"Poor Gilhooly!" sighed Meigs. "He has become a power in the traction interests of the country. The last I saw of him he was hauling trains throughout the kingdom." "We know that much already. How about Popham and Markham?" "Alas!" groaned Meigs. "Popham is working like a galley-slave in a coal mine; and Markham—well, these little fiends are slowly starving him to death. All Markham does is to wander about the kingdom with a plate and a paddle begging food enough to keep body and soul together. Think of it! And the great Augustus Popham, owner of a controlling interest in all the great anthracite and bituminous fields of Earth, delving in the mines of this planet—no better than a two-dollar-a-day miner!" "Coal fields!" I exclaimed. "What do they need of coal in these underground kingdoms?" "They use the coal in the kingdoms of Baijinkz and Baigossh, which are situated at the poles," explained the professor. "During the long nights in those countries a certain degree of cold must prevail. But"—and here Quinn turned again to Meigs—"tell us what happened to you and the other two gentlemen during the storm which separated us." "We managed to regain the car," replied Meigs. "We could not get in, of course, because you had the key, but we hung to the latticework at the windows. I am a little hazy as to what happened after that, but I think the car must have been picked up by a terrific gust and thrown to the bottom of that crater in the volcano." "Ah!" murmured the professor, looking at me. "You remember, Mr. Munn, I told you I feared something of the kind would happen." I nodded. "Proceed, Mr. Meigs," added the professor. "This is all intensely interesting. Was the car seriously damaged?" "I haven’t seen the car," resumed Meigs. "A hiatus followed the blowing away of the castle, and when I opened my eyes again I was a prisoner in the hands of a legion of those one-eyed creatures. For two weeks I was kept confined—an object of curiosity for the whole kingdom, if I could judge from the way the little imps flocked to stare at me. "After a time I was led off to a place where I joined Popham and Markham. Need I tell you how affecting that meeting was? Popham shed tears, and both Markham and myself were nearly unmanned. "Our captors had some sort of a contrivance consisting of a small shaft and cord. One end of the cord was put to Markham’s head and a slide flew up on the end of the shaft. Then Markham was led off, given a plate and paddle and cast adrift. "Popham was the next one to have the queer machine tried on him. When he was removed my turn came." Meigs wrung his hands despairingly. "After the storm," he continued with an effort, "my costume was not as complete as I would have had it, but those impudent creatures denuded me still further. In self-defense I was forced to steal this red cloth and run for my life. Oh, it was terrible! Woe is me that I should ever have lived to see this day!"