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 METROPOLIS No answer came.

«Freder-r' But a shadow ran past the windows of the white machine-

cathedral, It ran, ducked down, hands thrown behind its neck, as if it feared that Durgha's arms could snatch at it, or that Asa Thor could. hurl his hammer, which never failed, at it from behind, in order, at Joh Fredersen's command, to prevent its flight. It did not pen.etrate into the consciousness of the fugitive

that all the machines were standing still because the heart, the unguarded heart of Metropolis, under the fiery lash of the "12," had raced itself to Death.

CHAPTER XVII MARIA FELT something licking at her feet, like the tongue of a great, gentle dog. She bent down to fumble for the animal's bead, and felt that it was water into which she was groping. From where did the water come? It came silently. It did not splash. Ne1ther did it throw up waves. It iust rose-un· hurriedly, yet persistently.4ilt was not colder than the air round ahout. It lapped about Maria's ankles. She snatched her feet back. She sat, crouched down, trembling, listening for the water which could not be heard. From where did it come? . It was said that a river wound its way deep under the city. Job Fredersen had walled up its course when he built the subterranean dty, the wonder of the world, fo< the workmen of Metropolis. It was also said that the stream fed a mighty water-basin and that there were pump-works there, which were powerful enough, inside of less than ten hours either completely to empty or to fill the water basin -in which there was room for a medium-sized city. One thiI)g was certain-that, in the subterranean, workmen's city, the throbbing of these pumps was constantly to be heard,

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