"Our lightness!" Jack cried. "Washington's jumping and the lightness of all objects! I see. This fragment of the earth--this island in the air, as you call it, Professor--is large enough to possess some powers of attraction of its own; but not as much as the earth. I wonder how large it really is?" "That is a matter for future discovery," returned the scientist, with some eagerness. "My goodness me!" groaned Mark. "He really enjoys the situation." "No man has ever been in such a position before--I am convinced of that," declared the professor. "Were it not that you are all in as perilous a situation as myself, I would not worry about this condition. It is marvelous, and the situation affords me opportunity to learn many things that science has only guessed at before." "Don't talk that way!" wailed the oil man, suddenly. "You'll make _me_ believe in this island in the air business, and I _know_ it's craziness!" Nor could anything the professor say convince the oil man that there was any common sense in the plain statement of their situation. It was beyond Phineas Roebach's powers of imagination. As for Washington White, he could not understand the affair anyway. But he always accepted the professor's words as Bible truth and he had no doubt of the surprising fact. "We was bound ter git inter trouble, Buttsy an' me, w'en we agreed ter start on any sech foolish journey. And de consanguinuity ob dis 'casion assuages me ob de fac' dat we'se only got our come-upance fo' bein' so reckless. Now we is nebber gwine ter see de State o' Maine again, 'ceptin' it is froo de perfesser's telescope." His complaint received little attention from Jack Darrow or Mark Sampson; they were too deeply interested in the explanation of the catastrophe that had overtaken them. "How big a slice of Alaska do you suppose has been blown off the earth, Professor?" asked Jack. "It may be much more than a part of Alaska," replied Mr. Henderson. "Until we have a chance to explore the region more thoroughly I cannot even guess the answer to your question." "And how can we explore it?" demanded Mark, quickly. "If there is no atmosphere on these mountain tops which we see--or, which we saw before we fell into this crevasse--we cannot get off this plane. We are imprisoned on the low ground. The lack of air will keep us from climbing the mountains." "Or from flying over them if we can get the _Snowbird_ into commission again," added Jack. "Every necessity brings its own invention," said the professor. "Let us not despair. We may yet find some means of traveling all about this floating island." "And what will you do if you get to the edge--fall off?" exclaimed Andy. He likewise accepted the professor's words at their face value. He never thought of doubting either the aged scientist's honesty or his learning.