order. There he was, seven feet in the air, but
without the power to rise an inch farther.

This short flight, however, had greatly astonished the blacks, who,
seeing his body suspended in mid-air, immediately hailed him as a god,
and prostrated themselves upon the ground before him.

The fat chief had seen something of white men in his youth, and had
learned to mistrust them. So, while he remained as prostrate as the
rest, he peeped at Rob with one of his little black eyes and saw that
the boy was ill at ease, and seemed both annoyed and frightened.

So he muttered some orders to the man next him, who wriggled along the
ground until he had reached a position behind Rob, when he rose and
pricked the suspended "god" with the point of his spear.

"Ouch!" yelled the boy; "stop that!"

He twisted his head around, and seeing the black again make a movement
with the spear, Rob turned his electric tube upon him and keeled him
over like a ten-pin.

The natives, who had looked up at his cry of pain, again prostrated
themselves, kicking their toes against the ground in a terrified tattoo
at this new evidence of the god's powers.

The situation was growing somewhat strained by this time, and Rob did
not know what the savages would decide to do next; so he thought it
best to move away from them, since he was unable to rise to a greater
height. He turned the indicator towards the south, where a level space
appeared between the trees; but instead of taking that direction he
moved towards the northeast, a proof that his machine had now become
absolutely unreliable. Moreover, he was slowly approaching the fire,
which, although it had ceased blazing, was a mass of glowing red embers.

In his excitement he turned the indicator this way and that, trying to
change the direction of his flight, but the only result of his endeavor
was to carry him directly over the fire, where he came to a full stop.

"Murder! Help! Fire and blazes!" he cried, as he felt the glow of the
coals beneath him. "I'll be roasted, after all! Here; help, Fatty,
help!"

The fat chief sprang to his feet and came to the rescue. He reached
up, caught Rob by the heels, and pulled him down to the ground, away
from the fire. But the next moment, as he clung to the boy's feet,
they both soared into the air again, and, although now far enough from
the fire to escape its heat, the savage, finding himself lifted from
the earth, uttered a scream of horror and