e term; ours are only make-believes; but
they struck me as affording an agreeable means of lighting the saloons,
so I introduced them."

In further conversation, diversified by music, the time slipped rapidly
away; and at length the clock on the bracket proclaimed that it was two
hours after midnight.

As the sonorous strokes of the gong announced the fact, the professor
rose to his feet, and in a voice tremulous with sudden nervous
excitement, said:

"Gentlemen, the hour for our departure, the hour which is to witness the
success or failure of our grand experiment, has arrived. The river and
the streets of the great city are by this time nearly or quite deserted;
and we may therefore hope that our movements will attract little or no
notice. Are you ready?"

"Ready!" ejaculated the baronet; "of course we are, my dear sir. Is not
this the moment to which we have all been anxiously looking forward for
more than two years? Proceed, professor, we will follow you; and
whatever orders you may give us shall be obeyed to the letter."

"Come, then," said the professor; and he led the way through the dining
saloon and up the grand staircase to the lower compartment of the pilot-
house, and thence out on deck.

To their eyes, fresh from the brilliantly lighted saloons, the night
appeared intensely dark; but in a minute or two, becoming accustomed to
the gloom, they were able to perceive that the ladder had been taken
away from the ship's side, and also that the contractor had completed
his task of removing the planking at the river end of the shed, thus
clearing a way for the exit of the great ship. They walked to the after
extremity of the deck, and from that point were not only able, in the
breathless stillness then prevailing, to distinctly hear the gurgle and
rush of the river, but also to dimly make out the shining, swirling
surface of the water as the flood-tide swept past them.

"The air is absolutely motionless," said the professor. "No more
favourable moment could possibly have been chosen for the difficult task
of moving the _Flying Fish_ out of her present cramped quarters, and we
will at once avail ourselves of it. Lieutenant, I will ask you to
return here presently on the `look-out,' as you sailors term it. Your
duty will be to see that when we move out of the shed we do not come
into collision with anything. Perhaps you, colonel, will kindly go to
the other end the deck, also on the `look-out;' and,