he electric lamp; gave the wheel connected
with the vapour-valve another turn; the engines increased their speed;
and the great ship at once shot rapidly out over the stream and clear of
everything. Then the professor stopped the engines, turned a thin
stream of vapour into the air chambers, and the huge fabric began to
slowly rise perpendicularly in the air. Herr von Schalckenberg waited
until he saw that they were fairly above the level of the roofs on both
sides of the river; then he left the pilot-house and, joining the
baronet on the deck outside, said, in a voice of undisguised exultation:

"Well, Sir Reginald, what think you _now_ of the _Flying Fish_?"

"I think her, professor, a wonderful creation of a still more wonderful
man. I see that we are steadily rising in the air, as you assured us
would be the case, but I cannot yet fully realise the fact; I feel like
a man in a dream; you must give me time to become familiar with this new
marvel--this new triumph of science. But there can no longer be any
doubt as to the success of your labours; and I accordingly offer you my
most hearty thanks and congratulations."

The colonel and the lieutenant also hastened to offer theirs, and then
the whole party sauntered to the side, and, leaning upon the guard-rail
which took the place of bulwarks, stood gazing upon the scene below.
Not that there was very much to see; the sky was obscured by a thin
almost motionless canopy of cloud, and the moon, in her last quarter,
had not yet risen; the darkness was therefore profound. At the same
time it was novel and interesting to watch how, as the huge ship rose
steadily higher in the air, the long lines of lighted gas-lamps in
street after street became visible, until gradually the whole of the
great city lay spread out below them like a map, with the thoroughfares
indicated by faint twinkling lines of fire. And, as they continued to
rise, the various disjointed sounds which, even at that early hour,
pervaded the city, began to reach their ears: the rumbling of a wagon or
the rattle of a cab over the stone-paved streets, the barking of a dog,
the crow of some unnaturally wakeful rooster, the clank of shunting
trucks at one or another of the many goods stations dotted here and
there all over the metropolis, the distant whistle and rattle of a train
speeding along in the open country beyond; all floated up to them with
almost startling distinctness at first, then fainter and fa