le as he could make
them, his theory that a flaw in the rock on which the foundations
rested had developed and let the skyscraper sink, not downward,
but into the Fourth Dimension.

"I'm an engineer," he finished. "What nature can do, we can
imitate. Nature let us into this hole. We'll climb out. In the
mean time, matters are serious. We needn't be afraid of not getting
back. We'll do that. What we've got to fight is--starvation!"

V.

"We've got to fight starvation, and we've got to beat it," Arthur
continued doggedly. "I'm telling you this right at the outset,
because I want you to begin right at the beginning and pitch in to
help. We have very little food and a lot of us to eat it. First,
I want some volunteers to help with rationing. Next, I want every
ounce of food, in this place put under guard where it can be served
to those who need it most. Who will help out with this?"

The swift succession of shocks had paralyzed the faculties of most
of the people there, but half a dozen moved forward. Among them was
a single gray-haired man with an air of accustomed authority. Arthur
recognized him as the president of the bank on the ground floor.

"I don't know who you are or if you're right in saying what has
happened," said the gray-haired man. "But I see something's got to
be done, and--well, for the time being I'll take your word for what
that is. Later on we'll thrash this matter out."

Arthur nodded. He bent over and spoke in a low voice to the
gray-haired man, who moved away.

"Grayson, Walters, Terhune, Simpson, and Forsythe come here,"
the gray-haired man called at a doorway.

A number of men began to press dazedly toward him. Arthur resumed
his harangue.

"You people--those of you who aren't too dazed to think--are
remembering there's a restaurant in the building and no need to
starve. You're wrong. There are nearly two thousand of us here. That
means six thousand meals a day. We've got to have nearly ten tons
of food a day, and we've got to have it at once."

"Hunt?" some one suggested.

"I saw Indians," some one else shouted. "Can we trade with them?"

"We can hunt and we can trade with the Indians," Arthur admitted,
"but we need food by the ton--by the ton, people! The Indians don't
store up supplies, and, besides, they're much too scattered to have
a surplus for us. But we've got to have food. Now, how many of you
know anything about hunting, fishing, trapping, or any possible
way of