallized and they would be ready to work earnestlyand intelligently on whatever tasks they were directed to undertake. 

He returned to the ground floor of the building feeling much morehopeful than before. Two thousand people all earnestly workingfor one end are hard to down even when faced with such a task asconfronted the inhabitants of the runaway skyscraper. Even if theywere never able to return to modern times they would still be ableto form a community that might do much to hasten the developmentof civilization in other parts of the world. 

His hope received a rude shock when he reached the great hallway onthe lower floor. There was a fruit and confectionery stand here, andas Arthur arrived at the spot, he saw a surging mass of men about it. The keeper of the stand looked frightened, but was selling off hisstock as fast as he could make change. Arthur forced his way tothe counter. 

"Here, " he said sharply to the keeper of the stand, "stop sellingthis stuff. It's got to be held until we can dole it out whereit's needed. "

"I--I can't help myself, " the keeper said. "They're takin'it anyway. "

"Get back there, " Arthur cried to the crowd. "Do you call thisdecent, trying to get more than your share of this stuff? You'll getyour portion to-morrow. It is going to be divided up. "

"Go to hell!" some one panted. "You c'n starve if you want to, but I'm goin' to look out f'r myself. "

The men were not really starving, but had been put into a panic bythe plain speeches of Arthur and his helpers, and were seizing whatedibles they could lay hands upon in preparation for the hungerthey had been warned to expect. 

Arthur pushed against the mob, trying to thrust them away from thecounter, but his very effort intensified their panic. There was aquick surge and a crash. The glass front of the showcase broke in. 

In a flash of rage Arthur struck out viciously. The crowd paidnot the slightest attention to him, however. Every man was toopanic-stricken, and too intent on getting some of this food beforeit was all gone to bother with him. 

Arthur was simply crushed back by the bodies of the forty or fiftymen. In a moment he found himself alone amid the wreckage of thestand, with the keeper wringing his hands over the remnants ofhis goods. 

Van Deventer ran down the stairs. 

"What's the matter?" he demanded as he saw Arthur nursing a bleedinghand cut on the broken glass of the showcase. 

"Bolsheviki!" answered Arthur with a grim smile. "We woke up someof the crowd too successfully. They got panic-stricken and startedto buy out this stuff here. I tried to stop them, and you see whathappened. We'd better look to the restaurant, though I doubt ifthey'll try anything else just now. "

He followed Van Deventer up to the restaurant floor. There werepicked men before the door, but just as Arthur and the bank presidentappeared two or three white-faced men went up to the guards andstarted low-voiced conversations. 

Arthur reached the spot in time to forestall bribery. 

Arthur collared one man, Van Deventer another, and in a moment thetwo were sent reeling down the hallway. 

"Some fools have got panic-stricken!" Van Deventer explained tothe men before the doors in a casual voice, though he was breathingheavily from the unaccustomed exertion. "They've smashed up thefruit-stand on the ground floor and stolen the contents. It's nothingbut blue funk! Only, if any of them start to gather around here, hit them first and talk it over afterward. You'll do that?"

"We will!" the men said heartily. 

"Shall we use our guns?" asked another hopefully. 

Van Deventer grinned. 

"No, " he replied, "we haven't any excuse for that yet. But you mightshoot at the ceiling, if they get excited. They're just frightened!"

He took Arthur's arm, and the two walked toward the stairway again. 

"Chamberlain, " he said happily, "tell me why I've never had as muchfun as this before!"

Arthur smiled a bit wearily. 

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself!" he said. "I'm not. I'm goingoutside and walk around. I want to see if any cracks have appearedin the earth anywhere. It's dark, and I'll borrow a lantern downin the fire-room, but I want to find out if there are any moredevelopments in the condition of the building. "

X. 

Despite his preoccupation with his errand, which was to find ifthere were other signs of the continued activity of the strangeforces that had lowered the tower through the Fourth Dimensioninto the dim and unrecorded years of aboriginal America, Arthurcould not escape the fascination of the sight that met his eyes. Abright moon shone overhead and silvered the white sides of the tower, while the brightly-lighted windows of the offices within glitteredlike jewels set into the shining shaft. 

From his position on the ground he looked into the dimness of theforest on all sides. Black obscurity had gathered beneath the darkmasses of moonlit foliage. The tiny birch-bark teepees of the nowdeserted Indian village glowed palely. Above, the stars lookedcalmly down at the accusing finger of the tower pointing upward, as if in reproach at their indifference to the savagery that reignedover the whole earth. 

Like a fairy tower of jewels the building rose. Alone among awilderness of trees and streams it towered in a strange beauty:moonlit to silver, lighted from within to a mass of brilliant gems, it stood serenely still. 

Arthur, carrying his futile lantern about its base, felt his owninsignificance as never before. He wondered what the Indians mustthink. He knew there must be hundreds of eyes fixed upon the strangesight--fixed in awe-stricken terror or superstitious reverence uponthis unearthly visitor to their hunting grounds. 

A tiny figure, dwarfed by the building whose base he skirted, Arthur moved slowly about the vast pile. The earth seemed not tohave been affected by the vast weight of the tower. 

Arthur knew, however, that long concrete piles reached far down tobedrock. It was these piles that had sunk into the Fourth Dimension, carrying the building with them. 

Arthur had followed the plans with great interest when theMetropolitan was constructed. It was an engineering feat, and inthe engineering periodicals, whose study was a part of Arthur'sbusiness, great space had been given to the building and the methodsof its construction. 

While examining the earth carefully he went over his theory of thecause for the catastrophe. The whole structure must have sunk atthe same time, or it, too, would have disintegrated, as the otherbuildings had appeared to disintegrate. Mentally, Arthur likenedthe submergence of the tower in the oceans of time to an elevatorsinking past the different floors of an office building. All aboutthe building the other sky-scrapers of New York had seemed tovanish. In an elevator, the floors one passes seem to rise upward. 

Carrying out the analogy to its logical end, Arthur reasoned that thebuilding itself had no more cause to disintegrate, as the buildingsit passed seemed to disintegrate, than the elevator in the officebuilding would have cause to rise because its surroundings seemedto rise. 

Within the building, he knew, there were strange stirrings ofemotions. Queer currents of panic were running about, throwingthe people to and fro as leaves are thrown about by a current ofwind. Yet, underneath all those undercurrents of fear, was a rapidlygrowing resolution, strengthened by an increasing knowledge of theneed to work. 

Men were busy even then shifting all possible comfortable furnitureto a single story for the women in the building to occupy. Themen would sleep on the floor for the present. Beds of boughs couldbe improvised on the morrow. At sunrise on the following morningmany men would go to the streams to fish, guarded by other men. Allwould be frightened, no doubt, but there would be a grim resolutionunderneath the fear. Other men would wander about to hunt. 

There was little likelihood of Indians approaching for some days, atleast, but when they did come Arthur meant to avoid hostilities byall possible means. The Indians would be fearful of their strangevisitors, and it should not be difficult to convince them thatfriendliness was safest, even if they displayed unfriendly desires. 

The pressing problem was food. There were two thousand people inthe building, soft-bodied and city-bred. They were unaccustomedto hardship, and could not endure what more primitive people wouldhardly have noticed. 

They must be fed, but first they must be taught to feedthemselves. The fishermen would help, but Arthur could only hopethat they would prove equal to the occasion. He did not know whatto expect from them. From the hunters he expected but little. TheIndians were wary hunters, and game would be shy if not scarce. 

The great cloud of birds he had seen at sunset was a hopefulsign. Arthur vaguely remembered stories of great flocks ofwood-pigeons which had been exterminated, as the buffalo wasexterminated. As he considered the remembrance became more clear. 

They had flown in huge flocks which nearly darkened the sky. As lateas the forties of the nineteenth century they had been an importantarticle of food, and had glutted the market at certain seasons ofthe year. 

Estelle had said the birds he had seen at sunset werepigeons. Perhaps this was one of the great flocks. If it were reallyso, the food problem would be much lessened, provided a way could befound to secure them. The ammunition in the tower was very limited, and a shell could not be found for every bird that was needed, nor even for every three or four. Great traps must be devised, orbird-lime might possibly be produced. Arthur made a mental noteto ask Estelle if she knew anything of bird-lime. 

A vague, humming roar, altering in pitch, came to his ears. Helistened for some time before he identified it as the sound of thewind playing upon the irregular surfaces of the tower. In the citythe sound was drowned by the multitude of other noises, but hereArthur could hear it plainly. 

He listened a moment, and became surprised at the number ofnight noises he could hear. In New York he had closed his ears toincidental sounds from sheer self-protection. Somewhere he heardthe ripple of a little spring. As the idea of a spring came intohis mind, he remembered Estelle's description of the deep-tonedroar she had heard. 

He put his hand on the cold stone of the building. There was stilla vibrant quivering of the rock. It was weaker than before, butwas still noticeable. 

He drew back from the rock and looked up into the sky. It seemedto blaze with stars, far more stars than Arthur had ever seen inthe city, and more than he had dreamed existed. 

As he looked, however, a cloud seemed to film a portion of theheavens. The stars still showed through it, but they twinkled ina peculiar fashion that Arthur could not understand. 

He watched in growing perplexity. The cloud moved very swiftly. Thinas it seemed to be, it should have been silvery from the moonlight, but the sky was noticeably darker where it moved. It advanced towardthe tower and seemed to obscure the upper portion. A confused motionbecame visible among its parts. Wisps of it whirled away from thebrilliantly lighted tower, and then returned swiftly toward it. 

Arthur heard a faint tinkle, then a musical scraping, which becamelouder. A faint scream sounded, then another. The tinkle developedinto the sound made by breaking glass, and the scraping sound becamethat of the broken fragments as they rubbed against the sides ofthe tower in their fall. 

The scream came again. It was the frightened cry of a woman. Asoft body struck the earth not ten feet from where Arthur stood, then another, and another. 

XI. 

Arthur urged the elevator boy to greater speed. They were speeding upthe shaft as rapidly as possible, but it was not fast enough. Whenthey at last reached the height at which the excitement seemed tobe centered, the car was stopped with a jerk and Arthur dashed downthe hall. 

Half a dozen frightened stenographers stood there, huddled together. 

"What's the matter?" Arthur demanded. Men were running, from theother floors to see what the trouble was. 

"The--the windows broke, and--and something flew in at us!" one ofthem gasped. There was a crash inside the nearest office and thewomen screamed again. 

Arthur drew a revolver from his pocket and advanced to the door. Hequickly threw it open, entered, and closed it behind him. Thoseleft out in the hall waited tensely. 

There was no sound. The women began to look even more frightened. Themen shuffled their feet uneasily, and looked uncomfortably at oneanother. Van Deventer appeared on the scene, puffing a little fromhis haste. 

The door opened again and Arthur came out. He was carrying somethingin his hands. He had put his revolver aside and looked somewhatfoolish but very much delighted. 

"The food question is settled, " he said happily. "Look!"

He held out the object he carried. It was a bird, apparently apigeon of some sort. It seemed to have been stunned, but as Arthurheld it out it stirred, then struggled, and in a moment was flappingwildly in an attempt to escape. 

"It's a wood-pigeon, " said Arthur. "They must fly after darksometimes. A big flock of them ran afoul of the tower and weredazed by the lights. They've broken a lot of windows, I dare say, but a great many of them ran into the stonework and were stunned. Iwas outside the tower, and when I came in they were dropping tothe ground by hundreds. I didn't know what they were then, but ifwe wait twenty minutes or so I think we can go out and gather upour supper and breakfast and several other meals, all at once. "

Estelle had appeared and now reached out her hands for the bird. 

"I'll take care of this one, " she said. "Wouldn't it be a goodidea to see if there aren't some more stunned in the other offices?"

 * * * * *

In half an hour the electric stoves of the restaurant were going attheir full capacity. Men, cheerfully excited men now, were bringingin pigeons by armfuls, and other men were skinning them. There wasno time to pluck them, though a great many of the women were busilyengaged in that occupation. 

As fast as the birds could be cooked they were served out to theimpatient but much cheered castaways, and in a little while nearlyevery person in the place was walking casually about the hallswith a roasted, broiled, or fried pigeon in his hands. The ovenswere roasting pigeons, the frying-pans were frying them, and thebroilers were loaded down with the small but tender birds. 

The unexpected solution of the most pressing question cheeredevery one amazingly. Many people were still frightened, but lessfrightened than before. Worry for their families still oppresseda great many, but the removal of the fear of immediate hunger ledthem to believe that the other problems before them would be solved, too, and in as satisfactory a manner. 

Arthur had returned to his office with four broiled pigeons ina sheet of wrapping-paper. As he somehow expected, Estelle waswaiting there. 

"Thought I'd bring lunch up, " he announced. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving!" Estelle replied, and laughed. 

The whole catastrophe began to become an adventure. She bit eagerlyinto a bird. Arthur began as hungrily on another. For some timeneither spoke a word. At last, however, Arthur waved the leg ofhis second pigeon toward his desk. 

"Look what we've got here!" he said. 

Estelle nodded. The stunned pigeon Arthur had first picked up wastied by one foot to a paper-weight. 

"I thought we might keep him for a souvenir, " she suggested. 

"You seem pretty confident we'll get back, all right, " Arthurobserved. "It was surely lucky those blessed birds came along. They've heartened up the people wonderfully!"

"Oh, I knew you'd manage somehow!" said Estelle confidently. 

"I manage?" Arthur repeated, smiling. "What have I done?"

"Why, you've done everything, " affirmed Estelle stoutly. "You'vetold the people what to do from the very first, and you're goingto get us back. "

Arthur grinned, then suddenly his face grew a little more serious. 

"I wish I were as sure as you are, " he said. "I think we'll be allright, though, sooner or later. "

"I'm sure of it, " Estelle declared with conviction. "Why, you--"

"Why I?" asked Arthur again. He bent forward in his chair and fixedhis eyes on Estelle's. She looked up, met his gaze, and stammered. 

"You--you do things, " she finished lamely. 

"I'm tempted to do something now, " Arthur said. "Look here, MissWoodward, you've been in my employ for three or four months. In allthat time I've never had anything but the most impersonal commentsfrom you. Why the sudden change?"

The twinkle in his eyes robbed his words of any impertinence. 

"Why, I really--I really suppose I never noticed you before, "said Estelle. 

"Please notice me hereafter, " said Arthur. "I have been noticingyou. I've been doing practically nothing else. "

Estelle flushed again. She tried to meet Arthur's eyes andfailed. She bit desperately into her pigeon drumstick, trying tothink of something to say. 

"When we get back, " went on Arthur meditatively, "I'll have nothingto do--no work or anything. I'll be broke and out of a job. "

Estelle shook her head emphatically. Arthur paid no attention. 

"Estelle, " he said, smiling, "would you like to be out of a jobwith me?"

Estelle turned crimson. 

"I'm not very successful, " Arthur went on soberly. "I'm afraid Iwouldn't make a very good husband, I'm rather worthless and lazy!"

"You aren't, " broke in Estelle; "you're--you're--"

Arthur reached over and took her by the shoulders. 

"What?" he demanded. 

She would not look at him, but she did not draw away. He held herfrom him for a moment. 

"What am I?" he demanded again. Somehow he found himself kissingthe tips of her ears. Her face was buried against his shoulder. 

"What am I?" he repeated sternly. 

Her voice was muffled by his coat. 

"You're--you're dear!" she said. 

There was an interlude of about a minute and a half, then she pushedhim away from her. 

"Don't!" she said breathlessly. "Please don't!"

"Aren't you going to marry me?" he demanded. 

Still crimson, she nodded shyly. He kissed her again. 

"Please don't!" she protested. 

She fondled the lapels of his coat, quite content to have his armsabout her. 

"Why mayn't I kiss you if you're going to marry me?" Arthur demanded. 

She looked up at him with an air of demure primness. 

"You--you've been eating pigeon, " she told him in mock gravity, "and--and your mouth is greasy!"

XII. 

It was two weeks later. Estelle looked out over the now familiarwild landscape. It was much the same when she looked far away, but near by there were great changes. 

A cleared trail led through the woods to the waterfront, and araft of logs extended out into the river for hundreds of feet. Both sides of the raft were lined with busy fishermen--men andwomen, too. A little to the north of the base of the building ahuge mound of earth smoked sullenly. The coal in the cellar hadgiven out and charcoal had been found to be the best substitutethey could improvise. The mound was where the charcoal was made. 

It was heart-breaking work to keep the fires going with charcoal, because it burned so rapidly in the powerful draft of the furnaces, but the original fire-room gang had been recruited to severaltimes its original number from among the towerites, and the workwas divided until it did not seem hard. 

As Estelle looked down two tiny figures sauntered across the clearingfrom the woods with a heavy animal slung between them. One of themwas using a gun as a walking-stick. Estelle saw the flash of thesun on its polished metal barrel. 

There were a number of Indians in the clearing, watching withwide-open eyes the activities of the whites. Dozens of birch-barkcanoes dotted the Hudson, each with its load of fishermen, industriously working for the white people. It had been hard toovercome the fear in the Indians, and they still paid superstitiousreverence to the whites, but fair dealings, coupled with a constantreadiness to defend themselves, had enabled Arthur to institute asystem of trading for food that had so far proved satisfactory. 

The whites had found spare electric-light bulbs valuable currency indealing with the redmen. Picture-wire, too, was highly prized. Therewas not a picture left hanging in any of the offices. Metalpaper-knives bought huge quantities of provisions from the eagerIndian traders, and the story was current in the tower that Arthurhad received eight canoe-loads of corn and vegetables in exchangefor a broken-down typewriter. No one could guess what the savageswanted with the typewriter, but they had carted it away triumphantly. 

Estelle smiled tenderly to herself as she remembered how Arthur hadbeen the leading spirit in all the numberless enterprises in whichthe castaways had been forced to engage. He would come to her in aspare ten minutes, and tell her how everything was going. He seemedcuriously boylike in those moments. 

Sometimes he would come straight from the fire-room--he insisted ontaking part in all the more arduous duties--having hastily cleanedhimself for her inspection, snatch a hurried kiss, and then gooff, laughing, to help chop down trees for the long fishing-raft. He had told them how to make charcoal, had taken a leading part inestablishing and maintaining friendly relations with the Indians, and was now down in the deepest sub-basement, working with a gangof volunteers to try to put the building back where it belonged. 

Estelle had said, after the collapse of the flooring inthe board-room, that she heard a sound like the rushing ofwaters. Arthur, on examining the floor where the safe-deposit vaultstood, found it had risen an inch. On these facts he had built uphis theory. The building, like all modern sky-scrapers, rested onconcrete piles extending down to bedrock. In the center of one ofthose piles there was a hollow tube originally intended to serveas an artesian well. The flow had been insufficient and the wellhad been stopped up. 

Arthur, of course, as an engineer, had studied the construction ofthe building with great care, and happened to remember that thispartly hollow pile was the one nearest the safe-deposit vault. Thecollapse of the board-room floor had suggested that some changehad happened in the building itself, and that was found when hesaw that the deposit-vault had actually risen an inch. 

He at once connected the rise in the flooring above the hollowpile with the pipe in the pile. Estelle had heard liquid sounds. Evidently water had been forced into the hollow artesian pipe underan unthinkable pressure when the catastrophe occurred. 

From the rumbling and the suddenness of the whole catastrophea volcanic or seismic disturbance was evident. The connection ofvolcanic or seismic action with a flow of water suggested a geyser ora hot spring of some sort, probably a spring which had broken throughits normal confines some time before, but whose pressure had beensufficient to prevent the accident until the failure of its flow. 

When the flow ceased the building sank rapidly. For the factthat this "sinking" was in the fourth direction--the FourthDimension--Arthur had no explanation. He simply knew that in somemysterious way an outlet for the pressure had developed in thatfashion, and that the tower had followed the spring in its fallthrough time. 

The sole apparent change in the building had occurred above theone hollow concrete pile, which seemed to indicate that if accesswere to be had to the mysterious, and so far only assumed spring, it must be through that pile. While the vault retained its abnormalelevation, Arthur believed that there was still water at an immenseand incalculable pressure in the pipe. He dared not attempt to tapthe pipe until the pressure had abated. 

At the end of a week he found the vault slowly settling back intoplace. When its return to the normal was complete he dared beginboring a hole to reach the hollow tube in the concrete pile. 

As he suspected, he found water in the pile--water whose sulfurousand mineral nature confirmed his belief that a geyser reaching deepinto the bosom of the earth, as well as far back in the realms oftime, was at the bottom of the extraordinary jaunt of the tower. 

Geysers were still far from satisfactory things to explain. Thereare many of their vagaries which we cannot understand at all. We do know a few things which affect them, and one thing is that"soaping" them will stimulate their flow in an extraordinary manner. 

Arthur proposed to "soap" this mysterious geyser when the renewalof its flow should lift the runaway sky-scraper back to the epochfrom which the failure of the flow had caused it to fall. 

He made his preparations with great care. He confidently expectedhis plan to work, and to see the sky-scraper once more toweringover mid-town New York as was its wont, but he did not allow thefishermen and hunters to relax their efforts on that account. Theylabored as before, while deep down in the sub-basement of thecolossal building Arthur and his volunteers toiled mightily. 

They had to bore through the concrete pile until they reached thehollow within it. Then, when the evidence gained from the waterin the pipe had confirmed his surmises, they had to prepare their"charge" of soapy liquids by which the geyser was to be stirred torenewed activity. 

Great quantities of the soap used by the scrubwomen in scrubbingdown the floors was boiled with water until a sirupy mess wasevolved. Means had then to be provided by which this could be quicklyintroduced into the hollow pile, the hole then closed, and thenbraced to withstand a pressure unparalleled in hydraulic science. Arthur believed that from the hollow pile the soapy liquid wouldfind its way to the geyser proper, where it would take effect instimulating the lessened flow to its former proportions. When thattook place he believed that the building would return as swiftlyand as surely as it had left them to normal, modern times. 

The telephone rang in his office, and Estelle answered it. Arthurwas on the wire. A signal was being hung out for all the castawayto return to the building from their several occupations. They wereabout to soap the geyser. 

Did Estelle want to come down and watch? She did! She stood in themain hallway as the excited and hopeful people trooped in. Whenthe last was inside the doors were firmly closed. The few friendlyIndians outside stared perplexedly at the mysterious white strangers. 

The whites, laughing excitedly, began to wave to the Indians. Theirleave-taking was premature. 

Estelle took her way down into the cellar. Arthur was awaiting herarrival. Van Deventer stood near, with the grinning, grimy membersof Arthur's volunteer work gang. The massive concrete pile stoodin the center of the cellar. A big steam-boiler was coupled to atiny pipe that led into the heart of the mass of concrete. Arthurwas going to force the soapy liquid into the hollow pile by steam. 

At a signal steam began to hiss in the boiler. Live steam fromthe fire-room forced the soapy sirup out of the boiler, throughthe small iron pipe, into the hollow that led to the geyser farunderground. Six thousand gallons in all were forced into theopening in a space of three minutes. 

Arthur's grimy gang began to work with desperate haste. Quicklythey withdrew the iron pipe and inserted a long steel plug, painfully beaten from a bar of solid metal. Then, girding thecolossal concrete pile, ring after ring of metal was slipped on, to hold the plug in place. 

The last of the safeguards was hardly fastened firmly when Estellelistened intently. 

"I hear a rumbling!" she said quietly. 

Arthur reached forward and put his hand on the mass of concrete. 

"It is quivering!" he reported as quietly. "I think we'll be onour way in a very little while. "

The group broke for the stairs, to watch the panorama as the runawaysky-scraper made its way back through the thousands of years tothe times that had built it for a monument to modern commerce. 

Arthur and Estelle went high up in the tower. From the window ofArthur's office they looked eagerly, and felt the slight quiver asthe tower got under way. Estelle looked up at the sun, and saw itmend its pace toward the west. 

Night fell. The evening sounds became high-pitched and shrill, then seemed to cease altogether. 

In a very little while there was light again, and the sun wasspeeding across the sky. It sank hastily, and returned almostimmediately, _via_ the east. Its pace became a breakneck rush. Downbehind the hills and up in the east. Down in the west, up in theeast. Down and up-- The flickering began. The race back toward moderntimes had started. 

Arthur and Estelle stood at the window and looked out as the sunrushed more and more rapidly across the sky until it became but astreak of light, shifting first to the right and then to the leftas the seasons passed in their turn. 

With Arthur's arms about her shoulders, Estelle stared out acrossthe unbelievable landscape, while the nights and days, the wintersand summers, and the storms and calms of a thousand years sweptpast them into the irrevocable past. 

Presently Arthur drew her to him and kissed her. While he kissedher, so swiftly did the days and years flee by, three generationswere born, grew and begot children, and died again!

Estelle, held fast in Arthur's arms, thought nothing of such trivialthings. She put her arms about his neck and kissed him, while theyears passed them unheeded. 

 * * * * *

Of course you know that the building landed safely, in the exacthour, minute, and second from which it started, so that when thefrightened and excited people poured out of it to stand in MadisonSquare and feel that the world was once more right side up, theirhilarious and incomprehensible conduct made such of the world aswas passing by think a contagious madness had broken out. 

Days passed before the story of the two thousand was believed, butat last it was accepted as truth, and eminent scientists studiedthe matter exhaustively. 

There has been one rather queer result of the journey of therunaway sky-scraper. A certain Isidore Eckstein, a dealer in jewelrynovelties, whose office was in the tower when it disappeared into thepast, has entered suit in the courts of the United States againstall the holders of land on Manhattan Island. It seems that duringthe two weeks in which the tower rested in the wilderness he tradedindependently with one of the Indian chiefs, and in exchange fortwo near-pearl necklaces, sixteen finger-rings, and one dollar inmoney, received a title-deed to the entire island. --He claims thathis deed is a conveyance made previous to all other sales whatever. 

Strictly speaking, he is undoubtedly right, as his deed wassigned before the discovery of America. The courts, however, aredeliberating the question with a great deal of perplexity. 

Eckstein is quite confident that in the end his claim will beallowed and he will be admitted as the sole owner of real-estateon Manhattan Island, with all occupiers of buildings and territorypaying him ground rent at a rate he will fix himself. In the meantime, though the foundations are being reinforced so the catastrophecannot occur again, his entire office is packed full of articlessuitable for trading with the Indians. If the tower makes anothertrip back through time, Eckstein hopes to become a landholder ofsome importance. 

No less than eighty-seven books have been written by members ofthe memorable two thousand in description of their trip to thehinterland of time, but Arthur, who could write more intelligentlyabout the matter than any one else, is so extremely busy thathe cannot bother with such things. He has two very importantmatters to look after. One is, of course, the reenforcement of thefoundations of the building so that a repetition of the catastrophecannot occur, and the other is to convince his wife--who is Estelle, naturally--that she is the most adorable person in the universe. Hefinds the latter task the more difficult, because she insists that_he_ is the most adorable person--

[* Transcriber's note: This etext was produced from the February 22, 1919 issue of _Argosy_ magazine. ]