"That is a very remote possibility!" she said--"The waves of energy
which bear us along are concerned in our own life-supply,--they make
our air to breathe--our heat to warm. All the same it is time we
returned--we are not provisioned."

She called to Rivardi, and he, with the slightest turn of the wheel,
altered the direction in which the air-ship moved, so that it
travelled back again on the route by which it had commenced its
flight. Soon, very soon, the dainty plot of earth, looking no more
than a gay flower-bed, where Morgana's palazzo was situated,
appeared below--and then, acting on instructions, Gaspard opened the
compartments at either end of the vessel. The vibrating rays within
dwindled by slow degrees--their light became less and less intense--
their vibration less powerful,--till very gradually with a perfectly
beautiful motion expressing absolute grace and lightness the vessel
descended towards the aerodrome it had lately left, and all the men
who were waiting for its return gave a simultaneous shout of
astonishment and admiration, as it sank slowly towards them, folding
its wings as it came with the quiet ease of a nesting-bird flying
home. So admirably was the distance measured between itself and the
great shed of its local habitation, that it glided into place as
though it had eyes to see its exact whereabouts, and came to a
standstill within a few seconds of its arrival. Morgana descended,
and her two companions followed. The other men stood silent, visibly
inquisitive yet afraid to express their curiosity. Morgana's eyes
flashed over them all with a bright, half-laughing tolerance.

"I thank you, my friends!" she said--"You have done well the work I
entrusted you to do under the guidance of the Marchese Rivardi, and
you can now judge for yourselves the result It mystifies you I can