which she could look down to the earth. And as she looked she cried:

"Oh, Freddie, we're going down into a lake!"

Freddie looked and saw what his sister had seen. The balloon was now
going down. Probably the gas had leaked out, or there may not have been
more than enough to carry the balloon a short distance. At any rate it
was now falling, and, as the children saw, straight toward a body of
water.

"Shall we fall into the water?" asked Flossie.

"No--no, I don't guess so," Freddie answered. He hoped that was not
going to happen. But as he looked down and saw the water seemingly
coming nearer and nearer, though of course it was the balloon going
down, the little boy did not feel at all sure but they would drop right
into the lake.

"We'd better hold on hard to the basket," said Freddie, after thinking
over the best thing to do. "When we get in the lake we can hold on to
the basket until somebody comes."

This idea made Flossie feel a little better. She was glad she had
Freddie with her, and Freddie was glad Flossie was with him.

Down, down the balloon gently dropped. The rain was pouring hard now,
splashing into the lake, which was covered in some places with a blanket
of fog.

Then, just when it seemed that Flossie and Freddie and the balloon would