the case of messages was here a terrible danger.

"Let her down, then," said Robur, "and get out of the electric zone!
Keep cool, my lads!"

He stepped on to his quarter-deck and his crew went to their stations.

Although the "Albatross" had sunk several hundred feet she was still
in the thick of the cloud, and the flashes played across her as if
they were fireworks. It seemed as though she was struck. The screws
ran more and more slowly, and what began as a gentle descent
threatened to become a collapse.

In less than a minute it was evident they would get down to the
surface of the sea. Once they were immersed no power could drag them
from the abyss.

Suddenly the electric cloud appeared above them. The "Albatross" was
only sixty feet from the crest of the waves. In two or three seconds
the deck would be under water.

But Robur, seizing the propitious moment, rushed to the central house
and seized the levers. He turned on the currents from the piles no
longer neutralized by the electric tension of the surrounding
atmosphere. In a moment the screws had regained their normal speed
and checked the descent; and the "Albatross" remained at her slight
elevation while her propellers drove her swiftly out of reach of the
storm.

Frycollin, of course, had a bath--though only for a few seconds.