Chapter 13: Perilous Ways

The Very Young Man sat on the floor, between his two friends at the edge of the handkerchief, and put the first pellets of the drug to his tongue. His heart was beating furiously; his forehead was damp with the sweat of excitement and of fear. The pellets tasted sweet, and yet a little acrid. He crushed them in his mouth and swallowed them hastily.

In the silence of the room, the ticking of his watch suddenly sounded very loud. He raised his arm and looked at its face; it was just ten minutes past eight. He continued to stare at its dial, wondering why nothing was happening to him. Then all at once the figures on the watch became very sharp and vivid; he could see them with microscopic clearness. A buzzing sounded in his ears.

He remembered having felt the same way just before he fainted. He drew a deep breath and looked around the room; it swam before his gaze. He closed his eyes and waited, wondering if he would faint. The buzzing in his head grew louder; a feeling of nausea possessed him.

After a moment his head cleared; he felt better. Then all at once he realized that the floor upon which he sat was moving. It seemed to be shifting out from under him in all directions. He sat with his feet flat upon the floor, his knees drawn close against his chin. And the floor seemed to be carrying his feet farther out; he constantly had to be pulling them back against him. He put one hand down beside him, and could feel his fingers dragging very slowly as the polished surface moved past. The noise in his head was almost gone now. He opened his eyes.

Before him, across the handkerchief the Banker sat in his chair. He had grown enormously in size, and as the Very Young Man looked he could see him and the chair growing steadily larger. He met the Banker’s anxious glance, and smiled up at him. Then he looked at his two friends, sitting on the floor beside him. They alone, of everything within his range of vision, had grown no larger.

The Very Young Man thought of the belt around his waist. He put his hand to it, and found it tight as before. So, after all, they would not have to leave anything behind, he thought.

The Doctor rose to his feet and turned away, back under the huge table that loomed up behind him. The Very Young Man got up, too, and stood beside the Big Business Man, holding to him for support. His head felt strangely confused; his legs were weak and shaky.

Steadily larger grew the room and everything in it. The Very Young Man turned his eyes up to the light high overhead. Its great electric bulbs dazzled him with their brilliancy; its powerful glare made objects around as bright as though in daylight. After a moment the Big Business Man’s grip on his arm tightened.

“God, it’s weird!” he said in a tense whisper. “Look!”

Before them spread a great, level, shining expanse of black, with the ring in its center--a huge golden circle. Beyond the farther edge of the black they could see the feet of the banker, and the lower part of his legs stretching into the air far above them.

The Very Young Man looked up still higher, and saw the Banker staring down at him, “Good-by, my boy,” said the Banker. His voice came from far away in a great roar to the Very Young Man’s ears.

“Good-by, sir,” said the Very Young Man, and waved his hand.

Several minutes passed, and still the Very Young Man stood holding to his companion, and watching the expanse of handkerchief widening out and the gleaming ring growing larger. Then he thought of the Doctor, and turned suddenly to look behind him. Across the wide, glistening surface of the floor stood the Doctor, leaning against the tremendous column that the Very Young Man knew was the leg of the center-table. And as the Very Young Man stood staring, he could see this distance between them growing steadily greater. A sudden fear possessed him, and he shouted to his friend.

“Good Lord, suppose he can’t make it!” said the Big Business Man fearfully.

“He’s coming,” answered the Very Young Man. “He’s got to make it.”

The Doctor was running towards them now, and in a few moments he was beside them, breathing heavily.

“Close call, Frank,” said the Big Business Man, shaking his head. “You were the one said we must keep together.” The Doctor was too much out of breath to answer.

“This is worse,” said the Very Young Man. “Look where the ring is.”

More than two hundred yards away across the black expanse of silk handkerchief lay the ring.

“It’s almost as high as our waist now, and look how far it is!” added the Very Young Man excitedly.

“It’s getting farther every minute,” said the Big Business Man. “Come on,” and he started to run towards the ring.

“I can’t make it. It’s too far!” shouted the Doctor after him.

The Big Business Man stopped short. “What’ll we do?” he asked. “We’ve got to get there.”

“That ring will be a mile away in a few minutes, at the rate it’s going,” said the Very Young Man.

“We’ll have to get him to move it over here,” decided the Doctor, looking up into the air, and pointing.

“Gee, I never thought of that!” said the Very Young Man. “Oh, great Scott, look at him!”

Out across the broad expanse of handkerchief they could see the huge white face of their friend looming four or five hundred feet in the air above them. It was the most astounding sight their eyes had ever beheld; yet so confused were they by the flood of new impressions to which they were being subjected that this colossal figure added little to their surprise.