loriza Islands practically beneath her, the
Susuz range safely astern, the island of Rhodes, like a pink cloud,
broad abeam on the western horizon, and a soft, delicate purple outline
broad on the port bow, which Mildmay informed them all was the upper
portion of Mount Troados, the highest peak of the mountain range which
forms, as it were, the backbone of the island of Cyprus. The ship was
still maintaining her height of ten thousand feet above the sea-level,
and her speed of thirty-five knots through the air, both of which
circumstances rendered it necessary for those on board her to make such
observations as they desired from the interior of the ship, the outside
air being too rarefied and keen, and the ship's speed through it too
rapid for exposure to it to be at all agreeable. It was therefore
arranged that, as their passage across the Mediterranean was likely to
prove uninteresting, and there would therefore be no inducement for any
of them to go out on deck, that passage should be accomplished at full
speed. The voyagers would then have time to dress and take breakfast at
leisure, and be ready to go out on deck to witness their arrival on the
African coast.

Accordingly, at a quarter to ten o'clock, ship's time, the _Flying Fish_
having been lowered to a distance of three thousand feet above
sea-level, and her speed reduced to about ten knots, the pilot-house
door was thrown open, and everybody passed out on deck, where they found
the air dry and pleasantly bracing, with a temperature of about
fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit. They were still over the sea, but the
African coast was in plain view some five miles ahead, with the towers
and minarets of the city of Alexandria broad on their starboard bow,
showing quite distinctly in the lenses of their telescopes; while, at
about the same distance, on their port beam, Aboukir castle could be
distinguished, with the historic Bay of Aboukir beyond it. Half an hour
later the great African continent was beneath them, and they were
looking down upon the ruins of Nicopolisisoi, the line of railway from
Alexandria to Rosetta, and the island-dotted Lake Mareotis.
Thenceforward, for the rest of the day there was but little of interest
to attract the attention of the travellers, apart from the fact that
during the afternoon they caught a distant glimpse of the Pyramids, with
Cairo beyond, on the far eastern horizon. Finally, at the end of a very
pleasant day's progress acro