egan to take on a slight
slant.

"Great Heaven!" some one cried. "The building's turning over and
we'll be buried in the ruins!"

The tilt of the floor became more pronounced. An empty chair slid
to one end of the room. There was a crash.

VI.

Arthur woke to find some one tugging at his shoulders, trying to drag
him from beneath the heavy table, which had wedged itself across
his feet and pinned him fast, while a flying chair had struck him
on the head and knocked him unconscious.

"Oh, come and help," Estelle's voice was calling
deliberately. "Somebody come and help! He's caught in here!"

She was sobbing in a combination of panic and some unknown emotion.

"Help me, please!" she gasped, then her voice broke despondently,
but she never ceased to tug ineffectually at Chamberlain, trying
to drag him out of the mass of wreckage.

Arthur moved a little, dazedly.

"Are you alive?" she called anxiously. "Are you alive? Hurry, oh,
hurry and wriggle out. The building's falling to pieces!"

"I'm all right," Arthur said weakly. "You get out before it all
comes down."

"I won't leave you," she declared "Where are you caught? Are you
badly hurt? Hurry, please hurry!"

Arthur stirred, but could not loosen his feet. He half-rolled over,
and the table moved as if it had been precariously balanced, and slid
heavily to one side. With Estelle still tugging at him, he managed
to get to his feet on the slanting floor and stared about him.

Arthur continued to stare about.

"No danger," he said weakly. "Just the floor of the one room gave
way. The aftermath of the rock-flaw."

He made his way across the splintered flooring and piled-up chairs.

"We're on top of the safe-deposit vault," he said. "That's why
we didn't fall all the way to the floor below. I wonder how we're
going to get down?"

Estelle followed him, still frightened for fear of the building
falling upon them. Some of the long floor-boards stretched over
the edge of the vault and rested on a tall, bronze grating that
protected the approach to the massive strong-box. Arthur tested
them with his foot.

"They seem to be pretty solid," he said tentatively.

His strength was coming back to him every moment. He had been no
more than stunned. He walked out on the planking to the bronze
grating and turned.

"If you don't get dizzy, you might come on," he said. "We can swing
down the grille here to the floor."

Estelle followed gingerly and in a m