"Cast off!" thundered the words from Cobb, and the hawsers whirled through the guards, and came tumbling to the ground. The vessel rose swiftly and gracefully in the air; the dial marked 12. High up in the cold winter air, and swiftly, the noble ship rose; and soon the tooting of whistles and the cheers of the people became but faint murmurings in the depths below. "Admiral," reported Hugh, making a grave salute, and with a twinkle in his eye, "the barometer shows 8,000 feet." The fact was apparent that a great elevation had already been attained, for the temperature had fallen and a decided cold feeling was experienced by all. "That is sufficient, Commodore," returning the other's salute, and smiling at his new title. "Be kind enough to have the course laid northeast by east, and discharge gas to keep at about this altitude," and Cobb passed into his state-room, and donned a heavy overcoat. As the engines commenced their work the great propeller turned rapidly on its axis, and the Orion, describing a great circle, took a course which would soon bring her over Newfoundland. Rapidly they passed over the country; the towns and cities, the rivers and lakes, lay far below them, and the scene was like some gigantic panorama. Emerging from the cabin, Cobb walked to the port bows, where Hugh and Lester were leaning on the rail, and commenting on the grand scenery over which they were being swiftly whirled. An expression of satisfaction overspread his face, and a fire of ambition sparkled in his eye. "Would that I were never more compelled to descend to earth!" he cried. "Would that I could ever remain thus far away from civilization and society!" and a sad, mournful expression succeeded the former brightness of his countenance. "Say not so, dear Junius," and Hugh took the other's hand in his. "I am sure there is a bright future in store for you. I feel it; I know it!" "I am not a part of those below," and he jerked his thumb toward the earth dimly outlined far below them. "I am not a part of that people. No solitary tie, save that of new-found friendship, binds me to them, or them to me, Hugh," and he pressed the hand that held his. "If I but had the love of her long since dead, long since gone to her heavenly home, then all would be changed. I would live again, would laugh and jest, and be another man. Alas, it is not to be," and tears filled his eyes, and became crystals of ice in the freezing temperature that pervaded the air about them. "Brace up, my dear Colonel!" interposed Lester. "Accept the world as you find it! The sun of a week hence may shine on a people shouting your praise to the end of the earth."