CHAPTER IX
THE COUNCIL OF THE ANIMALS
The hill on which they stood dropped sharply away into a plain surrounded by high hills. To the south the river ran under pine bluffs. But what amazed Raphael was the strange city that lay before him. A thousand white skyscrapers towered up from the plain in square masses of marble and concrete, a city of giant cubes one rising above the other. Overhead three aeroplanes droned like black bees sharply outlined against the evening sky.
As the twilight deepened, lights appeared in the windows of the massive buildings. Raphael could hear the roar of swiftly moving machinery like the murmur of a far-off waterfall. Somewhere in a huge skyscraper among those canyons of concrete, Cassandra and the Sorcerer were hidden.
‘How shall I ever find her in that great city?’ thought Raphael, awed.
‘What shall we do?’ he asked Empyrean.
‘First of all we must prevent the Sorcerer from escaping us,’ answered the eagle.
‘But how can we?’
‘Set a guard about the city.’
‘If we called a council of the animals, they would help us,’ suggested Raphael.
The eagle gave the order to his lieutenants, and then turned to Raphael.