Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England The Log of the "Flying Fish" A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure By Harry Collingwood ________________________________________________________________________ This book has a firm place in British literature, for it was one of the very first in the genre of science-fiction. A German professor, living for some reason in London, takes on some adventurous and rich Englishmen, and sets off with them in an airship that is made of a material so light that it can rise vertically into the air if you pump out some of the air in its ballast tanks. It can also plunge into the depths of the ocean, because this special material, aetherium, is so strong that it can withstand water pressure to a great depth. In this vehicle they visit the North Pole, having several adventures on the way, including finding the remains of a Viking ship. They visit a region in Africa where they depose the existing King and install a King who is more to their taste. Then they head off for Mount Everest, where they become the first persons to sit on the summit. Here again they have more adventures of a perilous kind. It's a good book, well worth reading, and I commend it to you. NH. ________________________________________________________________________ THE LOG OF THE "FLYING FISH" A STORY OF AERIAL AND SUBMARINE PERIL AND ADVENTURE BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD CHAPTER ONE. PROFESSOR VON SCHALCKENBERG MAKES A STARTLING SUGGESTION. The "Migrants'" Club stands on the most delightful site in all London; and it is, as the few who are intimately acquainted with it know full well, one of the most cosy and comfortable clubs in the great metropolis. It is by no means a _famous_ club; the building itself has a very simple, unpretentious elevation, with nothing whatever about it to attract the attention of the passer-by; but its interior is fitted up in such a style of combined elegance and comfort, and its domestic arrangements are so perfect, as to leave nothing to be desired. Its numerous members are essentially wanderers upon the face of the earth--that is the one distinguishing characteristic wherein they most widely differ from their fellow-men--they are ceaseless travellers; mighty hunters in far-off lands; adventurous yachtsmen; eager explorers; with a small sprinkling of army and navy men. Their visits to their club are infrequent in the extreme; but, during the brief and widely separated intervals when they have the opportunity to put in an appearance there, they like to be made thoroughly comfortable; and no pains are spared to secure their complete gratification in this respect.