"'There's only one thing to do,' he went on, 'we must wait till this
ship I've been speaking to by wireless comes in sight. Then we'll take
a chance. If the worst comes to worst we can float about till they
pick us up.'

"That seemed a good plan to me and I never gave the sharks a thought.
But when you drew near and it seemed as if the bag was going to bust
in a second's time and we tried to open the valve--we couldn't. The
halliards that work it had got twisted in the gale that blew us out to
sea and they wouldn't come untangled.

"Melville takes a look at the pressure gauge. Then he gave a long
whistle.

"'If we don't do something she'll bust in five seconds,' he says.

"Then I suddenly made up my mind. Without saying a word to him I
kicked off my boots and started to climb into the rigging.

"'What are you going to do?' asked Melville.

"Open that valve, says I.

"We saw you climbing and could not imagine what you were doing," put
in Billy.

"Wall," continued the old sailor, "I managed fine at first, although
that thar gas sausage was stretched as smooth and tight as a drum. The
network around it gave me a foothold though, and once I was half-way
round the lower bulge of the bag--where I was clinging on upside