le uncomprehendingly.

"If the earth had settled down, we'd have been lower. If it had
settled to one side, we'd have been moved one way or another, but as
it's settled back in the Fourth Dimension, we're going back in time."

"Then--"

"We're in a runaway skyscraper, bound for some time back before
the discovery of America!"

III.

It was very still in the office. Except for the flickering outside
everything seemed very much as usual. The electric light burned
steadily, but Estelle was sobbing with fright and Arthur was trying
vainly to console her.

"Have I gone crazy?" she demanded between her sobs.

"Not unless I've gone mad, too," said Arthur soothingly. The
excitement had quite a soothing effect upon him. He had ceased to
feel afraid, but was simply waiting to see what had happened. "We're
way back before the founding of New York now, and still going
strong."

"Are you sure that's what has happened?"

"If you'll look outside," he suggested, "you'll see the seasons
following each other in reverse order. One moment the snow covers
all the ground, then you catch a glimpse of autumn foliage, then
summer follows, and next spring."

Estelle glanced out of the window and covered her eyes.

"Not a house," she said despairingly. "Not a building. Nothing,
nothing, nothing!"

Arthur slipped, his arm about her and patted hers comfortingly.

"It's all right," he reassured her. "We'll bring up presently,
and there we'll be. There's nothing to be afraid of."

She rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed hopelessly for
a little while longer, but presently quieted. Then, suddenly,
realizing that Arthur's arm was about her and that she was crying
on his shoulder, she sprang away, blushing crimson.

Arthur walked to the window.

"Look there!" he exclaimed, but it was too late. "I'll swear to
it I saw the Half Moon, Hudson's ship," he declared excitedly.
"We're way back now, and don't seem to be slacking up, either."

Estelle came to the window by his side. The rapidly changing scene
before her made her gasp. It was no longer possible to distinguish
night from day.

A wavering streak, moving first to the right and then to the left,
showed where the sun flashed across the sky.

"What makes the sun wabble so?" she asked.

"Moving north and south of the equator," Arthur explained
casually. "When it's farthest south--to the left--there's always
snow on the ground. When it's farthest right it's summer