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Sir Reginald, still listening at his telephone, held up his hand for silence. Lady Olivia was still speaking. "Yes, it is quite true," she continued. "You had scarcely been gone an hour, this morning, when he suddenly presented himself in the music-room, where Feodorovna and I were sitting, and called Mlle. Sziszkinski out of the room.
"Ay," said Sir Reginald, "I see him now," as he again raised his glasses to his eyes. "And, by Jove, he seems to be busy too. Surely he is using his rifle, isn't he?" "He seems to be," observed Sziszkinski. "Yes; he is down on one knee, aiming at something. Ha! look at that! Lucky man! he is getting all the sport. Surely that was a lion that sprang into the air and fell back among the rushes!"
As the four men filed into the dining-saloon from the vestibule, they were confronted by Lady Elphinstone and her little daughter, Ida, who were entering the apartment at its other end, from the music-saloon, where they had already made the acquaintance of Colonel Sziszkinski, who, with his daughter, followed them a moment later.
Sziszkinski, and Lethbridge alternately chatted with Lady Olivia and played with Ida, he got the lately liberated Russian and von Schalckenberg to join him in a promenade at the other end of the deck from that occupied by the rest of the party.
"Yes," answered Vasilovich, with a ring of triumph in his voice; "I received a telegram this afternoon from Odessa, informing me of the departure of the Ludwig Gadd, with Sziszkinski on board." "Is that telegram still in your possession?" inquired von Schalckenberg. "Certainly it is," answered Vasilovich; "it is in my breast pocket. Would you like to see it?"
"In that case, as soon as I make the discovery that he has deceived me, I shall tell him that he will be kept without food or drink until Colonel Sziszkinski has been found and is actually in our hands," answered the professor, triumphantly. "It appears to me," remarked Mildmay, reflectively, "that unless Count Vasilovich keeps his weather eye lifting, there is rather a rough time ahead of him."
The coast line was distant some twenty miles from the village, and about as far from the ruins of Ophir; it was therefore easily reached within an hour from the moment of starting, and King Lobelalatutu then had the mystifying experience of beholding the ladies of the party, accompanied by Ida, Sir Reginald, Lethbridge, and Colonel Sziszkinski suddenly and unaccountably appear on the beach below him having left the ship in some mysterious and unknown manner while the professor and Mildmay remained on board with him, to have the position of the wreck pointed out to them, and afterwards convey him back to his village and people.
"Of one thing, at all events, I believe we may be certain, and that is, that our friend Seketulo has no intention of paying us a duty-call. Had he meant to do so, he would have been here before now." "Perhaps he has not yet been made aware of our presence here," suggested Sziszkinski. "Make no mistake about that," retorted Lethbridge.
"What?" stammered the professor, as he gazed in astonishment at his lovely visitor, holding both her hands in his meanwhile. "Can it be possible that this is my dear little friend Feodorovna Sziszkinski? Ach! yes, it must be; there can be no mistaking that charming face!" And he forthwith kissed his fair visitor on both cheeks, in true continental fashion.
Colonel Sziszkinski eagerly expressed his willingness to join a party, and Lethbridge was altogether too keen a sportsman to let slip such an opportunity; but Mildmay seemed rather disposed to be lazy that morning, and linger with the ladies, while it soon became evident that the professor could not be satisfied with any game other than unicorns.
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