h cases."

CHAPTER SIX.

THE CHATEAU VASILOVICH.

"How long do you think we have been flying over this sea of cloud,
Professor?" demanded Mildmay, as the party turned to leave the
pilot-house.

"I am ashamed to say that I cannot reply to that question," answered the
professor. "The fact is," he continued, "that I have been so busily
thinking about our adventure of to-night, and endeavouring to arrange
for every possible contingency, that I failed to notice when we first
encountered the cloud. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard you tell Sir Reginald, when you came down into the
dining-saloon a little while ago, that, according to your reckoning, we
ought to be somewhere off the mouth of the Humber. Now, don't you think
it would be a good plan for us to dip below this cloud-bank for a minute
or two, just to verify our position?"

"Certainly; we will do so, if you wish," answered the professor, with
the utmost readiness. And therewith he manipulated a lever and a valve,
and turned to the ladies, who were now in the act of descending the
pilot-house staircase.

"If you care to wait a minute or two, ladies," said he, "you will have
an opportunity to go out on deck and take a look round, while the
Captain, here, is making his observations. I have stopped the engines,
so that there will be no danger of your being blown overboard; and we
are now sinking rapidly, so that presently we shall be low enough to
enable you to breathe without difficulty."

Even as von Schalckenberg spoke it became evident that the _Flying Fish_
was descending, for she now plunged suddenly into the very heart of the
sea of cloud, where she was in a moment enveloped in a dense mist
through which nothing could be seen, not even the two ends of the
promenade deck. For nearly a minute the airship remained wrapped in the
fleecy whiteness of the cloud stratum, then she emerged as suddenly as
she had plunged into it. At the same moment the professor manipulated
another valve, intently watching the barometer-tube meanwhile; and
presently it became apparent that the descending movement had ceased,
and that the _Flying Fish_ was hanging suspended in mid-air, about a
thousand feet below the vast cloud-veil that now obscured the heavens.

"Now," he remarked, as he joined the party, who were standing at the
foot of the pilot-house staircase, "we may venture outside; we are only
three thousand feet above the sea-level, and the ship is almost
moti