ched a wide
valley of many shades of green, with a little river running through
it, and red-tiled houses here and there. Beyond rose a range of
mountains, pink, pale green, and purple where their tips caught the
reflection of the setting sun, and of a rich gray-green in shadows.
Beyond all was the blue Italian sky, illumined by an especially fine
sunset.

My wife and I are Americans, and at the time of this story were
middle-aged people and very fond of seeing in each other's company
whatever there was of interest or beauty around us. We had a son
about twenty-two years old, of whom we were also very fond; but he
was not with us, being at that time a student in Germany. Although
we had good health, we were not very robust people, and, under
ordinary circumstances, not much given to long country tramps. I was
of medium size, without much muscular development, while my wife was
quite stout, and growing stouter.

The reader may, perhaps, be somewhat surprised that a middle-aged
couple, not very strong, or very good walkers, the lady loaded with
a basket containing two bottles of wine and a metal drinking-cup,
and the gentleman carrying a heavy knapsack, filled with all sorts
of odds and ends, strapped to his shoulders, should set off on a
seven-mile walk, jump over a wall, run up a hillside, and yet feel
in very good trim to enjoy a sunset view. This peculiar state of
things I will proceed to explain.

I had been a professional man, but some years before had retired
upon a very comfortable income. I had always been very fond of
scientific pursuits, and now made these the occupation and pleasure
of much of my leisure time. Our home was in a small town; and in a
corner of my grounds I built a laboratory, where I carried on my
work and my experiments. I had long been anxious to discover the
means not only of producing, but of retaining and controlling, a
natural force, really the same as centrifugal force, but which I
called negative gravity. This name I adopted because it indicated
better than any other the action of the force in question, as I
produced it. Positive gravity attracts everything toward the centre
of the earth. Negative gravity, therefore, would be that power which
repels everything from the centre of the earth, just as the negative
pole of a magnet repels the needle, while the positive pole attracts
it. My object was, in fact, to store centrifugal force and to render
it constant, controllable, and availab