Johnston started visibly. “Oh, I forgot,” he exclaimed. “He declares that all this vast cavern is in danger. Over in the west we discovered a hole in the roof through which the ocean is streaming in a torrent. He calculated that before many hours the water would overflow into the internal fires and produce a volcanic eruption that will swallow up all of Alpha.” “Merciful Heaven! and you are hiding here at such a moment? The king must be informed at once.” Johnston had grown suddenly paler. “It may not be as bad as Branasko feared, and the king would have no mercy on me and him.” “Leave that to me,” said Thorndyke; “I have made a good friend of the Princess Bernardino. She will tell me what is best to do. Remain here.” In breathless haste, Thorndyke went into the audience chamber. Fortunately the king was not on his throne, and he caught sight of the confidential maid of the princess. She saw him approaching, and withdrew behind a cluster of tall white jars of porcelain containing rare plants. “I must see your mistress,” he said; “tell her to come to me at once; we are in great peril!” The girl swept her eyes over the balconies and the throne and said: “She is in her apartments, sir; I shall bring her.” “Tell her to meet me at the fountain where we last met,” and he hastened back to the spot mentioned. She soon came. “What is it?” she asked excitedly. “Johnston is back,” he replied. “He is in the wood there with a fellow who escaped with him in a disabled flying-machine. He says the sea has broken through over in the west and is streaming into Alpha in a torrent.” “Surely there is some mistake,” she said; “such a thing has never happened.” “It may have been caused by the explosives during the storm,” went on Thorndyke. “Branasko, the Alphian who was with Johnston, says we are in imminent peril.” “There must be some mistake,” she repeated incredulously, as she looked to westward. The green glow of the second hour of the afternoon lay over everything. She stood mute and motionless for a long time, looking steadily at the horizon; then she started suddenly, changed her position, and shaded her eyes from the sunlight. “It really does seem to me that there is a cloud rising, and it is unlike any cloud I ever saw.” “I see it too!” cried the Englishman; “it must be that the water has already reached the internal fires.” Bernardino was very pale when she turned to him. “My father must know this at once; come with me.” Into the palace, through the vast rotunda, past the throne, and into the very apartment of the king himself she led him hastily. A royal attendant met them and held up his hands warningly. “The king is asleep,” he said in an undertone. “Wake him--wake him at once!” commanded the excited girl. “I cannot, it would offend him,” was the reply.