Таинственный остров / Mysterious Island

The basket, constructed of willow osiers, could not float, and they had no means of supporting it on the surface of the water. It was 2 o’clock, and the balloon was only 400 feet above the waves.

Then a voice was heard, the voice of a man whose heart knew no fear.

“Is everything thrown out?”

“No, we yet have 10,000 francs in gold.”

A heavy bag fell into the sea.

“Is the balloon rising?”

“A little, but it will soon fall again.”

“Is there nothing else we can get rid of?”

“Not a thing.

“Yes there is; there is the basket! Catch hold of the net[5 - catch hold of the net – цепляйтесь за сетку], and let it go.”

This was, indeed, the last means of lightening the apparatus. The five passengers had clambered into the net around the hoop, and looked into the abyss below.

The balloon went up. But soon it began to descend again. It was impossible to repair the rent, through which the gas was rushing out.

At 4 o’clock, when the balloon was only 500 feet above the sea, the loud barking of a dog was heard.

“Top[6 - Top – Топ (кличка собаки)] has seen something! Land! Land!”

They saw a high land. But it was still far, and it would take an hour to reach it. An hour! They did not know whether it was an island or a continent, as they were uninformed as to what part of the world the tempest had hurried them. But they knew that this land must be reached.

At 4 o’clock it was plain that the balloon could not sustain itself much longer. It grazed the surface of the sea.

A half hour later the land was scarcely a mile distant. The balloon made a bound into the air. It rose 1,500 feet, then began to descend and soon fell upon the sand. The passengers, assisting each other, hastened to the ground.

The basket had contained five passengers and a dog, but only four had been thrown upon the shore. The fifth one, then, had been washed off by the great wave.

“Perhaps he is trying to swim ashore. Save him! Let us save him!”

Chapter II

They were neither professional aeronauts nor amateurs in aerial navigation[7 - amateurs in aerial navigation – любители воздушных путешествий] whom the storm had thrown upon this coast. They were prisoners of war and succeeded to escape. Their aerial voyage had lasted five days.