d. But I was glad to find that when I had risen to the
height I have mentioned I did not go up any higher, but hung in the
air, about on a level with the second tier of windows of the hotel.

I now began to try to reach the screw in my knapsack in order to
reduce the force of the negative gravity; but, do what I would, I
could not get my hand to it. The machine in the knapsack had been
placed so as to support me in a well-balanced and comfortable way;
and in doing this it had been impossible to set the screw so that I
could reach it. But in a temporary arrangement of the kind this had
not been considered necessary, as my wife always turned the screw
for me until sufficient lifting power had been attained. I had
intended, as I have said before, to construct a negative-gravity
waistcoat, in which the screw should be in front, and entirely under
the wearer's control; but this was a thing of the future.

When I found that I could not turn the screw I began to be much
alarmed. Here I was, dangling in the air, without any means of
reaching the ground. I could not expect my wife to return to look
for me, as she would naturally suppose I had stopped to speak to
some one. I thought of loosening myself from the knapsack, but this
would not do, for I should fall heavily, and either kill myself or
break some of my bones. I did not dare to call for assistance, for
if any of the simple-minded inhabitants of the town had discovered
me floating in the air they would have taken me for a demon, and
would probably have shot at me. A moderate breeze was blowing, and
it wafted me gently down the street. If it had blown me against a
tree I would have seized it, and have endeavored, so to speak, to
climb down it; but there were no trees. There was a dim street-lamp
here and there, but reflectors above them threw their light upon the
pavement, and none up to me. On many accounts I was glad that the
night was so dark, for, much as I desired to get down, I wanted no
one to see me in my strange position, which, to any one but myself
and wife, would be utterly unaccountable. If I could rise as high as
the roofs I might get on one of them, and, tearing off an armful of
tiles, so load myself that I would be heavy enough to descend. But I
did not rise to the eaves of any of the houses. If there had been a
telegraph-pole, or anything of the kind that I could have clung to,
I would have taken off the knapsack, and would have endeavored to
scramble do