ch only their heads and arms projected. This machine, which
resembled an elongated bicycle, went by at a tremendous rate, though
whence its motive power came did not appear. It carried twenty pairs
of men, each of whom held in his hand some small but doubtless deadly
weapon, that in appearance resembled an orange. Other similar machines
which followed carried from forty to a hundred pairs of men.

The marvel of the piece, however, were the aircraft. These came by in
great numbers. Sometimes they flew in flocks like wild geese, sometimes
singly, sometimes in line and sometimes in ordered squadrons, with
outpost and officer ships and an exact distance kept between craft and
craft. None of them seemed to be very large or to carry more than
four or five men, but they were extraordinarily swift and as agile as
swallows. Moreover they flew as birds do by beating their wings, but
again we could not guess whence came their motive power.

The review vanished, and next appeared a scene of festivity in a huge,
illuminated hall. The Great King sat upon a dais and behind him was that
statue of Fate, or one very similar to it, beneath which we stood. Below
him in the hall were the feasters seated at long tables, clad in the
various costumes of their countries. He rose and, turning, knelt before
the statue of Fate. Indeed he prostrated himself thrice in prayer. Then
taking his seat again, he lifted a cup of wine and pledged that vast
company. They drank back to him and prostrated themselves before him as
he had done before the image of Fate. Only I noted that certain men clad
in sacerdotal garments not at all unlike those which are worn in the
Greek Church to-day, remained standing.

Now all this exhibition of terrestrial pomp faded. The next scene was
simple, that of the death-bed of this same king--we knew him by his
wizened features. There he lay, terribly old and dying. Physicians,
women, courtiers, all were there watching the end. The tableau vanished
and in place of it appeared that of the youthful successor amidst
cheering crowds, with joy breaking through the clouds of simulated grief
upon his face. It vanished also.

"Thus did great king succeed great king for ages upon ages," said Yva.
"There were eighty of them and the average of their reigns was 700
years. They ruled the earth as it was in those days. They gathered up
learning, they wielded power, their wealth was boundless. They nurtured
the arts, they discovered secre