Asano stepped through the bars of the hull, and stood below on the stage waving his hand.

He seemed to slide along the stage to the right and vanish.
The engine was humming loudly, the propeller spinning, and for a second the stage and the buildings beyond were gliding swiftly and horizontally past Graham's eye; then these things seemed to tilt up abruptly.

He gripped the little rods on either side of him instinctively.

He felt himself moving upward, heard the air whistle over the top of the wind screen.

The propeller screw moved round with powerful rhythmic impulses--one, two, three, pause; one, two, three--which the engineer controlled very delicately.