noon
Of course , Sir Reginald , who was the very personification of courtesy , readily agreed to this , and the _ Flying Fish _ was berthed for the night on the sand , a mile or two to windward of the rocks -- that their slumbers might not be disturbed by the quarrelsome cries of the vultures over the carcases ; and when , after breakfast next morning , they returned to ascertain the result of the experiment , it was found to be as the professor had said . The skull was picked so clean of absolutely every particle of flesh that it could safely be stowed away without the least risk of becoming offensive . The skull of the lion having been secured , the _ Flying Fish _ rose into the air , immediately after breakfast , and an hour was devoted to the thorough examination of the remaining extent of the patch of rocks , to ascertain whether any further specimens of the big carnivora had taken up their abode upon it . But no more were to be found , and the southward journey was therefore resumed at the leisurely speed of about fifteen knots , the noon observation for latitude showing that the ship had entered the tropic of Cancer shortly after eleven o'clock that morning . The remainder of that day passed uneventfully , as did the next , with the exception that , the ship having been raised to an altitude of two thousand feet above the surface of the earth , in order that the travellers might be above and out of the layer of highly heated air produced by the reflection of the sun 's rays from the surface of the sand , they again caught sight of the Nile , which swam into view on their left hand during the forenoon of the second day , near the little village of Dashi , and remained in sight thereafter until they descended to earth for the night , some twenty-five miles west of the town of New Dongola . Here they were again treated to the spectacle of a superb desert sunset . This leisurely mode of progression , however , was beginning to pall somewhat upon the travellers , or rather , upon the male portion of them .