... Then the great Metropolis began to roar. Then she raised her voice—her Behemoth-voice. But she was not screaming for food—no, she was roaring:
Danger...!
Above the gigantic city, above the slumbering city, the monster-voice roared: Danger—! Danger—!
A barely perceptible trembling ran through the New Tower of Babel, as if the earth which bore it were shuddering, frightened by a dream, betwixt sleeping and waking....
CHAPTER XV
Maria did not dare to stir. She did not even dare to breathe. She did not close her eyes for quaking fear that, between the lowering and raising of her eye-lids, a fresh horror could come upon her and seize her.
She did not know how much time had elapsed since the hands of Joh Fredersen had closed around the throat of Rotwang, the great inventor. The two men had been standing in the shadow; and yet it seemed to the girl as if the outline of both of their forms had remained behind in the darkness, in fiery lines: The bulk of Joh Fredersen, standing there, his hands thrown forward, like two claws;—Rotwang’s body, which hung in these claws, and which was dragged away—pulled forth—through the frame of the door, which closed behind them both.
What was happening behind this door?...
She heard nothing. She listened with all her senses—but she heard nothing, not the least sound....
Minutes passed—endless minutes.... There was nothing to be heard, neither step nor cry....