Page:Biagi - The Centaurians.djvu/146

 the vessel, but it never occurred to us we would sail the air.

"It's a flying machine!" gasped Saxe.

"An air ship!" echoed Sheldon.

And we continued to float upward, the vessel rolling and rocking as in a rough sea, causing Sheldon to exclaim: "The damned thing'll roll clean over and dump us all out!" And then to impress the gentlemen surrounding us that his remark had been one of learning he began conversing earnestly in his most polished, class-room manner with a tall gentleman beside him. A fine old individual, with a long grey beard, towed Saunders off, and Saxe. became the center of a group of men, who plied him with questions and were eagerly questioned in turn.

A handsome young man took possession of me—he was the Governor's son, and introduced himself as Tolna; and I learned we were the guests of the Governor, and were being conveyed to Latonia in his private yacht. I questioned Tolna as to the safety of traveling by the zephyr route, and was keen concerning the rolling of the ship, explaining it was my first experience of air navigation. He looked incredulous, and I reminded him his people were six centuries in advance of those of my country.

"But we are considering the air ship," I continued. "We are just realizing the air is navigable, and several bright men have invented machines that were received fairly well by the press, but the atmosphere did not take kindly to them. The fatalities incurred ruinous skepticism."