When the Sleeper Wakes

sounds drifted in thereby. And Graham, standing underneath, wrestling darkly with the unknown powers t

g him. When a dark hand was extended, the swift fan struck it, swung round and beat on with a little brownish

f blood at his feet. He looked up again in

k 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 l

a sound of whispering. Then a smart blow on some metallic substance, effort, voices, and the vans stopped. A gust

the fan. "Who are

arly inverted to Graham; his dark hair was wet with dissolving flakes of snow upon it. His arm went up into the darkness holding something unsee

nds neither he n

eeper?" said the

ham. "What do y

rom Ostro

tro

listening. Suddenly there was a hasty exclamation, and the intruder sprang back just in time to escape the

last came the same metallic interference again; the fans stopped and the face reappea

What do you

to you, Sire," s

g. We have been trying to find

" whispered Gr

re. If y

ty--the party o

, Si

to do?" s

and away from me," he said, and he dropped rather heavily on his hands and one shoulder at Graham's feet. The released ventilator whirl

id. "I saw you asleep. When it was

aham. "They have imprisoned me here. I have b

d ran towards it, shouting quick incoherent words. A bright wedge of steel flashed in his hand, and he began

them, and a heavy weight bore him to the earth. He fell on his knees and forward, and the

Sire?" he panted. A succession of heavy blows on the ventilator began, something fell close to G

ing at the ventilator. "Who are you? What are y

rew him from under the ventilator as a

ce again, saw a new cut had changed from white to red on his forehead, and a co

ere? My

ug 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

risen to protect

ith his teeth. Graham saw the latter start back, gesticulate to them

he 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 fl

said a voice

e of the ventilator with ghostly snow whirling above it and dark figures moving hastily. Three knelt on the fan.

their words, marched so completely with his own fears of the Council, with his i

," he said, "I trust

e cut brow grip

" he whispered. "Quick.

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 thr

od about him, and light flakes of snow touched hands and face and melted. For a moment i

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

threw a thick soft cloak of fur-like texture about him, and fastened it by buckled straps

said this shape, urging him along, and pointed Graham across the flat

ainst a cable. "Between them and not across

said Graham. "The peop

und 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 op

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 t

ent. 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

d 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

guide, with terror in

he pitch of the

che 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

amorphous tumult of the rotating wheels was pierced with a deafening sound. It was a mechanical shr

s guide in an accent of terror, and suddenly

masts carrying globes of livid light. They receded in illimitable vistas in

of snowless metal that ran like a band between two slightly sloping expanses of sn

he incandescent glare towards the iron supports of the next range of wind-wheels. Graha

the monstrous wheels. Graham's conductor ran on for some time, and suddenly darted sideways and vanished

panting and

w. 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, I 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

rcely halfway there yet. Cold as it is we must hide here

chattered

sked Graham staring out. "

r made n

ham, crouched close,

f 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 l

d his compa

. Graham, running blindly, collided with his leader, who had turned back on him suddenly. He found himself within a dozen yard

il one leg hung. He seemed to feel for something with his foot, found it, and went sliding over the edge int

ad 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 horri

t the wall. They continued along it for some minutes. He seemed to pass through a hundred stages of misery, to pass minute

white shapes like the ghosts of blind-drawn windows rose above them. They came to the end of a cable fastened above one

ered the latte

chine gliding slowly and noiselessly overhead athwart the broad b

they were j

panion stood up, and reaching towards the fastenin

that?" as

ibbon of sky, and Graham, following his eyes, saw the flying machine small and faint and remote. Then he saw that the wings spread

ned their form by feeling. They were slung by thin cords to the cable. On the cord were hand grips of some soft elastic su

id as he

voice. "In heav

arkness hid his face. He said nothing. He began to tremble violently. He looke

ave us," cried Graham's guide, and in the

d 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

e with the running ways, the hanging lights and interlacing girders. They rushed upward and

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 tr

He felt that he was no longer gliding along the cable but falling with it. There was a tumult of yells, screams and

ver 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.

roar, the shouting of a countless multitude.

e Master--the Owner! The Ma

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

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 co

ople who were on his side. For a space he sobbed for breath, and then he sat st