"Ah, she's getting used up! She grows thinner and thinner," said Joe, dolefully, while he eyed her. "Poor balloon!"
"Unless I am deceived," said Kennedy, "there on the horizon are the mountains of which you were speaking, doctor."
"Yes, there they are, indeed!" exclaimed the doctor, after having examined them through his spy-glass, "and they look very high. We shall have some trouble in crossing them."
"Can we not avoid them?"
"I am afraid not, d**k. See what an immense space they occupy--nearly one-half of the horizon!"
"They even seem to shut us in," added Joe. "They are gaining on both our right and our left."
"We must then pass over them."
These obstacles, which threatened such imminent peril, seemed to approach with extreme rapidity, or, to speak more accurately, the wind, whic
