The Raid on the Termites

Size

periment, beside Matthew Breen's glass bell. The night, of course, had been sleepless. Sleep? How coul

t the advisability of his giving up the adventure, in soothing his conscienc

ible world, in which you'll be a naked, soft, defenseless thing. I'd hate to bet that we'd live even

had urged, puff

ch compared to the jungle an ordinary grass plot will present to us, if, as we plan, we get reduced to a quarter of an inch. I'm going in

y folly. You can't argue me out of it, so don't try any more. Now,

s?" repeated

of a gun that could be handled by a man a quarter of an inch tall. At the same time I h

ha

and finer. Probably our friend has some in his laboratory. Now, if we grind two pieces about a quarter of an inc

out, at least. I propose that we get the sheerest silk gauze we can find, and cu

ost invisibly fine steel wire as weapons, junketing forth into a world in which they'll be about the smallest and puniest things in sight! No more lords of cr

hat mysterious intellect (super-termite?) that seemed to rule each ter

urn, had descende

and now for my contribution." He left the room and came back in a fe

mor. Shields in a figurativ

and opened it. Within was a repul

tary, we've got to persuade the inmates that we're friends, not foes. So we'll

d Jim, with a lightness that did not quite succeed in cove

s glass bell, with Breen beside them

after I've reduced you to

id Denny. "Set us down near the opening to one of the larger termite tunnels. Then wait till we come out aga

wish. Let's see, what ha

gretted-that an ordinary patty-dish of the kind in which restaura

small for fear of mortally injuring them between thumb and forefinger). Into the patty-dish, so they could be readily located, were placed the bits of wire, the tiny fragments of s

They watched the inventor step t

watched the glass walls cloud, realized that the fogging vapor was forme

ed enormously; and they ceased almost entirely to breathe. In spite of the cessation of muscular functioning, however, they were still conscious in a vague way. Conscious enough, at all events, to go through a hell o

lized they were still alive, still standing on their own feet, and now able to breathe and move. The spell of ri

t then, as his eyes began to get accustomed to his fantastically

And they were in a world where all the old fa

his stuff we're standing on?

ant, till realization came to him. "Why, it's ordi

o the limit of visibility. It was like a nightmare picture of a frozen bad-lands, split h

patty-dish?

ng right over it when the reducing

ateau caught their eyes. They started toward it, hurdli

-but when they reached it they found

gazing at the head-high wall that was the edge of the plate. "Here-I'll sta

urface repeatedly. It was with the utmost effort that they

of termite-paste, they saw two glistening steel bars. About five feet long, they seemed to be, and half an inch i

ck for a pretended spear-thrust.

s really happened, and that the hu

long, not-too-thin steel bar. Jim's great shoulders and heavy arms were suited well e

ring each other from head to feet with the repulsive stuff. Then they knotted about them the yard-square pieces of fab

denly became closer and sparkled with a diamond sheen. Stretching off and

through a magnifying g

t them began to vibrate. Thunder c

" said Denny, when the awful din had

ces are probably pitched way above the limit of audibilit

ed them how entirely they were cut off from their old world. Truly, in discard

to segments, and surrounded their plateau. The plateau was

un-the one thing in their new universe that seemed unchanged in size and aspect-shone down on them.

ing, and had set the patty-dish on the

were being dashed to pieces. That was the motor starting. And then, as the car mo

ther as the automobile passed over the city streets. Impossible to stand. They could only crouch low on the hard glazed surface, and try to keep from breaking legs and arms in the worst earthquake it is possibl

mparatively quiet spell. "Why d

d Denny, "he's doi

njecture. They could only guest at what

; but they couldn't see the car. All they could see was the black cliff that was the seat-cushion behind t

s, and were only shaken up and bruised when the distant roar of

aid Dennis unsteadily

au. Again they felt the poignantly exaggerated, express-

me to them, words utterly indistinguish

kly and so without warning that Jim and Dennis slid from its center, head over heels, to fall over th

tector, having dumped them unceremoniously into the grass of Morton's Grove, had ushered them s