fessor pressed the knob of his own instrument; and as he did so
the sound of many bells, not very loud, but still perfectly distinct,
came to them from every part of the ship, and also from the instrument
that each man held in his hand.

"So!" said von Schalckenberg. "Now, when any of us hears the sound of
the bell in his instrument, he at once withdraws that instrument from
his pocket, and touches the small _red_ knob. This stops the ringing of
his own particular bell--as you may ascertain by experiment--and at the
same time informs the other person--by the momentary stoppage of _his_
bell--that some one is in touch with him. Then the person who desires
to communicate proceeds somewhat in this fashion. Releasing his
pressure on the black knob, he draws out this small tube from the box,
inserts its nozzle into his ear, and says into this mouthpiece--

"`Hillo, there! Are you the _Flying Fish_?'

"`No,' comes the answer. `I am von Schalckenberg.'

"`Thanks! I want the _Flying Fish_,' you say; and you press your black
knob again until you get a reply from the ship."

"Why, what a splendid little device!" exclaimed Sir Reginald. "When did
you invent this, Professor?"

"I thought it out that day when we were lost in the forest, and I made
my first experimental instrument the next day. It is a wireless
telephone; and it is powerful enough, I believe, to permit of
intelligible conversation over a space of about fifty miles. But I
cannot speak with certainty on that point without subjecting the
instrument to actual trial. It is very roughly made, as you see, but if
it answers its purpose, it will serve until we can get smaller and
neater ones made."

"Precisely. Utility before beauty, eh, Professor?" remarked Lethbridge.
"Not," he added, "but that this is neat and handy enough for anything.
Well, we need never fear being lost again, I think; for it would be hard
if, with these little instruments to ring up our friend Mildmay, we
could not give him some sort of a clue as to the direction in which to
look for us. And now, I suppose, we may as well go."

It was but a few steps from the ship to the "palace," which, after all,
was only a somewhat larger hut than any of the rest, and a couple of
minutes sufficed the party to reach it. They found it unoccupied, for
the king's wives were lodged in an adjoining hut, from which, as the
four white men neared it, they became aware of a subdued sound of
wailing, whic