n.

The first symptom was paralysis. With the vapor wreathing their heads in
dense clouds, they found themselves unable to move a muscle. The
paralysis spread partially to the involuntary muscles. Heart action was
retarded enormously; and they ceased almost entirely to breathe. In
spite of the cessation of muscular functioning, however, they were still
conscious in a vague way. Conscious enough, at all events, to go through
a hell of agony when--second and last stage--every nerve in their bodies
seemed of a sudden to be rasped with files, and every tiny particle of
their flesh jerked and twitched as if to break loose from the
ever-shrinking skin.

* * * * *

Time, of course, was completely lost sight of. It might have been ten
hours, or five minutes later when they realized they were still alive,
still standing on their own feet, and now able to breathe and move. The
spell of rigidity had been broken; nerves and muscles functioned
smoothly and painlessly again. Also they were in clear air.

"I guess the experiment didn't work," Dennis began unsteadily. But then,
as his eyes began to get accustomed to his fantastically new, though
intrinsically unchanged surroundings, he cried aloud.

The experiment _had_ worked. No doubt of that! And they were in a world
where all the old familiar things were new and incredible marvels.

"What can be the nature of this stuff we're standing on?" wondered Jim,
looking down.

Following his gaze, Denny too wondered for an instant, till realization
came to him. "Why, it's ordinary wood! Just the wood of the pedestal
platform!"

But it didn't seem like wood. The grain stood out in knee-high ridges in
all directions to the limit of visibility. It was like a nightmare
picture of a frozen bad-lands, split here and there by six-feet-broad,
unfathomable chasms--which were the cracks in the flooring.

"Where's the patty-dish?" queried Jim.

Dennis gazed about. "We were standing right over it when the reducing
process started.... Oh, there it is!"

* * * * *

Far off to the right an enormous, shallowly hollowed plateau caught
their eyes. They started toward it, hurdling the irregular ridges,
leaping across the dizzy chasms.

The tiny dish had been tipped on edge--but when they reached it they
found its thickness alone a daunting thing.

"It's a pity Matt didn't select a thinner kind of china," grumbled
Dennis; gazing at