noon
Then , having admired , to their hearts ' content , the singular creatures as they lay , the eager hunters drew their knives , and proceeded to take the skins forthwith , determined to leave nothing to chance and the morning . The next few days were devoted by the men of the party to the arduous and somewhat unpleasant task of completing the preparation for packing the skins which they had taken ; and then , after a rather late breakfast on a certain morning , the _ Flying Fish _ again rose into the air , and , winging her way leisurely a hundred feet or so above the tops of the forest trees , headed to the southward and eastward . The morning of the second day saw them clear of the forest and sweeping over a fine open country , sparsely dotted here and there with detached clumps of bush , and over which roamed immense herds of buck and antelope , troops of zebra , giraffe , and other animals , a few elephants , and ostriches innumerable . But they saw nothing tempting enough to delay them ; and so they went drifting quietly along day after day -- coming to earth only at night , in order that they might miss nothing of the multitudinous interesting sights that the country had to offer them -- until at length , one day , at noon , Mildmay announced that , according to his reckoning , they were exactly fifty miles from the site of ancient Ophir . And , indeed , there was no reason to doubt this statement . On the contrary , the voyagers had , some hours earlier , imagined that they recognised certain spots which had been rather more distinctly impressed than others upon their memories during their former visit . For example , as the _ Flying Fish _ went driving gently along over the somewhat rugged , well-wooded country , with its numerous streams winding hither and thither , like silver threads , they sighted a native village some distance ahead of them ; and Sir Reginald remarked to Lethbridge , who was standing beside him , examining the scene at large through his binoculars -- `` Surely , Lethbridge , that is the identical village from which we first noticed the curious system of voice-telegraphy in vogue among the people hereabout , and by means of which they sent forward the news of our arrival , on the occasion of our last visit . ''