Then we caught ourselves with a suddenness that threw me to my knees. We were moving upward again—I could feel the steel floor rising under me.
"Twenty!" came down from above.
"Twenty," I answered hoarsely, struggling erect and shifting the lever.
I felt that we were still rising, but slowly. The professor was juggling with an unknown atmosphere, and on the success of his judgment depended our lives.
"Fifteen!"
"Fifteen!" and over went the lever for five degrees.
We were swinging stationary in mid-air. From the window by the switch board I looked outward and downward with bulging eyes.
A dazzling glow covered peak and plain, and I turned away that my sight might not be blinded to the lever numbers.
"Ten!" cried the professor.
"Ten it is!" and I threw the switch to the number given.