Part 15 (1/2)
The call was proers, who, abandoning whatever they had in hand, rushed helter- skelter up the saloon staircase and into the pilot-house, anxious to lose no scrap of that, to theht, sunrise
Rapidly yet imperceptibly the pale dawn stole upward into the sky; the lustrous stars waxed diht; a faint roseate flush tinged the sky along the horizon, brightened first into a rich orange, then into purest a faintly reflected on thebelow; and at length, just as the hands of the clock marked thirty-five ht shot upward into the sky, swiftly followed by another and another; and then, with a dazzling flash of golden light, the upper edge of the sun's disc rose slowly into view, soaring higher and higher until the whole of the glorious lu sea of cloud above which the _Flying Fish_ ski tints of the most exquisite opal
This return to the realms of day had a curious effect upon the travellers They had not been conscious of the least depression of spirits consequent upon their sojourn of ht, but it must have affected them, however unconsciously, to no inconsiderable extent, for now, at the first gliant height; they felt as though they had just effected their escape from some terrible doom, and they were irresistibly iratulations, and to talk all together, laughing uproariously at even the feeblest attehts of the quartette were, however, speedily diverted by the ever-i for luncheon, and the whole party at once trundled below, leaving the shi+p to take care of herself, as they very safelydown the ”first” meridian, or that of Greenwich, with no land ahead nearer than the Shetland Islands, more than a thousand miles distant
After luncheon, however, the whole party returned to the pilot-house, where they spent the ti over their past adventures, andtheir further plans, until sunset, when, their short day having come to an end, they oncevisit to London previous to a resus
The question of the disposal of the _Flying Fish_ during the short period of their absence froreatly exercised their minds for a time They were anxious still to avoid for the present, if possible, anything approaching to notoriety or the attraction of public notice to their proceedings, and they felt that this could scarcely be done if they ventured to take so singularly nificant; moreover, there are very few harbours or havens on the British coast capable of receiving a shi+p with such an excessive draught of water--na Fish_ So they finally decided to sink her off the Isle of Wight (first of all, of course, taking the precaution to accurately ascertain the bearings of her berth), and to proceed to Ports with the to their own ingenuity to evade such suspicions and speculations as ular circumstances connected with their arrival, especially as the hour--about half-past four o'clock on the following ht would be favourable to the execution of their plan
The night was intensely dark, with a fresh north-easterly gale blowing, accoers found on descending to within about a thousand feet of the level of the sea at ht, in order to discover, if possible, their whereabouts But they could see nothing save the lights of a few shi+ps and fishi+ng craft dotted about here and there; the appearance of the latter indicating that they had already approached to within a short distance of the land; nor did they sight anything by which to fix their position until first the light on Flah Head and then that on Spurn Point flashed into view out of thesatisfactorily identified those lights, they knew exactly where they were; the course was altered and shaped anew directly for the spot of their intended descent, and the shi+p once more soared to her former elevation
At twenty minutes after four o'clock am a second descent wasover hilly country which they surmised to be that situated about the borders of the three counties of Surrey, Hants, and Sussex; and alress of construction at Spithead cahts of two or three men-o'-war in the roadstead, and they knew that the first part of their journey was almost accomplished
Precisely at half-past four o'clock the _Flying Fish_ took the water about two miles to the eastward of the ”Noan the search for a suitable berth for her--a berth, that is to say, in a position where she would not be likely to be discovered by the fishermen, and where the depth of water would be sufficient to pered hull without striking upon it To discover such a spot proved by no h at a distance considerably farther out to sea than they had bargained for, and at half-past five o'clock her anchor was let go in the selected berth Cross bearings were then most carefully taken and entered in each of the travellers'
pocket-books, after which the next task was to get their varied spoils into the boats and the boats themselves into the water This was soon done, and then all hands, including George and the _chef_, but excluding the professor, entered the boats and shoved off a few fathoms from the shi+p's side, where they anchored
The first faint signs of daere just appearing in the eastern sky when it becae bulk of the _Flying Fish_ was disappearing Steadily but imperceptibly she settled lower and lower in the water until her deck ash and nothing but her pilot-house re A minute more and this too had disappeared, and, as the waves washed over its top, the baronet carefully lowered over the side of his boat a rope-ladder, eighted at the bottom and with an unlit electric la suspended at a height of about six feet above the bed of the sea This lamp was of course attached to a battery in the boat, and as soon as Sir Reginald felt the weights at the foot of the ladder touch bottoh the insulated wire, a patch of vivid white light, like a patch ofout beneath the waves and showing that the lantern was properly perfor, however An interval of perhaps fivejerky motion became communicated to the rope-ladder, followed ain his suit of diving armour He stepped quietly into the boat, and whilst he busied hiuished, the ladder hauled inboard, the anchors tripped, and the two boatsin for Nettlestone Point and the Solent
They arrived at Portsinald at once oes cleared He was fortunate enough to find in the collector a man hom he had had several previous transactions, and as consequently pretty well acquainted with hiht the duty (a very considerable su further re and have it conveyed to the railway-station for transmission to town This done the two boats were taken into ”The Camber” and put under the care of a trustworthy e,” proceeding to town directly afterwards by the twelve-o'clock express
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A TROOP OF UNICORNS
A week later, the four friends once rants'”, where it had been arranged that they were to ether prior to their journey down to Ports notes it was found that each had, according to his own views,not only placed the mammoth's skin in the hands of an eminent taxidermist, but also prepared and read before the Royal Society a paper on ”The Open Polar Sea,” which had created a profound iust body; Lethbridge and Mild- deferred visit to their respectiveupon the best obtainable advice, conveyed the four parcels of dia to the party over to Ahly trustworthy diamond merchant, with instructions that certain of the jeere to be cut and set in the handsomest possible manner, whilst the rest were to be disposed of as opportunity ot rid of; so of all the choicest skins) placed in the hands of the furriers to be cured and taken care of until their owners should return to claim them
The luncheon was a very livelyto the last occasion upon which the travellers had met there; and upon its conclusion the four friends chartered a couple of hansoood time for the Portsmouth express
On their arrival at the Harbour station they found George and his French friend, the cook (both of who them on the platform The boats, under the care of the side the adjacent slipway, in accordance with a telegraphed arrange these, the party at once proceeded down the harbour, past Southsea and its castle, and out toward Nettlestone Point It was by this ti , and the boats were consequently at once urged to their full speed in the direction where the _Flying Fish_ had been left
Having originally taken their cross bearings wholly froers had now no difficulty whatever in placing the boats in their proper position Arrived on the spot, a sounding-line was dropped over the side, and the first cast showed that they were floating exactly over the subed shi+p The boats were therefore allowed to drift with the tide until they were clear of the _Flying Fish_, when Sir Reginald dropped his anchor and ladder, and the professor, who had already routed out fro arhts, and quietly disappeared beneath the surface of the water A lapse of perhaps alih the water for a nal froht; and then the lu slowly forward over the bottoht vanished
”He has reached the shi+p,” the baronet reported to those in the other boat, ere alternately drifting with the tide anddistance from their consort A quarter of an hour passed, and then a brilliant, dazzling flood of light streareat distance below the surface, then vanished again
”All right,” reinald as soon as he saw this; ”he has reached the pilot-house Now, George, up with the anchor, ood fellow, and ill back off a few yards out of harly did so, von Schalckenberg allowing them ten minutes for the operation; then, with a sudden rush and swirl of water, the huge bulk of the _Flying Fish_ appeared above the surface, looainst the faintly luminous horizon A moment more, and the s of the pilot-house shone out a series of lu that the professor had lighted up the interior, and that individual hi the invisible boats with:
”It is all right; everything is just as we left it, and you may come on board as soon as you like”
Ten minutes later the boats had been hoisted in and stoay, and the _Flying Fish_, at an elevation of so to the southward and eastward across the placid waters of the Channel, at the moderate rate of soht, however, after a little music and conversation, the pace was quickened to about one hundred miles per hour; the altitude was at the same time increased to ten thousand feet; the course was set to south, by co of perfect security, retired to rest, confident that the professor's clever automatic devices would not only maintain the shi+p at her then elevation, but would also steer her straight in the required direction
On the followingover the blue Mediterranean, with the African coast at no great distance, and a town of considerable size directly ahead This toas soon identified as Tunis (near which is the site of ancient Carthage), and they shortly afterwards passed over it, not unnoticed by the inhabitants, ith the aid of the telescope, could be seen pointing upward at the shi+p in evident consternation Then on over the chain of hills beyond the town, and they once more found themselves with the sea beneath the her to just skirt the Gulf of Hammamet, whilst they obtained a splendid view of Lake Kairwan and the three streams which it absorbs Then past Capes Dimas and Kadijah, across the Gulf of Cabes, and so on to Tripoli, which was reached and passed soon after the party had risen from breakfast At this point the Mediterranean was finally left behind, and the shi+p's speed was shortly afterwards reduced to a rate of about fifteen knots through the air; her altitude being also decreased to about one thousand feet above the ground level
The course was now altered to about south by west (true), and the travellers passed slowly over the Fezzan country, the borders of the Libyan Desert, the Soudan, and Dar Zaleh; the prospect beneath and around theress, frohly cultivated district, dotted here and there with straggling villages, to thethis portion of their journey, and only descended to the ground at night, when the vessel was secured by her four grip- anchors during the hours which her crew devoted to rest