“Would you really?”
“Nothing would give me greater pleasure.”
“Look,” said Mavis presently. “We are over Loch Tay. How beautiful it looks from here. Why there is still a suspicion of snow on Ben Lawers.”
“We are very near home, now,” said Desmond, looking at her fondly.
Within a very few minutes the great vessel tilted ever so slightly, and then with a graceful movement, slanted her nose to earth. There was only the faintest suspicion of a jolt as she touched the ground, and then ran smoothly along the field, coming to a standstill at almost the very spot she had left a few hours before.
The trial was over! The machine had proved her worth.
Science had won yet another brilliant victory.
CHAPTER IV
THE END OF THE WORLD
Four days had passed, four days of glorious sunshine. Every day the whole party had been for a trip in the Argenta. They never landed anywhere, however, for Sir John was still jealous of his secret; he wanted to test her in every kind of weather—he wanted to leave nothing to chance, so that finally her worth could not be questioned.
It was nothing for them to circle over the Outer Hebrides in the morning, come home for lunch, and then run over as far as Paris before dinner. Scarcely any motion was to be felt in the boat.