reserve
the exploration of Aeria for the morning, and so the fan-wheels were
sent aloft, and the _Ariel_, after hovering for a few minutes over
the verdant little plain seeking for a suitable spot to alight in,
sank gently to the earth after her flight of more than three thousand
miles.

CHAPTER XVII.

AERIA FELIX.

Every one on board the _Ariel_ was astir the next morning as soon as
the first rays of dawn were shooting across the vast plain that
stretched away to the eastward, and by the time it was fairly
daylight breakfast was over and all were anxiously speculating as to
what they would find on the other side of the tremendous cliffs, on
an eyrie in which they had found a resting-place for the night.

As soon as all was ready for a start, Arnold said to Natasha, who was
standing alone with him on the after part of the deck--

"If you would like to steer the _Ariel_ into your new kingdom, I
shall be delighted to give you the lesson in steering that I promised
you yesterday."

Natasha saw the inner meaning of the offer at a glance, and replied
with a smile that made his blood tingle--

"That would be altogether too great a responsibility for a beginner.
I might run on to some of these fearful rocks. But if you will take
the helm when the dangerous part comes, I will learn all I can by
watching you."

"As long as you are with me in the wheel-house for the next hour or
so," said Arnold, with almost boyish frankness, "I shall be content.
I need scarcely tell you why I want to be alone with you when we
first sight this new home of our future empire."

"I have half a mind not to come after that very injudicious speech.
Still, if only for the sake of its delightful innocence, I will
forgive you this time. You really must practise the worldly art of
dissimulation a little, or I shall have to get the Princess to play
chaperon."

Natasha spoke these words in a bantering tone, and with a flush on
her lovely cheeks, that forced Arnold to cut short the conversation
for the moment, by giving an order to Andrew Smith, who at that
instant put his head out of the wheel-house door to say--

"All ready, sir!"

"Very well," replied Arnold. "I will take the wheel, and do you tell
every one to keep under cover."

Smith saluted, and disappeared, and then Natasha and Arnold went into
the wheel-house, while Colston and the Princess took their places in
the deck-saloon, the two men off duty going into the conning t