The Log of the Flying Fish | Page 8

enabled to dispense with the services of and pay off an increasingly
large number of men. Finally, the day arrived when the score or so of
painters and decorators, who then constituted the sole remnant of the
professor's late army of workmen, completed their task of beautifying
the interior of the aerial ship, and, receiving their pay, were dismissed
to seek a new field of labour. The official staff now alone remained,
and to these, after making them a pleasant little complimentary speech
expressing his appreciation of the zeal and ability with which they had
discharged their duties, Herr von Schalckenberg announced the
pleasant intelligence that, although he had now no further need of their
services, Sir Reginald Elphinstone had, upon his--the
professor's--earnest recommendation, successfully used his influence to
secure them other and immediate employment. The professor then
handed each man a cheque for his salary, including three months' extra
pay in lieu of the usual notice of dismissal to which he was entitled,
together with a letter of introduction to his new employer, and, shaking
hands with the staff all round, bade them good-bye, wishing them
individually success in their new posts. Then, watching them file out of
the office for the last time, he waited until all had left the premises,
when he turned the key in the door, and making his way into the
interior of the building shed, found himself at length alone with his
completed work.
How the professor spent the next few hours no man but himself can say;
but it is reasonable to suppose that, man of science though he was, he
was still sufficiently human to regard with critical yet innocent pride
and exultation the wonderful fabric which owed its existence to the
inventive ingenuity of his fertile brain. It is probable, too, that when he
had at length gratified himself with an exhaustive contemplation of its
many points of interest, he went on board the ship, and with his own
eyes and hands made a final inspection and trial of all her machinery, to

satisfy himself that everything was complete and ready. At all events,
however the professor may have passed those few hours of precious
solitude, when he finally handed over the keys to the yard watchman
and bade him "good-night" late on that summer evening, his whole
bearing and appearance was that of a thoroughly happy and satisfied
man.
CHAPTER THREE.
THE "FLYING FISH."
During the whole of the following week stores of various kinds
necessary to the comfort and sustenance of the voyagers were being
constantly delivered at the building yard, where they were received by
the valet and cook of Sir Reginald Elphinstone--the only servants or
assistants of any kind who were to accompany the expedition--and
promptly stowed away by them, under the direction of the professor,
who was exceedingly anxious to accurately preserve the proper "trim"
of the vessel--a much more important and difficult matter than it would
have been had she been designed to navigate the ocean only. By
mid-day on Saturday the last article had been received, including the
personal belongings of the travellers, the stowage was completed, and
everything was ready for an immediate start.
At three o'clock on the following Monday afternoon the voyagers met
in the smoke-room of the "Migrants'" as a convenient and appropriate
rendezvous, and, without having dropped the slightest hint to anyone
respecting the novel nature of their intended journey, quietly said
"Good-bye" to the two or three men who happened to be there, and,
chartering a couple of hansoms, made the best of their way to
Fenchurch Street railway station, from whence they took the train to
Blackwall. On emerging from the latter station they placed themselves
under the guidance of the professor, and were by him conducted in a
few minutes to the building yard. The professor was the only one of the
quartette who had as yet set eyes on the vessel in which they were
about to embark; and the remaining three naturally felt a little flutter of
curiosity as they passed through the gateway and saw before them the

enormous closely-boarded shed which jealously hid from all
unprivileged eyes the latest marvel of science. But they were
Englishmen, and as such it was a part of their creed to preserve an
absolutely unruffled equanimity under every conceivable combination
of circumstances, so between the whiffs of their cigars they chatted
carelessly about anything and everything but the object upon which
their thoughts were just then centred.
But the baronet's equanimity was for a moment upset when the
professor, after a perhaps unnecessarily prolonged fumbling with the
key, threw open the wicket which gave admission to the interior of the
shed, and, stepping back to allow his companions to precede him,
exclaimed in tones of exultant pride,