ngs of fruit, goats, and fowls, which they ranged in a line ("in
order to make the most of them," as Mildmay suggested) along the margin
of the lake. The proffered offering was, however, unaccepted, and, the
battle being over, the _Flying Fish_ resumed her course along the centre
line of the lake, reaching its southern extremity in time to select a
halting-place before sunset.

The fourth day following found them within easy distance of their
destination; and the disappointment of the travellers, arising from the
fact that no more unicorns had been seen, was to a very great extent
swallowed up in curiosity as to what lay before them. Shortly after
effecting their morning's start the fertile region over which they had
hitherto been travelling came abruptly to an end, and they found
themselves passing over an arid sandy desert, utterly destitute of even
the feeblest suggestion of vegetation, without a trace of water or even
of moisture, and of course with no sign of a living creature anywhere
upon it. So uninteresting a region offered no temptation for loitering
or dalliance, and the speed of the ship was accordingly increased to
about sixty miles an hour over the ground, the pace being maintained
until two o'clock in the afternoon, when a low range of rocky
precipitous hills was reached, beyond which fertility and life once more
resumed their sway. The travellers computed the stretch of desert over
which they had passed as being fully three hundred miles in extent, and
they could therefore fully understand the difficulty--not to say
impossibility--of approaching Ophir, at all events from a north-westerly
direction. Speed was now once more reduced, the ship gently gliding
through the hot afternoon air at the rate of about eighteen knots, over
a somewhat rugged, well-wooded country, watered by numerous streams,
with native villages dotted here and there along the banks, in the midst
of well-cultivated maize and tobacco fields, with an occasional patch of
sugar-cane. Large herds of cattle were also frequently passed, and it
soon became evident that to the natives in charge of these, and indeed
to the inhabitants generally, the apparition of the aerial ship was
productive of a vast amount of curiosity, excitement, and wonder. These
natives appeared to possess the same power or gift attributed to the
Montenegrins, namely, that of projecting the voice for incredible
distances through the air; and it was speedily apparent