een trampled under foot, and walls, arcades and triumphal
arches had been thrown down. The fragments of statues lay here and
there, and the bodies of human beings filled the basins of broken
fountains.

"It is not the sun," explained Bernardino; "but the invention my father
spoke of. He is doing it to calm them."

Thorndyke made no answer. He stood as if transfixed, gazing at the
horizon. The rose-light had spread over a third of the sky when
gradually there appeared in its centre a bright circle of yellow light.
The yellow light faded, leaving a perfect picture of the throne of the
king; and as the now silent masses looked at the picture, a curtain
behind the throne parted and the king himself appeared. He advanced and
sat on the throne, and turned a calm face towards his subjects.

"Wonderful!" ejaculated Bernardino, and her face was full of hope. "See
what he will do!"

"Where is the picture?" asked Thorndyke; "can it be seen by all of--of
the people?"

"Yes, by all Alpha, for it is on the sky."

Thorndyke said nothing further, for the king had stood up, and with
hands out-stretched was bowing. Above the circle of light, as if cut out
of the solid blackness, in flaming letters stood the word,

"SILENCE!"

And there was silence. Even the lips of the wounded men closed as the
king began to speak. The sound of his voice seemed as far away as the
stars, and to permeate all space:--

"All danger is over. Tidings from the west state that the sun is
setting. No harm has come to it. It will rise in the morning, and the
moon and stars will be out in a few hours. Let the dead be removed, the
wounded cared for, and everything be repaired. This is my will."

That was all. The king bowed sedately and retired from the throne, and
the circle and pink glow faded from the black sky. The stillness
was unbroken for a moment, then glad murmurings were heard in all
directions.

"They are lighting the palace," cried the princess. "See, down there is
the arcade leading to the rotunda."

"I am glad it is over," said Thorndyke.

She grasped his arm and impulsively looked into his face. "But your
friend, we have forgotten him, and done nothing to save him, and now it
is too late."

"We could not help it; we had to think of our own safety."

"I shall send for Captain Tradmos and try to devise some other plan,"
she said, as they descended the stairs.

"We should not be seen together," she added, as they approached the
thro