The captain took the bamboo frame to which a sheet was fastened and read as follows:
"Nelly Rawlinson and Stanislas Tarkowski, sent from Khartûm to Fashoda and conducted from Fashoda east from the Nile, escaped from the dervishes. After long months' travel they arrived at a lake lying south of Abyssinia. They are going to the ocean. They beg for speedy help."
At the side of the sheet they found the following addition written in smaller letters:
"This kite, the 54th in order, was flown from the mountains surrounding a lake unknown to geography. Whoever finds it should notify the Directory of the Canal at Port Said or Captain Glenn in Mombasa.
Stanislas Tarkowski."
When the captain's voice died away, the two friends gazed at each other in silence.
"What is this?" Doctor Clary finally asked.
"I do not believe my own eyes!" the captain answered.
"This, of course, is no illusion."
"No."