They were marked
with unknown figures!
Nevertheless, the engineer received an unmistakable impression,
quite as vivid as though something had been said aloud. "Progress;
all safe," was the thought-image that came to him.
He listened closely in hope of hearing a spoken word. Also, he tried
his best to make his agent look around the place. Other people might
be within sight. However, for a couple of minutes the oddly familiar
hands kept manipulating the unfamiliar instruments.
Then, somewhere quite close at hand, a deep-toned gong sounded a
single stroke. Instantly the agent looked up; and Smith saw that he
was inspecting the interior of a large engine-room. He had time to
note the huge bulk of a horizontal cylinder, perhaps fifty feet in
diameter, in the immediate background; also a variety of other
mechanisms, more like immensely enlarged editions of laboratory
apparatus than ordinary engines. Smith looked in vain for the
compact form of a dynamo or motor, and listened in vain for the
sound of either.
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