pposite
side; then the quarters of the cook and the valet; next these again are
the bath-rooms and lavatories; and finally, at the extreme end of the
passage, there are the state-rooms or sleeping apartments, eight in
number--four for ourselves and four spare ones."

George, the valet--whose duties, however, on board the _Flying Fish_
were to be rather those of steward and general handy man--stood during
the progress of this brief explanation with his hand on the handle of
the saloon door; and now, as the professor turned and nodded, he flung
the door wide open and stood aside for the baronet and his friends to
enter.

They now found themselves in the dining-saloon, an apartment thirty feet
square and about ten feet high to the lower edge of the cornice. The
walls, of unpainted aethereum, were broken up into panels by fluted
pilasters with richly-moulded capitals, each panel having a frosted
border covered with delicate tracery, whilst the central portion of the
panel was left plain and polished, serving the purpose of a mirror, in
which the room and its multiplied reflections on the opposite wall was
again reflected in a long perspective. The floor was covered with a
rich Turkey carpet, into which one sank ankle deep; the chairs, sofas,
the massive sideboard, the wide table, in fact all the furniture in the
room, was constructed of aethereum and modelled after the choicest
designs, the upholstery being in rich embossed velvet of a delicate
light-blue shade. The table glittered with a brilliant array of plate
and glass; and the entire apartment was suffused with rich, soft,
rainbow-tinted light, streaming down through the magnificent coved
skylight of stained glass, which served instead of ceiling to the
saloon.

"Superb!"

"Magnificent!"

"Exquisite!"

Such were the exclamations which burst from the professor's companions
as they paused to look about them and take in all the details of the
splendidly furnished and decorated apartment. A dozen eager questions
rushed from their lips; but Herr von Schalckenberg was hungry, and the
dinner was served, he therefore contented himself with bowing profoundly
and pointing to the dinner-table.

"Come, gentlemen," exclaimed the baronet laughingly, "take your seats, I
beg. It is evident that we have quite exhausted both the professor's
patience and his strength, and that we shall get no more information out
of him until both have been restored by a good dinner."

W