"Hold fast! We'll stop the ship in a second," exclaimed the captain.
But it was too late. The sudden rising of the craft had shaken Mark's hold, which was not of the best at any time, since the gas bag was a yielding surface to lean against.
The next instant the boy, vainly clutching the air for some sort of grip for his hands, toppled over backward. His feet slid from the meshes of the net, and he plunged downward toward the earth, more than a mile below!
CHAPTER IX
THE FROZEN NORTH REACHED
"He'll be killed!" shouted Jack.
"He's a goner!" yelled Washington, looking up from the engine room window.
The old professor groaned and shut his eyes. He did not want to see the boy fall.
Bill and Tom, with old Andy Sudds, had been watching Mark at his perilous task, standing directly beneath him. Andy was the closer. He leaned quickly backward when he saw what had happened.
Mark's body, turning over in its descent, was at the ship's side. Out shot the hands of the old hunter. His fingers were curved like the talons of an eagle. The long arms seemed to reach a great distance, and then, just as it seemed that Mark would plunge downward to his death, Andy grasped and held him.