This decision was arrived at shortly before midnight on the evening following Olivia"s formal introduction by the professor to the remaining members of the party, and thereupon--the _Flying Fish_ being at the time afloat and making her way leisurely southward toward the Straits of Malacca--an ascent to the upper regions of the atmosphere was at once made, and the ship"s head pointed homeward. The distance to be traversed was considerable, but it was calculated that by travelling at the ship"s utmost speed along the arc of a great circle (the shortest possible route between any two places on the earth"s surface), the journey might be accomplished in about forty-five hours, which, allowing for the difference of longitude in time between their then position and the English Channel, would enable them to reach the latter place at about two o"clock in the afternoon of the day but one following. This was rather an awkward time, if they still intended to maintain their secrecy of movement and avoid observation, but under the circ.u.mstances they resolved to risk it. Soaring, therefore, to a height of ten thousand feet--the elevation which experience had taught them to be most suitable for the performance of long-distance journeys--the _Flying Fish_ was put to her utmost speed, and, with the gentlemen keeping watch by turns in the pilot-house, the journey was commenced.
Swiftly the wonderful fabric sped forward upon her homeward way, and, without incident of any kind worthy of mention, and almost at the very minute calculated upon, the waters of the English Channel were sighted; an un.o.bserved descent being effected some twenty miles seaward of the little town of Saint Valery on the French coast. A course was now shaped for the Isle of Wight, and, a few hours later, one of the boats belonging to the _Flying Fish_ quietly glided into Portsmouth harbour in charge of Lieutenant Mildmay. Three pa.s.sengers--Olivia D"Arcy, the professor, and Colonel Lethbridge--landed from her without attracting any attention, and found themselves just in good time to take the London express, which they did, Mildmay making his solitary way out of the harbour again immediately.
In accordance with arrangements previously made by Sir Reginald, Miss D"Arcy was escorted by her two cavaliers straight to the town residence of a certain aunt of the baronet"s, and handed over to the care and protection of the old lady, with whom (to make short of a long story) for the ensuing twelve months she found a most comfortable and happy home; Sir Reginald and Mildmay turning up in town two days later laden with their African spoils, the equitable division of which, and their ultimate disposal, occupied the party for several months.
Thus ended the cruise of the _Flying Fish_. What remains to be told may be said in a very few words. Will the sagacious reader be very much surprised to learn that Sir Reginald Elphinstone suddenly discovered, in the aunt who had kindly taken Olivia D"Arcy under her protection, an old lady whose good graces were worth the most a.s.siduous cultivation? Such, at all events, was the fact, and, this much having been stated, the aforesaid sagacious reader will perhaps be not altogether unprepared to learn that, about a year after the return of the _Flying Fish_ to England, a wedding took place from that old lady"s house; in which ceremony Olivia enacted most charmingly the part of bride, with Sir Reginald as bridegroom, supported by the three staunch friends who had shared with him so many perils.
And what about the _Flying Fish_, does somebody ask? When last heard of she was--where she probably still is--lying safe and unsuspected at the bottom of the "Hurd Deep," in the identical spot where she made her first descent into the waters of the English Channel.
Whether she will ever again be put into commission--and, if so, under what circ.u.mstances--time alone will show.
THE END.