y to
generate a current. Two small boxes or chambers, made of some
mysterious metal which would not "fuse" under the strongest heat, were
fixed, one at either end of the ship;--these had been manufactured
secretly in another country and sent to Sicily by Morgana herself,--but
so far, they contained nothing. They seemed unimportant--they were
hardly as large as an ordinary petrol-can holding a gallon. When
Rivardi had made a trial ascent he had inserted in each of these boxes
a cylindrical tube made to fit an interior socket as a candle fits into
a candle-stick,--all the workmen watched him, waiting for a revelation,
but he made none. He was only particular and precise as to the firm
closing down of the boxes when the tubes were in. And then in a few
minutes the whole machine began to palpitate noiselessly like a living
thing with a beating heart,--and to the amazement and almost fear of
all who witnessed what seemed to be a miracle, the ship sprang up like
a bird springing from the ground, and soared free and away into space,
its vast white wings cleaving the air with a steady rise and fall of
rhythmic power. Once aloft she sailed in level flight, apparently at
perfect ease--and after several rapid "runs," and circlings, descended
slowly and gracefully, landing her pilot without shock or jar. He was
at once surrounded and was asked a thousand questions which it was
evident he could not answer.

"How can I tell!" he replied, to all interrogations. "The secret is the
secret of a woman!"

A woman! Man's pretty toy!--man's patient slave! How should a woman
master any secret! Engineers and mechanics laughed scornfully and
shrugged their shoulders--yet--yet--the great airship stared them in
the face as a thing created,--a thing of such power and possibility as
seemed wholly incredible. And now the creator,--the woman--had
arrived,--the woman whose rough designs on paper had been carefully
followed and elaborated into actual shape;--and there was a tense state
of expectation among all the workers awaiting her presence. Meanwhile
the lantern-gleam in the sky broadened and the web of mist which veiled
the sea began to lift and Giulio Rivardi, pacing to and fro, halted
every now and then to look in the direction of a path winding downward
from the mainland to the shore, in watchful expectation of seeing an
elfin figure, more spiritlike than mortal, floating towards him through
the dividing vapours of the morning. The words of D