s though the "Go-Ahead" had sighted this strange
object. Assuredly it seemed as though she feared some danger, for her
speed was increased, and she was going east as fast as she could.

Yes, the crowd saw what it meant! A name uttered by one of the
members of the Weldon Institute was repeated by a hundred thousand
mouths:

"The "Albatross!" The "Albatross!""

Chapter XXIII

THE GRAND COLLAPSE

It was indeed the "Albatross!" It was indeed Robur who had reappeared
in the heights of the sky! It was he who like a huge bird of prey was
going to strike the "Go-Ahead."

And yet, nine months before, the aeronef, shattered by the explosion,
her screws broken, her deck smashed in two, had been apparently
annihilated.

Without the prodigious coolness of the engineer, who reversed the
gyratory motion of the fore propeller and converted it into a
suspensory screw, the men of the "Albatross" would all have been
asphyxiated by the fall. But if they had escaped asphyxia, how had
they escaped being drowned in the Pacific?

The remains of the deck, the blades of the propellers, the
compartments of the cabins, all formed a sort of raft. When a wounded
bird falls on the waves its wings keep it afloat. For several hours
Robur and his men remained unhelped, at first on the wreck, and
afterwards in the india-rubber boat that had fallen uninjured. A few
hours after sunrise they were sighted by a passing ship, and a boat
was lowered to their rescue.

Robur and his companions were saved, and so was much of what remained
of the aeronef. The engineer said that his ship had perished in a
collision, and no further questions were asked him.

The ship was an English three-master, the "Two Friends," bound for
Melbourne, where she arrived a few days afterwards.

Robur was in Australia, but a long way from X Island, to which he
desired to return as soon as possible.

In the ruins of the aftermost cabin he had found a considerable sum
of money, quite enough to provide for himself and companions without
applying to anyone for help. A short time after he arrived in
Melbourne he became the owner of a small brigantine of about a
hundred tons, and in her he sailed for X Island.

There he had but one idea--to be avenged. But to secure his
vengeance he would have to make another "Albatross." This after all
was an easy task for him who made the first. He used up what he could
of the old material; the propellers and engines he had brought