becoming offensive.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

AN ELEPHANT AND RHINOCEROS DUEL.

The skull of the lion having been secured, the _Flying Fish_ rose into
the air, immediately after breakfast, and an hour was devoted to the
thorough examination of the remaining extent of the patch of rocks, to
ascertain whether any further specimens of the big carnivora had taken
up their abode upon it. But no more were to be found, and the southward
journey was therefore resumed at the leisurely speed of about fifteen
knots, the noon observation for latitude showing that the ship had
entered the tropic of Cancer shortly after eleven o'clock that morning.

The remainder of that day passed uneventfully, as did the next, with the
exception that, the ship having been raised to an altitude of two
thousand feet above the surface of the earth, in order that the
travellers might be above and out of the layer of highly heated air
produced by the reflection of the sun's rays from the surface of the
sand, they again caught sight of the Nile, which swam into view on their
left hand during the forenoon of the second day, near the little village
of Dashi, and remained in sight thereafter until they descended to earth
for the night, some twenty-five miles west of the town of New Dongola.
Here they were again treated to the spectacle of a superb desert sunset.

This leisurely mode of progression, however, was beginning to pall
somewhat upon the travellers, or rather, upon the male portion of them.
It was altogether too uneventful for their taste; moreover, their
appetite for sport had been whetted afresh by their experience among the
rocks, and as they sat at dinner that night they unanimously decided
that, as the climate seemed to agree thoroughly with little Ida--who was
growing better and stronger every day--they would waste no further time
in dawdling, but would forthwith make the best of their way to the spot
where, on their previous cruise, they had seen that wonderful animal the
unicorn, almost precisely the creature depicted in the royal arms of
Great Britain, and endeavour to secure a specimen or two. Accordingly,
after spending a very enjoyable evening in the music-saloon, the ladies
retired to rest about midnight, while the men, producing their
large-scale map of Africa, carefully laid down upon it the course, and
measured off the distance necessary to carry them to the point which
they desired to reach. This ascertained, Mildmay--who usuall