lay on has strings drawn from the centre of the
earth to the stars of heaven."

The rose-light had spread over the horizon and climbed almost to the
zenith, and with the dying booming and gentle clangor it began to fade
till all was dark again.

"Captain Tradmos ought to be here now," continued the princess, glancing
uneasily toward the stairway. "We may not have so good an opportunity as
this."

Ten minutes went by.

"Surely, something has gone wrong," whispered Bernardino. "I have never
seen the darkness last so long as this; besides, can't you hear the
muttering of the people?"

Thorndyke acknowledged that he did. He was about to add something else,
but was prevented by a loud blast from the trumpet in the tower.

Bernardino shrank from him and fell to trembling.

"What is the matter?" he asked. "The trumpet!" she gasped, "something
awful has happened!"

A moment of profound silence, then the murmuring of the crowd rose
sullenly like the moaning of a rising storm; a search-light flashed up
in the gloom and swept its uncertain stream from point to point, but it
died out. Another and another shone for an instant in different parts of
the city, but they all failed.

"Something awful has happened," repeated Bernardino, as if to herself;
"the lights will not burn!"

"Had we not better go down?" asked Thorndyke anxiously, excited by her
unusual perturbation.

For answer she mutely drew him to the eastern parapet. Far away in the
east there still lingered a faint hint of pink, but all over the whole
landscape darkness rested.

"See!" she exclaimed, pointing upward, "the clouds are thinning over the
sun, and yet there is no light. What can be the matter?"

At that juncture they heard soft steps on the roof and a voice calling:

"Bernardino! Princess Bernardino!"

"It is Tradmos," she ejaculated gladly, then she called out softly:

"Tradmos! Tradmos!"

"Here!" the voice said, and a figure loomed up before them. It was the
captain. He was panting violently, as if he had been running.

"What is it?" she asked, clasping his arm.

"The sun has gone out," he announced.

A groan escaped her lips and she swayed into Thorndyke's arms.

"The clouds are thinning over the sun, yet there is no light. The king
is excited; he fears a panic!"

"Has such a thing never happened?" asked Thorndyke.

"An hundred years ago; then thousands lost their lives. As soon as the
people suspect the cause of the delay they wil