Night fell now, down on the sea that is. For at the great altitude which they had attained the sun was still visible.
The very last thing they noted was that the captain of that steamer had apparently changed his mind once more, and that the vessel was stopped. There she lay without or breath or motion
"As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean".
"Cruel! cruel!" cried Frank.
"We must not judge," said Duncan. "Down there it is now almost dark, and in mercy let us believe they are merely dodging to await the moonrise.
When day returned, the brave balloonists found themselves not over the sea any longer, but over a dense dark forest of Africa's mainland.
During the darkness a strange kind of stupor had weighed their eyelids down, and every one had slept.
But the balloon had changed its course, and was now driving inland on the wings of an easterly wind.
By aid of the telescope they could just perceive a long line of blue 'twixt the sky and the greenery of the woods.
But this itself soon disappeared as the balloon kept floating westwards and away.