Philip had never run so far or so fast.

His breath came in deep sobs; but he reached the ladder and began quickly to go down.

It was easier than going up.
[Illustration: And behind him the clatter of hot pursuit.] He was nearly at the bottom when the whole ladder bridge leapt wildly into the air, and he fell from it and rolled in the thick grass of that illimitable prairie.
All about him the air was filled with great sounds, like the noise of the earthquakes that destroy beautiful big palaces, and factories which are big but not beautiful.

It was deafening, it was endless, it was unbearable.
Yet he had to bear that, and more.

And now he felt a curious swelling sensation in his hands, then in his head--then all over.