, and, with a
mighty effort, the gray, gaunt man lifted the heavy girl into the car.
That was the most humane, and, at the same time, the maddest thing he
could have done. Under the influence of the added weight the car struck
the boat, over-turned it, and then dragged in the water.

"Out with everything!" howled the professor.

The three looked around in despair. The girl had dropped limp upon the
floor, and the water was upon her. Above them was a cloud of the
darkness of night. Cirrhus clouds scudded here and there in confusion.
There was strange atmospheric howling in the distance, approaching
nearer and nearer. The water assumed that angry hue it takes to itself
before a desperate storm. The monstrous balloon writhed intelligently
above them. All the sandbags were now pitched out. The _High Tariff_
shook itself loose from the water. It rose. It fell. It rose again.

"Are we safe?" cried Swift, looking anxiously at the girl.

"Take off your coat and vest and shoes, everything, and chuck 'em over
like lightning, and we'll see," answered the professor, solemnly.

VI.

With wild energy the men threw out of the car everything that had a
semblance of weight. Aeronauts well know the difference that a few
ounces make to safety when the gas has been exhausted from their
balloon. Professor Ariel had cast everything overboard with maniacal
celerity, and now, clad only in his undershirt and trousers, was hacking
at the trailing ladder to cut that off. The balloon had risen some fifty
or a hundred feet. It now halted irresolute. Could it recover itself and
mount? or would it lose courage and fall, dragging its passengers to a
certain death?

But far more fearful than the latter imminent danger was the sight of
the threatening sky. Not one of these imperilled people had ever seen
such whirling masses of mad, black, revengeful clouds. These centred
from all sides upon the site of the lost city. They rushed together and
formed eddies and funnels. They roared like live things. It was in one
of these smaller whirlwinds that the balloon was caught.

The massive folds of silk beat and writhed and tried to tear themselves
loose from the clutches of the elements. The four in the car clung to it
with terror, watching the mad-cap play of the wind.

"It's no use--I can't!" cried the professor with damp, white face,
throwing down his knife. "The wire is too strong. We must get to the
rigging, cut off the car, and God help