.

PHANTASMAGORIA METALLIOUE.
Wearily I opened my eyes.

Stiffly, painfully, I stirred.

High above me was the tremendous circle of sky, ringed with the hosts of feeding shields.

But the shields were now wanly gleaming and the sky was the sky of night.
Night?
How long had I lain here?
And where was Drake?
I struggled to rise.
"Steady, old man," his voice came from beside me.