have them with us by ten
o'clock or thereabouts."

"Ah!" exclaimed Lady Olivia, "that is just the point about which I
cannot help feeling apprehensive. Do you think, Colonel, that it will
be quite safe to trust ourselves to a ship that has been lying all these
years neglected and uncared for at the bottom of the English Channel?"

The colonel shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not?" he demanded with a smile. "No possible harm could happen to
her, so far as I can see, beyond the penetration of a certain amount of
dampness into her interior. But even that the professor will not admit.
He insists that all the openings in the vessel's hull were so carefully
made and accurately fitted as to be absolutely impervious to damp, much
less to any more serious influx of moisture. And, as to her machinery,
the good man declares that, with the precautions that he took for its
preservation when she went out of commission, it ought to remain in
perfect working order for at least a hundred years."

"Well, we shall soon know, shall we not?" remarked the lady.
"Meanwhile, Colonel, you must come and have a cup of tea before you go
to your room. I remember your weakness for tea, you see; and a cup will
refresh you after your journey."

Dinner at Chudleigh Hall that night was a very quiet, unostentatious
function; for the numerous guests that were usually to be found beneath
its hospitable roof had now gone their various ways, and Lady Olivia
had, of course, at once ceased to issue further invitations as soon as
the projected expedition had been finally determined upon. The party,
therefore, consisted merely of Sir Reginald, Lady Olivia, and the
colonel; and when Lady Olivia rose from the table the two men merely
dallied over their wine long enough to smoke a cigar, and then rejoined
her in the drawing-room.

It was then about half-past nine o'clock--time for Sir Reginald and the
colonel to set out, if they wished to witness the arrival of the _Flying
Fish_--and the baronet was altogether of too courteous and hospitable a
nature to allow his expected friends to arrive at their destination, and
make their way to the Hall unwelcomed. The two men, therefore, after
swallowing their coffee, sallied forth into the park, and strolled off
in the direction of the spot where it had been arranged that the ship
should come to earth.

This was a level, open glade, some ten acres in extent, completely
surrounded and hemmed in by noble forest tre