g a rollicking German students' song. He was
followed by Lady Olivia, who sang Gounod's "Ave Maria," accompanied by
her husband on the piano, and the professor on the organ. Then Mildmay
produced his violin. And so the time slipped rapidly on until the clock
upon the mantelpiece struck the hour of midnight, when "Good-nights"
were said, and the ladies retired to their respective cabins; while the
four men wended their way to the pilot-house to indulge in a final
smoke, and incidentally to raise the _Flying Fish_ into the air and
start her upon her long flight across Russia, from north to south.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

THE RESCUE.

It was a matter of but a few moments to raise the _Flying Fish_ five
thousand feet into the air, start her engines, and head her on her
course for Odessa, which lies practically due south of Saint Petersburg.
Then, there being no mountains in the way--nothing, in fact, that, at
the height of five thousand feet, could possibly interfere with their
flight--the little party retired to their respective cabins and turned
in, leaving the great ship to take care of herself and pursue her way
unwatched; Mildmay and the professor undertaking to rise betimes in the
morning and call the other two early enough to assist in the capture--
for that was what it amounted to--of the convict-ship.

Mildmay possessed the very useful faculty of being able to awake at any
prearranged moment, and, in the exercise of this faculty, he rose from
his cot as the first faint streaks of dawn filtered in through the port
of his berth, and proceeded forthwith to the bathroom, growing
conscious, as he went, of the fact that the temperature had become very
much milder during the last few hours. This, however, was only what
might be naturally expected, since the ship had been speeding to the
southward all through the night at the rate of one hundred and twenty
miles per hour, in addition to such further speed as she might have
derived from the favourable gale that had been aiding her flight.

The rise of temperature, however, had not perceptibly communicated
itself to the water of the bath, which the gallant captain found to be
icy cold. There was, therefore, no temptation for him to linger, and a
few brief minutes sufficed him to complete his ablutions and return to
his cabin, rousing the professor as he went. Then, dressing with the
expedition of a seaman, he wended his way to the pilot-house, where,
some ten minutes