Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 5.djvu/316

288 of the world the hurricane had driven them. But they must reach this land, whether inhabited or desolate, whether hospitable or not.

It was evident that the balloon could no longer support itself! Several times already had the crests of the enormous billows licked the bottom of the net, making it still heavier, and the ballon only half rose, like a bird with a wounded wing. Half an hour later the land was not more than a mile off, but the balloon, exhausted, flabby, hanging in great folds, had gas in its upper part alone. The voyagers, clinging to the net, were still too heavy for it, and soon, half plunged in the sea, they were beaten by the furious waves. The balloon-case bulged out again, and the wind, taking it, drove it along like a vessel. Might it not possibly thus reach the land?

But, when only two hundred fathoms off, terrible cries resounded from four pairs of lungs at once. The balloon, which had appeared as if it would never rise again, suddenly made an unexpected bound, after having been struck by a tremendous sea. As if it had been at that instant relieved of another part of its weight, it mounted to a height of 1,500 feet. There it met a current of wind, which instead of taking it directly to the coast, carried it in a nearly parallel direction. Two minutes later, it reapproached obliquely, and finally it fell on a sandy beach, out of the reach of the waves.

The voyagers, aiding each other, managed to disengage themselves from the meshes of the net. The balloon, relieved from their weight, was taken by the wind, and like a wounded bird which revives for an instant, disappeared into space.

But the car had contained five passengers, with a dog, and the balloon only left four on the shore.

The missing person had evidently been swept off by the sea, which had struck the net, and it was owing to this circumstance that the lightened balloon had risen the last time, before it reached the land. Scarcely had the four castaways set foot on firm ground, than they all, thinking of the absent one, simultaneously exclaimed, "Perhaps he will try to swim to land! Let us save him! let us save him!"