spurring the men on to more haste--I heard later that he had sworn
to win the broom back if he wrecked the plant. Wherever he went,
the hunkies danced; he could put life into a dead man's limbs,
that man. It was because of their great fear of him and his
furious urging that--something happened."

Lilas had begun her recital slowly, without apparent object, but
once into it she seemed unable to stop; and now, although her
words came haltingly, it was plain that she had worked herself
into a sort of hysteria in which she gave little heed to her
hearer. It was characteristic of her that she could so excite
herself by the power of visualization as to be completely
transported.

"Something went wrong overhead; the operator got rattled or
somebody was late in his duties and fouled the machinery; anyhow,
the converter dumped too soon. Men were working directly
underneath, father among the rest. Being so young, I had no idea
of what it all meant at the time--but the memory stuck. I saw him
go down under a stream of liquid steel--"

Lorelei's horrified exclamation went unnoticed; Lilas's voice was
shrill.

"Yes. He was blotted out, right there before my eyes, in an
instant. In the time it takes to snap your finger, he--and the
others--were gone, changed into smoke, into absolute nothingness.
One moment he was whole, alive, flesh and bone, the next he didn't
exist; tons of boiling metal ran over the spot. Nothing in the
world was ever so horrible. You've never seen liquid steel nor