ve beneath his thrust,
but he did not break through. In sudden horror he wondered if he could.
If he did not, soon, they would be crushed to death by their own growth
within the room.

The Very Young Man knew there was still time to take the other drug. He
shoved again, but with the same result. Their bodies were bent double
now. The ceiling was pressing close upon them; the walls of the room
were at their elbow. The Very Young Man crooked his arm through the
little square orifice window that he found at his side, and, with a
signal to his companions, all three in unison heaved upwards with all
their strength. There came one agonizing instant of resistance; then
with a wrenching of wood, the clatter of falling stones and a sudden
crash, they burst through and straightened upright into the open air
above.

The Very Young Man sat still for a moment, breathing hard. Overhead
stretched the canopy of stars; around lay the city, shrunken now and
still steadily diminishing. Then he got unsteadily upon his feet,
pulling his companions up with him and shaking the bits of stone and
broken wood from him as he did so.

In a moment more the palace roof was down to their knees, and they
stepped out of the room. They heard a cry from below and saw the two
guards, standing amidst the debris, looking up at them through the torn
roof in fright and astonishment.

There came other shouts from within the palace now, and the sound of the
hurrying of many little feet. For some minutes more they grew larger, as
they stood upon the palace roof, clinging to one another and listening
to the spreading cries of excitement within the building and in the city
streets below them.

"Come on," said the Very Young Man finally, and he jumped off the roof
into the street. A group of little figures scattered as he landed, and
he narrowly escaped treading upon them.

So large had they grown that it was hardly more than a step down from
the roof; Aura and Loto were by the Very Young Man's side in a moment,
and immediately they started off, picking their way single file out of
the city. For a short time longer they continued growing; when they had
stopped the city houses stood hardly above their ankles.

It was difficult walking, for the street was narrow and the frightened
people in it were often unable to avoid their tread, but fortunately the
palace stood near the edge of the city, and soon they were past its last
houses and out into the open count