“I looked it up to-day,” replied Gilbert. “He is due to reach his meridian about midnight, and will be visible all night. As seen from here he will be opposite the sun—that is ‘in opposition’—on the 15th of October, or a month from to-day, and at his best time for approach. As viewed from here he will be moving towards the right in Aquarius, and Luna will pass over him on the fourth and thirtieth of next month, October.” “And how will that fit in?” “Excellently, if we start in a week, better still in four days.” “Right!” said Godfrey. “And is the whole thing to be kept quiet?” “As the grave!” replied Dennis. “We want to be off without any fuss this time, and have decided to go on a cloudy night, and not show ourselves till well away.” “Then I’ll be mum,” said Godfrey, “and get off to find some apparatus; we shall want a tidy pile of things. I’ll send them to the shed to-morrow or the next day and be here myself the day following, that is three days from now, and you can start the first cloudy night you like after that. How will that fit in?” “Splendidly,” they all cried, delighted. Ten minutes later Godfrey’s airship was waiting outside a wholesale store, the proprietor almost overcome at the magnitude of the orders given. On the nineteenth of September the night was very black and stormy, with lowering clouds and a strong drizzle of rain. Very few ships were out and none near, for no one suspected the _Regina_ would stay but four or five days after being away three months, so that nobody thought it worth while to commence a systematic watch on the shed so soon, and on such a night those aloft were in their cabins, making themselves as cosy as possible with nothing exposed to the elements except the regulation guard and location-lights. The four travellers, therefore, reached the shed unseen by any one, and this time very silently, like a silver spirit, the _Regina_ rose in the cold and pitiless rain. Every light in the vessel was concealed, and in the saloon the only lights were a few hooded lamps over the switch-board, at which stood Gilbert, directing the movements of the vessel. Godfrey was standing at the other side of the room, his face pressed close against the window, his nose flattened out like a piece of rubber, quite unconscious of the grotesqueness of his appearance, so absorbed was he, for he had, of course, never been up so high before.