Is it then a wonder, that, after actual days of such vivid living, upon descending to earth or coming back among people, one should look at those who gather around about one as some kind of lower order of animal, that it should take a few moments to feel their presence gradually dawning upon him, and to bring his faculties slowly back where they can begin to understand what these bystanders are thinking and talking about? This seems but a dream, but is in reality an actual experience of a return to earth after two days spent in the air and a visit to regions over four miles above its surface, much of the time out of sight of this dear old sphere, when ears had become unaccustomed to sound, and so impaired by the change of pressure due to the high altitude that we could not, for some time after landing, hear when spoken to. Our own voices rang hollow and stuck in our throats, and our thought had become unattuned to those expressed by the gaping, wondering crowd, struck dumb at the sight of our arrival, and standing like cows in the pasture when you walk among them. Such is the state of mind in store for the airman, the artist, the thinker, the person desiring to become isolated for a while to feel as Adam felt in all reality, when he stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, monarch of all he surveyed. This appeals strangely to the imagination but when it becomes a reality by virtue of actual experience, it also becomes a sensation most difficult to express; for so few people understand what you are talking about, few having had the sensations of being removed from this world and coming back again to it. CHAPTER IV OPERATING A HYDROAEROPLANE (By Hugh Robinson.) The general impression among aviators and manufacturers of aeroplanes is that the hydroaeroplane is rapidly becoming the flying craft of the future, by reason of its ease of control, extensive bodies of water upon which to operate it, and, above all, its safety. It is practically impossible for the operator of a hydroaeroplane to suffer injury in case of accident. Even in the worst kind of an accident, the most that can happen to the operator is an exhilarating plunge into salt or fresh water as the case may be, with the beneficial effects of a good swim if so desired, otherwise, the operator may "stand by" the wreckage, which cannot possibly sink. The several pontoons, together with the necessary woodwork to construct the planes, etc., furnish ample buoyancy to support the machine and operator even in case of a total wreck, which rarely ever happens. One can bang down upon the water with a hydro in any old fashion, and beyond a tremendous splash nothing serious happens.