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The Sleeper Awakes Chapter 8 - The Roof Spaces · The H. G. Wells Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of The Sleeper Awakes by H. G. Wells.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Ryan Sutter. The Sleeper
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  Speaker 1: Awakes by H. G. Wells, Chapter eight. The roof spaces
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  Speaker 1: as the fans in the circular aperture of the inner
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  Speaker 1: room rotated and permitted glimpses of the night. Dim sounds
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  Speaker 1: drifted in thereby, and Graham, standing underneath, was startled by
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  Speaker 1: the sound of a voice. He peered up and saw,
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  Speaker 1: in the intervals of the rotation, dark and dim, the
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  Speaker 1: face and shoulders of a man regarding him. Then a
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  Speaker 1: dark hand was extended the swift veins struck. It swung
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  Speaker 1: round and beat on with a little brownish patch on
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  Speaker 1: the edge of its thin blade, and something began to fall.
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  Speaker 1: Therefrom upon the floor, dripping silently. Graham looked down, and
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  Speaker 1: there were spots of blood at his feet. He looked
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  Speaker 1: up again, in a strange excitement. The figure had gone.
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  Speaker 1: He remained motionless, his every sense intent upon the flickering
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  Speaker 1: patch of darkness. He became aware of some faint, remote,
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  Speaker 1: dark specks floating lightly through the outer air. They came
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  Speaker 1: down towards him, fitfully, eddyingly, and passed aside out of
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  Speaker 1: the uprush from the fan. A gleam of light flickered,
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  Speaker 1: the specks flashed white, and then the darkness came again,
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  Speaker 1: warmed and lit. As he was, he perceived that it
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  Speaker 1: was snowing within a few feet of him. Graham walked
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  Speaker 1: across the room and came back to the ventilator again.
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  Speaker 1: He saw the head of a man pass near. There
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  Speaker 1: was a sound of whispering, then a smart blow on
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  Speaker 1: some metallic substance effort voices, and the veins stopped. A
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  Speaker 1: gust of snow flakes whirled into the room and vanished
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  Speaker 1: before they touched the floor. Don't be afraid, said a voice.
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  Speaker 1: Graham stood under the vein.
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  Speaker 2: Who are you?
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  Speaker 1: He whispered. For a moment, there was nothing but a
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  Speaker 1: swaying of the fan, and then the head of a
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  Speaker 1: man was thrust cautiously into the opening. His face appeared
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  Speaker 1: nearly inverted to Graham. His dark hair was wet with
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  Speaker 1: dissolving flakes of snow upon it. His arm went up
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  Speaker 1: into the darkness, holding something unseen. He had a youthful
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  Speaker 1: face and bright eyes, and the veins of his forehead
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  Speaker 1: were swollen. He seemed to be exerting himself to maintain
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  Speaker 1: his position. For several seconds, neither he nor Graham spoke.
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  Speaker 1: You were the sleeper, said the stranger. At last, yes,
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  Speaker 1: said Graham. What do you want with me? I come
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  Speaker 1: from Ostrog's sire. Ostrog. The man in the ventilator twisted
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  Speaker 1: his head round so that his profile was toward Graham.
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  Speaker 1: He appeared to be listening. Suddenly there was a hasty exclamation,
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  Speaker 1: and the intruder sprang back, just in time to escape
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  Speaker 1: the sweep of the released fan, and when Graham peered
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  Speaker 1: up there was nothing visible but the slowly falling snow.
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  Speaker 1: It was perhaps a quarter of an hour before anything
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  Speaker 1: returned to the ventilator, but at last came the same
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  Speaker 1: metallic interference. Again, the fans stopped, and the face reappeared.
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  Speaker 1: Graham had remained all this time in the same place,
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  Speaker 1: alert and tremulously excited. Who are you? What do you want?
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  Speaker 1: He said? We want to speak to you, sire, said
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  Speaker 1: the intruder. We want I can't hold the thing. We've
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  Speaker 1: been trying to find it We've been trying to find
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  Speaker 1: a way to you these three days. Is it rescue,
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  Speaker 1: whispered Graham. Escape, Yes, sire, if you will, you are
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  Speaker 1: my party, the party of the sleeper. Yes, sire, What
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  Speaker 1: am I to do? Said Graham. There was a struggle.
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  Speaker 1: The stranger's arm appeared, and his hand was bleeding. His
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  Speaker 1: knees came into view over the edge of the funnel.
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  Speaker 1: Stand away from me, he said, and he dropped rather
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  Speaker 1: heavily on his hands and one shoulder at Graham's feet.
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  Speaker 1: The released ventilator whirled noisily. The stranger rolled over, sprang
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  Speaker 1: up nimbly, and stood panting, hand to Bruce's shoulder, with
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  Speaker 1: his bright eyes on Graham. You are indeed the sleeper,
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  Speaker 1: he said. I saw you asleep when it was the
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  Speaker 1: law that any one might see you. I am the
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  Speaker 1: man who was in the trance, said Graham. They've imprisoned
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  Speaker 1: me here. I've been here since I awoke, at least
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  Speaker 1: three days. The intruder seemed about to speak, heard something
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  Speaker 1: glanced swiftly at the door, and suddenly left Graham and
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  Speaker 1: ran towards it, shouting quick incoherent words. A bright wedge
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  Speaker 1: of steel flashed in his hand, and he began tap tap,
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  Speaker 1: a quick succession of blows upon the hinges. Mind cried
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  Speaker 1: a voice. Oh, the voice came from above. Graham glanced
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  Speaker 1: up saw the soles of two feet ducked, was struck
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  Speaker 1: on the shoulder by one of them, and a heavy
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  Speaker 1: weight bore him to the earth. He fell on his
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  Speaker 1: knees and forward, and the weight went over his head.
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  Speaker 1: He knelt up and saw a second man from above
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  Speaker 1: seated before him. I did not see you, sire, panted
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  Speaker 1: the man. He rose and assisted Graham to rise. Are
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  Speaker 1: you hurt, sire? He panted. A succession of heavy blows
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  Speaker 1: on the ventilator began. Something fell close to Graham's face,
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  Speaker 1: and a shivering edge of white metal danced, fell over
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  Speaker 1: and lay flat upon the floor. What is this, cried Graham,
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  Speaker 1: confused and looking at the ventilator.
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  Speaker 2: Who are you?
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  Speaker 1: What are you going to do?
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  Speaker 2: Remember?
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  Speaker 1: I understand nothing. Stand back, said the stranger, and drew
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  Speaker 1: him from under the ventilator, as another fragment of metal
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  Speaker 1: fell heavily. We want you to come, sire, panted the newcomer,
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  Speaker 1: and Graham, glancing at his feet again or at his
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  Speaker 1: face again, saw a new cut had changed from white
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  Speaker 1: to red on his forehead, and a couple of little
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  Speaker 1: trickles of blood started therefrom Your people call for you.
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  Speaker 1: Come where my people, to the hall about the markets.
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  Speaker 1: Your life is in danger here we have spies, we learned,
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  Speaker 1: but just in time. The council is decided this very day,
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  Speaker 1: either to drug or kill you. And everything is ready.
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  Speaker 1: The people are drilled, the wind vane, police, the engineers
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  Speaker 1: and have the wagars are with us. We have the
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  Speaker 1: halls crowded, shouting. The whole city shouts against the council.
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  Speaker 1: We have arms. He wiped the blood with his hand.
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  Speaker 1: Your life here is not worth but why arms? The
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  Speaker 1: people have reason to protect you, sire what? He turned
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  Speaker 1: quickly as the man who had first come down made
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  Speaker 1: a hissing with his teeth. Graham saw the latter start back,
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  Speaker 1: gesticulate to them to conceal themselves and move as if
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  Speaker 1: to hide behind the opening door. As he did so,
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  Speaker 1: Howard appeared, a little tray in one hand and his
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  Speaker 1: heavy face downcast. He started looked up, The door slammed
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  Speaker 1: behind him, The tray tilted sideways, and the steel wedge
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  Speaker 1: struck him behind the ear. He went down like a
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  Speaker 1: felled tree, and lay as he fell athwart the floor
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  Speaker 1: of the outer room. The man who had struck him
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  Speaker 1: bent hastily, studied his face for a moment, rose and
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  Speaker 1: returned to his work at the door. You're poison, said
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  Speaker 1: a voice in Graham's ear. Then abruptly they were in darkness.
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  Speaker 1: The innumerable cornice lights had been extinguished. Graham saw the
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  Speaker 1: aperture of the ventilator, with ghostly snow whirling above it,
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  Speaker 1: and dark figures moving hastily. Three knelt on the vein
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  Speaker 1: some dim thing. A ladder was being lowered through the opening,
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  Speaker 1: and a hand appeared holding a fitful yellow light. He
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  Speaker 1: had a moment of hesitation, But the manner of these men,
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  Speaker 1: their swift alacrity, their words, marched so completely with his
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  Speaker 1: own fears of the council, with his idea and hope
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  Speaker 1: of a rescue, that it lasted not a moment, and
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  Speaker 1: his people awaited him. I do not understand, he said,
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  Speaker 1: I trust tell me what to do. The man with
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  Speaker 1: the cut brow gripped Graham's arm. Clamber up the ladder,
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  Speaker 1: he whispered. Quick they will have heard. Graham felt for
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  Speaker 1: the ladder with extended hands, put his foot on the
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  Speaker 1: lower rung, and turning his head saw over the shoulder
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  Speaker 1: of the nearest man. In the yellow flicker of the light,
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  Speaker 1: the first comer astride over Howard and still working at
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  Speaker 1: the door. Graham turned to the ladder again and was
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  Speaker 1: thrust by his conductor and helped up help by those above.
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  Speaker 1: And then he was standing on something hard and cold
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  Speaker 1: and slippery outside the ventilating funnel. He shivered. He was
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  Speaker 1: aware of a great difference in the temperature. Half a
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  Speaker 1: dozen men stood about him, and light flakes of snow
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  Speaker 1: touched hands and face and melted. For a moment it
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  Speaker 1: was dark, then for a flash a ghastly violet white,
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  Speaker 1: and then everything was dark again. He saw he had
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  Speaker 1: come out upon the roof of the vast city structure,
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  Speaker 1: which had replaced the miscellaneous houses streets in open spaces
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  Speaker 1: of Victoria, London. The place upon which he stood was level,
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  Speaker 1: with huge serpentine cables lying athwart it in every direction.
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  Speaker 1: The circular wheels of a number of windmills loomed indistinct
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  Speaker 1: and gigantic through the darkness and snowfall, and roared with
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  Speaker 1: a varying loudness as the fitful wind rose and fell
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  Speaker 1: some way off. An intermittent white light smote up from below,
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  Speaker 1: touched the snow eddies with a transient glitter, and made
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  Speaker 1: an evanescent specter in the night. And here and there
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  Speaker 1: low down, some vaguely outlined wind driven mechanism flickered with
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  Speaker 1: livid sparks. All this he appreciated in a fragmentary manner.
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  Speaker 1: As his rescuers stood about him. Someone threw a thick,
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  Speaker 1: soft cloak of fur like texture about him and fastened
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  Speaker 1: it by buckled straps that waist and shoulders. Things were
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  Speaker 1: said briefly, decisively. Someone thrust him forward before his mind
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  Speaker 1: was yet clear. A dark shape gripped his arm. This way,
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  Speaker 1: said this shape, urging him along, and pointed Graham across
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  Speaker 1: the flat roof in the direction of a dim, semi
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  Speaker 1: circular haze of light. Graham obeyed, mind, said a voice.
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  Speaker 1: As Graham stumbled across the cable between them and not
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  Speaker 1: across them, said the voice. And we must hurry. Where
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  Speaker 1: are the people, said Graham, The people, you said, awaited me.
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  Speaker 1: The stranger did not answer. He left Graham's arm as
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  Speaker 1: the path grew narrower, and led the way with rapid
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  Speaker 1: strides Graham followed blindly. In a minute he found himself running.
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  Speaker 1: Are the others coming? He panted, but received no reply.
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  Speaker 1: His companion glanced back and ran on. They came to
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  Speaker 1: a sort of pathway of open metal work transversed to
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  Speaker 1: the direction they had come, and they turned aside to
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  Speaker 1: follow this. Graham looked back, but the snowstorm had hidden
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  Speaker 1: the others. Come on, said his guide. Running now, they
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  Speaker 1: drew near a little windmill spinning high in the air. Stoop,
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  Speaker 1: said Graham's guide, And they avoided an endless band running
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  Speaker 1: roaring up to the shaft of the vane. This way,
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  Speaker 1: and they were ankle deep in a gutterful of drifted,
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  Speaker 1: thawing snow, between two low walls of metal that presently
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  Speaker 1: rose waist high. I will first, said the guide. Graham
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  Speaker 1: drew his cloak about him and followed. Then suddenly came
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  Speaker 1: a narrow abyss across which the gutter leapt to the
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  Speaker 1: snowy darkness of the further side. Graham peeped over the
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  Speaker 1: side once, and the gulf was black. For a moment
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  Speaker 1: he regretted his flight. He dared not look again, and
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  Speaker 1: his brain spun as he waded through the half liquid snow.
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  Speaker 1: Then out of the gutter, they clamored and hurried across
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  Speaker 1: a wide, flat space, damp with thawing snow, and for
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  Speaker 1: half its extent dimly translucent to lights that went to
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  Speaker 1: and fro underneath. He hesitated at this unstable looking substance,
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  Speaker 1: but his guide ran on unheeding, and so they came
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  Speaker 1: to and clambered up slippery steps to the rim of
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  Speaker 1: a great dome of glass. Round this they went far
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  Speaker 1: below a number of people seemed to be dancing, and
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  Speaker 1: music filtered through the dome. Graham fancied he heard a
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  Speaker 1: shouting through the snow storm, and his guide hurried, hurried
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  Speaker 1: him on with a new spurt of haste. They clamored
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  Speaker 1: panting to a space of huge windmills, one so vast
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  Speaker 1: that only the lower edge of its veins came rushing
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  Speaker 1: into sight, and rushed up again and was lost in
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  Speaker 1: the night. In the snow, they hurried for a time
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  Speaker 1: through the colossal metallic tracery of its supports, and came
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  Speaker 1: at last above a place of moving platforms, like the
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  Speaker 1: place into which Graham had looked from the balcony. They
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  Speaker 1: crawled across the sloping transparency that covered this street of platforms,
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  Speaker 1: crawling on hands and knees because of the slipperiness of
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  Speaker 1: the snowfall. For the most part, the glass was bedewed,
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  Speaker 1: and Graham saw only hazy suggestions of the forms below.
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  Speaker 1: But near the pitch of the transparent roof, the glass
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  Speaker 1: was clear, and he found himself looking sheerly down upon
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  Speaker 1: it all. For a while, in spite of the urgency
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  Speaker 1: of his guide, he gave weight to vertigo and lay
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  Speaker 1: spread eagled on the glass, sick and paralyzed. Far below
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  Speaker 1: mere stirring specks and dots went the people of the
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  Speaker 1: unsleeping city in their perpetual daylight, and the moving platforms
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  Speaker 1: ran on their incessant journey. Messengers and men on unknown
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  Speaker 1: businesses shot along the drooping cables, and the frail bridges
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  Speaker 1: were crowded with men. It was like peering into a
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  Speaker 1: gigantic glass hive, and it lay vertically below him, with
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  Speaker 1: only a tough glass of unknown thickness to save him
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  Speaker 1: from a fall. The street showed warm and lit, and
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  Speaker 1: Graham was wet now to the skin with thawing snow,
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  Speaker 1: and his feet were numbed with cold. For a space
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  Speaker 1: he could not move. Come on, cried his guide, with
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  Speaker 1: terror in his voice.
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  Speaker 2: Come on.
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  Speaker 1: Graham reached the pitch of the roof by an effort
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  Speaker 1: over the ridge. Following his guide's example, he turned about
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  Speaker 1: and slid backward down the opposite slope very swiftly, amid
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  Speaker 1: a little avalanche of snow. While he was sliding, he
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  Speaker 1: thought of what would happen if some unbroken gap should
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  Speaker 1: come in his way. At the edge, he stumbled to
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  Speaker 1: his feet, ankle deep in a slush, thanking heaven for
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  Speaker 1: an opaque footing again, his guide was already clambering up
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  Speaker 1: a metal screen to a level expanse through the spare snowflakes.
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  Speaker 1: Above this loomed another line of vast windmills, And then
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  Speaker 1: suddenly the amorphous tumult of the rotating wheels was pierced
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  Speaker 1: with a deafening sound. It was a mechanical shrilling of
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary intensity that seemed to come simultaneously from every point
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  Speaker 1: of the compass. They've missed us already, cried Graham's guide
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  Speaker 1: in an accent of terror. And suddenly, with a blinding flash,
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  Speaker 1: the night became day. Above the driving snow from the
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  Speaker 1: summer of the wind wheels appeared vast masts carrying globes
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  Speaker 1: of livid light. They receded in illiminable vistas in every
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  Speaker 1: direction as far as his eye could penetrate the snowfall.
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  Speaker 1: They glared. Get on, this, cried Graham's conductor, and thrust
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  Speaker 1: him forward to a long grating of snowless metal that
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  Speaker 1: ran like a band between two slightly sloping expanses of snow.
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  Speaker 1: It felt warm to Graham's benumbed feet, and a faint
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  Speaker 1: eddy of steam rose from it. Come on, shouted his
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  Speaker 1: guide ten yards off, and without waiting, ran swiftly through
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  Speaker 1: the incandescent glare towards the iron supports of the next
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  Speaker 1: range of wind wheels. Graham, recovering from his astonishment, followed
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  Speaker 1: as fast, convinced of his imminent capture. In a score
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  Speaker 1: of seconds, they were within a tracery of glare and
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  Speaker 1: black shadows shot with moving bars beneath the monstrous wheels.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Graham's conductor ran on for some time, and suddenly darted
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  Speaker 1: sideways and vanished into a black shadow in the corner
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  Speaker 1: of the foot of a huge support. In another moment,
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  Speaker 1: Graham was beside him. They cowered, panting and stared out
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  Speaker 1: The scene upon which Graham looked was very wild and strange.
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  Speaker 1: The snow had now almost ceased. Only a belated flake
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  Speaker 1: passed now and again across the picture. But the broad
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: stretch of level before them was a ghastly white, broken
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: only by gigantic masses and moving shapes, and lengthy strips
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: of impenetrable darkness, vast ungainly titans of shadow all about them,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: huge metallic structures, iron girders inhumanly vast, as it seemed
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  Speaker 1: to him, interlaced, and the edges of wind wheels, scarcely
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: moving in the lull, passed in great shining curves, steeper
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: and steeper up into a luminous haze, wherever the snow
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: spangled light struck down beams and girders, and incessant bands
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: running with a halting, indomitable resolution, passed upward and downward
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  Speaker 1: into the black, And with all that mighty activity, with
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  Speaker 1: an omnipresent sense of motive and design, this snow clad
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: desolation of mechanism seemed void of all human presence save themselves,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: seemed as trackless and deserted and unfrequented by men. As
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: some inaccessible alpine snowfield.
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  Speaker 2: They will be.
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  Speaker 1: Chasing us, cried the leader. We're scarcely halfway there, yet,
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  Speaker 1: cold as it is, we must hide here for a
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: space at least until it snows more thickly again. His
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: teeth chattered in his head. Where are the markets, asked Graham,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: staring out, where are all the people? The other made
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: no answer, Look, whispered Graham crouched close and became very still.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: The snow had suddenly become thick again, and sliding with
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the whirling eddies, out of the black pit of the
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: sky came something vague and large and very swift. It
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  Speaker 1: came down in a steep curve and swept round wide,
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  Speaker 1: wings extended, and a trail of white condensing steam behind.
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  Speaker 1: It rose with an easy swiftness, and went gliding up
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  Speaker 1: the air, swept horizontally forward in a wide curve, and
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  Speaker 1: vanished again in the steaming specks of snow and through
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  Speaker 1: the ribs of its body, Graham saw two little men,
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  Speaker 1: very minute and active, searching the snowy areas about him,
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  Speaker 1: as it seemed to him with field glasses. For a
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: second they were clear, then hazy through a thick whirl
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  Speaker 1: of snow, then small and distant, and in a minute
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  Speaker 1: they were gone. Now, cried his companion.
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  Speaker 2: Come.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: He pulled Graham's sleeve, and incontinently the two were running
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  Speaker 1: headlong down the arcade of ironwork beneath the wind wheels. Graham,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: running blindly, collided with his leader, who had turned back
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  Speaker 1: on him. Suddenly he found himself within a dozen yards
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  Speaker 1: of a black chasm. It extended as far as he
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  Speaker 1: could see right and left. It seemed to cut off
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  Speaker 1: their progress in either direction. Do as I do, whispered
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: his guide. He lay down and crawled to the edge,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: thrust his head over and twist until one leg hung.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: He seemed to feel for something with his foot, found it,
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  Speaker 1: and went sliding over the edge into the gulf. His
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: head reappeared. It is a ledge, he whispered in the dark,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: all the way along. Do as I did. Graham hesitated,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: went down upon all fours, crawled to the edge, and
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: peered into a velvety blackness. For a sickly moment he
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: had courage neither to go on nor retreat. Then he
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: sat and hung his leg down, felt his guide's hands
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: pulling at him, had a horrible sensation of sliding over
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the edge into the unfathomable splashed and felt himself in
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: a slushy gutter, impenetrably dark. This way, whispered the voice,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and he began crawling along the gutter through the trickling thaw,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: pressing himself against the wall. They continued along it for
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: some minutes. He seemed to pass through a hundred stages
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: of misery, to pass minute after minute through a hundred
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: degrees of cold, damp, and exhaustion. In a little while,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: he ceased to feel his hands and feet. The gutter
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: sloped downwards. He observed that they were now many feet
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: below the edge of the buildings. Rows of spectral white shapes,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: like the ghosts of blind drawn windows, rose above them.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: They came to the end of a cable fastened above
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: one of these white windows, dimly visible and dropping into
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: impenetrable shadows. Suddenly, his hand came against his guides still
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: whispered the latter very softly. He looked up with a start,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and saw the huge wings of the flying machine gliding
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: slowly and noiselessly overhead athwart the broad band of snow
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: flecked gray blue sky. In a moment it was hidden again.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Keep still, they were just turning for a while both
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: were motionless. Then Graham's companion stood up and, reaching towards
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the fastenings of the cable, fumbled with some indistinct tackle.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: What is that, asked Graham. The only answer was a
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: faint cro The man crouched motionless. Graham peered and saw
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: his face Dimly, he was staring down the long ribbon
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: of sky, and Graham, following his eyes, saw the flying machine,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: small and faint and remote. Then he saw that the
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: wings spread on either side, that it headed towards them,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that every moment it grew larger it was following the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: edge of the chasm towards them. The man's movements became convulsive.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: He thrust two crossbars into Graham's hand. Graham could not
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: see them. He ascertained their form by feeling. They were
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: slung by thin, thin cords to the cable. On the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: cord were hand grips of some soft elastic substance. Put
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the cross between your legs, whispered the guide hysterically, and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: gripped the hold fasts. Grip tightly, grip. Graham did as
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: he was told, Jump, said the voice in Heaven's name. Jump.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: For one momentous second, Graham could not speak. He was glad. Afterwards,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: the darkness hid his face. He said nothing. He began
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to tremble violently. He looked sideways at the swift shadow
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: that swallowed up the sky as it rushed upon him. Jump.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Jump in God's name, or they will have us, cried
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Graham's guide, and in the violence of his passion, thrust
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: him forward. Graham tottered convulsively, gave a sobbing cry, a
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: cry in spite of himself, And then, as the flying
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: machine swept over them, fell forward into the pit of
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: that darkness, Seated on the cross wood and holding the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: ropes with the clutch of death. Something cracked, something rapped
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: smartly against a wall. He heard the pulley of the
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: cradle hum on its rope. He heard the aeronaut's shout.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: He felt a pair of knees digging into his back.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: He was sweeping headlong through the air, falling through the air.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: All his strength was in his hands. He would have screamed,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: but he had no breath. He shot into a blinding
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: light that made him grip the tighter. He recognized the
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: great passage, with the running ways, the hanging lights and
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: interlacing girders. They rushed upward and by him. He had
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: a momentary impression of a great round mouth yawning to
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: swallow him up in the dark again, falling, falling, gripping
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: with aching hands, and behold a clap of sound, a
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: burst of light, and he was in a brightly lit hall,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: with a roaring multitude of people beneath his feet.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: The people, his people.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: A persennium. A stage rushed up towards him, and his
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: cable swept down to a circular aperture to the right
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: of this. He felt he was traveling slower, and suddenly
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: very much slower. He distinguished shouts.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Of saved the master, He's safe.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: The stage rushed up toward him with rapidly diminishing swiftness.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Then he heard the man clanging behind him shout as
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: if suddenly terrified, and this shout was echoed by a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: shout from below. He felt that he was no longer
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: gliding along the cable, but falling with it. There was
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a tumult of yells, screams, and cries. He felt something
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: soft against his extended hand, and the impact of a
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: broken fall quivering through his arm. He wanted to be still,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: and the people were lifting him he believed. Afterwards he
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: was carried to the platform and given some drink, but
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: he was never sure. He did not notice what became
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: of his guide. When his mind was clear again, he
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: was on his feet. Eager hands were assisting him to stand.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: He was in a big alcove, occupying the position that
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: in his previous experience had been devoted to the lower boxes.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: If this was indeed a theater, a mighty tumult was
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: in his ears, a thunderous roar, the shouting of a
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: countless multitude.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: It is the sleeper. The sleeper is with us. The
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: sleeper is with us, the master, the owner. The master
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: is with us. He is safe.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Graham had a surging vision of a great hall crowded
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: with people. He saw no individuals. He was conscious of
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: a froth of pink faces, of waving arms and garments.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: He felt the occult influence of a vast crowd pouring
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: over him, buoying him up. There were balconies, galleries, great
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: archways given remoter perspectives, and everywhere people. A vast arena
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of people, densely packed and cheering across the nearer space
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: lay the collapsed cable like a huge snake. It had
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: been cut by the men of the flying machine at
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: its upper end, and had crumpled down into the hall.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Men seemed to be hauling this out of the way,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: but the whole effect was vague. The very buildings throbbed
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and leapt with the roar of the voices. He stood
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: unsteadily and looked at those about him. Someone supported him
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: by one arm. Let me go into a little room,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: he said, weeping a little room, and could say no more.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: A man in black stepped forward, took his disengaged arm.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: He was aware of officious men opening a door before him.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Someone guided him to a seat. He staggered, sat down heavily,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and covered his face with his hands. He was trembling violently.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: His nervous control was at an end. He was relieved
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: of his cloak. He could not remember how his purple
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: hose he saw were black with wet. People were running
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: about him. Things were happening, but for some time he
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: gave no heed to them. He had escaped. A myriad
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: of cries told him that he was safe. These were
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the people who were on his side. For a space
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: he sobbed for breath, and then he sat still, with
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: his face covered. The air was full of the shouting
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: of innumerable men. End of Chapter eight recording by Ryan
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Sutter Ryan Sutter dot net