In this comatose condition I remained totally ignorant of the lapse of
time, until, feeling the terrible pressure diminish, I opened my eyes
and dreamily beheld the heavy instruments and pieces of furniture move
gently away, and bump against one another as they floated lightly about
within the car.
Relieved of the great weight, I now breathed more freely. My senses grew
clearer, and soon I became conscious of a loud hissing noise close at
hand. Drowsily I turned my head in the direction of the sound, and
discovered that it came from the door in the side of the aerenoid. In an
instant the full faculty of my senses returned, as with intense horror I
realized the cause--the air of the car was escaping into the void of the
universe without! Desperately I struggled to gain my feet, but being
without weight, the effort resulted only in my drifting helplessly about
the car, until, gasping for air, I realized that the end had come.
A moment's consciousness of being drawn gently to the floor of the car
again, while the furniture and other articles that had been drifting
about piled lightly upon me without any perceptible weight; a slight
shock, then, as the suffocating sensation became more intense, a
blackness rushed in upon me, and my senses reeled--
* * * * *
CHAPTER XIII.
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