"No, no," interrupted Mildmay, "that plea won't do at all, my dear fellow; it is altogether too thin! You, like Lethbridge and the professor--to say nothing of Colonel Sziszkinski--would be in your element prowling through that forest; while, as for me--well, I should not go from choice, in any case. So there you are!" "Do you really mean that, Mildmay?" demanded Sir Reginald. "Yes, upon my honour, I do," assented the skipper. "I must confess," he continued, "that I have a very strong predilection for a clear horizon and an unimpeded view of the sky overhead, whether I happen to be ashore or afloat. Besides, it is not as though you needed me, you know; in that case it would be very different, of course. But--well, I think I have fully made out my contention that, if it is necessary for either of us to remain aboard, I am the man." "Very well; then that is settled," agreed Sir Reginald. "Now, the question that next suggests itself is this: Are we to leave the ship here, and endeavour to penetrate the forest from this point; or should we take the ship into the heart of the forest, and use her as our headquarters from which to make short day excursions? There is something to be said in favour of either plan. For example, in considering the first plan I mentioned, we all noticed a number of native villages as we came along. Two or three of these are only a few miles distant; and it might be possible for us to engage any number of those fellows to serve as bearers, to carry our _impedimenta_ for us, cut a path through the undergrowth, and so on. Under such conditions we should certainly see far more of the forest than we can possibly hope to do by adopting the other plan. Plan number two, on the other hand, appears to offer us the better chance to reach the heart of the forest. Now, what say you, gentlemen? Which plan appeals to you the more strongly? Or has either of you an alternative to suggest?" "Let us try the second plan; and if that proves unsatisfactory we can always fall back upon the first," said the professor. And so it was arranged. Accordingly, on the following morning, the first streaks of dawn saw von Schalckenberg astir, and on his way to the pilot-house, where he first of all manipulated the lever that controlled the grip-anchors, drawing it back, and thus causing the anchors to relinquish their hold upon the ground. Then he turned a sufficient stream of vapour into the air-chambers to create a partial vacuum and cause the ship to rise in the air to a height of about two hundred feet above the tops of the most lofty trees; and finally to set the engines going ahead at a speed of about fifty miles an hour, in accordance with an arrangement between himself and Sir Reginald, made the last thing before turning in on the previous night. Then, the morning being perfectly calm, he set the course due south, and returned below to get his bath and dress.