d candle-power electric arc lamp. It was so intolerable that
Redgrave closed the lower shutters, and meanwhile he found that the
_Astronef_ had ceased to descend. He shut off more of the R. Force, but
it produced no effect. The _Astronef_ remained stationary. Then he
ordered Murgatroyd to set the propellers in motion. The engineer pulled
the starting-levers, and then came up out of the engine-room and said to
him:

"It's no good, my Lord; I don't know what devil's world we've got into
now, but they won't work. If I thought that engines could be
bewitched----"

"Oh, nonsense, Andrew!" said his lordship rather testily. "It's
perfectly simple: those people down there, whoever they are, have got
some way of demagnetising us, or else they've got the R. Force too, and
they're applying it against us to stop us going down. Apparently they
don't want us. No, that's just to show us that they can stop us if they
want to. The light's going down. Begin dropping a bit. Don't start the
propellers, but just go and see that the guns are all right in case of
accidents."

The old engineer nodded and went back to his engines, looking
considerably scared. As he spoke the brilliancy of the light faded
rapidly, and the _Astronef_ began to sink slowly towards the surface.

As a precaution against their being allowed to drop with force enough to
cause a disaster, Redgrave turned the R. Force on again and they fell
slowly towards the plain, through what seemed like a halo of perfectly
white light. When she was within a couple of hundred yards of the ground
a winged car of exquisitely graceful shape rose from the roof of one of
the huge glass buildings nearest to them, flew swiftly towards them, and
after circling once round the dome of the upper deck, ran close
alongside.

The car was occupied by two figures of distinctly human form but rather
more than human stature. Both were dressed in long, close-fitting
garments of what seemed like a golden brown fleece. Their heads were
covered with a close hood and their hands with gloves.

"What an exceedingly handsome man!" said Zaidie, as one of them stood
up. "I never saw such a noble-looking face in my life; it's half
philosopher, half saint. Of course, you won't be jealous?"

"Oh, nonsense!" he laughed. "It would be quite impossible to imagine
_you_ in love with either. But he is handsome, and evidently
friendly--there's no mistaking that. Answer him, Zaidie; you can do it
better than I can