, it is owing to the fact that the volume of
water has been turned away from the pit into the tunnel. Be prepared for
the worst. If your father cannot reach the machinery in the east soon
enough, our light will go out; and, worse than that, if Prince Marentel
should fail in his next venture with explosives, all hope will be gone."

"I have never desired to live so much as now," she answered, inclining
with an air of tenderness toward him. "I never knew what it was to fear
death till--till you came to us."

He made no reply. There was a lump in his throat and he could not trust
his voice to speech. Branasko and Johnston left them together to go into
the Electric Auditorium. They returned in great haste.

"The prince is ready for the explosion," panted Johnston. "Thorndyke, old
man, this is simply awful! It is not like standing up to be shot at, or
being jerked through the clouds in a balloon. It seems to me that out
there is the endless space of infinity, and that all the material world
is coming to an end. My God! look at that hellish fire, the awful smoke
and that black sky! Oh, the blasphemy of a such a paltry imitation of
the handiwork of the Creator! We are damned! I say damned, and by a just
and angry God!"

"Don't be a fool," said Thorndyke, and he threw a warning glance at
Bernardino, who, with staring, distended eyes was listening to Johnston.

"No, he is right," she said in a low tone. "I have never seen your
world, but I know my people must be woefully wrong. In your land they
say men teach things about Infinity and an eternal life for the soul;
and that one may prepare for that life by living pure, and in striving
to attain a high spiritual state. Oh, why have you not told me about
that? It is the one important thing. I have long wanted to know if my
soul will be safe at death, but I can learn nothing of my people. They
have always tried to rival God, and, in their mad pursuit of perfection
in science, they have been reduced to--this. That black cloud is the
frown of God, hose mad flames may burst forth at any moment and engulf
us."

She uttered a low groan and hung her head as if in prayer. Johnston and
Thorndyke were awed to silence. Never had the Englishman loved her as at
that moment. She was no longer simply a beautiful human creature, but
a divinity, speaking truths from Heaven itself. He felt too unworthy to
stand in her presence, and yet his heart was aching to comfort her.

She raised her pall