ame the inevitable reaction; the men bleeding from a
score of wounds, weak from loss of blood, and sick from the memory of
the things they had been compelled to do, threw themselves upon the
ground utterly exhausted.

"We must get out of here," said the Doctor, after they had been lying
quiet for a time, with the strident shrieks of hundreds of the dying
little creatures sounding in their ears. "That was pretty near the end."

"It isn't far," the Chemist answered, "when we get started."

"We must get water," the Doctor went on. "These cuts----" They had used
nearly all their drinking-water washing out their wounds, which Aura and
Lylda had bound up with strips of cloth torn from their garments.

The Chemist got upon his feet. "There's no water nearer than the Forest
River," he said. "That tunnel over there comes out very near it."

"What makes you think we won't have another scrap getting out?" the Very
Young Man wanted to know. He had entirely recovered from the effects of
the stone that had struck him on the temple, and was in better condition
than any of the other men.

"I'm sure," the Chemist said confidently, "they were through; they will
not attack us again; for some time at least. The tunnels will be
deserted."

The Big Business Man stood up also.

"We'd better get going while we have the chance," he said. "This getting
smaller--I don't like it."

They started soon after, and, true to the Chemist's prediction, met no
further obstacle to their safe passage through the tunnels. When they
had reached the forest above, none of the little people were in sight.

The Big Business Man heaved a long sigh of relief. "Thank goodness we're
here at last," he said. "I didn't realize how good these woods would
look."

In a few minutes more they were at the edge of the river, bathing their
wounds in its cooling water, and replenishing their drinking-bottles.

"How do we get across?" the Very Young Man asked.

"We won't have to cross it," the Chemist answered with a smile. "The
tunnel took us under."

"Let's eat here," the Very Young Man suggested, "and take a sleep; we're
about all in."

"We ought to get larger first," protested the Big Business Man. They
were at this time about four times Oroid size; the forest trees, so huge
when last they had seen them, now seemed only rather large saplings.

"Some one of us must stay awake," the Doctor said. "But there do not
seem to be any Oroids up here."

"What do the