As the _Flying Fish_, handled by the professor, came to a halt within fifty yards of the liner, Mildmay, accompanied by Sir Reginald, stepped to the rail and hailed, in somewhat unconventional fashion-- "_Baroda_ ahoy! This is the _Flying Fish_, Royal Yacht Squadron, belonging to my friend here, Sir Reginald Elphinstone; and if it will not be unduly detaining you we should like to pay you a visit, and learn from you the full particulars of the extraordinary occurrence of this morning." One of the two officers on the bridge--a grey-haired, good-looking man, wearing a navy cap with a badge upon it, and gold lace on his sleeves-- who had stepped over to the starboard side, on seeing that Mildmay was about to hail, hereupon waved his hand, and replied-- "I shall be very pleased to see you; indeed, I stopped my engines in the hope that you would pay us a visit. Before I say anything else, however, let me express my thanks, and those of my passengers, officers, and crew for your most timely intervention just now, but for which I am afraid that matters would have gone rather badly with us. And now I hope that you and your party will give us the pleasure of your company to tiffin, which will be served in about an hour's time." "Thanks, very much," replied Sir Reginald, "we shall be delighted to accept your kind invitation. We will board you a few minutes before your tiffin-time, if that will suit you. And meanwhile, if you are anxious to proceed--as you doubtless are--pray do so, and we will keep you company." "That will suit me excellently," answered the captain. "I will stop again later to enable you to board me. What is your best speed? We can do sixteen and a half comfortably, under natural draught." "Make your own pace," answered Sir Reginald, with a laugh; "I dare say we can manage to keep up with you." Whereupon there ensued a muffled jingling of bells from somewhere down in the liner's interior, and her propeller began to revolve, churning up the water into a frothy swirl about her rudder as she gathered way and began to forge ahead. At the same moment the professor sent his own engines ahead; and in a few minutes the two ships, as dissimilar in outward appearance as they were in every other respect, were sweeping along amicably on parallel courses, with about a quarter of a mile of clear water between them.