ined him. Something
seemed to be coming into them like a fine frost in a winter wind. Then
he called to Bryce to let the car descend very slowly. It went down,
down, gradually approaching the great shell. When the bottom of the car
was within two feet of it, Clewe rang to stop. He looked down at the
complicated machine he had worked upon so long, with something like a
feeling of affection. This he knew, it was his own. Looking upon
its familiar form, he felt that he had a companion in this region of
unreality.

Pushing back the sliding door of the car, Clewe sat upon the bottom and
cautiously put out his feet and legs, lowering them until they touched
the shell. It was firm and solid. Although he knew it must be so,
the immovability of the great mass of iron gave him a sudden shock of
mysterious fear. How could it be immovable when there was nothing under
it?

But he must get out of that car, he must explore, he must find out.
There certainly could be no danger so long as he could cling to his
shell.

He now cautiously got out of the car and let himself down upon the
shell. It was not a pleasant surface to stand upon, being uneven, with
great spiral ribs, and Clewe sat down upon it, clinging to it with
his hands. Then he leaned over to one side and looked beneath him. The
shadows of that shell went down, down, down, until it made him sick to
look at it. He drew back quickly, clutched the shell with his arms,
and shut his eyes. He felt as if he were about to drop with it into a
measureless depth of atmosphere.

But he soon raised himself. He had not come down here to be frightened,
to let his nerves run away with him. He had come to find out things.
What was it that this shell rested upon? Seizing two of the ribs with a
strong clutch, he let himself hang over the sides of the shell until
his feet were level with its lower side. They touched something hard.
He pressed them downward; it was very hard. He raised himself and stood
upon the substance which supported the shell. It was as solid as any
rock. He looked down and saw his shadow stretching far beneath him. It
seemed as if he were standing upon petrified air. He put out one foot
and he moved a little, still holding on to the shell. He walked, as if
upon solid air, to the foremost end of the long projectile. It relieved
him to turn his thoughts from what was around him to this familiar
object. He found its conical end shattered and broken.

After a little he sl