Arriving at the many-domed sandstone edifice where the Atlantean government had its headquarters, my companion bade me wait in a book-lined anteroom, and went to notify his chief of my arrival. It was as though my coming had been awaited, for the old man had hardly left me when he reappeared and motioned me to follow him. I have a vague remembrance of accompanying him through long, arched galleries; but of these my mind retains no definite impression, and the next thing I dearly recall is that I stood in a little blue-walled room before an impressive-looking elderly man whose picture I had often seen. His long, furrowed, sagacious features were manifestly those of a scholar, but there was a squareness about the jaw that marked him also as a man of action; while at the same time there was a patriarchal benignity about the sympathetic lines of the face. But one quality there was which dominated him now, and which none of the pictures had shown: an air of utter fatigue, of melancholy, almost of despair, all too plainly written in the hollows that underlined the weary, gray eyes, in the pale cheeks almost totally drained of blood, and in the haggard expression as of one who has not slept for days. To the right of the High Chief Adviser was seated a man whom I recognized with surprise. It was Xanocles, also looking pallid and worn--and as he rose to greet me I began to conceive some faint idea why I had been summoned. The Chief Adviser gravely motioned me to a seat at his left; and as I sank into the cushioned chair he plunged without formality into an explanation. “I need hardly tell you,” he commenced, speaking rapidly but in dull, sober tones, “how serious is the crisis that confronts Atlantis. But perhaps no one--except those of us who are on the inside of affairs--realizes quite how acute the danger is. Frankly speaking, we are incapable of dealing with the emergency. The intra-atomic pumps have been working to capacity for five days, forcing out fifty per cent more than their usual volume; but, even so, the water is pouring in at the rate of several tons a second faster than we can drive it out. This in itself would indicate a grave enough peril; but this is not the worst. Our engineers tell us that the crack is extending to portions of the wall previously unaffected, and that new sections may give way at any time. When this happens, it will be--the end.” The High Chief Adviser paused, bleakly frowning; then, with a piercing glance at me, as if to see whether I had anticipated his meaning, he continued, “It is apparent that Atlantis cannot save itself. We are facing a peril unique in history, and have not the weapons with which to combat it. If help comes, it must come from outside. And that is why I have summoned you.” “But I don’t exactly see--” I began.