ler room on the same level. I afterwards saw other subterranean
houses in the island. They were all alike in plan, and the rooms were
all small and so low that when I stood erect I could easily touch the
ceiling with my hand. The total absence of decoration, and the
simplicity and scarcity of the furniture, were not specially
characteristic of my host. AEsthetic pleasure was very slightly
appreciated by any of the first-class beings in Thule.

A pneumatic mattress lay at one end of the room which we had now
entered, and there were two dials on the wall, each provided with a
moving hand. There was no other furniture of any kind.

"There is your bed," said my host. "Now sleep."

"I should hardly have called it a bed," I said dubiously.

"It is not the barbarian idea of a bed. We abandoned bed-clothes of
every description long ago. They are not hygienic. All that is necessary
is to raise the temperature of the room in which the sleeper lies. This
you can easily do by altering the hand on the first of these dials,
which controls the heat. It stands at present at fifteen. When I sleep I
generally put it up to twenty. We will try it at twenty, and you can
advance it farther if you find yourself chilly. The other dial controls
the lighting and gives you five degrees of light down to absolute
darkness."

"I wonder," I said, "if I might have my clothes dried. They are still
damp, I fear."

He looked at my garments with marked distaste.

"If you will put them outside the door," he said, "I will see that they
are thrown into the refuse-destructor, and will order proper clothes to
be provided for you in their place. You will sleep for one hour, and
shortly after that I shall return. By the way, how comes it that you
speak our language?"

"I speak English," I said.

"English," he said meditatively. "English. I have heard that word
somewhere. No, don't explain. I can easily obtain the information."

He now left me. I put the hand on the heat dial at twenty-five. Although
I had no clothes of any description, I felt pleasantly warm, and in
spite of the excitement caused by the novelty of my experience, I soon
fell asleep. This may be ascribed either to the fatigues I had undergone
or to the potency of the drugs administered to me.

CHAPTER II

When I awoke, it seemed to me that I must have slept for some six or
eight hours, yet it had been but one hour only. I felt perfectly
refreshed and well. I had shut off nea