three minutes after one
`` I left at three after ten . It 's now fourteen minutes of eleven -- Good Lord ! Less than an hour since I stood there in your laboratory ! '' `` Then our next chance to get back will be at three minutes after one , '' nodded Vic . `` I wonder if there is any chance of -- '' * * * * * Before he could complete the sentence the door was flung open , and five of the older men , led by a sixth with a larger jewel at his throat , filed solemnly into the room and motioned that we were to leave . At the doorway , a double file of creatures closed in about us , and we were led , by long corridors and mighty winding ramps , toward the top of the building . `` Now what ? ''