xclamation than, to their inexpressible
horror, they beheld the huge structure, round which they were standing,
lift itself off the earth without the slightest visible effort and begin
to rise into the air. Many of them were so overpowered by astonishment
that they could only stand, open-mouthed and as motionless as statues,
staring at the extraordinary sight; others, however, remembering the
stringent orders of the king, and feeling that the prize which they had
believed to be so secure was not only escaping them but also carrying
off one of their number, rushed forward, and, whilst some fruitlessly
attempted to grasp and hold the smooth and polished hull, others seized
and clung tenaciously to the rope-ladder. The weight of some seven or
eight natives clinging to the dangling ladder had, of course, no visible
effect upon the movement of the great ship; and, finding themselves
being helplessly dragged skyward, they let go their hold with a yell of
dismay when they were some four or five yards from the earth, upon which
they dropped back heavily.

The ship once fairly off the ground, Mildmay increased the rarefaction
of the air in the air-chambers to an almost perfect vacuum, and the
immense structure soared skyward with great rapidity. Lualamba, hearing
the shouts of his people from below, stepped to the gangway to ascertain
the cause; and it was then that, to his inexpressible dismay, he saw the
earth apparently falling from under him, and the upturned faces of his
followers rapidly dwindling until they became unrecognisable. In the
first extremity of his terror he would have flung himself headlong from
the deck had he not been prevented; failing in this he prostrated
himself, and for some time lay motionless, with his face hidden in his
hands. At length, however, somewhat reassured by the encouraging
adjurations of the professor and the apparent absence of movement in the
ship, he ventured first of all to uncover his eyes and then to rise
slowly to his feet. He glanced wildly about him, but could see nothing,
save a thick white mist which completely enveloped the ship (for she had
just plunged into the centre of the cloud), with the sun dimly visible
through it; and a fresh paroxysm of terror seized him, for the horrible
thought at once suggested itself that he had looked his last upon mother
Earth. The professor, however, speedily reassured him upon this point,
and, leading him to the guard-rail which ran roun