, and yet
utterly beyond the touch of his finger-tips, Jim went mad. He would
not shout; he closed his lips in pride of race, pride of that
civilization that he had left twelve thousand years ahead of him. Not
like the shrieking Drilgoes on the platform, howling as each of them
in turn was forced into that maze of revolving knives. But he fought
as a madman fights. He hammered at the resilient air, while the sweat
ran down his face, he braced his feet upon the wooden tongue, and
sought to stay his forward progress. And all the while that infernal
force moved him steadily onward.

* * * * *

He was on the platform now. He was traveling the same route that the
Drilgoes had taken. The unseen force was shuffling him, Lucille, and
Parrish, pushing and pulling them. And, despite Jim's efforts, it was
Lucille who was first of the three ... and Jim second ... and old
Parrish third....

Jim heard Parrish's hoarse whisper behind him, "Death! Death! The
uranium!" He was fumbling at his breast, but the significance of the
words and gestures escaped him. He was staring ahead. Only three
living Drilgoes of the whole number of prisoners remained alive, and
suddenly it was borne in upon Jim that he knew the last of the three.

It was the Drilgo, Cain, who had been their companion in the Atom
Smasher--there, not a dozen feet distant. Cain, his bestial face, with
the ridged eyebrows and great jaws convulsed with terror and dripping
sweat. Cain, immediately in front of Lucille.

"God, let her not wake! Let her never know!" Jim breathed. The agony
would be but momentary. And there was nothing a man could not endure
if he must. He could even endure to see Lucille become--what the
Drilgoes had become. It would soon be over now.

The Eye was blinking overhead. The hideous stone faces of the
Atlantean gods looked down in leering mockery. Another of the Drilgoes
had gone the same route as the others. Cain was the second now,
Lucille the third victim, and he, Jim, would be the fourth.

Gritting his teeth, Jim saw the next Drilgo propelled forward into the
whirling knives. He saw the man fling up his arms, as if to shield his
head--and then he was a man no longer, and the horrible knives
revolved, and "Aiah! Aiah! Aiah!" cried the multitude.

Once more the mechanism whirred.... Once more the arms revolved. A
howl of terror broke from Cain's lips as he was propelled onward....

Then suddenly the whirring s