nce more, very
cautiously. Steady! _Stop_! There, Sir Reginald, the index has
reached zero, and your ship is now as nearly as possible without weight;
and if a man were now underneath her, he might, notwithstanding her
gigantic proportions, easily raise her upon his shoulders. Now comes
the delicate part of our operation. To your stations on the deck
quickly, gentlemen, if you please."

The professor's companions, just a trifle excited, perhaps, hurried away
to their posts, and the scientist was left alone. The circular windows
in the sides of the pilothouse were all left open, and in through them
presently floated the voice of the lieutenant shouting:

"All ready abaft, professor."

"All ready at this end," replied the colonel.

The professor reversed the engines, turned on the vapour _very_
cautiously indeed, and simultaneously, with the engines below only just
barely moving, the huge propeller began to whirl round at a speed of
some sixty revolutions a minute.

A breathless pause of perhaps two seconds followed, and then the
professor, his forehead damp with nervous perspiration, heard:

"Hurrah! She's away!" from the lieutenant.

"She moves; she moves!" from the colonel.

And, "By Jove, she is actually moving!" from the baronet.

Slowly but surely the _Flying Fish_ backed out of the building-shed,
until nearly half her immense length projected beyond the walls. Then
the voice of the baronet was heard exclaiming:

"Ho! stop her! The electric lamp will not clear the roof, I am afraid.
Can you give us a little light on the subject, professor?"

By way of reply the professor pressed a knob, and the lamp itself
flashed its dazzling light upon the scene, when it became apparent that
the ship had gradually risen from the ground, bringing the top of her
lamp just above the level of the last tie-rod of the roof.

"Can you drop her a little? Six inches will do it," said the baronet.

The professor opened the air-valve and the ship at once began to settle
down.

"So! That will do; all clear. You may go astern again now as fast as
you please," said the baronet.

Once more the great propeller began to revolve, and presently the
baronet, from his position under the foremost end of the pilot-house,
remarked:

"Now she is all clear, professor; the whole of the pilothouse is outside
the shed. A bold dash astern now and we shall be clear fore and aft in
another moment."

The professor extinguished t