side. That was once a town called Epsom. There are no houses there, and

the bricks have been used for a sheep pen. Go on, and another heap on

the edge of the root-land is Leatherhead; and then the hill turns away

along the border of a valley, and there are woods of beech. Keep along

the crest. You will come to quite wild places. In some parts, in spite

of all the weeding that is done, ferns and bluebells and other such

useless plants are growing still. And through it all underneath the

wind-wheels runs a straight lane paved with stones, a roadway of the

Romans two thousand years old. Go to the right of that, down into the

valley and follow it along by the banks of the river. You come presently

to a street of houses, many with the roofs still sound upon them. There

you may find shelter."

They thanked him.

"But it's a quiet place. There is no light after dark there, and I have

heard tell of robbers. It is lonely. Nothing happens there. The

phonographs of the story-tellers, the kinematograph entertainments, the

news machines--none of them are to be found there. If you are hungry

there is no food, if you are ill no doctor ..." He stopped.

We shall try it," said Denton, moving to go on. Then a thought struck

him, and he made an agreement with the shepherd, and learnt where they

might find him, to buy and bring them anything of which they stood in

need, out of the city.

175

Tales of Space and Time