all, I came to a weak pause, and wondered, dimly, what
was my intent. I looked to my left, and saw my old chair. The thought of
sitting in it brought a faint sense of comfort to my bewildered
wretchedness. Yet, because I was so weary and old and tired, I would
scarcely brace my mind to do anything but stand, and wish myself past
those few yards. I rocked, as I stood. The floor, even, seemed a place
for rest; but the dust lay so thick and sleepy and black. I turned, with
a great effort of will, and made toward my chair. I reached it, with a
groan of thankfulness. I sat down.

Everything about me appeared to be growing dim. It was all so strange
and unthought of. Last night, I was a comparatively strong, though
elderly man; and now, only a few hours later--! I looked at the little
dust-heap that had once been Pepper. Hours! and I laughed, a feeble,
bitter laugh; a shrill, cackling laugh, that shocked my dimming senses.

For a while, I must have dozed. Then I opened my eyes, with a start.
Somewhere across the room, there had been a muffled noise of something
falling. I looked, and saw, vaguely, a cloud of dust hovering above a
pile of _debris_. Nearer the door, something else tumbled, with a crash.
It was one of the cupboards; but I was tired, and took little notice. I
closed my eyes, and sat there in a state of drowsy, semi-unconsciousness.
Once or twice--as though coming through thick mists--I heard noises,
faintly. Then I must have slept.

_XVI_

THE AWAKENING

I awoke, with a start. For a moment, I wondered where I was. Then
memory came to me....

The room was still lit with that strange light--half-sun, half-moon,
light. I felt refreshed, and the tired, weary ache had left me. I went
slowly across to the window, and looked out. Overhead, the river of
flame drove up and down, North and South, in a dancing semi-circle of
fire. As a mighty sleigh in the loom of time it seemed--in a sudden
fancy of mine--to be beating home the picks of the years. For, so vastly
had the passage of time been accelerated, that there was no longer any
sense of the sun passing from East to West. The only apparent movement
was the North and South beat of the sun-stream, that had become so swift
now, as to be better described as a _quiver_.

As I peered out, there came to me a sudden, inconsequent memory of that
last journey among the Outer worlds. I remembered the sudden vision that
had come to me, as I neared the Solar System, of t