Night overtook him while speeding across the Sea of Japan, and having
a great desire to view the Mikado's famous islands, he put the
indicator at zero, and, coming to a full stop, composed himself to
sleep until morning, that he might run no chances of being carried
beyond his knowledge during the night.
You might suppose it no easy task to sleep suspended in mid-air, yet
the magnetic currents controlled by the traveling machine were so
evenly balanced that Rob was fully as comfortable as if reposing upon
a bed of down. He had become somewhat accustomed to passing the night
in the air and now slept remarkably well, having no fear of burglars
or fire or other interruptions that dwellers in cities are subject to.
One thing, however, he should have remembered: that he was in an
ancient and little known part of the world and reposing above a sea
famous in fable as the home of many fierce and terrible creatures;
while not far away lay the land of the dragon, the simurg and other
ferocious monsters.
Rob may have read of these things in fairy tales and books of travel,
but if so they had entirely slipped his mind; so he slumbered
peacefully and actually snored a little, I believe, towards morning.
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