l; then, at a
given signal, the entire body exerted themselves to the utmost to lift
the immense fabric from the ground--of course without effect, as her
chambers were full of air.

"Now," said the professor when the savages had pretty well exhausted
themselves, "let all but one man retire."

This was done, Mildmay meanwhile exhausting the chambers until the gauge
showed that the ship weighed only a few pounds. The professor glanced
carelessly at the pilot-house, caught the signal that all was in
readiness, and said to the king:

"Now order that man to lift the ship on to his shoulders."

M'Bongwele duly repeated the order, without the slightest expectation
that it would be fulfilled; and the man--who would have plunged into a
blazing bonfire if he had been so ordered--advanced, and, to the
unutterable astonishment of himself, the king, and in fact the whole
concourse of natives, raised the gigantic structure to his shoulders and
held it there with scarcely an effort.

"Now, tell him to toss us into the air," commanded von Schalckenberg,
shouting down from the gangway to Lualamba.

And in another second the terrified king and his suite felt a slight
movement, and saw the earth sinking far away beneath them. This was
altogether too much for the suite, who grovelled on the deck in mortal
fear; and even king M'Bongwele felt his courage rapidly oozing away as
he sat uneasily in his deck-chair convulsively gripping its arms and
glancing anxiously about him.

The ascent was continued to a height of about fifteen thousand feet, at
which altitude the wretched savages were shivering even more with cold
than they had hitherto done with fear. The ship was then headed
straight for the sea, which she soon reached, and, speeding onward at
the rate of thirty miles an hour, her course was continued, accompanied
by a gradual descent until the land was lost sight of; when a wide sweep
was made, and, at a height of only one hundred feet above the waves, the
return journey was commenced. This experience proved sufficient, and
more than sufficient, for M'Bongwele; he was completely cowed; and when
he found himself hovering over the illimitable sea, without a sign of
land in any direction, he flung himself upon his knees before the
professor and piteously entreated to be restored to his home and people,
abjectly promising that he and they would be the willing slaves of the
White Spirits for ever; and as for the ruins, the Spirits