t."

"And you feel absolutely certain of that, Mr Lennard?" asked the Tsar,
in a tone of very serious interest. "It seems rather singular that none
of the other astronomers of Europe or America have discovered this
terrible comet of yours."

"I have had the advantage of the finest telescope in the world, your
Majesty," replied Lennard, with a smile, "and of course I have published
no details. There was no point in creating a panic or getting laughed at
before it was necessary. But now that the orbit has altered, and the
catastrophe will come so much sooner, any further delay would be little
short of criminal. In fact, we have to-day telegraphed to all the
principal observatories in the world, giving exact positions for
to-night, corrected to differences of time and latitude. We shall hear
the verdict in the morning, and during to-morrow. Meanwhile we are
going to Greenwich to get the observatory there to work on my
calculations, and if your Majesties would care to appoint an officer of
sufficient knowledge to come with us, and see the comet for himself, he
will, I am sure, be quite welcome."

"A very good suggestion, Mr Lennard," said Lord Kitchener, "very."

"Then," replied the Tsar, quickly, "as astronomy has always been a great
hobby with me, will you allow me to come? Of course, you have my word
that I shall see nothing on the journey that you don't want me to see."

"We shall be delighted," said the British envoy, cordially, "and as for
seeing things, you will be at perfect liberty to use your eyes as much
as you like."

The Tsar's august colleagues entered fully into the sporting spirit in
which he had made his proposal, and a verbal agreement to suspend all
hostilities till his return was ratified in a glass of His Majesty of
Austria's Imperial Tokay.

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE VERDICT OF SCIENCE

Although the Tsar had made trips with John Castellan in the _Flying
Fish_, he had never had quite such an aerial experience as his trip to
Greenwich. The _Auriole_ rose vertically in the air, soared upward in a
splendid spiral curve, and vanished through the thin cloud layer to the
north-eastward. Twenty minutes of wonder passed like so many seconds,
and Admiral Hingeston, beside whom he was standing in the conning-tower,
said quietly:

"We're about there, your Majesty."

"Greenwich already," exclaimed the Tsar, pulling out his watch. "It is
forty miles, and we have not been quite twenty minutes yet."