CHAPTER III.
ABOARD THE AIR-SHIP.
"So you've made the young lady's acquaintance on the river?" remarked the Judge, looking amusedly at his nephew.
"Yes," said Linton, "and the President's, ... in the garden."
"'Youth, youth, how buoyant are thy hopes,'" quoted Sir Robert, chuckling.
"And," added the young man, with a slightly heightened colour, which the gathering dusk failed to conceal, "they've promised me a trip in their air-boat!"
Sir Robert groaned. "Air-boats! Wish they'd never been invented." He flicked away the ash of his cigar and gazed at the first stars faintly twinkling in the evening sky. They were sitting on the terrace, and the September air was as balmy as the breath of June.
"Look!" exclaimed Herrick, springing to his feet, "don't you see one over yonder?"
His uncl
