CHAPTER III

ON THE TOWER PLATFORM


Suddenly the girl started, rebelling against the evidence of
her own senses, striving again to force upon herself the belief that,
after all, it _could not_ be so.

"No, no, no!" she cried. "This can't be true. It mustn't be. There's a
mistake somewhere. This simply _must_ be all an illusion, a dream!

"If the whole world's dead, how does it happen _we're_ alive? How do
we know it's dead? Can we see it all from here? Why, all we see is
just a little segment of things. Perhaps if we could know the truth,
look farther, and know--"

He shook his head.

"I guess you'll find it's real enough," he answered, "no matter how
far you look. But, just the same, it won't do any harm to extend our
radius of observation.

"Come, let's go on up to the top of the tower, up to the
observation-platform. The quicker we know all the available facts the
better. Now, if I only had a telescope--!"