Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/33

Rh their pride; moreover, it was not even in motion. Whence then this panic terror that subdued both?

The deputy manager had been seen to unlock and enter the shed in his usual calm and business-like manner. Inside he saw the nearly finished engine, steaming gently (for her fires had been burning for the last nine months, and she had been subjected daily to tests of every sort, until perfect) and glorious in her paint and polish. Nothing alarming so far. But by her side was—yes, solid and palpable, though small—ANOTHER ENGINE NEVER MADE BY THE HAND OF MAN!

He stood awhile gazing stupidly at the prodigy. For a time he seemed to be in a trance or nightmare. The thing was too monstrous to be real. But when the conviction of its reality had forced itself upon his brain, and the full meaning of that tremendous spectacle broke upon him, his horror-stricken reason gave way, and he was found as described, a raving madman.

The young mechanic who discovered him in this plight bore his incoherent story to the workshops, whence the men and boys streamed in twos and threes to be sickened by the sight so justly awful to all