with that sort of fear which presses on the chest and grips the legs
when we see anyone fall from a height. An aerial combat was beginning
in which there were none of the chances of safety as in a sea-fight.
It was the first of its kind, but it would not be the last, for
progress is one of the laws of this world. And if the "Go-Ahead" was
flying the American colors, did not the "Albatross" display the stars
and golden sun of Robur the Conqueror?

The "Go-Ahead" tried to
distance her enemy by rising still higher. She threw away the ballast
she had in reserve; she made a new leap of three thousand feet; she
was now but a dot in space. The "Albatross," which followed her round
and round at top speed, was now invisible.

Suddenly a shout of terror rose from the crowd. The "Go-Ahead"
increased rapidly in size, and the aeronef appeared dropping with
her. This time it was a fall. The gas had dilated in the higher zones
of the atmosphere and had burst the balloon, which, half inflated
still, was falling rapidly.

But the aeronef, slowing her suspensory screws, came down just as
fast. She ran alongside the "Go-Ahead" when she was not more than
four thousand feet from the ground.

Would Robur destroy her?

No; he was going to save her crew!

And so cleverly did he handle his vessel that the aeronaut jumped on
board.