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When the Sleeper Wakes-Part30_H. G. WELLS (1866-1946)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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awaiting him on the westward stage. Seen close this



mechanism was no longer small. As it lay on its

launching carrier upon the wide expanse of the flying



stage, its aluminium body skeleton was as big as the

hull of a twenty-ton yacht. Its lateral supporting sails



braced and stayed with metal nerves almost like the

nerves of a bee's wing, and made of some sort of



glassy artificialmembrane, cast their shadow over

many hundreds of square yards. The chairs for the



engineer and his passenger hung free to swing by a

complextackle, within the protecting ribs of the



frame and well abaft the middle. The passenger's

chair was protected by a wind-guard and guarded



about with metallic rods carrying air cushions. It

could, if desired, be completely closed in, but Graham



was anxious for novel experiences, and desired that it

should be left open. The aeronaut sat behind a glass



that sheltered his face. The passenger could secure

himself firmly in his seat, and this was almost



unavoidable on landing, or he could move along by means of

a little rail and rod to a locker at the stem of the



machine, where his personal luggage, his wraps and

restoratives were placed, and which also with the seats,



served as a makeweight to the parts of the central

engine that projected to the propeller at the stern.



The engine was very simple in appearance. Asano,

pointing out the parts of this apparatus to him, told



him that, like the gas-engine of Victorian days, it was

of the explosive type, burning a small drop of a substance



called "fomile" at each stroke. It consisted

simply of reservoir and piston about the long fluted



crank of the propeller shaft. So much Graham saw of

the machine.



The flying stage about him was empty save for

Asano and their suite of attendants. Directed by the



aeronaut he placed himself in his seat. He then drank

a mixture containing ergot--a dose, he learnt, invariably



administered to those about to fly, and designed

to counteract the possible effect of diminished air



pressure upon the system. Having done so, he declared

himself ready for the journey. Asano took the empty



glass from him, stepped through the bars of the hull,

and stood below on the stage waving his hand.



Suddenly he seemed to slide along the stage to the right

and vanish.



The engine was beating, the propeller spinning, and

for a second the stage and the buildings beyond were



gliding swiftly and horizontally past Graham's eye;

then these things seemed to tilt up abruptly. He



gripped the little rods on either side of him

instinctively. He felt himself moving upward, heard the air



whistle over the top of the wind screen. The

propeller screw moved round with powerful rhythmic



impulses--one, two, three, pause; one, two, three--

which the engineer controlled very delicately. The



machine began a quivering vibration that continued

throughout the flight, and the roof areas seemed



running away to starboard very quickly and growing

rapidly smaller. He looked from the face of the engineer



through the ribs of the machine. Looking sideways,

there was nothing very startling in what he saw



--a rapid funicular railway might have given the same

sensations. He recognised the Council House and the



Highgate Ridge. And then he looked straight down

between his feet.



For a moment physicalterror possessed him, a

passionate sense of insecurity. He held tight. For a



second or so he could not lift his eyes. Some hundred




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