As they made a movement for the door, and about twenty volunteers stepped forward instead of the three asked for, Dennis, remembering one of the early experiments of his ancestor, told his friends to look out for some fun and instantly altered the de-atomising force to one of protection only, so that any one touching the vessel would receive an electric shock of sufficient strength to teach him caution, but not to prove injurious. He then moved a switch, gently at first, as he was not sure if the power really was as much under control as the instructions stated. Very slowly all the people in the shed became lighter; one man, his former workman, taking a stride towards Richard Howett, stepped right over his head, landing with one foot on the _Regina’s_ outer deck. With a yell of fright he slid down her sloping sides, but long before he could reach the ground he was so light as to be floating about like a butterfly. In a panic the whole company made a dash for the doorway, but ere they could reach it Dennis made them sufficiently light to float about in the room a few feet above, their vain efforts to jerk themselves downwards low enough to pass out causing them to look like living corks bobbing up and down in water, and to the three watchers it was indescribably funny to see the consternation on the faces of the floating citizens, who could not comprehend the situation. After they had taken the edge off their mirth, the three all stepped on the outer deck, which they insulated—for any part of the vessel and surroundings could be insulated or brought in circuit at will—and the sudden sight of the supposed victims in the very zone of death caused several of the floating people to give an exclamation of terror, thinking they were spirits. Dennis saw this and addressed them, tragically,— “Ye floating spirits, what would ye! Come ye to this abode of death to attend our apotheosis? Why come ye to disturb our repose?—Gently, gently, my friends!” he interjected, as he wafted off, with a wave of his hand, a few of the people who were drawn towards him with the air disturbed by his movements. Then the laughter of his two companions broke the spell, and many of the people laughed and cried, for all were hysterical and frightened, and some called on him in terror to spare their lives. “We’ve gone far enough, Dennis!” remonstrated Gilbert. “Let them down gently, or they’ll faint with fear!” Wafting and blowing away a few more who came too close, Dennis resumed, this time speaking in his usual tones,—