In chill fear he wandered around, looking with mingled fascination and loathing at the chattering crew. Moment after moment his spirit sank lower until all the light and beauty had faded out of the world for him; and he stood in the presence of ruin and desolation more complete than reigns over the site of Carthage or Babylon. Stone by stone that splendid Palace of his dreams was falling. This shock made a rift, that shock cast down a tower. Now a delicate campanile fell, anon a noble dome collapsed. It was weary work watching these men and these creatures shaking the foundation of that beautiful Palace of Belief. All, all was going. All was gone. There was nothing but a dreary waste, a vast sandy void, littered here and there with the shaft of a shattered column, here and there a frieze, here the acme stone of an arch, there the copper of a cupola, here a marble altar-stone, and there a cross. One of the attendants touched him on the arm, saying, 'We have something new here, sir, if you care to see.' With a shudder, Osborne followed the man into a small room off the greater one. The man led him up to a large square box made of stout wood. In this was a bundle of rugs or skins; George could not see more, for the light was dim. The covering moved slightly; with a spasm of horror Osborne thought of that vision and that dream. What an appalling coincidence! Was he awake or asleep, sane or mad? The man bent over him and spoke in a low voice. 'They have just arrived from Africa. They came over in the stoke-hole of the steamer. They are perfectly quiet and friendly. On the passage over they lived in that box, where the female sat all day long minding her baby. But the male made great friends with the men, and, after a while, used to take the oil-can, crawl or swing himself in among the machinery, put the back of his left hand on the bearings, and then pour oil into the oil-wells.' The man drew away the covering. Osborne started back in disgust. 'I never saw Niggers like these before,' he whispered. 'Niggers!' said the man. 'These are no Niggers.' 'In the name of God, then, what are they?' 'Chimpanzees,' Those ruins of the old faith were no longer lifeless. Now over them leaped and bounded ten thousand forms of loathsome brutes. They leaped and danced, and howled and screamed and yelled, They grinned at him and grimaced. They took up the relics of that sacred palace, that holy fane, and smashed and tore and cast them about. They broke up the cross, and the most powerful and the most crafty of the brutes took a piece of the wood between his palms and, keeping one end of it in the smooth hollow of a stone, turned it and turned it, until it began to smoke and flame. Then each brute that had a piece of the wood lit his at the brand, and holding their flaming torches aloft, they formed a circle round the altar-stone, set upon the stone, the brute that had made the fire, and all bowed and worshipped him.