in my balloon."

"Yes, Phillip, yes!" I exclaimed eagerly, "in your balloon, to-night, in
your balloon!"

* * * * *

That night, in a field by the reservoir of the gas-works of Nettledene,
the balloon was inflated, and the car loaded with stores for our
journey to unknown lands. The great fabric swayed and struggled in the
strong breeze that blew over the hills, and it was with some difficulty
that Phillip and I took our seats. All was in readiness, when Phillip,
searching the car with a lantern, discovered that we had not with us the
bundle of rugs and wraps which I had got ready for carrying off.

"Keep her steady, boys!" he cried. "I must run back to the house." And
he leapt from the car and disappeared in the darkness.

It was weird to crouch there alone, with the great balloon swaying over
my head, each plunge threatening to dislodge me from the seat to which I
clung, the cords and the wicker-work straining and creaking, and the
swish of the silk sounding like the hiss of a hundred snakes. It was
alarming in no small degree to know how little prevented me from
shooting up solitarily to take an indefinite place among the stars. I
confess that I was nervous, but I only called to the men who were
holding the car to please take care and not let me go without Mr.
Rutley.

The words were scarcely out of my mouth when a man, whom we all thought
was he, climbed into the car and hoarsely told them to let go. The order
was obeyed and the earth seemed to drop away slowly beneath us as the
balloon rose and drifted away before the wind.

"You haven't the rugs, after all!" I exclaimed to my companion. He
turned and flung his arms about me, and the voice of Kenneth Moore it
was that replied to me:--

"I have _you_. I swore I would have you, and I've got you at last!"

In an instant, as I perceived that I was being carried off from my
husband by the very man I had been trying to escape, I seized the
grapnel that lay handy and flung it over the side. It was attached to a
long stout cord which was fastened to the body of the car, and by the
violent jerks that ensued I knew that I was not too late to snatch at an
anchorage and the chance of a rescue. The balloon, heavily ballasted,
was drifting along near the ground with the grappling-iron tearing
through hedges and fences and trees, right in the direction of our farm.
How I prayed that it might again strike against the house as it did with