Instantly the people began to press forward. So excited were they that for a moment I almost lost touch with Gavison and Xanocles, and could catch no glimpse of the illuminated patch of wall. And at the same time shrill cries of terror and dismay broke forth. A man just to my rear groaned as if in pain; a woman gave a half suppressed sob; somewhere from the rear came a hysterical wailing. Then, when the circle in the wall again became visible, I was wedged in so tightly that I scarcely gave it any attention. It was only by degrees that I made out its features, and saw what resembled an enormous piece of cracked crockery. From an amorphous central blur several feet across, great seams and fissures ran in a hundred directions, with long, spidery arms that reached out like the roots of a tree, gradually growing thinner till they vanished in vacancy. It seemed a miracle that the water had not already burst through, for each of the scores of diverging cracks were rods long and must have been many feet deep. * * * * * I do not know how long I stood staring blankly at that tragic break in the glass. I was as one divested of power of thought or movement; I merely hovered there transfixed, listening to the muttering and sighing of the multitude. Strangely enough, it did not occur to me to ask whether the damage could be repaired; it was as though I had known all the while that it was beyond remedy ... and for the moment my attitude was strangely detached, almost impersonal, as though I were the external witness of melancholy and inexorable things.... Yet it was a highly personal thought that startled me back to myself. Somehow, out, of some dim subconscious depth, there swept across my mind the vision of two bright, blue eyes--and, with that vision, acute fear seized me, and longing, and despair. That Atlantis should be in danger was fearful enough--but that Aelios should be imperiled was a thought almost too terrible for belief. And, accompanying that first wild stab of alarm for her, there came a sharp desire to see her, to be with her, to speak with her now; and, hopeful that she might be somewhere in this crowd, I began to search all about me, and then to thread my way at random through the dense ranks of people, scanning all the faces in my anxiety, until Gavison and Xanocles, following me with difficulty, began to ask irrelevantly whether the cracks were in the wall or in my head. But no Aelios was to be seen; and at last I was forced reluctantly to abandon the quest. A dull and settled sadness had fallen over me; and, depressed for no reason that I would have acknowledged, I expressed my purpose of returning at once to Archeon, saying that I had already seen everything there was to be seen. “But you haven’t seen a thing yet,” demurred Xanocles, who seemed determined that I should remain. “The submersible repair ships have not yet arrived--and when they come, they should be a sight worth watching.”