The others assenting, the two attendants got together the necessary provisions and brought the men, each from his cabin. In the meantime, the ship sank slowly through the clouds and hovered over water. Slowly she roved, but everywhere was water broken only by rocky islands, barren and fruitless, on which no food of any kind could be obtained, so they sailed towards the other side, and as they approached the further hemisphere, they saw the islands were by no means so numerous, though larger, and were covered with vegetation, and well stocked with animals. At last they came to a great continent dotted with numerous cities, and selecting one they descended to within fifty feet of the ground, which caused numbers of people to collect. These seeming friendly, the eight prisoners were brought forward, their weight regulated to the weight of the air at that level and, some of them sullen and revengeful, others frightened into pleading for mercy, they were all floated outside and their weights gradually increased. So they slowly sank down to the ground, each with his supply of provisions; then seeing the men reach _terra firma_ and be received by the astonished natives with demonstrations of warm welcome and friendliness, the net of the vessel was joined again, the doors sealed, and the _Regina_ rose like an eagle. Getting a rebound from the gravity of the planet, the good ship continued her course to the sun, her passengers, sure of themselves and of each other, feeling more tranquil and comfortable now that the only disturbing element and source of danger had been removed from their midst, and they tried to dismiss the occurrence from their minds by assiduous devotion to the object of their voyage, which now lay before them like an awful furnace of molten fire. But enthusiastic as they were and confident as they might be of safety, they could not look ahead without feelings of awe and a nervous tremor. The _Regina_ had travelled slowly in order that all should have time and opportunity for astronomical and other observations, and although, with a gravity similar to that of Earth and so powerful an objective as the sun, she could have travelled the distance in a very short space of time, the journey had occupied three weeks, and every one on board had been intensely busy, some checking the Earth-measured distances of stars by actual measurement in celestial survey, others from their unique position in space noting the physical and chemical changes and dispositions of the stars; taking moving photographs in colour; testing and analysing the structure and movements of the ether-web; the currents; passages of light; atoms, germs, meteoric stones and other substances floating on, and passing through, the ether, and scores of other phenomena hitherto impossible to deal with first hand: all this was so engrossing that the hours and days appeared to slip away ere they had well begun. Every one on board worked with feverish