“My friends, do not be alarmed! We are not ghosts, but real flesh and blood and very much alive—excuse me!”—as he blew off a couple clinging together for protection. “My friends and I have discovered the long-lost secret of my ship, the _Regina_, now _our_ ship, for my two friends, Ross Ainley and Gilbert Eastern, join me in the ownership from this moment, and in order to prove to you that we really have found the secrets, the chief of which is the one and only scientific method of adding to and overcoming or depriving of gravity, we thought we could not do better than give you an actual demonstration of the fact, in return for your kindness in breaking down my door—our door, I should say—in order to favour us with this visit, the object of which is now frustrated, though you may be sure we appreciate your good intentions none the less. You will perceive—pardon me!” as he sent a few more away with a wave of his hand—“you will perceive that you have been made lighter, and were it not for the retaining walls of the shed, you would float away and for ever remain as far off the ground as you are now, and if weighted down you would inevitably rise on the weight being removed; also if you were made lighter still you would float upwards through the roof. For some reasons this would be an advantage, for in this age of aërial navigation it would be pleasant to know that in case of disaster you could never come crashing to earth, but would only fall through the air till you arrived at your equilibrium, or correct specific gravity, and the lower air would make your descent like that of a high diver in water, and you would have always a deep, soft cushion of air to fall upon on which you could take no hurt. Some of you, however, have business on the ground, and as some sage once suggested, if the ground will not come to you, you must perforce come to the ground—steady!”—as another citizen floated too near. “I notice several of you have already lost your tempers, which is bad for the nerves; you see we are quite placid and cool, though you have damaged much of our property, and had we not appeared in time, you would have blown the whole building to dust. For this you must forgive our joke; we do not bear malice, neither must you, and those who are not prepared to take this as a jest—and you can see it is perfectly harmless—I propose to float upwards just within the walls, with their heads only above the top till they are willing to see it in that light. I see several are looking alarmed, but I can assure all those who want to go up that they will come to no hurt; they cannot fall, and will be so light that they could not injure themselves, even wilfully, by bumping against the walls. To those who are convinced of the _Regina’s_ power, we will restore their former weight, and after we have had an hour to prepare the vessel, they shall be conducted by us through the ship, where no foot has trodden for centuries till yesterday, and they will