Willie watched them, as they turned it slowly and laboriously. The captive balloon strained hard on the rope, while the cold wind moaned and whistled monotonously past.
“I see a hole in the clouds, sir!” yelled Willie, at length.
“Good!” grunted Kindale.
“How far down are you going?” asked Willie, anxiously.
“To within a short distance of the ground,” explained Major Carroll. “The rest of the way we shall have to descend by means of a rope ladder.”
“And what then?”
“We must get word to Border City. Perhaps, after all, our young friends in the aeroplane may be able to render us a service.”
“The Ogdens will have to see that we get some batteries in the biggest kind of a hurry,” supplemented Kindale.
“Sounds mighty easy,” muttered Willie, “but we may have the dickens of a time climbing down the mountain. Besides, it’s an awful way back to the prairie.”
The mist was beginning to open out. Willie’s eyes eagerly followed the line of the cable through a rugged rift, to see it disappear in the midst of a thick clump of trees. The openings became more numerous, until, at last, the moisture-laden and dripping “Border City” was no longer immersed in its vapor bath.