e us
small enough to climb down into that."

"Do you think we need so many?" asked the Big Business Man thoughtfully.
"You know, Frank, we're making an awful lot of work for ourselves,
playing this thing so absolutely safe. Think of what a distance down
that will be after we have got as small as twelve pills will make us. It
might take us days to get to the bottom."

"How did Rogers get down?" the Very Young Man wanted to know.

"He took the twelve pills here," the Doctor answered.

"But as I understand it, he fell most of the way down while he was still
big, and then got small afterwards at the bottom." This from the Big
Business Man.

"I don't know how about you," said the Very Young Man drily, "but I'd
much rather take three days to walk down than fall down in one day."

The Doctor smiled. "I still think," he said, "that we had better stick
to the directions Rogers left us. Then at least there is no danger of
our getting lost in size. But I agree with you, Jack. I'd rather not
fall down, even if it takes longer to walk."

"I wonder----" began the Big Business Man. "You know I've been
thinking--it does seem an awful waste of energy for us to let ourselves
get smaller than absolutely necessary in climbing down these places.
Maybe you don't realize it."

"I do," said the Very Young Man, looking sorrowfully at the ragged shoes
on his feet and the cuts and bruises on his legs.

"What I mean is----" persisted the Big Business Man.

"How far do you suppose we have actually traveled since we started last
night?"

"That's pretty hard to estimate," said the doctor. "We have walked
perhaps fifteen miles altogether, besides the climb down. I suppose we
actually came down five or six thousand feet."

"And at the size we are now it would have been twelve thousand feet
down, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," answered the Doctor, "it would."

"And just think," went on the Big Business Man, "right now, based on the
size we were when we began, we've only gone some six feet altogether
from the place we started."

"And a sixteenth of an inch or less since we left the surface of the
ring," said the Doctor smiling.

"Gee, that's a weird thought," the Very Young Man said, as he gazed in
awe at the lofty heights about them.

"I've been thinking," continued the Big Business Man. "You say we must
be careful not to get lost in size. Well, suppose instead of taking
twelve pills here, we only take six. That should be enough to get us