“I believe that according to established natural laws,” answered the Professor acidly, “they will.” “Will this air-ship of yours fly?” This time the Professor’s reply showed some warmth. “Hasn’t it been tested? Haven’t you seen for yourself? Aren’t you satisfied?” he inquired. “Perfectly,” conceded Kearns bluntly. “Well; just as sure as ducks swim and as your air-ship flies--and mighty high and rapid is its flight, I’ll admit--so surely will my hypothesis, as you call it, turn out scientifically correct and I’ll run my quarry to ground. I’m not accustomed to failure, you know, and I certainly can’t afford to fail in this case. Didn’t the warning say that the next will be the last? That means, I take it, there is going to be at least one more warning and, judging from past success, they’ll adopt the same means and the same methods as before. This is just about the time when things are due; the night, too, judging from present indications, looks as if it would be the right kind. I’d not be astonished if this was the night!” The conversation was held in a spacious apartment of the Summer Palace immediately to the west of the King’s sleeping apartment, forming part of the suite in the palace assigned to the affairs of the Chancellerie. Stretching across the apartment upon two rests, which brought it to a level with the wide bay windows, was a machine resembling in length and general contour an ordinary steam launch, but differing materially from a steam launch in its various accessory details. It was Professor Dean’s much-prized air-ship--christened by Kearns “The Royal Dean.” The various component parts of this air-ship had been manufactured with much secrecy at one of the royal dockyards. The parts had then been forwarded to a secluded portion of the country, where a temporary workshop had been fitted up for the Professor. There the assembling of the parts had taken place and the final and successful tests made. Thanks to the careful and elaborate precautions taken, no inkling of the nature of the work had filtered abroad. Only three of the workmen engaged on the assembling really knew that an air-ship had been turned out, and these three were very securely taken care of for the present. The same careful and secret precautions were observed in bringing the air-ship to the Summer Palace and installing it there. At Kearns’ suggestion, the Court had abandoned the Summer Palace at the time the work was first begun, the Queen and her suite going to Emberton, and the King and his suite to the City Palace. At last the work on the air-ship had been completed and that portion of the Chancellerie suite adjoining the King’s sleeping apartment had been given over to Kearns. There, after certain preliminary work in connection with one of the big bay windows so as to permit of the ready exit of the air-ship, the installation had taken place.