"It is now. I'll go ahead; you bring up the rear with Hope in the
middle. Ready?"
"Let's go!"
* * * * *
I plunged on, Hope's fingers gripping my belt. Fresh multitudes were
pouring up the ramp, brushing aside the five or six priests that had
hurried there in an effort to stem the tide.
One of the priests saw us, and cried out shrilly to his companions. With
one accord they came toward us, obviously intent upon blocking our way.
I have never seen in any other eyes such anger and hatred as blazed in
the eyes of those strange beings.
"Watch them, Pete!" roared Vic. "We can't take chances!" His gun roared
twice from behind me, and two of the priests fell writhing, to be
instantly trampled into pulp. Another reached out long arms toward Hope,
and I let him have it. There was nothing else to do. He went the way of
the two others.
Twice again, before we reached the ramp they guarded, the angry
attendants of the idol fell before our guns. Then, hurrying down ramp
after ramp, corridor after corridor, fighting the rushing mob all the
way, we came at last, shaking with weariness and gasping for breath, to
the deserted streets of this black and terrible city.
"Are we free?" whispered Hope, holding tightly to my arm. "Are we really
free?"
"I hope so, dear. We seem to be. If we can only reach the spot where we
entered this insane world before something happens--"
"How much time have we?" interrupted Vic.
I glanced down at my watch, fearful, for a moment, that it had been
broken or lost in the melée. It was still running, apparently undamaged.
"Let's see; it's four minutes of one. That gives us seven minutes. Can
we make it?"
"I think so. It's not so far, and we're nearly out of the city. We
_have_ to make it!"
* * * * *
Vic led the way, Hope and I following. Anxiously, I watched the minute
hand of the watch slide toward the "XII" of the dial ... touch it ...
move on....
It was not far, as Vic had said, but we were weary from our battle with
the crazed mob, and the best we could force from our legs was a sort of
dog-trot.
One minute after ... two....
"Here's the spot! I marked it with these three pieces of stone. Quick!"
Vic swept both arms about Hope and me, holding us in a close embrace, so
that we all stood within the triangle formed by the three bits of black
rock.
I glanced down at my watch. It lacked but a few seconds of the moment
when the machine back in Vic's laboratory would function--provided my
watch was correct, and the equipment worked according to schedule.
Suddenly, Hope screamed, and I followed her eyes. A score or more of the
strange beings had suddenly materialized but a few yards away, and they
were closing in on us swiftly.
I tried to draw my gun. Hands reached out to grasp me; to grasp all
three of us. Then darkness closed in swiftly; I was whisked upward, on
and on, breathlessly. I was suddenly very heavy; I was dropping in the
blackness ... there was something solid beneath my feet ... a glare of
light in my eyes.
"Nicely timed, I'll say that," chuckled Vic. "How does our own material
little old world look?"
"Great!" I stepped quickly away from the machine, drawing Hope with me.
"Doesn't it, Hope?"
She sighed, a long, shuddering sigh, and snuggled into my arms. Vic
glanced towards us and grinned.
"Come to think of it," he remarked, "I believe I'll run along and see if
I can find Mrs. Perrin. I haven't had a thing to eat since noon
yesterday, and I've just realized I'm hungry. Will you join me?"
"In a moment," I nodded, and Vic, being the good scout he was, hurried
away.
* * * * *
"And the machine?" I asked a few nights later. "Still experimenting with
it?" I had really come out to see Hope, of course, but she was still
upstairs, putting on the finishing touches.
Vic shook his head quite gravely.
"No, old son; I had enough. Off on another tangent now. Why--would you
like to go back?"
"Not me! It doesn't seem real now; more like a nightmare, but it was
terrible enough at the time."
"I can prove it wasn't a nightmare," chuckled Vic. "Come along, and I'll
show you something you missed." He led the way to the laboratory, and
unlocked a drawer, one of several, beneath the work table.
"I found this on the floor of the machine," he said. "Didn't notice it
until later. The rays of the machine caught it and brought it back with
us; made it solid matter, as we know it here. Do you recognize it?"