ch he
offered to attach to any portion of his own person, and then allow
M'Bongwele to shoot an arrow at it, as at a target. But here the dark
monarch's crafty disposition manifested itself, for, evidently
suspecting that the whole thing had been prearranged, he insisted on
fastening the rosette to Lethbridge's breast instead of that of the
professor. There was nothing for it, of course, but to assent, or be
for ever discredited in the eyes of the king and his followers, and
Lethbridge very good-naturedly submitted, the more readily, perhaps,
since von Schalckenberg had insisted, as a measure of precaution, upon
our each donning a suit of aethereum chain mail under our clothes. You
will guess the result. M'Bongwele shot his arrow, the shaft pierced the
rosette, and then fell, splintered, to the deck, to the confusion of the
king and the awe-struck surprise of his immediate following, who were
grouped round him.

"Then, aided by a little skilful management on Mildmay's part, his
entire escort were induced to attempt to lift the _Flying Fish_ off the
ground; and when they had failed, one only of their number was bidden to
do the same thing, and, to their unmitigated amazement, this one man not
only accomplished the task with ease, but he also tossed us so high in
the air that we all--M'Bongwele and his chiefs included--went right out
to sea, until the land was completely lost sight of. This seemed almost
to complete his Majesty's subjugation, for he no sooner found himself
out of sight of land than he grovelled abjectly at von Schalckenberg's
feet and promised anything and everything that we asked of him, if we
would but take him back home again.

"The professor, however, had still another card up his sleeve, and when
at length we returned to the spot from which we had started--by which
time it was nearly dark--he played it. He ordered a number of
M'Bongwele's warriors to build a large fire, not very far from the ship,
and when this was well alight, and throwing out a dense cloud of smoke,
our friend von Schalckenberg used the smoke as a magic-lantern screen,
upon which he projected two pictures, the first showing M'Bongwele
himself and his warriors at the moment when they halted opposite the
ship upon their arrival from his village earlier on in the afternoon--
photographed by Mildmay and developed and printed during our trip out to
sea--and the second, a coloured slide, showing a review of a number of
our own Br