As for Zaidie, all
her fears were for the time being lost in wonder, until she saw her
husband take a swift glance round upwards and downwards, and then go up
into the conning-tower. She followed him quickly, and said:
"What is the matter, Lenox, are we falling too quickly?"
"Much faster than we should," he replied, sending a signal to Murgatroyd
to increase the force by three-tenths.
The answering signal came back, but still the _Astronef_ continued to
fall with terrific rapidity, and the awful landscape beneath them--a
landscape of fire and chaos--broadened out and became more and more
distinct.
He sent two more signals down in quick succession. Three-fourths of the
whole repulsive power of the engines was now being exerted--a force
which would have been sufficient to hurl the _Astronef_ up from the
surface of the Earth like a feather in a whirlwind. Her downward course
became a little slower, but still she did not stop. Zaidie, white to the
lips, looked down upon the hideous scene beneath and slipped her hand
through Redgrave's arm. He looked at her for an instant and then turned
his head away with a jerk, and sent down the last signal.
The whole energy of the engines was now directing the maximum of the R.
Force against the surface of Jupiter, but still, as every moment passed
in a speechless agony of apprehension, it grew nearer and nearer.
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