The message to clear the way not being complied with, the people held their breath and clutched tightly at one another, or the first thing which gave them substantial grip, for all the ships’ motors stopped as though magnetised, whilst the vessels remained perfectly poised and steady, in their exact positions of the moment. Scarcely had this been realised when it was seen that all the ships over the shed were rising bodily, without their relative positions changing by so much as a hair’s-breadth; becoming lighter and still lighter they rose still higher as from a well, leaving all those outside them in a solid wall like a shaft. Several tried to sail out and rise in the shaft to a higher plane, but their ships were still immovable, their engines and motors unable to make a single revolution. Those who were sufficiently near to look up the shaft could see the vessels rise and then float aside over those of the highest plane, leaving the shaft clear to the sky. The fact that the _Regina_ had not yet appeared made this demonstration of her power all the more eerie, for all felt that some awful influence, more mysterious because unseen, was using the natural force of gravity with wonderful and irresistible strength in some simple yet secret manner, and the steady and certain way in which the forces of nature were used made thousands of the watchers nearly frantic to find out by what means it was done. The course clear, very slowly the glittering vessel rose above the roof of the shed, as steadily as if on wires, and when just above the building, the roof slid back automatically; up the shaft of ships the _Regina_ rose, sending out a light so blinding that all the people were dazzled by it, yet they could see that she had no machinery outside, and save for a dome and an outer deck round it, her sides were smooth and free from anything which could hinder her swift passage through the air.