of a second injection,
and were themselves put to sleep. We exempted you from the watch,
since you could have no companion, so that while we have lived about
seven years in the twenty, you have not aged at all."

"Not aged at all!" Dane exclaimed. "Why, I have wasted away to a mere
bagful of bones, and you others also."

The other smiled wistfully. "Even though life was the merest thread
there was still an infinitely slow using of bodily tissue. But the
drink we partook of as we awoke is a plasma that will very quickly
restore the lost body elements. In an hour we shall all have been
rejuvenated. You will be again the age you were on that fateful day in
2163, and the rest of us but seven years older. Look!" He moved aside,
so that Allen could see the others, who had gathered around his couch.
They were a curious semicircle of gaunt figures, but he could see that
they had subtly changed. Still emaciated beyond description, they were
no longer simulacra of death. The contours of their faces were
rounding, were filling out, and the faintest tinge of pink was
creeping into the yellow of their skins.

"Anthony, isn't it time that we opened the seals and went outside?
Haven't we been long enough in this prison?" It was a short man who
spoke, his voice impatient, and there was an eager murmur from the
others.

"I am as anxious as you." Anthony's slow words were dubious. "But it
may still be dangerous. The gas may have cleared away only from our
immediate vicinity. In hollows, or places where the air is stagnant,
it may still be toxic. It is my opinion that only one should go at
first, to investigate."

A babble of volunteering cries burst out, but Dane's voice cut through
the others. "Look here," the sentence tumbled from his lips. "I'm an
extra here. It doesn't matter whether I live or die--I have no special
knowledge. I cannot even father a family, since I have no wife. I am
the only one to go out as long as there is danger."

"The young man is right," some one said. "He is the logical choice."

"Very well," agreed Anthony, who appeared the leader. "He shall be the
first."

* * * * *

His instructions were few. One plane had been preserved, and was in
the shaft. Allan was to make a circuit of the neighborhood. If he
deemed it safe he was to visit the building, described to him, where
the fourth couple had lived, and see if he could find trace of them.
Then he was to return and repor