not knocked him
out.

It was death overtaking him. His heart was yielding, overtaxed from the
strain; and I think that there, at the last, he realized it. The blood
drained suddenly from his face and lips, leaving them livid. I saw fear,
then a wild horror in his eyes. He stood swaying. Then his knees gave
way and he toppled. He fell from his height in the air where I stood
gazing at him--fell forward on his face, his Titanic length spread all
across the top of this rocky landscape!

For a moment I did not move. My head was reeling, my ears roaring.
Blood streamed into my eyes. I wiped it away with a torn sleeve and
stood panting, gazing at the glowing distance around me.

I was a Titan, standing there. The body of Polter was shrinking at my
feet. The circular abyss of emptiness came nearer as this rocky eminence
contracted.

Suddenly my attention went to the sky overhead. Vague distant lights
were there. Then a broad flat blur seemed spread over me. Light
everywhere was growing. Beyond the nearby brink of the abyss was a white
reflected radiance from beneath. Abruptly I realized there was a level,
flat white plain running far off there in the distance.

Overhead a radiance contracted into a spot of light. A shape in the sky
moved! I heard a faraway rumble--a human voice!

The body of Polter lay at my feet. It was hardly the length of my
forearm. I stood, a Titan.

And then, with a shock of realization, I saw how tiny I was! This was
the broken top of that fragment of golden quartz the size of a walnut! I
was standing there, under the lens of the giant microscope in Polter's
dome-room laboratory, with half a dozen astounded Quebec police
officials peering down at me!

CHAPTER XII

I need not detail the aftermath of our emergence from the atom. Dr. Kent
and Babs followed me out within a few moments. But Alan was not with
them! He had seen Polter fall. His father and Babs were safe. The
sacrifice he had made in leaving Glora was no longer needed.

Down there on the rocky plateau, Dr. Kent suddenly realized that Alan
was dwindling.

"Father, I have to! Don't you understand? Glora's world is menaced. I
can't leave her like this. My duty to you and Babs is ended. I did my
best. You two are safe now."

"Alan! You can't go!"

He was already down at Dr. Kent's waist, Babs' size. He held up his
hand. "Dad, don't try to stop me. Good-bye." His rugged youthful face
was flushed, his voice choked. "You--yo