e sort of wreckage! Here, take the glasses, Frank! Right over there,
dead ahead! Now be ready! There! See?"

"It _is_ a man! Yes--two of them! Fellows, we are in time!" cried Frank.

"Hurrah!" the others shouted in chorus.

And the breeze, coming off shore, must have carried that volume of
cheering sound to the ears of the almost despairing balloonists as they
clung there to the wreck of their disabled air craft, possibly arranged
to float for a time if it dropped into the sea.

"Yes. There! I can see one of them waving his hand! Give the poor chaps
another shout, boys! This is great luck for us!" exclaimed Frank, and his
own sturdy voice helped to swell the sound that rolled over the water.

If it was a happy moment for the rescuers, imagine the feelings of the
two who clung there, expecting that every minute might see them without
any support, as the waterlogged balloon sank under them!

Fast though the motor-boat was shooting through the waves, she seemed to
fairly crawl, such was the impatience of the young voyagers.

So they swept alongside the floating balloonists. When Professor Smythe
discovered the identity of those who were coming to his aid his
astonishment knew no bounds. It was the most remarkable coincidence he
could remember meeting with in an adventurous career extending over
many years.

"Was that your camp we passed over, a little while back?" he asked,
as, having been helped aboard, and some instruments being passed up by
his assistant, he helped the latter to crawl over the gunwale of the
motor-boat.

"Just what it was," laughed Frank, "and you came near wrecking us, too.
The sand bag struck the tent, and carried it down in a heap."

"Incredible! And yet that very fact goes to prove my assertion that in
war time dynamite could be easily dropped into a fortress by means
of a dirigible balloon, or an aeroplane. That was a happy thought of mine
to send a message. Only I hope none of you brave boys received any
injury!" cried the professor.

"Luckily not. But what is to be done with this wreckage?" asked Frank.

"Nothing. It will sink presently. We have secured all our valuable
instruments and records. I'm only too happy over escaping from a watery
grave. Simms and myself were making up our minds that our time had come
when you hove in sight."

"We are heading for Cedar Keys, but in no hurry to get there, professor.
What would you like us to do for you?" asked Frank presently, after they
h