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I was not in the least daunted by this discovery, and continued my descent.

The swiftness of the animals carrying those nomads was marvelous, for, though I traveled with greater speed than that of the wind, they seemed to be always beneath my car and were increasing in numbers.

Ever and anon I could see a puff of smoke and hear a little explosion, but it did not disturb me.

Down, down, I came, and when I was within a few hundred feet of the ground I heard a great battering as of hail. The sky was serene and clear. Then I discovered the cause. It was the patter of the bullets of those Arabs on the bottom of my ship. I had wisely provided against any damage by such things by sheathing the bottom side of my carriage with a coating of steel.

When they had shot away all their ammunition and saw that I still descended, paying no more attention to them than I did to the wind, they fell upon their faces in worship, and would not raise their heads from the ground even when I walked in their midst, which I was shortly doing.