is not outside the range of
possibility; it was certainly a very long time ago. Therefore, we may
reasonably hope that it will be very long before it occurs again."

"That's all very well," said Lord John, "but if you get an earthquake
shock you are mighty likely to have a second one right on the top of it.
I think we'd be wise to stretch our legs and have a breath of air while
we have the chance. Since our oxygen is exhausted we may just as well be
caught outside as in."

It was strange the absolute lethargy which had come upon us as a reaction
after our tremendous emotions of the last twenty-four hours. It was both
mental and physical, a deep-lying feeling that nothing mattered and that
everything was a weariness and a profitless exertion. Even Challenger
had succumbed to it, and sat in his chair, with his great head leaning
upon his hands and his thoughts far away, until Lord John and I, catching
him by each arm, fairly lifted him on to his feet, receiving only the
glare and growl of an angry mastiff for our trouble. However, once we
had got out of our narrow haven of refuge into the wider atmosphere of
everyday life, our normal energy came gradually back to us once more.

But what were we to begin to do in that graveyard of a world? Could ever
men have been faced with such a question since the dawn of time? It is
true that our own physical needs, and even our luxuries, were assured for
the future. All the stores of food, all the vintages of wine, all the
treasures of art were ours for the taking. But what were we to _do_?
Some few tasks appealed to us at once, since they lay ready to our hands.
We descended into the kitchen and laid the two domestics upon their
respective beds. They seemed to have died without suffering, one in the
chair by the fire, the other upon the scullery floor. Then we carried in
poor Austin from the yard. His muscles were set as hard as a board in
the most exaggerated rigor mortis, while the contraction of the fibres
had drawn his mouth into a hard sardonic grin. This symptom was
prevalent among all who had died from the poison. Wherever we went we
were confronted by those grinning faces, which seemed to mock at our
dreadful position, smiling silently and grimly at the ill-fated survivors
of their race.

"Look here," said Lord John, who had paced restlessly about the
dining-room whilst we partook of some food, "I don't know how you fellows
feel about it, but for my part, I