Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-11-22
CHAPTER yrI-tcon,inued)

kNhAINCl as ne might, nc ulsNoNtleu hO -
~ in the place but In place Of II he un'
earthed sledgehammer. Though corrodcd'
II was still quite serviceuble. oddly enough,
the oak handle was almost intact
"Ryanlsed wood. probably" reflected he.
| as he laid the sedge to ono side and began
delvlnE into bed of dust that had evidently
been workbench. "Ah And here's n
chisel! a spanner, too A heap Of rusty
old wire nails"
Dslightedly he examined these treasures.
They're worth more to me-" he eNulted.
than all the gold between here and what's
left OF San Francisco Z"
He found nothing more OF value In tho
litter. Everything else was rusted beyond
use. So having convinced himself that moth
ing more remained, he gathered up his finds
and started back whence he had come,
After some quarter hour Of hard labor he
managed to transport everything up into the
arcade.
Now for a glimpse OF the outer world 70
quoth he.
Gripping the slodge we'll In hand. nc made
his way through the confused nexus of ruin.
Disguised as everything now was. fallen and
disjonted, molderlng, blighted by age In
caloulable. stlll tho man recognized many
familiar features,
Here, no recalled. the telephone booths
had been there. the information desk. Yon-
der again, he remembered the little curved
counter where once upon time man In
uniform had sold tickets to such as had
wanted to visit the tower.
Counter now was dust: tlcketman only n
crlimble OF fine. grayish powder stern shiv-
cred slightly. and pressed on.
As he approached the outer air re noticed
that many n grassy tuft and creeping vine
had rooted In the pavement of the arcade.
ul-prying the marble slabs and cracking the
once magnificent floor.
The doorway itself was almost choked by
tremendous Norway pine which had struck
root close to the building. and now inso-
lentlS blocked that way where, othertime,
many thousand men and women every day
had come and gone,
But Stern clambered Jut past this OBJ
stacle, testing the floor with his sledge as
he went, lest he fall through an unseen
weak spot into tho depths OF coal cellars
below And presently he reached the
outer air, unharmed.
"But-but, the sldewalk?" cried he,
amazed. The street.-the Square? Where
are they?" And in astonlshment he stop
''T; The e, view lew from ttAo tower, though 1t had
told him something OF the changes wrought,
had given him no adequate conception OF
their magnitude.
He had expected some remains OF human
life to show upon the earth some semblance
Of the metropolis TO remain in the street
on the ground to show that he was 10 the
heart of a city.
He could, indeed, catch glImpscs of a
building hero or there Through the tam
gled thIckets that grew close UP TO the
age-worn walls Of the Metropolitan he
could make out n few bits of totterng con-
structlon on the south side of what had
been Twenty-thlrd street.
But of the street itself, no trace remained
no pavement, no sidewalk, no curb. And
even 80 near and so conspicuous an object
as the wreck OF the Flatiron was now en-
tIrely concealed by the dense forest.
Soil had formed thickly over all the sur
fuce Huge oaks and pines hourtshed there
as confidently as though in the heart OF the
Maine forest, crowding ash and beech Tor
room.
Under the mans feet, even as he stood
close by the bulldng-which was thickly
overgrown with Ivy and with ferns and
bushes rooted In the crannies-the pine
needles bent In deep, pungent beds
Birch, maple, poplar and 'all the natives
Of the American woods shouldered eaeh
other Justify BY the state OF the fresh
Young leaves Just bursting their sheaths'
stern knew the season was mld-M1X-
Through the wind-swayed branches little
hIclering patches OF morning sunlight met
his gaze. as they played and quivered on
ths forest moss or over the sere pine spItla tnh
Even upon the huge squared stones whlch
here and there lay In disorder. and which
stern knew must have fallen from the
tower, the moss grew very thick and more
than one such block had been rent by frost
and growing things. --.-,
"How long has II been, great heavens
How ongT" cried the engineer, a sudden
fear creeping into his heart. For this, the
reasserted dominance OF nature, bore In
on him with more appalling force than any
thing he had yet seen.
About him he looked, trying TO get his
bearings in that strange milieu.
why" said he, quite slowly, 'it's-its
lust as though some cosmlc jester all
powerful, had scooped up the fragments OF a
ruined city and tossed them pell-mel into
the core Of the Adirondacks It's horrible
CHA stly--lncredible :"
Dazed and awed he stood as In dream,
a strange figure with his mane OF hair his
flaming, trailing beard, his rags (for he
had left the bearslSin In the arcade), his
muscular arm, knotted as he held the sledge
over his shoulder.
Well might he have been savage Of old
times; one of the early baTbarans OF
Britain. perhaps, peering In wonder at the
ruins OF some deserted Roman camp.
The chatter of a squirrel high up some-
where In the branches OF an oak recalled
him TO his wits Down came spraling