THE ROOF SPACES
As the fans in the of the room and permitted of the night, in thereby. And Graham, underneath, was by the of a voice.
He up and saw in the of the rotation, dark and dim, the and of a man him. Then a dark hand was extended, the it, and on with a little on the of its thin blade, and something to upon the floor, silently.
Graham looked down, and there were of blood at his feet. He looked up again in a excitement. The had gone.
He motionless—his every upon the of darkness. He aware of some faint, remote, dark through the air. They came him, fitfully, eddyingly, and passed out of the from the fan. A of light flickered, the white, and then the came again. Warmed and as he was, he that it was a of him.
Graham walked across the room and came to the again. He saw the of a man pass near. There was a of whispering. Then a on some substance, effort, voices, and the stopped. A of into the room, and they touched the floor. "Don't be afraid," said a voice.
Graham under the vane. "Who are you?" he whispered.
For a moment there was nothing but a of the fan, and then the of a man was into the opening. His appeared nearly to Graham; his dark was wet with of upon it. His arm up into the something unseen. He had a and eyes, and the of his were swollen. He to be himself to maintain his position.
For neither he Graham spoke.
"You were the Sleeper?" said the at last.
"Yes," said Graham. "What do you want with me?"
"I come from Ostrog, Sire."
"Ostrog?"
The man in the his so that his profile was Graham. He appeared to be listening. Suddenly there was a exclamation, and the just in time to the of the fan. And when Graham up there was nothing visible but the slowly snow.
It was a of an hour anything returned to the ventilator. But at last came the same again; the fans stopped and the reappeared. Graham had all this time in the same place, and excited.
"Who are you? What do you want?" he said.
"We want to speak to you, Sire," said the intruder. "We want—I can't the thing. We have been trying to a way to you—these three days."
"Is it rescue?" Graham. "Escape?"
"Yes, Sire. If you will."
"You are my party—the party of the Sleeper?"
"Yes, Sire."
"What am I to do?" said Graham.
There was a struggle. The stranger's arm appeared, and his hand was bleeding. His came into view over the of the funnel. "Stand away from me," he said, and he on his hands and one at Graham's feet. The noisily. The rolled over, up and panting, hand to a shoulder, and with his on Graham.
"You are the Sleeper," he said. "I saw you asleep. When it was the law that anyone might see you."
"I am the man who was in the trance," said Graham. "They have me here. I have been here since I awoke—at least three days."
The about to speak, something, at the door, and left Graham and ran it, quick words. A of in his hand, and he tap, tap, a quick of upon the hinges. "Mind!" a voice. "Oh!" The voice came from above.
Graham up, saw the of two feet, ducked, was on the by one of them, and a weight him to the earth. He on his and forward, and the weight over his head. He up and saw a second man from above seated him.
"I did not see you, Sire," the man. He rose and Graham to rise. "Are you hurt, Sire?" he panted. A of on the began, something close to Graham's face, and a of white metal danced, over, and upon the floor.
"What is this?" Graham, and looking at the ventilator.
"Who are you? What are you going to do? Remember, I nothing."
"Stand back," said the stranger, and him from under the as another of metal heavily.
"We want you to come, Sire," the newcomer, and Graham at his again, saw a new cut had from white to red on his forehead, and a of little of blood starting therefrom. "Your people call for you."
"Come where? My people?"
"To the about the markets. Your life is in here. We have spies. We learned but just in time. The Council has decided—this very day—either to or kill you. And is ready. The people are drilled, the Wind-Vane police, the engineers, and the way-gearers are with us. We have the crowded—shouting. The whole city against the Council. We have arms." He the blood with his hand. "Your life here is not worth—"
"But why arms?"
"The people have to protect you, Sire. What?"
He as the man who had come a with his teeth. Graham saw the start back, to them to themselves, and move as if to the opening door.
As he did so Howard appeared, a little in one hand and his downcast. He started, looked up, the door him, the side-ways, and the him the ear. He like a tree, and as he the of the room. The man who had him hastily, his for a moment, rose, and returned to his work at the door.
"Your poison!" said a voice in Graham's ear.
Then they were in darkness. The lights had been extinguished. Graham saw the of the with above it and dark moving hastily. Three on the vane. Some thing—a ladder—was being through the opening, and a hand appeared a yellow light.
He had a moment of hesitation. But the manner of these men, their swift
alacrity, their words, so with his own of the
Council, with his idea and of a rescue, that it not a moment.
And his people him!
"I do not understand," he said. "I trust. Tell me what to do."
The man with the cut Graham's arm. "Clamber up the ladder," he whispered. "Quick. They will have heard—"
Graham for the with hands, put his on the rung, and, his head, saw over the of the nearest man, in the yellow of the light, the first-comer over Howard and still at the door. Graham to the again, and was by his and helped up by those above, and then he was on something hard and cold and the funnel.
He shivered. He was aware of a great in the temperature. Half a dozen men about him, and light of touched hands and and melted. For a moment it was dark, then for a a white, and then was dark again.
He saw he had come out upon the of the city which had replaced the houses, and open of Victorian London. The place upon which he was level, with it in every direction. The of a number of and through the and snowfall, and with a as the wind rose and fell. Some way off an white light up from below, touched the with a glitter, and an in the night; and here and there, low down, some wind-driven with sparks.
All this he in a manner as his about him. Someone a thick soft of fur-like about him, and it by at and shoulders. Things were said briefly, decisively. Someone him forward.
Before his mind was yet clear a dark shape his arm. "This way," said this shape, him along, and pointed Graham across the in the direction of a of light. Graham obeyed.
"Mind!" said a voice, as Graham against a cable. "Between them and not across them," said the voice. And, "We must hurry."
"Where are the people?" said Graham. "The people you said me?"
The did not answer. He left Graham's arm as the path narrower, and the way with strides. Graham blindly. In a minute he himself running. "Are the others coming?" he panted, but no reply. His and ran on. They came to a of of open metal-work, to the direction they had come, and they to this. Graham looked back, but the had the others.
"Come on!" said his guide. Running now, they near a little high in the air. "Stoop," said Graham's guide, and they an up to the of the vane. "This way!" and they were in a full of snow, two low of metal that presently rose high. "I will go first," said the guide. Graham his about him and followed. Then came a narrow across which the to the of the side. Graham over the once and the was black. For a moment he his flight. He not look again, and his brain as he through the liquid snow.
Then out of the they and across a wide space with snow, and for its to lights that to and underneath. He at this looking substance, but his ran on unheeding, and so they came to and up steps to the of a great of glass. Round this they went. Far a number of people to be dancing, and music through the dome…. Graham he a through the snowstorm, and his him on with a new of haste. They to a space of windmills, one so that only the of its came into and up again and was in the night and the snow. They for a time through the of its supports, and came at last above a place of moving like the place into which Graham had looked from the balcony. They across the that this of platforms, on hands and of the of the snowfall.
For the most part the was bedewed, and Graham saw only of the below, but near the of the the was clear, and he himself looking upon it all. For awhile, in of the of his guide, he gave way to and spread-eagled on the glass, and paralysed. Far below, and dots, the people of the city in their daylight, and the moving ran on their journey. Messengers and men on unknown along the and the were with men. It was like into a hive, and it him with only a of unknown to save him from a fall. The warm and lit, and Graham was wet now to the skin with snow, and his were with cold. For a space he not move. "Come on!" his guide, with terror in his voice. "Come on!"
Graham the of the by an effort.
Over the ridge, his guide's example, he about and the opposite very swiftly, a little of snow. While he was he of what would if some should come in his way. At the he to his in slush, for an again. His was already up a metal screen to a level expanse.
Through the above this another line of windmills, and then the of the was with a sound. It was a of that to come from every point of the compass.
"They have missed us already!" Graham's in an of terror, and suddenly, with a flash, the night day.
Above the snow, from the of the wind-wheels, appeared of light. They in in every direction. As as his the they glared.
"Get on this," Graham's conductor, and him to a long of metal that ran like a two of snow. It warm to Graham's feet, and a of steam rose from it.
"Come on!" his ten yards off, and, without waiting, ran through the the iron supports of the next range of wind-wheels. Graham, from his astonishment, as fast, of his capture….
In a score of they were a of and black with moving the wheels. Graham's ran on for some time, and and into a black in the of the of a support. In another moment Graham was him.
They and out.
The upon which Graham looked was very wild and strange. The had now almost ceased; only a passed now and again across the picture. But the of level them was a white, only by and moving and of darkness, Titans of shadow. All about them, structures, iron girders, as it to him, interlaced, and the of wind-wheels, moving in the lull, passed in great and up into a haze. Wherever the snow-spangled light down, and girders, and with a halting, resolution, passed and into the black. And with all that activity, with an of and design, this snow-clad of of all presence save themselves, as and and by men as some Alpine snowfield.
"They will be us," the leader. "We are there yet. Cold as it is we must here for a space—at least until it more again."
His teeth in his head.
"Where are the markets?" asked Graham out. "Where are all the people?"
The other no answer.
"Look!" Graham, close, and very still.
The had thick again, and with the out of the black of the sky came something, and large and very swift. It came in a and round, wide and a of white steam it, rose with an easy and up the air, in a wide curve, and again in the of snow. And, through the of its body, Graham saw two little men, very minute and active, the about him, as it to him, with glasses. For a second they were clear, then through a thick of snow, then small and distant, and in a minute they were gone.
"Now!" his companion. "Come!"
He Graham's sleeve, and the two were the of iron-work the wind-wheels. Graham, blindly, with his leader, who had on him suddenly. He himself a dozen yards of a black chasm. It as as he see right and left. It to cut off their progress in either direction.
"Do as I do," his guide. He and to the edge, his over and until one leg hung. He to for something with his foot, it, and over the into the gulf. His reappeared. "It is a ledge," he whispered. "In the dark all the way along. Do as I did."
Graham hesitated, upon all fours, to the edge, and into a blackness. For a moment he had neither to go on retreat, then he sat and his leg down, his guide's hands at him, had a of over the into the unfathomable, splashed, and himself in a gutter, dark.
"This way," the voice, and he along the through the thaw, pressing himself against the wall. They along it for some minutes. He to pass through a hundred of misery, to pass minute after minute through a hundred of cold, damp, and exhaustion. In a little while he to his hands and feet.
The downwards. He that they were now many the of the buildings. Rows of white like the of blind-drawn rose above them. They came to the end of a above one of these white windows, visible and into shadows. Suddenly his hand came against his guide's. "Still!" the very softly.
He looked up with a start and saw the of the machine slowly and overhead the of snow-flecked grey-blue sky. In a moment it was again.
"Keep still; they were just turning."
For were motionless, then Graham's up, and the of the with some tackle.
"What is that?" asked Graham.
The only answer was a cry. The man motionless. Graham and saw his dimly. He was the long of sky, and Graham, his eyes, saw the machine small and and remote. Then he saw that the spread on either side, that it them, that every moment it larger. It was the of the them.
The man's movements convulsive. He two into Graham's hand. Graham not see them, he their by feeling. They were by thin to the cable. On the were hand of some soft substance. "Put the your legs," the hysterically, "and the holdfasts. Grip tightly, grip!"
Graham did as he was told.
"Jump," said the voice. "In heaven's name, jump!"
For one second Graham not speak. He was that his face. He said nothing. He to violently. He looked at the that up the sky as it upon him.
"Jump! Jump—in God's name! Or they will have us," Graham's guide, and in the of his him forward.
Graham convulsively, gave a cry, a in of himself, and then, as the machine over them, into the of that darkness, seated on the and the with the of death. Something cracked, something against a wall. He the of the on its rope. He the shout. He a pair of into his back…. He was through the air, through the air. All his was in his hands. He would have but he had no breath.
He into a light that him the tighter. He the great passage with the ways, the lights and girders. They and by him. He had a of a great mouth to him up.
He was in the dark again, falling, falling, with hands, and behold! a clap of sound, a of light, and he was in a with a of people his feet. The people! His people! A proscenium, a stage up him, and his to a to the right of this. He he was slower, and very much slower. He of "Saved! The Master. He is safe!" The stage up him with swiftness. Then—
He the man him as if terrified, and this was by a from below. He that he was no longer along the but with it. There was a of yells, screams, and cries. He something soft against his hand, and the impact of a through his arm….
He wanted to be still and the people were him. He he was to the and some drink, but he was sure. He did not notice what of his guide. When his mind was clear again he was on his feet; hands were him to stand. He was in a big alcove, the position that in his previous had been to the boxes. If this was a theatre.
A was in his ears, a roar, the of a multitude. "It is the Sleeper! The Sleeper is with us!"
"The Sleeper is with us! The Master—the Owner! The Master is with us.
He is safe."
Graham had a of a great with people. He saw no individuals, he was of a of pink faces, of arms and garments, he the of a over him, him up. There were balconies, galleries, great perspectives, and people, a of people, packed and cheering. Across the nearer space the like a snake. It had been cut by the men of the machine at its upper end, and had into the hall. Men to be this out of the way. But the whole was vague, the very and with the of the voices.
He and looked at those about him. Someone supported him by one arm. "Let me go into a little room," he said, weeping; "a little room," and say no more. A man in black forward, took his arm. He was aware of men opening a door him. Someone him to a seat. He staggered. He sat and his with his hands; he was violently, his was at an end. He was of his cloak, he not how; his he saw were black with wet. People were about him, were happening, but for some time he gave no to them.
He had escaped. A of told him that. He was safe. These were the people who were on his side. For a space he for breath, and then he sat still with his covered. The air was full of the of men.
