"A rock, I
guess."

"Gracious, I hope we're not on a rock in the midst of a river!"
exclaimed Mr. Damon. "Bless my soul, though! The water does seem to be
running around my ankles."

"There's enough rain to make water run almost up to our necks," called
Mr. Sharp, above the noise of the storm. "Tom, can you make out where
we are?"

"Not exactly. Is the ship all right?"

"I can't see very well, but there appears to be a hole in the gas
container. A big one, too, or we wouldn't have fallen so quickly."

The plight of the travelers of the air was anything but enviable. They
were wet through, for it needed only a few minutes exposure to the
pelting storm to bring this about. They could not tell, in the midst of
the darkness, where they were, and they almost feared to move for fear
they might be on top of some rock or precipice, over which they might
tumble if they took a false step.

"Let's get back inside the ship," proposed Mr. Damon. "It's warm and
dry there, at all events. Bless my umbrella, I don't know when I've
been so wet!"

"I'm not going in until I find out where we are," declared Tom. "Wait a
minute, and I'll go in and get an electric flash lantern. That will
show us," for the lightning had ceased with the great crash that seemed
to have wrecked the Red Cloud. The rain still kept up, however, and
there was a distant muttering of thunder, while it was so black that
had not the lights in the cabin of the airship been faintly glowing
they could hardly have found the craft had they moved ten feet away
from it.

Tom soon returned with the portable electric lamp, operated by dry
batteries. He flashed it on the surface of where they were standing,
and uttered an exclamation.

"We're on a roof!" he cried.

"A roof?" repeated Mr. Damon.

"Yes; the roof of some large building, and what you thought was a river
is the rain water running off it. See!"

The young inventor held the light down so his companions could observe
the surface of that upon which the airship rested. There was no doubt
of it. They were on top of a large building.

"If we're on a roof we must be in the midst of a city," objected Mr.
Damon. "But I can't see any lights around, and we would see them if we
were in a city, you know."

"Maybe the storm put the lights out of business," suggested Mr. Sharp.
"That often occurs."

"I know one way we can find out for certain," went on Tom.

"How?"

"Start up our search lamp, and play it all