ting up and looking
around.

"You're all right," answered Andy. "It was a close call though. I reckon
you won't want to mend any more airships right away."

"I remember now," went on Mark, who had been dazed by the suddenness of
it all. "I fell, didn't I?"

"Yes, and Andy caught you," put in Jack. "He was just in time."

Mark said nothing, but the fervor with which he shook the old hunter by
the hand showed how deep his feeling was.

In a little while the fright and excitement caused by the accident had
passed over. The ship now rode evenly and neither rose nor fell, in
consequence of the gas supply in the bag remaining the same, there being
no leak. The patch Mark had put on fitted so closely that there was not
the least escape of gas now.

"Well, we might as well start ahead," said Amos Henderson, at length.
"We have had excitement enough in this neighborhood, and maybe we'll be
better off if we go forward."

Accordingly he went to the conning tower, set the propeller in motion,
and soon the _Monarch_ was moving northward at great speed. With his
eyes on the compass in front of him the captain held the ship on her
course.

They were about half a mile above the ground now, the captain having
allowed the _Monarch_ to settle. They could see that they were passing
over a populated part of the country.

"Come up here!" yelled Captain Henderson to the boys from the steering
tower. "I'll explain a few things to you."

Willingly enough the boys joined him. He was busy making a calculation
of figures on a piece of paper. The steering wheel was lashed and the
compass pointed to indicate that the ship was rushing due north.

"We're making satisfying progress," said the professor. "At this rate we
will not be long on the journey."

"How fast are we moving?" asked Jack.

"About fifty miles an hour," replied the inventor. "That is 1,200 miles
a day, counting that we run day and night at this speed. But we will
hardly do that, not that we could not, for there will be no dangers of
collisions up here. I think we have the air all to ourselves.

"But there will be contrary winds, and we may be blown off our course.
That is the only disadvantage an airship is under. It can't sail against
the wind like a ship on the water. Still, we have many advantages. Now I
figure that we can count on an average of at least twenty-five miles an
hour all day long and part of the night.

"We started from about the middle of New York s