,
overalled farmer. The very way in which he held his gun expressed
positive determination not to let the boys escape.

But as it so happened, by no action of the boys', matters were
suddenly brought to a sharp crisis. Over the patch of woods beyond the
farm there came a vagrant puff of wind. It was followed by a sharper
gust.

The Wondership swayed and then, before Jack could check the motion,
drifted off the roof like a piece of thistledown blown by the wind.
Instinctively, to check the downward motion, Jack's hand sought the
gas valve. With a hiss the volatile vapor rushed into the bag.

The big aircraft shot up like an arrow. For a second the farmer stood
paralyzed at the suddenness of it all. His farm hands lounged about,
gaping and looking upward like country folks at a fireworks display.

Then, without any warning:

"Bang!"

The farmer let loose with both barrels at once. But the Wondership
still rose.

All at once, from below, came a yell of surprise and terror. The boys
looked over the side. As they did so they uttered simultaneous gasps
of consternation.

The trailing grapnel, for Tom had forgotten to tie it back in place
in the excitement, had caught the farmer by the waistband of his
overalls and he was being carried skyward by the Wondership, dangling
at the end of the anchor rope like some sprawling spider.

His wife, screaming at the top of her voice, rushed from the kitchen
door.

"Hey, you come back with my husband!" she shouted.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" bawled the farmer as loudly as he could, for,
held securely by his stout overalls, he was carried high above his own
buildings. He kicked and struggled furiously.

"Keep still," shouted Jack, in serious alarm, from the side of the
Wondership. "Keep still or you'll kick yourself off."

The farmer had sense enough to obey. He hung upside down like a limp
scarecrow, while his farm hands gaped up at him and the hired girl was
busy pouring buckets of water over his wife who was in hysterics.

"Gracious, now we've done it!" gasped Tom in dismay.

CHAPTER X.

AN INVOLUNTARY AERONAUT.

"Steady, Tom, steady," warned Jack, as he set the pumps to work
drawing gas from the bag into the reservoir.

The Wondership, her buoyancy thus diminished, began to descend.

"What are you going to do?" asked Tom.

"Drop our passenger," said Jack, with a grin he could not suppress,
for the struggling farmer was within a few feet of the ground now