"Doctor Mundson," said Northwood suddenly, "did you have an enemy, a man with the face and body of a pagan god--a great, blond creature with eyes as cold and cruel as the ice under our feet?"
"Wait!" The huge round head jerked up. "How do you know about Adam? You have not seen him, won't see him until we arrive at our destination."
"But I have seen him. He was sitting not thirty feet from you in the Mad Hatter's Club last night. Didn't you know? He followed me to the street, spoke to me, and then--" Northwood stopped. How could he let the insane words pass his lips?
Northwood laughed nervously. "It sounds foolish, but I saw him vanish like that." He snapped his fingers.
"_Ach, Gott!_" All the ruddy color drained from the scientist's face. As though talking to himself, he continued:
"Then it is true, as he said. He has crossed the bridge. He has reached the Light. And now he comes to see the world he will conquer--came unseen when I refused my permission."
He was silent for a long time, pondering. Then he turned passionately to Northwood.
"John Northwood, kill me! I have brought a new horror into the world. From the unborn future, I have snatched a creature who has reached the Light too soon. Kill me!" He bowed his great, shaggy head.
"What do you mean, Dr. Mundson: that this Adam has arrived at a point in evolution beyond this age?"
"Yes. Think of it! I visioned godlike creatures with the souls of gods. But, Heaven help us, man always will be man: always will lust for conquest. You and I, Northwood, and all others are barbarians to Adam. He and his kind will do what men always do to barbarians--conquer and kill."
"Are there more like him?" Northwood struggled with a smile of unbelief.
"I don't know. I did not know that Adam had reached a point so near the ultimate. But you have seen. Already he is able to set aside what we call natural laws."
Northwood looked at the scientist closely. The man was surely mad--mad in this desert of white death.
"Come!" he said cheerfully. "Let's build an Eskimo snow house. We can live on penguins for days. And who knows what may rescue us?"
For three hours the two worked at cutting ice blocks. With snow for mortar, they built a crude shelter which enabled them to rest out of the cold breath of the spiral polar winds that blew from the south.