“Don’t know. I—I’m dangling. Dra—draw me up if you can.”
Came a sudden tug on the rope that all but tore the rope from his grip. “No! No! Wait!”
Once again he sought that noose with his toe.
* * * * * * * *
As for Beth, she had gone shooting up in that express elevator in the Skidmore Building.
Like a rubber ball she bounded from the car, then raced for a cubby-hole in a corner where two men were standing.
“The balloon!” she exclaimed. “The captive balloon! It’s loose, drifting! You must find it with your light!”
“What’s that?” one man demanded sharply. “Impossible! There’s no gale. That cable couldn’t break!”
“It’s loose! Drifting!” the girl insisted. “They cut the cable, someone cut it. My brother and another boy are in the balloon. You must save them.”
One man glanced at the other. “All right, we better try it, Ben!”