s loomed before him, and he saw a crowd of frenzied
Atlanteans struggling to pass through, and a file of soldiers
struggling to keep them back.

* * * * *

He could distinguish nothing more than the confused struggle. He
hurled himself into the midst of the crowd and swept it back. He was
within the walls now, and struggling to pass through the mob of people
that was swarming like homeless bees.

He fought them with flailing fists, he clove a pathway through them,
until he found himself in a great shadowy space that he recognized as
the central assembly of the city. More by instinct than design he hit
upon the narrow court that was the elevator. But the court was filled
with another mob of struggling people, and in the darkness there was
no possibility of discovering the secret of raising it.

He blundered about, raging, forcing a path now here, now there. He ran
into blind alleys, into small threading streets about the court, which
led him back into the central place of assembly. It was like a
nightmare, that blind search under the pale three-quarter moon and the
black, star-blotched sky.

Suddenly Jim found himself wedged by the pressure of the crowd into a
sort of recess leading off the elevator court. So strong was the
pressure here that he was unable to move an inch. Wedged bolt upright,
he could only wait and let the frenzied mob stream past him. And
louder above the sound of wailing came the roars of the Drilgoes
swarming along the causeway.

Suddenly something gave behind him--a door, as it seemed, broken off
its hinges by the mob pressure. Jim was hurled backward, and fell
heavily down a flight of stone stairs, bringing up against a stone
balustrade. He got up, unconscious of his bruises, ran to the top of
the flight, and saw the dim square of palest twilight where the door
had been.

But over him he could faintly see the stairs and the balustrade,
winding away to what seemed immeasurable height. That stairway must
lead to the top of the building, and thence there should be some
access to the amphitheatre. Jim turned toward it.

* * * * *

Suddenly a tremendous uproar filled the streets, yells, the clicking
grunts of the Drilgoes, the screams of the panic-stricken populace.
The invaders had arrived, and they were sweeping all before them. No
chance of recognition in that darkness. Lucille! Shouting her name,
Jim began to ascend the stairs