noticed
this, and lightly called me recalcitrant. I admitted the justice of the
epithet, and begged him to consider it one which would always apply to
me with equal force. He laughed at this, and contrasted my gloomy fears
with the excellent arrangements which he had made for my comfort. I
asked him what had become of Grey. I thought it strange that this man
should be amongst the absentees.

"Oh, Grey! He goes to Labrador."

"To Labrador! What takes him to Labrador?"

"The same purpose which takes us to the Arafura Sea," Brande answered,
and passed on.

Presently there was a slight stir amongst the people, and the word was
passed round that Brande was about to undertake some interesting
experiment for the amusement of his guests. I hurried aft along with
some other men with whom I had been talking, and found Miss Brande and
Miss Metford standing hand in hand. Natalie's face was very white, and
the only time I ever saw real fear upon it was at that moment. I thought
the incident on the quay had unnerved her more than was apparent at the
time, and that she was still upset by it. She beckoned to me, and when I
came to her she seized my hand. She was trembling so much her words were
hardly articulate. Miss Metford was concerned for her companion's
nervousness; but otherwise indifferent; while Natalie stood holding our
hands in hers like a frightened child awaiting the firing of a cannon.

"He's going to let off something, a rocket, I suppose," Miss Metford
said to me. "Natalie seems to think he means to sink the ship."

"He does not mean to do so. He might, if an accident occurred."

"Is he going to fire a mine?" I asked.

"No, he is going to etherize a drop of water." Natalie said this so
seriously, we had no thought of laughter, incongruous as the cause of
her fears might seem.

At that moment Brande addressed us from the top of the deckhouse, and
explained that, in order to illustrate on a large scale the most recent
discovery in natural science, he was about to disintegrate a drop of
water, at present encased in a hollow glass ball about the size of a
pea, which he held between his thumb and forefinger. An electric light
was turned upon him so that we could all see the thing quite plainly. He
explained that there was a division in the ball; one portion of it
containing the drop of water, and the other the agent by which, when the
dividing wall was eaten through by its action, the atoms of the water
would be