ntity of chemicals, and scientific
apparatus.

"I am going to do a thing that I have never done in my life before,"
said Mr. Carmichael, in a sad and doubtful tone; "I have kept this
secret so long that it seems like parting with myself to disclose it,
to disclose even the existence of it. I have fed upon it as a young man
feeds on love. It has been my nourishment, my manna in the wilderness of
this world, my solace under a thousand trials, my inspiration from on
High. I verily believe it has kept my old carcase together. Mind!" he
added, with a penetrating glance of his grey eyes, which gleamed under
their bushy brows like a pool of water in a cavern overhung with
brambles, "promise me that whatever you see and hear will remain a
secret on your part. Never breathe a word of it to a living soul. You
are the only person, except my own daughter, whom I have ever taken into
my confidence."

I gave him my word of honour.

"Very well," he continued, lifting a small metal box from one of the
tables, and patting it with his hand. "I have been working at the
subject of aerial navigation for well-nigh thirty years, and this is the
result."

I looked at the metal case, but could see nothing remarkable about it.

"It seems a little thing, hardly worth a few pence, and yet how much I
have paid for it!" said the inventor, with a sigh, and a far-away
expression in his eyes. "Many a time it has reminded me of the mouse's
nest that was turned up by the ploughshare.

"'Thy wee bit heap o' strae and stibble
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble.'

Of course this is only a model."

"A model of a flying machine?" I inquired, in a tone of surprise.

"You may call it so," he answered; "but it is a flying machine that does
not fly or soar in the strict sense of the words, for it has neither
wings nor aeroplane. It is, in fact, an aerial locomotive, as you will
see."

While he spoke, Mr. Carmichael opened the case of the instrument, and
adjusted the mechanism inside. Immediately afterwards, to my
astonishment, the box suddenly left his hands, and flew, or rather
glided, swiftly through the air, and must have dashed itself against the
wall of the laboratory had not its master run and caught it.

"Wonderful!" I exclaimed, forgetting the attitude of caution and reserve
which I had deemed it prudent to adopt.

The inventor laughed with childish glee, enjoying his triumph, and
stroking the case as though it were a kitten.

"