He did not finish, but fell once more to studying the incomprehensible prospect. Their view was towards the east, but over the river and the reaches of what had once upon a time been Long Island City and Brooklyn, as familiar a scene in the other days as could be possibly imagined. But now how altered an aspect greeted them! "It's surely all wiped out, all gone, gone into ruins," said Stern slowly and carefully, weighing each word. "No hallucination about _that_." He swept the sky-line with his eyes, that now peered keenly out from beneath those bushy brows. Instinctively he brought his hand up to his breast. He started with surprise. "What's this?" he cried. "Why, I--I've got a full yard of whiskers. My good Lord! Whiskers on _me?_ And I used to say--" He burst out laughing. At his beard he plucked with merriment that jangled horribly on the girl's tense nerves. Suddenly he grew serious. For the first time he seemed to take clear notice of his companion's plight. "Why, _what_ a time it must have been!" cried he. "Here's some calculation all cut out for me, all right. But--you can't go that way, Miss Kendrick. It--it won't do, you know. Got to have something to put on. Great Heavens what a situation!" He tried to peel off his remnant of a coat, but at the merest touch it tore to shreds and fell away. The girl restrained him. "Never mind," said she, with quiet, modest dignity. "My hair protects me very well for the present. If you and I are all that's left of the people in the world, this is no time for trifles." A moment he studied her. Then he nodded, and grew very grave. "Forgive me," he whispered, laying a hand on her shoulder. Once more he turned to the window and looked out. "So then, it's all gone?" he queried, speaking as to himself. "Only a skyscraper standing here or there? And the bridges and the islands--all changed. "Not a sign of life anywhere; not a sound; the forests growing thick among the ruins? A dead world if--if all the world is like this part of it! All dead, save _you_ and _me!_" In silence they stood there, striving to realize the full import of the catastrophe. And Stern, deep down in his heart, caught some glimmering insight of the future and was glad. 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.