odigious in its volume!

* * * * *

Garry Connell stood trembling with unnamed fear. This sound was
unbearable; it beat upon his ears; it battered his whole body; it
searched out every quivering nerve and tore at it with fingers of
fire. Still higher!--and the scream was piercing and torturing his
brain. He felt the jerk of uncontrollable muscles.

The whirling machine was a blur of light, and he longed with every
fibre of his tortured mind to throw himself upon it--into
it!--anything to end the unbearable impact from on high. His body,
assailed by a clamor that was physical torment, could not move; the
vibrations beat him down with crushing force, while the shrieking
voice rose higher, then grew faint, and, with a final whisper, died to
nothingness.

And still Garry felt himself sinking; the room was blurred; the
excruciating agony of tortured nerves melted into a lethargy that
swept through him. Dimly he sensed that the monstrous, quivering,
bell-topped thing was still launching its devastating rain of
vibrations; they were above the range of hearing; but he felt his body
quivering in response to the unheard note. Then even these vague
fragments of understanding left him. The towering, soundless thing was
indistinct ... it vanished in the darkness that closed about....

He was upon the floor in a crouching heap when the tremors that shook
him ceased. His mind, in the same instant, was cleared, and he knew
that the soundless vibrations from the bell had ended. A wave of
thankfulness flooded through him, and he luxuriated in the utter
silence of the room--until that silence was broken by another sound.

It was hard and metallic, like the click of a withdrawn bolt, and came
first from the case at his side. A second sharp rap replied from the
other raised casket, then an echoing tattoo of metallic impacts
rattled and clattered in the resounding room. Each of the hundreds of
caskets was adding its voice to the clacking chorus.

* * * * *

The paralysis that had held Garry's muscles was gone, and he came
slowly to his feet to see the edge of the cover he had tried vainly
to move, rising smoothly in the air. His eyes darted about; the second
casket was opening; beyond were countless others; the room was alive
with silent motion where metal lids lifted like petals of flowers
unfolding to the sun.

The machine had done it! The conviction came to him abrup