phinstone; and if it will
not be unduly detaining you we should like to pay you a visit, and learn
from you the full particulars of the extraordinary occurrence of this
morning."

One of the two officers on the bridge--a grey-haired, good-looking man,
wearing a navy cap with a badge upon it, and gold lace on his sleeves--
who had stepped over to the starboard side, on seeing that Mildmay was
about to hail, hereupon waved his hand, and replied--

"I shall be very pleased to see you; indeed, I stopped my engines in the
hope that you would pay us a visit. Before I say anything else,
however, let me express my thanks, and those of my passengers, officers,
and crew for your most timely intervention just now, but for which I am
afraid that matters would have gone rather badly with us. And now I
hope that you and your party will give us the pleasure of your company
to tiffin, which will be served in about an hour's time."

"Thanks, very much," replied Sir Reginald, "we shall be delighted to
accept your kind invitation. We will board you a few minutes before
your tiffin-time, if that will suit you. And meanwhile, if you are
anxious to proceed--as you doubtless are--pray do so, and we will keep
you company."

"That will suit me excellently," answered the captain. "I will stop
again later to enable you to board me. What is your best speed? We can
do sixteen and a half comfortably, under natural draught."

"Make your own pace," answered Sir Reginald, with a laugh; "I dare say
we can manage to keep up with you."

Whereupon there ensued a muffled jingling of bells from somewhere down
in the liner's interior, and her propeller began to revolve, churning up
the water into a frothy swirl about her rudder as she gathered way and
began to forge ahead. At the same moment the professor sent his own
engines ahead; and in a few minutes the two ships, as dissimilar in
outward appearance as they were in every other respect, were sweeping
along amicably on parallel courses, with about a quarter of a mile of
clear water between them.

When the question of how many of the party should accept the invitation
to tiffin on board the liner came to be discussed, it appeared that
Colonel Sziszkinski and his daughter preferred to remain on board the
_Flying Fish_. The recent escape of the colonel from the convict-ship
rendered him desirous that his identity and whereabouts should remain a
profound secret, at least for the present. The p