* *

Down, down, we went, till it seemed that our destination was the
center of the earth. Louder and louder grew the growling roar, the
ponderous thud and clank of huge machines.

We were in a huge chamber, hollowed out of the solid rock. Thousands
of men bustled out among great piles of lumber and steel rails. Huge
cranes rolled here and there, swinging their ponderous loads.
Officers shouted crisp orders. Green-uniformed privates sprang to
obey.

But no time was given me to get more than a glimpse of all this
activity. From out the gaping mouth of a hundred-foot-wide tunnel a
long train of flat cars came gliding. It halted and swayed on the
single rail, and the whir of the gyroscopic balancers filled the
cavern. A sharp order, and my companions leaped for the cars, lay
prone on the steel car-beds, and passed their belts through projecting
loops. I wondered, but imitated them. I buried my face in my arms, as
the others were doing.

There came the eery shriek of a siren: the train was moving. Swiftly
it gathered speed till it seemed as though my protesting body was
being forced through a wall of air grown suddenly solid. Myriad
fingers pulled at me, seeking to hurl me to destruction. Even through
my protecting arms my breath was forced back into my lungs, choking
me. The wind howled past with the wail of a thousand souls in torment.

Just as the limit of endurance was reached the terrific speed
slackened, and the long train ground to a halt. "All off! Lively now!"
came the command.

* * * * *

We were at the rail-head, and before me was the face of the tunnel.
Queer, hooded figures were there bending over wheeled tripods,
manipulating what appeared to be searchlights. But no shafts of light
leaped from the lenses. The tripods were rolling steadily forward.

I looked at the tunnel face again, then, startled, back to the hooded
men. I rubbed my eyes. Was I seeing things? No, by all that was holy,
it was so! The distance between the machines and the end wall of the
passage had not changed, but men and rock were ten--fifteen--twenty
feet away! They were boring; boring into the solid rock at tremendous
speed. _And the rock was melting, vanishing, disappearing into
nothingness in the awful blast projected from those machines!_

I gaped--my pose, my danger, forgotten. Almost as fast as a man could
run, the tunnel extended itself. It was phantasmal, incredible!

A rough hand