e, 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 unobserved 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 passengers--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 assiduous 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.

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