ney. An awning was spread over the deck, fore and aft,
under the protecting shade of which they proposed to take breakfast; and
whilst waiting for the meal to be served, the travellers, each seated in
a deck chair, were amusing themselves by inspecting the magnificent
prospect which lay spread out around and beneath them, the more distant
parts of which were being diligently investigated with the aid of their
telescopes.

They were thus engaged when George announced that breakfast was served;
and the professor was just on the point of laying down his instrument,
preparatory to seating himself at the table, when a small group of
animals, which were grazing upon the crest of a distant eminence, swept
for a moment across his field of view. A certain something of
peculiarity and strangeness in the appearance of the creatures caused
the motion of the telescope to be arrested in mid-sweep, and in another
instant von Schalckenberg, deaf to the calls of his companions and the
respectful reminder of the faithful steward, had his instrument focused
full upon the group of animals. They were, however, a long way off, and
the mist was now rising so thickly from the surface of the ground that
it was impossible to clearly distinguish them; so the professor
contented himself by going to the pilot-house and directing the ship's
head straight toward the point occupied by the animals. After which he
carefully noted the time, made a little mental calculation, and seated
himself at the breakfast table, with his watch carefully propped up
before his plate.

His friends were, by this time, so accustomed to the professor's little
peculiarities that no one thought of asking any questions, feeling sure
that an explanation would come all in good time. Neither did they make
any remark or evince any surprise, beyond a shrug of the shoulders and
an amused elevation of the eyebrows, when the _savant_, glancing at his
watch, hastily rose from the table, and, in his absent-mindedness
carrying with him a fork with a morsel of venison-steak impaled upon its
prongs, hurried away to the pilot-house. A moment or two later a gentle
jar was felt as the ship came to the ground; but the mist was by this
time so thick that it was difficult to see objects more than a couple of
hundred feet distant, and all that could be clearly made out was that
they had stopped close to a clump of bush of considerable extent.

By the time that breakfast was over, the mor