At first he thought it was the working of engines in the ship; but he presently perceived it to be the noise of the streets rising from below; and it was then that he saw for the first time that foot-passengers were almost entirely absent, and that practically the whole roadway, so far as he could make out from the high elevation at which he stood, was occupied by cars of all descriptions going this way and that.
They sounded soft horns as they went, but they bore no lights, for the streets were as light as day with a radiance that seemed to fall from beneath the eaves of all the buildings that lined them.

This effect of lighting had a curious result of making the city look as if it were seen through glass or water--a beautifully finished, clean picture, moving within itself like some precise and elaborate mechanism.
He turned round at a touch on his arm.
"You would like to see the start, perhaps," said the old priest.
"We are a little late to-night.

The country mails have only just arrived.

But we shall be off directly now.

Come this way." The upper deck, as the two turned inwards, presented an extremely pleasant and reassuring picture.