, which had been mysteriously raised, and flew above that of the
Blue Mountains.

At the same moment the figures of Rupert and Teuta sank; they were taking
their places on the aeroplane. An instant after, like a great golden
bird, it seemed to shoot out into the air, and then, dipping its head,
dropped downward at an obtuse angle. We could see the King and Queen
from time waist upwards--the King in Blue Mountain dress of green; the
Queen, wrapped in her white Shroud, holding her baby on her breast. When
far out from the mountain-top and over the Blue Mouth, the wings and tail
of the great bird-like machine went up, and the aero dropped like a
stone, till it was only some few hundred feet over the water. Then the
wings and tail went down, but with diminishing speed. Below the expanse
of the plane the King and Queen were now seen seated together on the tiny
steering platform, which seemed to have been lowered; she sat behind her
husband, after the manner of matrons of the Blue Mountains. That coming
of that aeroplane was the most striking episode of all this wonderful
day.

After floating for a few seconds, the engines began to work, whilst the
planes moved back to their normal with beautiful simultaneity. There was
a golden aero finding its safety in gliding movement. At the same time
the steering platform was rising, so that once more the occupants were
not far below, but above the plane. They were now only about a hundred
feet above the water, moving from the far end of the Blue Mouth towards
the entrance in the open space between the two lines of the fighting
ships of the various nationalities, all of which had by now their yards
manned--a manoeuvre which had begun at the firing of the first gun on the
mountain-top. As the aero passed along, all the seamen began to cheer--a
cheering which they kept up till the King and Queen had come so close to
the Western King's vessel that the two Kings and Queens could greet each
other. The wind was now beginning to blow westward from the
mountain-top, and it took the sounds towards the armoured fort, so that
at moments we could distinguish the cheers of the various nationalities,
amongst which, more keen than the others, came the soft "Ban Zai!" of the
Japanese.

King Rupert, holding his steering levers, sat like a man of marble.
Behind him his beautiful wife, clad in her Shroud, and holding in her
arms the young Crown Prince, seemed like a veritable statue.

The a