"No, further out; quite five miles off."
"Guess you won't get a Zanzibari to take on the job. There's a brute of a swell tumbling in. Look here, I'll tell you what: I'll give you a lift in one of our aero-hydroplanes, if you like."
"Is it safe?" asked Captain Restronguet earnestly, whereat Hythe wondered, for his companion had never before shown signs of timidity, even when in tight corners in the depths of the sea.
"Safe as a house," replied Jenkins reassuringly.
"Jenkins, my friend, you misunderstand me, although I quite admit the question was ambiguous. Is it safe--or shall we say discreet?--to take us for a 'joy-ride' in one of the Sultan's air-craft?"
"If anything His Highness would be pleased to see me making a flight in gusty weather with two passengers; so say the word and I'll trot out the contraption. It's the only way."
"Carry on, then," assented Captain Restronguet.
Within the spacious outer courtyard of the palace stood a number of lofty sheds with sliding doors. At a wave and a gesture from the chief aviator a number of natives opened the doors and dragged a huge aero-hydroplane of an obsolete pattern into the sunlight. The machine was a biplane. Underneath the two long floats were four wheels, so that it could be adapted either for alighting and rising from the sea or land.
Jenkins critically examined various nuts and tension wires, started the engine, till the machine was all a-quiver with the vibration from the revolving cylinders.
"All correct," he bawled, for the rapid explosion of the motor practically deadened every other sound. "Get aboard."