ife and watched the sand filter through
the bottom of the basket and trail along in a graceful stream behind the
balloon. The great flabby bag overhead steadied itself, rose slightly
and drifted on toward the dark spot on the vast expanse of sunlit water.
They could now clearly see that it was a small island, not more than a
mile in circumference.

"How far is it?" asked Thorndyke.

"About two miles," answered the American laconically, "it is a chance
for us, but a slim one."

The balloon gradually sank. For twenty minutes the car glided along not
more than two hundred feet above the waves. The island was now quite
near. It was a barren mound of stone, worn into gullies and sharp
precipices by the action of the waves and rain. Hardly a tree or a shrub
was in sight.

"It looks like the rocky crown of a great stone mountain hidden in the
ocean," said the Englishman; "half a mile to the shore, a hundred feet
to the water; at this rate of speed the wind would smash us against
those rocks like a couple of bird's eggs dropped from the clouds. We
must fall into the water and swim ashore. There is no use trying to save
the balloon."

"We had better be about it, then," said Johnston, rising stiffly and
holding to the ropes. "If we should go down in the water with the
balloon we would get tangled in the ropes and get asphyxiated with the
gas. We had better hang down under the basket and let go at exactly the
same time."

The water was not more than forty feet beneath, and the island was
getting nearer every instant. The two aeronauts swung over on opposite
sides of the car and, face to face, hung by their hands beneath.

"I dread the plunge," muttered Thorndyke; "I feel as weak as a sick
kitten; I am not sure that I can swim that distance, but the water looks
still enough."

"I am played out too," grunted the American, red in the face; "but it
looks like our only chance. Ugh! she made a big dip then. We'd better
let go. I'll count three, and three is the signal. Now ready. One, two,
three!"

Down shot the balloonists and up bounded the great liberated bag of
gas; the basket and dangling ropes swung wildly from side to side. The
aeronauts touched the water feet foremost at the same instant, and in
half a minute they rose, not ten feet apart.

"Now for it," sputtered Johnston, shaking his bushy head like a swimming
dog. "Look, the shore is not very far." Thorndyke was saving his wind,
and said nothing, but accommodate