Strangely enough, at that moment thoughts not related at all to this adventure passed through his mind. He was once more in that place of mystery, the professor’s house, in the hallway seeing eyes in the wall, shuddering at sight of his own skeleton. “How could all that have happened?” he asked himself.
CHAPTER X
A RUNAWAY CAPTURED
Johnny had known a thrill or two, but none quite like drifting through the night in a balloon that was not meant for drifting.
“Not an ounce of ballast!” Felix groaned. “And the night so dark we may plunge without a moment’s notice into those cold, black waters. And then—oh well, what’s the good of thinking about that?”
There truly was no use at all of thinking about it. If worse came to worst and they were able to tell the moment of great danger, they might throw his instruments and the searchlight over to lighten the balloon.
“All this equipment,” Felix moaned, “cost plenty of money!”
In spite of their predicament, Johnny found himself wondering about that equipment and what they had been about to do.
For a time Johnny was silent. Then of a sudden he exclaimed, “Felix, we are drifting northeast! That means we’ll be over the lake for hours. If the wind rises, if a strong gust drags us down, or if the gas bag leaks and we are plunged into the lake we are lost! A three hundred foot cable hangs beneath this balloon. It is weighting us down. Suppose we could cut it away?”
“It’s an idea!” Felix was all alert. “But it hangs from below. How’ll you reach it?”
“Here’s a rope. I’ll go over the side. You hang on to the rope.”