"Of course," he answered, "the water won't run out, for there isn't any gravity to make it."
He lifted the lid off the cooler and filled the pitcher by scooping up the water. Then he floated back to Rhoda with the remark,
"I'll show you an experiment which no one has ever seen before."
Holding the pitcher upside down, he lifted it quickly away from the water inside, which remained suspended in the air as a pulsating, transparent mass of irregular form. Gradually the mass ceased its pulsations and, as it did so, collected itself into a perfect sphere resembling a crystal ball.
"See what surface-tension will do!" he exclaimed admiringly. "Did you ever see a soap-bubble as beautiful as that?"
"How extraordinary!" murmured Rhoda. "Anyhow, it's just what I wanted." And, leaning forward, she applied her lips to the floating sphere and sucked in a deep draft of the icy fluid.
"The latest thing in hygienic drinking-fountains," she remarked, as she settled herself back in her armchair. "I really don't need this chair for repose, but without it I feel like a picture without a frame," she added.
"This is crazy-house, all right!" nodded Atterbury. "Gee, but we've got to be awful careful or we'll break every bone in our bodies!"
"If we can only manage to sit still for an hour," answered Bennie, "we shall have our tractor running again. Just now, I feel like a toy balloon!"
At this point, Burke elevated his legs and gave himself a shove with his hands.