a memento of the wonderful incident.

Frank stood up to see the better.

Carefully he scanned the horizon, beginning at the furthest possible
quarter toward the south, and ranging to one equally improbable
northward.

And everywhere it seemed to be the same dead level line, with not a break
that gave signs of promise.

"And the strange thing about it all is that there doesn't seem to be a
solitary vessel, big or little, in sight anywhere. It would be hard at
any other time to find the gulf around here so utterly forsaken," he
remarked, beginning to feel discouraged himself.

"It certainly looks as though we had the field to ourselves," remarked
Bluff; "here we've come some miles from shore, which is getting
'hull-down,' as the sailors say, in the distance, and yet not a peep of
the lost balloonists. How much further ought we go, Frank?"

"Just as long as there seems to be the slightest chance of our striking
those we're looking for, or we can see shore with the glasses. I, for
one, would never be satisfied to give up, and then later on feel that we
might have found them if we'd only kept out another mile or two."

"My sentiments, exactly," declared Will, who possessed a tender heart, as
his chums knew from experience.

So the time crept on.

Frank was bending above the motor, but all the while he kept one eye over
his shoulder on the bow of the boat where his chum stood, still sweeping
the sea ahead with the marine glasses.

In fact, every one aboard seemed to have his gaze focussed on Jerry by
this time, as though he might be the one to decide whether the hunt had
better be abandoned right then and there, or kept up still longer.

And Frank almost held his breath awaiting the verdict.

Suddenly he saw Jerry start, and screw the glasses more eagerly to his
eyes, as he craned his neck to see the better. With the increasing wind
the waves had commenced to rise a little, consequently any floating
object might at times be difficult to discern.

"I had a glimpse of something then, fellows! But, after all, it might
have been another bunch of old pelicans!" he exclaimed.

"Not that. Pelicans would not be so far out. They hug pretty close to the
shore, where the water is more shallow, and the fish come in to feed.
Still, it may have been the fin of a shark cutting the water like that
one--" started Frank, when Jerry interrupted him:

"There it is again! As sure as you live, I believe it's a man clinging to
som