steadily accelerated velocity, and the bushes in front of me shifted

sideways as I ran.

I was none too soon. Cavor's back vanished amidst the bristling thicket,

and as I scrambled up after him, the monstrous valve came into its

position with a clang. For a long time we lay panting, not daring to

approach the pit.

But at last very cautiously and bit by bit we crept into a position from

which we could peer down. The bushes about us creaked and waved with the

force of a breeze that was blowing down the shaft. We could see nothing at

first except smooth vertical walls descending at last into an impenetrable

black. And then very gradually we became aware of a number of very faint

and little lights going to and fro.

For a time that stupendous gulf of mystery held us so that we forgot even

our sphere. In time, as we grew more accustomed to the darkness, we could

make out very small, dim, elusive shapes moving about among those

needle-point illuminations. We peered amazed and incredulous,

understanding so little that we could find no words to say. We could

distinguish nothing that would give us a clue to the meaning of the faint

shapes we saw.

"What can it be?" I asked; "what can it be?"

"The engineering!... They must live in these caverns during the night, and

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The First Men In The Moon