THE LOST SKY TRAVELER.
Half a dozen boys started to cry out at once, as they stared at the great bulky object that was apparently settling down, after passing around a spur of the mountain above.
"She's coming right at us, fellows!" shouted one.
"Ain't that a pilot hanging to the old basket?" demanded a second.
"Nixy it ain't, Jasper. Go get your glasses, so you can see better. That basket is plumb empty, and that's a fact. The bally old balloon's deserted, boys!" Lil Artha declared, and as he was known to have particularly trustworthy vision, the balance of the group accepted his word as the right thing.
Apparently the balloon had been steadily losing gas of late, for the enormous bag had a collapsed look. It seemed to have gotten into some circular current of air, once beyond the mountain, for it kept moving around in spirals, all the time dropping slowly but positively. So that unless a new breeze caught it, the chance seemed to be that it would actually alight on the shore of the lake, close to the camp.
"Get ready to man the boats if it falls in the lake, boys!" called Mr. Garrabrant, who recognized the fact that such a balloon must be worth considerable to his little troop in the way of salvage, and was determined to do what he could to save it from sinking out of sight.
But in the end it managed to drop on the pebbly beach. The very first to touch the collapsed gas bag was the exuberant Toby Jones, wild with delight over this remarkable happening that had come to him.
"I claim it by right of discovery, and the first to lay a hand on the balloon!" he shouted, as he fondly ran his fingers along the strong material of which the air vessel was constructed.
"Where on earth could it have come from?" more than one of the boys asked, as they surveyed the immense girth of silken cloth with wondering eyes.