Arthur and Van Deventer, in turn with the others of the cooler
heads, thundered at the apathetic people, trying to waken them
to the necessity for work. They showered promises of inevitable
return to modern times, they pledged their honor to the belief that
a way would ultimately be found by which they would all yet find
themselves safely back home again.
The people, however, had seen New York disintegrate, and Arthur's
explanation sounded like some wild dream of an imaginative
novelist. Not one person in all the gathering could actually realize
that his home might yet be waiting for him, though at the same time
he felt a pathetic anxiety for the welfare of its inmates.
Every one was in a turmoil of contradictory beliefs. On the one hand
they knew that all of New York could not be actually destroyed and
replaced by a splendid forest in the space of a few hours, so the
accident or catastrophe must have occurred to those in the tower,
and on the other hand, they had seen all of New York vanish by
bits and fragments, to be replaced by a smaller and dingier town,
had beheld that replaced in turn, and at last had landed in the
midst of this forest.
Every one, too, began to feel am unusual and uncomfortable sensation
of hunger. It was a mild discomfort as yet, but few of them had
experienced it before without an immediate prospect of assuaging the
craving, and the knowledge that there was no food to be had somehow
increased the desire for it. They were really in a pitiful state.
Van Deventer spoke encouragingly, and then asked for volunteers for
immediate work. There was hardly any response. Every one seemed
sunk in despondency. Arthur then began to talk straight from the
shoulder and succeeded in rousing them a little, but every one was
still rather too frightened to realize that work could help at all.
In desperation the dozen or so men who had gathered in Van Deventer's
office went about among the gathering and simply selected men at
random, ordering them to follow and begin work. This began to awaken
the crowd, but they wakened to fear rather than resolution. They
were city-bred, and unaccustomed to face the unusual or the alarming.
Arthur noted the new restlessness, but attributed it to growing
uneasiness rather than selfish panic. He was rather pleased that they
were outgrowing their apathy. When the meeting had come to an end he
felt satisfied that by morning the latent resolution among the people
would have crystallized and they would be ready to work earnestly
and intelligently on whatever tasks they were directed to undertake.
He returned to the ground floor of the building feeling much more
hopeful than before. Two thousand people all earnestly working
for one end are hard to down even when faced with such a task as
confronted the inhabitants of the runaway skyscraper. Even if they
were never able to return to modern times they would still be able
to form a community that might do much to hasten the development
of civilization in other parts of the world.
His hope received a rude shock when he reached the great hallway on
the lower floor. There was a fruit and confectionery stand here, and
as 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 his
stock as fast as he could make change. Arthur forced his way to
the counter.
"Here," he said sharply to the keeper of the stand, "stop selling
this stuff. It's got to be held until we can dole it out where
it'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 this
decent, trying to get more than your share of this stuff? You'll get
your 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 by
the plain speeches of Arthur and his helpers, and were seizing what
edibles they could lay hands upon in preparation for the hunger
they had been warned to expect.
Arthur pushed against the mob, trying to thrust them away from the
counter, but his very effort intensified their panic. There was a
quick surge and a crash. The glass front of the showcase broke in.
In a flash of rage Arthur struck out viciously. The crowd paid
not the slightest attention to him, however. Every man was too
panic-stricken, and too intent on getting some of this food before
it was all gone to bother with him.
Arthur was simply crushed back by the bodies of the forty or fifty
men. In a moment he found himself alone amid the wreckage of the
stand, with the keeper wringing his hands over the remnants of
his goods.
Van Deventer ran down the stairs.
"What's the matter?" he demanded as he saw Arthur nursing a bleeding
hand cut on the broken glass of the showcase.
"Bolsheviki!" answered Arthur with a grim smile. "We woke up some
of the crowd too successfully. They got panic-stricken and started
to buy out this stuff here. I tried to stop them, and you see what
happened. We'd better look to the restaurant, though I doubt if
they'll try anything else just now."
He followed Van Deventer up to the restaurant floor. There were
picked men before the door, but just as Arthur and the bank president
appeared two or three white-faced men went up to the guards and
started low-voiced conversations.
Arthur reached the spot in time to forestall bribery.
Arthur collared one man, Van Deventer another, and in a moment the
two were sent reeling down the hallway.
"Some fools have got panic-stricken!" Van Deventer explained to
the men before the doors in a casual voice, though he was breathing
heavily from the unaccustomed exertion. "They've smashed up the
fruit-stand on the ground floor and stolen the contents. It's nothing
but 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 might
shoot 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 much
fun as this before!"
Arthur smiled a bit wearily.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself!" he said. "I'm not. I'm going
outside and walk around. I want to see if any cracks have appeared
in the earth anywhere. It's dark, and I'll borrow a lantern down
in the fire-room, but I want to find out if there are any more
developments in the condition of the building."