This was no easy matter. He saw green fields, lakes, groves and
villages; but these might exist in any country. Being still at a great
elevation he descended gradually until he was about twenty feet from
the surface of the earth, where he paused near the edge of a small
village.

At once a crowd of excited people assembled, shouting to one another
and pointing towards him in wonder. In order to be prepared for
emergencies Rob had taken the electric tube from his pocket, and now,
as he examined the dress and features of the people below, the tube
suddenly slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground, where one end
stuck slantingly into the soft earth.

A man rushed eagerly towards it, but the next moment he threw up his
hands and fell upon his back, unconscious. Others who ran to assist
their fallen comrade quickly tumbled into a heap beside him.

It was evident to Rob that the tube had fallen in such a position that
the button was being pressed continually and a current of electric
fluid issued to shock whoever came near. Not wishing to injure these
people he dropped to the ground and drew the tube from the earth, thus
releasing the pressure upon the button.

But the villagers had now decided that the boy was their enemy, and no
sooner had he touched the ground than a shower of stones and sticks
rained about him. Not one reached his body, however, for the Garment
of Repulsion stopped their flight and returned them to rattle with more
or less force against those who had thrown them--"like regular
boomerangs," thought Rob.

To receive their own blows in this fashion seemed so like magic to the
simple folk that with roars of fear and pain they ran away in all
directions.

"It's no use stopping here," remarked Rob, regretfully, "for I've
spoiled my welcome by this accident. I think these people are Irish,
by their looks and speech, so I must be somewhere in the Emerald Isle."

He consulted his map and decided upon the general direction he should
take to reach England, after which he again rose into the air and
before long was passing over the channel towards the shores of England.

Either his map or compass or his calculations proved wrong, for it was
high noon before, having changed his direction a half dozen times, he
came to the great city of London. He saw at a glance that it would
never do to drop into the crowded streets, unless he wanted to become
an object of public curiosity; so he looked arou