nd we seem to be in a new atmosphere--there
is a sensation of greater tension in the air--or--it is my fancy. We
must not be too adventurous,--we must avoid the Great Nebula in Orion
for example!"

"Madama, you jest! We are trillions upon trillions of miles distant
from any great constellation--"

"Do I not know it? You are too literal, Marchese! Of course I jest--you
could not suppose me to be in earnest! But I am sure we are passing
through the waves of a new ether--not altogether suited to the average
human being. The average human being is not made to inhabit the higher
spaces of the upper air--hark!--What was that?"

She held up a warning hand, and listened. There was a distinct and
persistent chiming of bells. Bells loud and soft,--bells mellow and
deep, clear and silvery--clanging in bass and treble shocks of rising
and falling rhythm and tune! "Do you hear?"

Rivardi and Gaspard simultaneously rose to their feet, amazed.
Undoubtedly they heard! It was impossible NOT to hear such a clamour of
concordant sound! Startled beyond all expression, Morgana sprang to the
window of her cabin, and looking out uttered a cry of mingled terror
and rapture... for there below her, in the previously inky blackness
of the Great Desert, lay a great City, stretching out for miles, and
glittering from end to end with a peculiarly deep golden light which
seemed to bathe it in the lustre of a setting sun. Towers, cupolas,
bridges, streets, squares, parks and gardens could be plainly seen from
the air-ship, which had suddenly stopped, and now hung immovably in
mid-air; though for some moments Morgana was too excited to notice
this. Again she called to her companions--

"Look! Look!" she exclaimed--"We have found it! The Brazen City!"

But she called in vain. Turning for response, she saw, to her amazement
and alarm, both men stretched on the floor, senseless! She ran to them
and made every effort to rouse them,--they were breathing evenly and
quietly as in profound and comfortable sleep--but it was beyond her
skill to renew their consciousness. Then it flashed upon her that the
"White Eagle" was no longer moving,--that it was, in fact, quite
stationary,--and a quick rush of energy filled her as she realised that
now she was as she had wished to be, alone with her air-ship to do with
it as she would. All fear had left her,--her nerves were steady, and
her daring spirit was fired with resolution. Whatever the mischance
which had