"
"By Jo," exclaimed Jack, "that's so! Why here we've been pouring out
clouds like old Vesuvius for an hour with no windows open, and yet the
air is as clear as a bell."
"The smoke," said Edmund impressively, "has been turned into atomic
energy to speed us on our way. I'm glad you're all good smokers, for that
saves me fuel. Look," he continued, while we, amazed, stared at him,
"those fellows there have been swallowing your smoke, and glad to get
it."
He pointed at a row of what seemed to be grinning steel mouths, barred
with innumerable black teeth, and half concealed by a projecting ledge at
the bottom of the wall opposite the entrance, and as I looked I was
thrilled by the sight of faint curls of smoke disappearing within their
gaping jaws.
"They are omnivorous beasts," said Edmund. "They feed on the carbon from
your breath, too. Rather remarkable, isn't it, that every time you expel
the air from your lungs you help this car to go?"
None of us knew what to say; our astonishment was beyond speech. We began
to look askance at Edmund, with creeping sensations about the spine. A
formless, unacknowledged fear of him entered our souls.
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