At any rate the wonderful phenomenon existed
before our eyes, explanation or no explanation. We learned afterwards
that the river formed by the giant fountain passed through a gap in the
hills to the seaward, and the more I reflected upon Edmund's idea the
more acceptable I found it.
A great deal of the water was led away from the foot of the plateau out
of which the fountain issued by ditches constructed to irrigate the rich
gardens surrounding the metropolis and the open agricultural country for
many miles around. At the queen's invitation, although she did not
accompany us, we inspected one of the power houses, and Edmund found the
greatest delight in studying the details of the enormous dynamos and the
system of cables by which, quite in our own manner, the electric power
was conveyed to the city. We noticed that everywhere the most ingenious
devices were employed for killing noise.
"I knew we should find all this," said Edmund--"although I did not
precisely anticipate the form that the natural supply of energy would
take--as soon as I saw the aerial screws that give buoyancy to the great
towers. In fact, I foresaw it as soon as I found, in inspecting the
machinery of the air ship which brought us from the sea, that their
motors were driven by storage batteries.
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