e _Grashna_ and looked over her from stem to
stern, they had to admit that they had never seen anything quite so
daintily splendid. They had chosen their rooms, and Jenny was below
unpacking. Although, of course, he had a captain on board, the Prince
often sailed the yacht himself when he had guests on board. He had a
genuine love for the beautiful craft, and he took an almost boyish
delight in showing what she could do. She was a twelve-hundred-ton,
triple-screw, turbine-driven boat, and, thanks to the space-economy of
the new system, her builders had been able to stow away fifteen thousand
horse-power in her engine-room, and this when fully developed gave a
speed in smooth water of thirty-five knots or a little over forty
statute miles an hour.

The anchor was up almost as soon as they got on to the bridge, and
Oscarovitch moved the pointer of the telegraph to "Ahead slow." The
quartermaster in the oval wheel-house behind him moved the little wheel
a few spokes to starboard, her mellow whistle tooted, and she glided in
an outward curve through the other yachts and shipping, and gained the
open water.

"Now," he said, turning to Nitocris, "we can begin to move. It is
roughly thirty English miles to Elsinore. If you have never done any
fast travelling at sea and would like to do some now, I can get you
there in about three-quarters of an hour."

"What!" exclaimed the Professor, "thirty miles in forty-five minutes by
sea! That is over forty miles an hour. A wonderful speed."

"Yes," he replied, almost tenderly; "but my beautiful _Grashna_ is a
wonderful craft--at least, I think you will say so when you see what she
can do. Now, if you will take advice, you and Miss Marmion will go into
shelter, for it will begin to blow soon."

Behind the wheel-house was an observation room, as it would be called in
the States, running nearly the whole length of the bridge, and fronted
with thick plate glass. They went in, and Oscarovitch turned the pointer
to half-speed. There was no increase in vibration, but the shore began
to slip away behind them faster and faster, and the northern suburbs of
Copenhagen rose ahead and fell astern as though they were part of a
swiftly moving panorama. Then the pointer went down to full speed, and
the Prince, after a word to the quartermaster, joined them in the
bridge-house and closed the door.

"You will need all your eyes to see much of the shore now," he said; "I
have given her her wings."