1910
CONTENTS
CHAPTER.
[ PRELUDE]
I [THE CABLEGRAM]
II [ EASTWARD HO!]
III [ ACROSS EUROPE TO THE BOSPHORUS]
IV [A FLYING VISIT]
V [ THE TOMB OF UR-GUR]
VI [ WITH GUN RUNNERS IN THE GULF]
VII [THE WHITE DJINN]
VIII [ A SHIP ON FIRE]
IX [ A PASSENGER FOR PENANG
]
[ INTERLUDE]
X [ SOME PRAUS AND A JUNK]
XI [ AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALITY]
XII [ STALKED BY PIGMIES]
XIII [ THE RESCUE]
XIV [ SIR MATTHEW IMPROVES THE OCCASION]
XV [ HERR SCHWANKMACHER'S CABBAGES]
XVI [ A STOP-PRESS MESSAGE]
XVII [ A MIDNIGHT VIGIL]
XVIII [ THE LAST LAP]
[ POSTSCRIPT]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"[THE AEROPLANE CIRCLED OVER THE HEADS][
OF THE SPECTATORS]"[
]
"[THE CAPTAIN LOOKED SUSPICIOUSLY FROM][
THE TWO GRIMY TRAVELLERS TO THE
SPICK-AND-SPAN ENGLISHMAN]"
"[THE MACHINE SUDDENLY SPRANG UPWARDS,][
AND RODIER FELL BACKWARD AMONG HIS
CAPTORS]"
"[THEY SUDDENLY DARTED FORWARD WITH A][
WILD WHOOP]"
"[THE PRAUS HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO PADDLE][
FRANTICALLY AWAY]"
"[SMITH OVERTOOK A GROUP OF THE ISLANDERS][
BEFORE THEY REACHED SHELTER]"
"[MAP OF THE FIRST AERIAL VOYAGE ROUND THE][
WORLD]"
PRELUDE
Lieutenant George Underhill, commanding H.M. surveying ship Albatross, had an unpleasant shock when he turned out of his bunk at daybreak one morning. The barometer stood at 29.41'. For two or three days the vessel had encountered dirty weather, but there had been signs of improvement when he turned in, and it was decidedly disconcerting to find that the glass had fallen. His vessel was a small one, and he was a little uneasy at the prospect of being caught by a cyclone while in the imperfectly-charted waters of the Solomon Islands.
He was approaching the eastern shore of Ysabel Island, whose steep cliffs were covered with a lurid bank of cloud. If the shore was like those of the other islands of the group, it would be, he knew, a maze of bays, islets, barrier reefs, and intricate channels amid which, even in calm weather, a vessel would run a considerable risk of grounding, a risk that would be multiplied in a storm. Anxiously noting the weather signs, Underhill hoped that he might reach a safe anchorage before the threatening cyclone burst upon him.