"We are again in the magnetic field."

(500.6-502.5)  This reading was one of the quicker ones.  Page 500 is spare on text, as it features the chaos occasioned by the underground noise.  It's a fun page that Tindall calls "a musical arrangment, as intricate and agreeable as the Sirens episode of Ulysses."

There are a few themes that wind in and out of the page.  One is the sound of bloody war.  A voice cries, "We'll gore them and gash them and gun them and gloat on them."  Another shouts, "O, widows and orphans, it's the yeomen!  Redshanks for ever!  Up Lancs!"  A second theme theme is that of a transaction, or more specifically, someone being sold.  "Sold!" a voice says.  "I am sold!"  Later, we hear, "Brinabride, bet my price!"  Another theme is lovers' longing.  "Me!" someone says.  "I'm true.  True!  Isolde.  Pipette.  My precious!"

As this symphony of sorts goes on, the old men (I presume) try to communicate via radio.  "Now we're gettin it," one says.  "Tune in and pick up the forain countries!  Hello!"  A moment of silence (denoted by the word "SILENCE." centered on the page) interrupts the proceedings.  When the voices resume, we see that a play is now being acted out on a stage.  The scene is a witness being examined in court, perhaps using a telephone or two-way radio.  The subject of the examination is "a particular lukesummer night, following a crying fair day."  The witness describes the night, which was lit by bonfires.  We learn that there was rain somewhere far off, as well as snow in the Himalayas.  The examination will pick up again tomorrow . . . .