William was highly delighted to see this rope of water lying in mid-air; and he was able, by being very deliberate and careful in his movements, to tie it up into various kinds of knots, and to mold it into different shapes, his sculptural skill, however, being somewhat hindered by the fact that the water adhered considerably to his hands; but, on the whole, it was quite a novel experience.
Finally, when our hero tired of the sport, he wondered what to do with this water. By striking it in all directions it would, of course, be absorbed by the cushions, like the first lot; but he did not care to wet them any more than necessary, so he gathered up the mass of water in his hands, and slowly swam with it to the empty reservoir, and with considerable difficulty succeeded in putting it in and closing the cover again before it could escape.
It was really curious to be thus enabled to treat water almost as though it were a solid substance, the absence of weight rendering it so much easier for the mobile molecules to keep together!
Our hero's experiences with the water had proved so diverting that he now turned his attention to another experiment, which also promised to yield very amusing results.
