allest knot of
black and red specks that crawled amidst these places.

He stretched a huge black arm across the luminous picture, and showed
the room whence Graham had escaped, and across the chasm of ruins the
course of his flight. Graham recognised the gulf across which the gutter
ran, and the wind-wheels where he had crouched from the flying machine.
The rest of his path had succumbed to the explosion. He looked again at
the Council House, and it was already half hidden, and on the right a
hillside with a cluster of domes and pinnacles, hazy, dim and distant,
was gliding into view.

"And the Council is really overthrown?" he said.

"Overthrown," said Ostrog.

"And I--. Is it indeed true that I?"

"You are Master of the World."

"But that white flag--"

"That is the flag of the Council--the flag of the Rule of the World. It
will fall. The fight is over. Their attack on the theatre was their last
frantic struggle. They have only a thousand men or so, and some of these
men will be disloyal. They have little ammunition. And we are reviving
the ancient arts. We are casting guns."

"But--help. Is this city the world?"

"Practically this is all they have left to them of their empire.
Abroad the cities have either revolted with us or wait the issue. Your
awakening has perplexed them, paralysed them."

"But haven't the Council flying machines? Why is there no fighting with
them?"

"They had. But the greater part of the aeronauts were in the revolt with
us. They wouldn't take the risk of fighting on our side, but they would
not stir against us. We had to get a pull with the aeronauts. Quite half
were with us, and the others knew it. Directly they knew you had got
away, those looking for you dropped. We killed the man who shot at
you--an hour ago. And we occupied the flying stages at the outset in
every city we could, and so stopped and captured the airplanes, and as
for the little flying machines that turned out--for some did--we kept up
too straight and steady a fire for them to get near the Council House.
If they dropped they couldn't rise again, because there's no clear space
about there for them to get up. Several we have smashed, several others
have dropped and surrendered, the rest have gone off to the Continent
to find a friendly city if they can before their fuel runs out. Most of
these men were only too glad to be taken prisoner and kept out of harm's
way. Upsetting in a flying machine isn't a very attra