"Ach! yes, that is true," agreed von Schalckenberg. "We might discuss the matter with Sziszkinski at the breakfast-table--the mention of which reminds me that I am hungry, while my watch,"--withdrawing the article mentioned from his pocket and glancing at it--"tells me that breakfast ought now to be ready."
He glanced round the horizon, which was bare save for the rapidly receding shape of the convict-ship, and continued--
"I see no reason why, with the approval of Captain Mildmay as our navigator, we should not remain where we are until after breakfast, by which time yonder ship will be out of sight, and there will be no one to note our next movement. There is no particular object in moving from here, I think, until our point of immediate destination is fixed. What say you, Mildmay?"
"We can remain here perfectly well," agreed Mildmay. "As you say, there is no object in moving until we shall have decided in what direction the movement is to be made, unless, indeed, Sir Reginald has an amendment to make to your proposition."
"Not I," a.s.serted the baronet. "I quite agree with the professor. Ah, thank goodness, there is the breakfast bell! This early morning air is a most wonderful sharpener of the appet.i.te. Come, gentlemen, let us go below; _the Flying Fish_ is quite capable of taking care of herself for the next hour or so."
As the four men filed into the dining-saloon from the vestibule, they were confronted by Lady Elphinstone and her little daughter, Ida, who were entering the apartment at its other end, from the music-saloon, where they had already made the acquaintance of Colonel Sziszkinski, who, with his daughter, followed them a moment later.
The colonel--who since we saw him last, on the deck of the _Flying Fish_, had exchanged his exceedingly ugly convict garb for a suit of clothes sent to his cabin by Colonel Lethbridge, who was about the same height and build as the Russian--was a decidedly good-looking man, still in the very prime of life, tall and well set up, as a soldier should be, with ruddy-flaxen hair, moustache, and beard, and a pair of deep blue eyes that looked one straight and honestly in the face, and could, upon occasion, flash very lightnings of righteous indignation. The professor could remember the time when it had been an easy matter to bring a twinkle of rich humour into those same eyes; but, for the present, at all events, all sense of humour had disappeared in face of the constant humiliation and petty tyranny to which he had been subjected ever since his arrest. For the rest, he was an educated, polished, accomplished gentleman, with the absolutely perfect manner that seems to come quite naturally to so many of his countrymen of his own cla.s.s.
Breakfast, as may be supposed, was an exceptionally cheerful meal that morning, for Feodorovna Sziszkinski was exuberantly happy in the fact of her father"s marvellous rescue from a fate too dreadful for calm contemplation; the colonel was happier still, if that were possible, for the same reason, and because his release had come to him absolutely without a second"s warning or preparation; and the others were in buoyant spirits at the knowledge that they had been able to make two very worthy people happy, and that, too, with no trouble beyond what had brought to them a little pleasant and exhilarating excitement. The conversation consisted, for the most part, in a recital by the colonel, at von Schalckenberg"s request, of his experiences while in prison, and although he touched lightly upon some, and glossed over others, he still told enough to arouse the deep indignation of his hearers and cause them to rejoice further at having been the means of delivering him from a condition of such acute and continuous misery.
At the conclusion of the meal the entire party adjourned to the deck to take a look round and enjoy the deliciously soft and balmy air. There was nothing in sight, and therefore no particular reason why the _Flying Fish_ should make an immediate move. Sir Reginald, therefore, deftly so arranged matters that, while Mildmay undertook to entertain Mlle.
Sziszkinski, and Lethbridge alternately chatted with Lady Olivia and played with Ida, he got the lately liberated Russian and von Schalckenberg to join him in a promenade at the other end of the deck from that occupied by the rest of the party. Colonel Sziszkinski, who had, of course, already learned from his daughter the leading particulars of the circ.u.mstances that had led up to his rescue, eagerly seized this opportunity to reiterate to the baronet his most heartfelt thanks for his astonishing and most unexpected deliverance, and this afforded Sir Reginald the opening for which he was looking.
"My dear Colonel," he said, "I beg that you will not say another word about it, for I a.s.sure you that it afforded us unmixed pleasure to circ.u.mvent the plans of that scoundrel Vasilovich and deliver you from his toils. Had you been a total stranger to us all, it would still have been a pleasant task to have done what we have done, in the somewhat unlikely event of the facts of the case becoming known to us. But you happen to be a friend of our dear professor, here, and to be the friend of one is to be the friend of all of us; and, that being the case, we all felt bound to help you, even before we had heard the particulars of your story from your charming daughter. Now it happened that, just before breakfast, while you were below, we four adventurers were discussing the question of the direction in which we should next head the _Flying Fish_--for I must explain to you that, although we have a programme of a sort, it is a very elastic one, and subject to alteration at short notice for any good and sufficient reason,--and we eventually decided to settle nothing until we had consulted you. It may be that, having recovered your freedom, there are certain things that you would desire to do; and if so, it will afford us the greatest possible pleasure to a.s.sist you to the utmost of our ability. If, on the other hand, however, you have as yet no definite plans, let me now say that it will give us _all_ the greatest possible satisfaction if you and your daughter will afford us the pleasure of your society during our cruise, or for so much of it as may be agreeable to you."
"Sir Reginald," exclaimed Sziszkinski, with some emotion, as he grasped the baronet"s extended hand, "I am completely at a loss for words in which to express adequately the grat.i.tude I feel for your most kindly and generous offer. You will, perhaps, the better be able to appreciate the depth of my feeling when I explain to you that, through the machinations of that villain Vasilovich, my daughter and I are, save for your kindly hospitality, homeless, and--with the exception of any money or jewellery that my daughter may possibly happen to have upon her person--penniless. Furthermore, apart from yourselves, we have not a friend on the face of the earth to whom we can turn for help or shelter--or rather, who would dare to risk the anger of the Tsar by affording us either? Nor have I, at this moment, any plans; for I know only too well that any attempt to secure the reversal of my sentence and the return of my confiscated property would be worse than useless, since it would not only end in failure, but also put me for the second time in the power of the Tsar. I therefore accept your most kind invitation to join your party as frankly as it was offered, and with my most hearty thanks. Doubtless, with the advantage of a few days" calm reflection, I shall be able to evolve some scheme for our future."
"No doubt," a.s.sented Sir Reginald. "But please do not be in any hurry about it, for the longer you can find it convenient to remain with us, the better shall we all be pleased. And if you happen to be anything of a sportsman, I think we may venture to promise you some sport quite worth having, and of a rather unique kind? Eh, Professor?"
"Aha," agreed the professor, "yes, that is so; those unicorns, for instance." And forthwith von Schalckenberg plunged animatedly into a description of the wonderful animals, followed by a recital of the exciting circ.u.mstances under which they had first been seen.
Shortly after this the three men rejoined the rest of the party at the other end of the deck, Sir Reginald remarking--
"Good friends all, I have a little bit of pleasant news for you. You will be glad to learn that von Schalckenberg and I have, between us, succeeded in inducing Colonel Sziszkinski to give us the pleasure of his own and his daughter"s company during a considerable portion, if not the whole, of our cruise. There is, therefore, no need for any alteration of our arrangements, and we may proceed to carry out our original plan of travelling slowly southwards. The question now is whether we shall continue our journey on the surface of the sea, or take to the air.
What say the ladies?"
Travelling upon the surface of the sea, it appeared, had no terrors for the ladies; _mal de mer_ never troubled either of them; they were in no hurry; they found the present conditions exceedingly pleasant, but had no doubt that it would be equally pleasant to be flying through the air; and so on, and so on; in short, they were in that pliant state of mind that predisposed them to a.s.sent cordially to any proposal. It was therefore agreed to potter along on a due southerly course all day, at a speed of about ten knots, giving a wide berth to any craft that they might encounter on the way, and take to the air after nightfall, availing themselves of the hours of darkness to accomplish their journey across Asia Minor. This arrangement was carried out in its entirety, the party spending a very enjoyable day on deck, although there was little or nothing to be seen, only two craft--both of them steamers-- being sighted during the day. They were steering north, and were hull-down, so that they probably failed to notice the presence of the _Flying Fish_. The Maxim gun, being no longer needed, was dismounted again and stowed away, in accordance with a recognised rule that the ship was always to be kept in condition for either mounting into the air, or descending beneath the surface of the sea, at a moment"s notice.
Nightfall found the voyagers about sixty miles distant from the southern sh.o.r.e of the Black Sea, at which point they took to the air, rising to a height of ten thousand feet, and, with a light air of wind from the southward against them, increasing their speed to thirty-five knots.
Asia Minor is distinctly a hilly country, but there are no very lofty elevations under the meridian of the thirtieth degree of east longitude--along which the _Flying Fish_ was then running--nor, indeed, in its immediate vicinity, until the southern coast is approached, where, at a distance of about forty miles from the point at which the travellers would again pa.s.s out over the water, and some twenty-five miles to the left of their proper course, the Bei Dagh peak rises to a height of ten thousand four hundred feet, while, a few miles farther on, and quite near to their track, the highest peak of the Susuz Dagh range rises still higher by one hundred and fifty feet. The _Flying Fish_, therefore, skimming along at a height of ten thousand feet only, was liable to dash into either of these peaks if it so happened that she chanced to encounter an air current to deflect her to the eastward of her proper course. This, however, was exceedingly unlikely, for at the height of ten thousand feet above the earth she was in what is known as "the calm belt" of the atmosphere, where the air-currents--when such exist at all--are very sluggish. The danger of collision with either of the peaks above-mentioned was therefore so remote as to be hardly worth consideration, and in any case it could not arise until the early hours of the following morning. It was therefore decided that there was no need for the maintenance of an all-night watch in the pilot-house, Mildmay undertaking to be up in good time to obviate any possibility of danger.
The first flash of sunrise next morning found the _Flying Fish_ just pa.s.sing over the border between land and sea on the southern coast of Asia Minor, with the Casteloriza Islands practically beneath her, the Susuz range safely astern, the island of Rhodes, like a pink cloud, broad abeam on the western horizon, and a soft, delicate purple outline broad on the port bow, which Mildmay informed them all was the upper portion of Mount Troados, the highest peak of the mountain range which forms, as it were, the backbone of the island of Cyprus. The ship was still maintaining her height of ten thousand feet above the sea-level, and her speed of thirty-five knots through the air, both of which circ.u.mstances rendered it necessary for those on board her to make such observations as they desired from the interior of the ship, the outside air being too rarefied and keen, and the ship"s speed through it too rapid for exposure to it to be at all agreeable. It was therefore arranged that, as their pa.s.sage across the Mediterranean was likely to prove uninteresting, and there would therefore be no inducement for any of them to go out on deck, that pa.s.sage should be accomplished at full speed. The voyagers would then have time to dress and take breakfast at leisure, and be ready to go out on deck to witness their arrival on the African coast.
Accordingly, at a quarter to ten o"clock, ship"s time, the _Flying Fish_ having been lowered to a distance of three thousand feet above sea-level, and her speed reduced to about ten knots, the pilot-house door was thrown open, and everybody pa.s.sed out on deck, where they found the air dry and pleasantly bracing, with a temperature of about fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit. They were still over the sea, but the African coast was in plain view some five miles ahead, with the towers and minarets of the city of Alexandria broad on their starboard bow, showing quite distinctly in the lenses of their telescopes; while, at about the same distance, on their port beam, Aboukir castle could be distinguished, with the historic Bay of Aboukir beyond it. Half an hour later the great African continent was beneath them, and they were looking down upon the ruins of Nicopolisisoi, the line of railway from Alexandria to Rosetta, and the island-dotted Lake Mareotis.
Thenceforward, for the rest of the day there was but little of interest to attract the attention of the travellers, apart from the fact that during the afternoon they caught a distant glimpse of the Pyramids, with Cairo beyond, on the far eastern horizon. Finally, at the end of a very pleasant day"s progress across the desert, accomplished at a low rate of speed on Ida"s account, in order that she might not be subjected to a too rapid change of temperature in their southward progress, after enjoying the spectacle of a superb desert sunset, they came to earth for the night some twenty-five miles west of Lake Birket el Keroon.
Progressing thus quietly, at the rate of about a hundred miles per day, and coming to earth at sunset every evening, the fifth day of their journey over Africa terminated in the immediate neighbourhood of a patch of rocky outcrop, some ten miles long by about three miles in width.
Hitherto the travellers had observed no signs of wild life during their exceedingly leisurely progress southward; but the sight of a water-hole or two, and a few patches of scanty herbage dotted here and there among the rocks, led them to hope that here they might at last possibly get the chance of a shot at game of some sort; and their hope became a practical certainty when, as the men of the party were promenading the deck after dinner, and enjoying their tobacco, a hoa.r.s.e, coughing roar reached their ears from the direction of the rocks. The roar was answered at intervals from other points, and the spirits of the party rose high in antic.i.p.ation of sport for the morrow, for the roars were at once identified as those of lions, and it was forthwith arranged that at least a portion of the next day should be devoted to hunting the brutes.
CHAPTER TEN.
AN EXTRAORDINARY SIGHT.
The chief topic of conversation at the breakfast-table on the following morning was, as might be expected, big game shooting; and it then transpired that the Russian colonel had never faced anything bigger or more formidable than bears or wolves. He was consequently much elated at the prospect of encountering the lordly lion in his native wilds; especially with so effective a weapon as the magazine rifle firing twenty shots without reloading, upon the merits of which Colonel Lethbridge expatiated eloquently. His elation was of the kind that easily becomes contagious, and the party were in high spirits when at length they rose from the table and proceeded to the gun-room to select their weapons and provide themselves with a supply of cartridges. These cartridges, it should be explained, were, like almost everything else connected with the _Flying Fish_, of quite a unique character, and totally unlike those used in the ordinary weapons of sport or warfare, in that they were not charged with gunpowder, but with a preparation of the singular substance employed for generating the motive power of the ship"s engines. This substance was so tremendously powerful that a very minute quant.i.ty was all that was needed to take the place of the usual powder charge, hence the possibility of stowing away as many as twenty cartridges in a magazine of only ordinary size. Furthermore, the cartridges were loaded with several different kinds of missiles. There was, for instance, the cartridge charged with shot of various sizes-- from dust-shot for the killing of humming-birds and such like, up to ordinary buck-shot--enclosed in a case so fragile that the friction of its pa.s.sage along the rifling of the barrel destroyed it, causing it to crumble to dust as it emerged from the muzzle of the weapon, and leave the charge of shot free to do its work in the same manner as though fired from an ordinary shot-gun. Then there was the cartridge charged with the usual sporting bullet employed for shooting such game as buck and antelopes; the cartridge with a soft-nosed bullet for war purposes and the shooting of the larger game, such as giraffes, lions, tigers, leopards, and the like; and, finally, the cartridge charged with a thick, heavy steel sh.e.l.l that exploded and blew to pieces upon striking its mark, thus inflicting so terrible a wound as usually to prove instantly fatal. This last was intended for use in the shooting of elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and other animals with exceptionally thick hides, and for any case of exceptional emergency. It was, of course, the Numbers 2 and 3 cartridges with which the sportsmen provided themselves on the present occasion.
The weapons having been selected and a sufficient supply of cartridges slipped into each man"s pocket, the hunters ascended to the deck to take a preliminary look round with their binoculars, upon the off-chance that they might catch a glimpse of something that would help them to a decision as to the point to which to direct their steps. And here they discovered that the ladies had preceded them, Lady Olivia, Mlle.
Sziszkinski, and Ida being already there and intently searching the rocks with their gla.s.ses.
"Well, Ida," demanded Sir Reginald, "how many lions have you already seen?"
"None at all, papa," answered the child, in a playfully aggrieved tone of voice. "I saw a deer standing upon that highest rock, a few minutes ago, but he did not stay there long. As to lions, I think we are not very likely to see any; we cannot see very much of the rocks from this place, and I should like to be able to watch you when you go out to shoot the lions. Cannot we move the ship to a place nearer the rocks, where we can see everything?"
"Of course we can, little woman," answered Sir Reginald, genially.
"And, while we are about it," he added, turning to the others, "we may as well make a complete circuit of the entire patch--execute a reconnaissance, in fact; it may enable us to discover some trace of our quarry, and so save us a long, toilsome tramp in the heat."
And, thereupon, he returned to the pilot-house to put the big ship in motion.
A few seconds later, with a gentle and almost imperceptible jar, the _Flying Fish_ rose from the ground to the height of about two hundred feet, and, with her engines only just turning, began to circle slowly round the somewhat extensive outcrop, while the party on deck keenly searched with their binoculars the several irregularities of its surface as they swung into view. For some twenty minutes or so the search proved unsuccessful, and the men were beginning to feel just a trifle anxious when Lethbridge exclaimed, with a sigh of relief--
"Ah! now we are getting "warm," as Ida would say. Do you see that small bunch of gazelle drinking at the pool yonder? Where they are, there also--or not very far off--will our friend Leo be, I fancy."
In a moment every gla.s.s was directed full upon the half-dozen or so of graceful animals that were now in full view scarcely a quarter of a mile distant, but which had hitherto been hidden by a huge intervening ma.s.s of rock. It appeared as though Lethbridge"s a.s.sumption would probably prove correct, for the animals betrayed evident signs of uneasiness, as though suspicious of danger, though unable to determine the point from which to expect it. They drank hesitatingly, taking small sips of water and then throwing up their heads with a startled air, their ears twitching incessantly, and their bodies braced as though in readiness to bound off like a flash at the first suspicious sign. The party who watched them with such interest were at first disposed to attribute the uneasiness of the animals to the presence of the _Flying Fish_, which was now in full view; but von Schalckenberg, who was a good deal of a naturalist as well as an experienced _shikari_, confidently a.s.serted that it was not, that it was something very much nearer that was disturbing them; and presently, while the elders of the party were discussing the matter, and intently watching the gazelles through their binoculars, Ida cried out--
"Oh, look, mamma; look, Colonel; what is that great thing like a spotted cat that is crouching behind that long ledge of rock to the left of where the gazelles are standing? Is it a leopard? Surely it must be!
And, oh dear, I believe it is trying to get near enough to the gazelles to spring upon one of them! Please, _please_ don"t let him do it; shoot him, somebody, quick!"
"Where is this leopard of yours, Ida? Show him to me," said Lethbridge, coming over to the child"s side, and kneeling down beside her.
"There," answered Ida, pointing. "Don"t you see him? Oh, please be quick--there, now he is standing up and looking over--"
"I see him, sweetheart," answered Lethbridge, springing to his feet and reaching for his rifle. "Six hundred yards," he muttered, adjusting the sight of the weapon and raising it to his shoulder.
The head of the animal was now in plain view, showing dark against the brightly illuminated background of rock, while the rest of its body was almost invisible in the deep shadow of the ledge behind which it had been stalking its prey, and it was only by the merest chance that the child"s quick eye had caught sight of the yellow, spotted form crouching low in the deep shadow and stealing almost imperceptibly toward the gazelles.
There was a faint, almost inaudible click as Lethbridge pulled the trigger of his weapon, an equally faint little wreath of diaphanous vapour leapt from its muzzle, and the leopard sprang high into the air-- startling the gazelles and putting them to instant flight--ere it fell back, rolled over, and lay motionless on the rocky platform along which it had been stealing.
"Good shot!" shouted Sir Reginald, from the open windows of the pilot-house, through which he had been watching the scene. "We had better drop to earth at once, if you wish to secure the skin. Vultures have a trick of appearing from nowhere in an incredibly short time, you know; and if we leave the skinning until we come back, there may be no skin left worth the taking."
"Quite so; we must make sure of that skin at once, if we intend to have it at all. And we certainly must, for not only is it our first trophy this cruise, but it belongs to Ida by right of first discovery, and she must have it," answered Lethbridge, who had quickly developed a quite remarkable affection for the child.
The _Flying Fish_ was accordingly brought to earth at once on a tolerably level spot quite close to the carcase of the leopard, and the five men quickly left the ship by way of what was known as the "diving-chamber," and the trap-door in the bottom of the craft, and forthwith proceeded to take the skin. It was found upon examination that the ex-colonel had made a really splendid shot, his bullet having struck the creature fair in the centre of the back of the skull, and pa.s.sed out through the left eye.
They were still engaged upon the work of removing the pelt when the roar of a lion reached their ears, the m.u.f.fled sound seeming to suggest that the animal was at some distance--possibly as much as two miles--from them. In about half a minute the sound was repeated, and again about half a minute later, and so on, the sound coming to them pretty regularly at half-minute intervals.
"Ach!" exclaimed the professor, presently, "I think I can guess what is happening. Now, if we are quick, we may be in time to witness a somewhat remarkable sight."
"Yes," said Lethbridge, "I think I know to what you refer, Professor. I once saw it myself, and it certainly was, as you say, a very curious sight."
"May we be allowed to know what this curious sight is of which you two gentlemen are speaking?" inquired the Russian.
"Wait and see for yourself, Boris, my friend," exclaimed von Schalckenberg. "If you do not know what to expect, you will appreciate the sight all the more when you see it. There," as the last ligament was severed and the skin came away from the carcase, "that job is finished. Let us wash our hands and be off at once, or we may be too late."