elow now, as the
darkness and light followed each other so swiftly the effect was
the same as one of the old flickering motion-pictures.

As Arthur watched, this effect became more pronounced. The tall
Fifth Avenue Building across the way began to disintegrate. In a
moment, it seemed, there was only a skeleton there. Then that
vanished, 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 the
flickering, he could see almost clearly now.

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

Arthur strained his eyes and looked far down-town. He saw a forest
of masts and spars along the waterfront for a moment and when
he turned his eyes again to the scenery near him it was almost
barren 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 has
happened?"

Arthur had lost his fear of what their fate would be in his
absorbing 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's
obvious that my first surmise was all wrong. The speed of the earth's
rotation can't have been increased, because if it had to the extent
we see, we'd have been thrown off into space long ago. But--have
you read anything about the Fourth Dimension?"

Estelle shook her head hopelessly.

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

Again she shook her head.

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

"But what does that mean?" asked Estel