a hissing sound like water on melted iron. And
then--"

"And then?" persisted Mr. Ticks in a kind of rapture.

"And then I must have fainted away. When I came to there was no city,
only masses of blackness and--and--Oh, the boats! The people! They were
all gone! Not capsized--not drowning--but gone. There were no boats.
There were no people. There wasn't even a dead body to keep me company.
I, only I, was left, living and alone upon the hissing water.... When I
was able I rowed back. The shore looked horrible and ridged, as if
molten lead had been poured into it. When I came nearer an awful heat
and a deadly odor overcame me. I had barely strength to row back and
anchor again. Then the mist settled everywhere except where I was." The
girl stopped for a moment, breathless.

"I couldn't see anything. It was hot, and then it was cold. I tried to
eat my luncheon. I tried to get some sleep. I called and called for
help. I couldn't tell night from day. I can't say whether it was four or
five days. I said five. I must have been faint a good deal. The worst
thing was being alone. I expected to die. I got pretty weak.... Then I
saw the balloon." The girl bowed the face which she could not hide, and
sobbed at her own dreadful story.

Swift was greatly moved. "Miss Magnet," he said gently, putting her head
upon his shoulder. "I think you had better rest. You are tired out. This
is different, you know. You needn't when you get safely down." The girl
gave him a grateful glance and obeyed him quietly.

"How did she escape?" soliloquized Mr. Ticks, loud enough to be
overheard.

"Oh, I don't know--don't ask me--unless it was that I was in a wooden
boat. All the rest on the lake go by storage battery and are made of
steel. Mine is the only old-fashioned boat, but I was always afraid.
Everybody laughed at me, but I did what I do at home. I cut off the legs
of a chair and fixed them in glass tumblers. I always sit in my office
on glass tumblers. My bed rests on glass tumblers, too. It's a
non-conductor, you know. I used to get shocked every day. Everybody got
shocked in Russell, but they pretended not to mind it."

"But, Miss Magnet, do you know what is the cause of Russell's fate? of
this deadly atmosphere beneath us?"

"N-no--unless--of course that can't be. I guess it's a visitation of
Providence--but I don't know for what." The girl stopped, awed at the
thoughts she had evoked.

"A visitation of Providence!" repeated Mr. T