'I am unbreakable,' said the machine with gentle pride. 'This is your doing,' said the Sloth, turning its furious eyes on Lucy in the doorway. 'You wait till I catch you!' And all the while it had to go on turning that handle. 'Thank you,' said Lucy politely; 'I think I will not wait. And I shall have eight hours' start,' she added. Even as she spoke a stream of clear water began to run from the pumping machine. It slid down the gold steps and across the golden court. Lucy ran out into the ruined square of the city shouting: 'Halma! Halma! Halma! To me, Halma's men!' And the men, already excited by Philip, who had gone about saying that name of power without a moment's pause all the time Lucy had been in the golden temple, gathered round her in a crowd. 'Quick!' she said; 'the Great Sloth is pumping water up for you. He will pump for eight hours a day. Quick! dig a channel for the water to run in. The Deliverer,' she pointed to Philip, 'has given you back your river.' Some ran to look out old rusty half-forgotten spades and picks. But others hesitated and said: 'The Great Sloth will work for eight hours, and then it will be free to work vengeance on us.' 'I will go back,' said Lucy, 'and explain to it that if it does not behave nicely you will all wish for machine guns, and it knows now that if people wish for machinery they have to use it. It will be awake now for eight hours and if you all work for eight hours a day you'll soon have your city as fine as ever. And there's one new law. Every time the clock strikes you must all say "Halma!" aloud, every one of you, to remind yourselves of your great destiny, and that you are no longer slaves of the Great Sloth.' [Illustration: And all the while it had to go on turning that handle.] She went back and explained machine guns very carefully to the now hard-working Sloth. When she came back all the men were at work digging a channel for the new river. The women and children crowded round Lucy and Philip. 'Ah!' said the oldest woman of all, 'now we shall be able to wash in water. I've heard my grandmother say water was very pleasant to wash in. I never thought I should live to wash in water myself.' 'Why?' Lucy asked. 'What do you wash in?' 'Pine-apple juice,' said a dozen voices, 'when we _do_ wash!' 'But that must be very sticky,' said Lucy. 'It is,' said the oldest woman of all; 'very!' CHAPTER XI THE NIGHT ATTACK The Halma men were not naturally lazy. They were, in the days before the coming of the Great Sloth, a most energetic and industrious people. Now that the Sloth was obliged to work eight hours a day, the weight of its constant and catching sleepiness was taken away, and the people set to work in good earnest. (I did explain, didn't I, that the Great Sloth's sleepiness really was catching, like measles?)