er, the whole party returned to the pilot-house,
where they spent the time smoking and chatting, talking over their past
adventures, and maturing their further plans, until sunset, when, their
short day having come to an end, they once more retired below to
complete their preparations for a flying visit to London previous to a
resumption of their wanderings.

The question of the disposal of the _Flying Fish_ during the short
period of their absence from her had greatly exercised their minds for a
time. They were anxious still to avoid for the present, if possible,
anything approaching to notoriety or the attraction of public notice to
their proceedings, and they felt that this could scarcely be done if
they ventured to take so singularly modelled a ship into any British
port, however insignificant; moreover, there are very few harbours or
havens on the British coast capable of receiving a ship with such an
excessive draught of water--namely, forty feet--as that of the _Flying
Fish_. So they finally decided to sink her off the Isle of Wight (first
of all, of course, taking the precaution to accurately ascertain the
bearings of her berth), and to proceed to Portsmouth in the two boats,
taking with them the spoils of their polar expedition, and trusting to
their own ingenuity to evade such suspicions and speculations as might
be engendered by the somewhat singular circumstances connected with
their arrival, especially as the hour--about half-past four o'clock on
the following morning--at which they would reach the Wight would be
favourable to the execution of their plan.

The night was intensely dark, with a fresh north-easterly gale blowing,
accompanied by frequent rain-squalls, as the voyagers found on
descending to within about a thousand feet of the level of the sea at
midnight, in order to discover, if possible, their whereabouts. But
they could see nothing save the lights of a few ships and fishing craft
dotted about here and there; the appearance of the latter indicating
that they had already approached to within a short distance of the land;
nor did they sight anything by which to fix their position until first
the light on Flamborough Head and then that on Spurn Point flashed into
view out of the murky darkness. Then indeed, having satisfactorily
identified those lights, they knew exactly where they were; the course
was altered and shaped anew directly for the spot of their intended
descent, and the ship once