Every one, too, began to feel am unusual and uncomfortable sensation of hunger.  It was a mild discomfort as yet, but few of them had experienced it before without an immediate prospect of assuaging the craving, and the knowledge that there was no food to be had somehow increased the desire for it.  They were really in a pitiful state.

Van Deventer spoke encouragingly, and then asked for volunteers for immediate work.  There was hardly any response.  Every one seemed sunk in despondency.  Arthur then began to talk straight from the shoulder and succeeded in rousing them a little, but every one was still rather too frightened to realize that work could help at all.

In desperation the dozen or so men who had gathered in Van Deventer’s office went about among the gathering and simply selected men at random, ordering them to follow and begin work.  This began to awaken the crowd, but they wakened to fear rather than resolution.  They were city-bred, and unaccustomed to face the unusual or the alarming.

Arthur noted the new restlessness, but attributed it to growing uneasiness rather than selfish panic.  He was rather pleased that they were outgrowing their apathy.  When the meeting had come to an end he felt satisfied that by morning the latent resolution among the people would have crystallized and they would be ready to work earnestly and intelligently on whatever tasks they were directed to undertake.

He returned to the ground floor of the building feeling much more hopeful than before.  Two thousand people all earnestly working for one end are hard to down even when faced with such a task as confronted the inhabitants of the runaway skyscraper.  Even if they were never able to return to modern times they would still be able to form a community that might do much to hasten the development of civilization in other parts of the world.

His hope received a rude shock when he reached the great hallway on the lower floor.  There was a fruit and confectionery stand here, and as Arthur arrived at the spot, he saw a surging mass of men about it.  The keeper of the stand looked frightened, but was selling off his stock as fast as he could make change.  Arthur forced his way to the counter.

“Here,” he said sharply to the keeper of the stand, “stop selling this stuff.  It’s got to be held until we can dole it out where it’s needed.”

“I—­I can’t help myself,” the keeper said.  “They’re takin’ it anyway.”

“Get back there,” Arthur cried to the crowd.  “Do you call this decent, trying to get more than your share of this stuff?  You’ll get your portion to-morrow.  It is going to be divided up.”

“Go to hell!” some one panted.  “You c’n starve if you want to, but I’m goin’ to look out f’r myself.”

The men were not really starving, but had been put into a panic by the plain speeches of Arthur and his helpers, and were seizing what edibles they could lay hands upon in preparation for the hunger they had been warned to expect.