"`We are threatened with utter extermination. Cathedrals and
churches full to overflowing. The dead outnumber the living. It
is inconceivable and horrible. Decease seems to be painless, but
swift and inevitable.'

"There is a similar telegram from Paris, where the development
is not yet as acute. India and Persia appear to be utterly wiped
out. The Slavonic population of Austria is down, while the
Teutonic has hardly been affected. Speaking generally, the
dwellers upon the plains and upon the seashore seem, so far as
my limited information goes, to have felt the effects more
rapidly than those inland or on the heights. Even a little
elevation makes a considerable difference, and perhaps if there
be a survivor of the human race, he will again be found upon the
summit of some Ararat. Even our own little hill may presently
prove to be a temporary island amid a sea of disaster. But at
the present rate of advance a few short hours will submerge us all."

Lord John Roxton wiped his brow.

"What beats me," said he, "is how you could sit there laughin'
with that stack of telegrams under your hand. I've seen death as
often as most folk, but universal death--it's awful!"

"As to the laughter," said Challenger, "you will bear in mind
that, like yourselves, I have not been exempt from the
stimulating cerebral effects of the etheric poison. But as to
the horror with which universal death appears to inspire you, I
would put it to you that it is somewhat exaggerated. If you were