"Jules Verne - The Mysterious Island" - читать интересную книгу автора (Verne Jules)

higher layers of the atmosphere, to a height of 4,500 feet. The voyagers, after having discovered that the sea extended
beneath them, and thinking the dangers above less dreadful than those below, did not hesitate to throw overboard even
their most useful articles, while they endeavored to lose no more of that fluid, the life of their enterprise, which
sustained them above the abyss.

The night passed in the midst of alarms which would have been death to less energetic souls. Again the day appeared
and with it the tempest began to moderate. From the beginning of that day, the 24th of March, it showed symptoms of
abating. At dawn, some of the lighter clouds had risen into the more lofty regions of the air. In a few hours the wind
had changed from a hurricane to a fresh breeze, that is to say, the rate of the transit of the atmospheric layers was
diminished by half. It was still what sailors call "a close-reefed topsail breeze," but the commotion in the elements had
none the less considerably diminished.
Towards eleven o'clock, the lower region of the air was sensibly clearer. The atmosphere threw off that chilly dampness
which is felt after the passage of a great meteor. The storm did not seem to have gone farther to the west. It appeared to
have exhausted itself. Could it have passed away in electric sheets, as is sometimes the case with regard to the typhoons
of the Indian Ocean?

But at the same time, it was also evident that the balloon was again slowly descending with a regular movement. It
appeared as if it were, little by little, collapsing, and that its case was lengthening and extending, passing from a
spherical to an oval form. Towards midday the balloon was hovering above the sea at a height of only 2,000 feet. It
contained 50,000 cubic feet of gas, and, thanks to its capacity, it could maintain itself a long time in the air, although it
should reach a great altitude or might be thrown into a horizontal position.

Perceiving their danger, the passengers cast away the last articles which still weighed down the car, the few provisions
they had kept, everything, even to their pocket-knives, and one of them, having hoisted himself on to the circles which
united the cords of the net, tried to secure more firmly the lower point of the balloon.

It was, however, evident to the voyagers that the gas was failing, and that the balloon could no longer be sustained in
the higher regions. They must infallibly perish!

There was not a continent, nor even an island, visible beneath them. The watery expanse did not present a single speck
of land, not a solid surface upon which their anchor could hold.

It was the open sea, whose waves were still dashing with tremendous violence! It was the ocean, without any visible
limits, even for those whose gaze, from their commanding position, extended over a radius of forty miles. The vast
liquid plain, lashed without mercy by the storm, appeared as if covered with herds of furious chargers, whose white and
disheveled crests were streaming in the wind. No land was in sight, not a solitary ship could be seen. It was necessary
at any cost to arrest their downward course, and to prevent the balloon from being engulfed in the waves. The voyagers
directed all their energies to this urgent work. But, notwithstanding their efforts, the balloon still fell, and at the same
time shifted with the greatest rapidity, following the direction of the wind, that is to say, from the northeast to the
southwest.

Frightful indeed was the situation of these unfortunate men. They were evidently no longer masters of the machine. All
their attempts were useless. The case of the balloon collapsed more and more. The gas escaped without any possibility
of retaining it. Their descent was visibly accelerated, and soon after midday the car hung within 600 feet of the ocean.

It was impossible to prevent the escape of gas, which rushed through a large rent in the silk. By lightening the car of all
the articles which it contained, the passengers had been able to prolong their suspension in the air for a few hours. But
the inevitable catastrophe could only be retarded, and if land did not appear before night, voyagers, car, and balloon
must to a certainty vanish beneath the waves.