referred to, the
conditions had been such as to impress the appearance of the ship upon
her ladyship's memory only very vaguely. It is not to be wondered at,
therefore, that upon emerging from the forest path into the open glade,
and catching for the first time a full view of the vast proportions of
the structure, her ladyship should stop short with an exclamation of
astonishment at what she beheld.

CHAPTER THREE.

THE FLYING FISH.

Towering high in the air, and almost filling the glade from end to end
with her enormous length, was an object measuring no fewer than six
hundred feet long, of cylindrical shape, sixty feet in diameter at her
so-called "midship" section, and tapering away fore and aft by a series
of finely curved lines, to the pointed extremities of the bow and stern.
The bow portion of the structure was considerably longer and more
sharply pointed than the after extremity, to which was attached, by a
very ingeniously devised universal joint, in such a manner as to render
a rudder unnecessary, a huge propeller having four tremendously broad
sickle-shaped blades, the palms of which were so cunningly shaped and
hollowed as to gather in and concentrate the air--or water, as the case
might be--about the boss and powerfully project it thence in a direct
line with the longitudinal axis of the ship. To give this cigar-shaped
curvilinear hull perfect stability when resting upon the ground, it was
fitted with a pair of deep and broad bilge-keels, one on either side of
the ship, extending fore and aft for just a third of her length. These
bilge-keels contained four grip-anchors--one at either extremity of each
keel--by means of which the ship could, when necessary, be firmly
secured to the ground, as she now was, in fact; and they also formed
chambers for the reception of water-ballast, when such was required.
Immediately over the "midship" section of the hull, and extending one
hundred and fifty feet in either direction fore and aft from this point,
placed upon the "back," so to speak, of the hull, was a superstructure
shaped somewhat like the above-water portion of a double-ended Thames
steamboat, with a deck, thirty feet in width at its broadest part,
protected by an open railing in place of the usual bulwarks. And in the
exact centre of this deck stood a two-storey pilot-house, the lower
storey of which permitted ingress and egress between the promenade deck
and the interior of the ship, while the upp