They walked on about a hundred yards to a door which the Sorcerer unlocked. When they stepped inside, they were in a gigantic warehouse full of metal cylinders and complicated electrical machines. The Sorcerer stopped, and they stood looking about them. ‘What are these things?’ asked Raphael. ‘These,’ said the Sorcerer proudly, ‘are what I particularly wished to show you. They are poison gas and death-ray machines.’ ‘Oh,’ said Raphael, awed. ‘I have here,’ went on the Sorcerer, ‘enough gas and sufficiently powerful death-ray machines to destroy all the living things on this earth. A man invented me. I have invented these. The time is close at hand. Already I have fifty million mechanicos to people the earth, when every living thing is gone.’ ‘Then what do you want Cassie and me for?’ asked Raphael, frightened by the terrible seriousness of the Sorcerer. Mechanus smiled. ‘There are still a few imperfections in our mechanicos. There are certain qualities possessed by man with which we wish to equip our mechanical men. When we kill the living, we shall lose our useful models unless precautions are taken. This is the reason I stole your sister--to study her. This is also why I haven’t killed you. You have been a nuisance, but now I think I have rather clipped your wings, eh?’ Raphael shuddered. Mechanus would wipe out every living thing: Aunt Mary, Uniontown, the animals. Cassandra began to cry. ‘You had better join me and the mechanicos,’ said the Sorcerer slowly. ‘Together we shall rule the world.’ [Illustration] CHAPTER XIII TO SAVE THE WORLD That night Raphael lay in bed and thought for a long time. Mechanicos. The Sorcerer was building over ten thousand a day. Already he had built fifty million. More than Raphael could imagine. When he had many more, he would spread the poison gas and shoot the death-ray round the world. Raphael, Cassie, Aunt Mary, and all mankind would be killed. There would be no living thing upon the earth. ‘There are still a few imperfections in our mechanical men,’ the Sorcerer had said; ‘that is the reason I stole your sister--to study her. You had better join me and the mechanicos. Together we shall rule the world.’ Raphael was sick of mechanical life. He was afraid. He remembered the animals waiting patiently outside the city. They had trusted him and he had failed them. ‘Cassie,’ whispered the boy, ‘are you awake?’ ‘Yes,’ whispered Cassandra. Raphael got out of bed and went over and perched himself on Cassandra’s counterpane. ‘Cassie,’ said Raphael, very low, ‘do you want to go home?’ ‘Yes,’ whispered Cassandra, sitting upright. ‘Well, I’m going back to join the animals. We shall destroy the Sorcerer and his city, and then you can go home with me.’ ‘Oh, Raff,’ wailed Cassandra, ‘don’t leave me here. Take me with you.’ ‘I’m afraid I can’t, Cassie. Gæa hasn’t given you any power at all, and I don’t see how I could get you out of the tower and over the wall.’