. The fall continued, but it
was checked, and the wreck did not fall with the accelerating
swiftness of bodies influenced solely by gravitation; and if it was
death to the survivors of the "Albatross" from their being hurled
into the sea, it was not death by asphyxia amid air which the
rapidity of descent rendered unbreathable.

Eighty seconds after the explosion, all that remained of the
"Albatross" plunged into the waves!

Chapter XXI

THE INSTITUTE AGAIN

Some weeks before, on the 13th of June, on the morning after the
sitting during which the Weldon Institute had been given over to such
stormy discussions, the excitement of all classes of the Philadelphia
population, black or white, had been much easier to imagine than to
describe.

From a very early hour conversation was entirely occupied with the
unexpected and scandalous incident of the night before. A stranger
calling himself an engineer, and answering to the name of Robur, a
person of unknown origin, of anonymous nationality, had unexpectedly
presented himself in the club-room, insulted the balloonists, made
fun of the aeronauts, boasted of the marvels of machines heavier than
air, and raised a frightful tumult by the remarks with which he
greeted the menaces of his adversaries. After leaving the desk, amid
a volley of revolver shots, he had disappeared, and in spite of every
endeavor, no trace could be found of him.

Assuredly here was enough to exercise every tongue and excite every
imagination. But by how much was this excitement increased when in
the evening of the 13th of June it was found that neither the
president nor secretary of the Weldon Institute had returned to their
homes! Was it by chance only that they were absent? No, or at least
there was nothing to lead people to think so. It had even been agreed
that in the morning they would be back at the club, one as president,
the other as secretary, to take their places during a discussion on
the events of the preceding evening.

And not only was there the complete disappearance of these two
considerable personages in the state of Pennsylvania, but there was
no news of the valet Frycollin. He was as undiscoverable as his
master. Never had a Negro since Toussaint L'Ouverture, Soulouque, or
Dessaline had so much talked about him.

The next day there was no news. Neither the colleagues nor Frycollin
had been found. The anxiety became serious. Agitation commenced. A
numerous crowd besieg