ard
with only one man--Mildmay--in the pilot-house to take charge and enact
the part of look-out; the remainder busying themselves in packing up
their various treasures for transference to safe-keeping on shore. The
pilot-house, like every other habitable portion of the ship, was
maintained at a comfortable temperature by means of pipes communicating
with the vapour-generating chamber in the engine-room below; and,
reclining at his ease in a most luxurious lounging chair, the lieutenant
had nothing to do but maintain a vigilant lookout through the circular
windows, and solace himself with his pipe meanwhile. The ship's speed
through the air was about one hundred and twenty miles per hour; and by
their calculations they expected to overtake the sun in about latitude
79 degrees 49 minutes north; if, therefore, the _Flying Fish_ maintained
her speed, the sun ought to appear once more above the horizon in four
hours thirty-five and a half minutes from the time of starting--
Lethbridge Cove being situated in exactly 89 degrees 0 minutes North
latitude. It was exactly nine o'clock in the morning when they started;
consequently, if their calculations were right, the sun ought to make
his appearance at thirty-five and a half minutes past one; and it was
this phenomenon for which Mildmay was chiefly watching, his companions
being anxious to have the unique experience of seeing the luminary rise
an hour and a half past mid-day. And it was for this reason, and in
order that they might not on the one hand be taken by surprise by being
hurried southward on the wings of a favouring gale, or on the other hand
be delayed by a possible adverse one, that the elevation of ten thousand
feet had been selected, this being well within the limits of the
_neutral belt_, or zone of motionless air.

Not to be caught napping, Mildmay extinguished the electric light in the
pilot-house as the musical gong of the clock suspended therein struck
the hour of one; after which he rose to his feet and took a good look
round on all sides. There was, however, nothing to be seen save a vast
sea of cloud beneath his feet and on all sides, as far as the eye could
reach, softly illumined by the light of the star-studded heavens above.
But even as he looked a just perceptible paleness in the deep velvety
blue of the sky to the southward attracted his attention. He looked
more intently. Yes, there could be no mistake about it; that pallor of
the southern sk