“Can we not avoid them?”
“I am afraid not, Dick. See what an immense space they occupy—nearly one-half of the horizon!”
“They even seem to shut us in,” added Joe. “They are gaining on both our right and our left.”
“We must then pass over them.”
These obstacles, which threatened such imminent peril, seemed to approach with extreme rapidity, or, to speak more accurately, the wind, which was very fresh, was hurrying the balloon toward the sharp peaks. So rise it must, or be dashed to pieces.
“Let us empty our tank of water,” said the doctor, “and keep only enough for one day.”
“There it goes,” shouted Joe.
“Does the balloon rise at all?” asked Kennedy.
“A little—some fifty feet,” replied the doctor, who kept his eyes fixed on the barometer. “But that is not enough.”
In truth the lofty peaks were starting up so swiftly before the travellers that they seemed to be rushing down upon them. The balloon was far from rising above them. She lacked an elevation of more than five hundred feet more.