nkets around her, and,
dashing water over myself, I staggered across the car to the window
again. We were still descending rapidly, but, as I felt the walls of the
car, I found that they were now cooler, proving that our terrific speed
had been reduced. The increased pressure of my feet upon the floor of
the car was also evidence that our descent was being steadily checked.
A wild hope surged within me that the repelling metal would overcome the
momentum in time to save us from destruction.

Glancing down, I saw white specks lying far beneath us. My heart stood
still as I realized that these were buildings. We could not be more than
a few miles from the surface, yet down, down we sped. A few moments more
and the buildings became plainly visible, and my heart thumped wildly,
as they seemed to rush up to meet us. We would be dashed to pieces! The
repelling force could not possibly stop us in time! Turning, in despair,
I threw myself down beside Zarlah, and enfolded her in a last embrace.

Instantly there was a terrific shock--a deafening crash. Then all was
dark, while a flood of water came pouring in upon us. I staggered to my
feet with Zarlah in my arms, only to be thrown to the floor again by an
upward bound of the aerenoid. Sunlight once more filled the car, and, as
I struggled to my feet, a cool breeze wafted in through the shattered
windows. To what further extremes of temperature and mediums were we to
be subjected?

I was still too dazed by the shock to realize how we had escaped from a
death that seemed inevitable, but I knew that we were flying upward with
the full force of our repelling metal. Tenderly lifting Zarlah to a
safer and more comfortable place, I seized the lever and gradually
decreased the repelling power, until we rested motionless in the air.

We had already attained a considerable height, and, as I eagerly gazed
down, I beheld far beneath us the glistening surface of a lake. With a
gasp of horror, I realized what a narrow escape had been ours. Into this
lake we had plunged with a velocity sufficient to have dashed us to
pieces had we struck the ground; the damage which the car had sustained
upon striking the water was evidence of this. Our descent being stopped,
the repelling metal, which was fully exposed, had then sent us bounding
into the air again, and in all probability had thus saved us from being
drowned beneath the waters of the lake.

Death had indeed been close to us many times duri