I don't want to hurt you. Lie down and rest."

He just stood there looking at me for a moment, his head weaving to and fro, sideways; then he turned and looked out of one of the windows into the fog. Suddenly he straightened up, his eyes lighted with a wild fire; it was as though he saw something out there in the fog. "Mother!" he screamed. "Mother! I am coming!" And then, before I could interfere, he took a couple of quick steps and dove headforemost through the glass of the window and disappeared among the writhing mist wraiths that enveloped us.

Chapter 5 Derelict of the Air

I WAS ALONE. PERHAPS NO ONE WAS EVER MORE UTTERLY alone than I. Far out over the Pacific, without knowledge of my exact location, the sole occupant of a tiny dirigible drifting at the mercy of the elements in the midst of a dense fog, I felt as utterly and permanently detached from the rest of the world and from humanity as though I had been transported to the inhospitable surface of the dead moon. And perhaps the most depressing feature of my situation was its complete hopelessness. I am not an imaginative man, and I could now conceive no circumstance through which escape from my predicament might be reasonably expected to develop.

For six days we had been sailing above the ocean; we had covered between five and six thousand miles as closely as I could compute it, and we had not seen a single sail by day nor light by night nor even the faint smudge of a distant steamer's smoke beyond the horizon. I had come to feel as though all other life had been wiped from the face of the earth.

However, there are lots worse things than being alone: having Perry as a companion, for instance. I was glad Perry had gone. It was far better so. One can scarcely imagine the sense of relief I felt now that the terrible incubus of constant apprehension was removed. And as though Nature joined me in joyous celebration of my release, the fog dissolved and the sun enveloped me in the warmth of its welcome embrace.

I felt almost happy-at least a certain contentment of resignation-for I was physically comfortable; I had food, water, a place to sleep, and for the time being, at least, I was warm.

For the future? Well, I have never been particularly fearful of death; and perhaps at this time I was more indifferent to life than ordinarily. I do not mean by this that I wanted to die or that I would not have exerted every effort to live; I am merely trying to convey the truth, that the outcome did not seem to interest me greatly. And there were two factors that contributed practically ail of this mental attitude; one was a vast curiosity that I had always entertained concerning the mysteries of the life beyond; the other was the knowledge that I had definitely and for all time lost Daisy Juke.

My love for her had always seemed so hopeless that I do not know why the definite announcement of her coming marriage should have affected me as it did; but then, Hope is a rather peculiar animal. Fed upon nothing, he thrives; set upon, beaten, murdered, he refuses to die. Even though I knew that Hope was dead in my bosom, I suppose that I still hoped to have Daisy some day, notwithstanding the fact that I knew I should never survive the adventure upon which chance had embarked me.

Lightened from the weight of Perry's body, the dirigible quickly gained altitude; and as her gas was warmed by the sun, she rose still higher. A brisk wind had arisen, and we were drifting rapidly toward the southwest. As usual, when the weather was clear, I was scanning the surface of the ocean for a ship. Really, I don't know what I should have done about it if I had seen a ship; I couldn't maneuver the dirigible without an engine, and a ship anywhere, except directly beneath me, would have been more of an aggravation than a blessing.

Of course, the ship might sight me and change her direction for the purpose of investigating so remarkable a phenomenon as a dirigible in mid-Pacific; but I really didn't have much hope of that.

There was a parachute aboard, and if a ship sighted me and approached, it was my intention to jump and take a chance on being picked up by a small boat. But these were only daydreams, for there was no ship in sight. I had commenced to believe that there were no ships on the Pacific.

That night we lost altitude rapidly after dark, and to make matters worse the wind increased until it was blowing a gale. As I think I have mentioned before, the dirigible was of frail construction. The gondola was not an integral part of the frame, but was suspended a few feet below the gas bag by ropes, much as the basket of a balloon is attached. It all seemed very flimsy in fair weather; and now, with a gale blowing and an angry sea rising close below, I felt that nothing short of a miracle could prevent utter disaster.

Nevertheless, I was determined not to give up without a fight; and so I went to work throwing out the less-useful articles that I could spare first. But these were so few and their combined weight so little that the result was only to check the speed of our descent and not stop it.

Whipped by the gale, which was constantly increasing in violence, the gondola bucked like a bronco. Several times I was thrown violently to the floor and once almost hurled through the window out of which Perry had dived. Heavy clouds obscured the moon and the stars, yet there was sufficient luminosity to reveal the angry waves breaking below; and the sight of them there so close spurred me to action.

I thought of the engine, a now useless encumbrance; and finding a wrench, I made my way aft to the little porthole which gave access to it. As I leaned far out in the darkness, there was a vivid flash of lightning that revealed the proximity of the raging waters; and this was followed by peal after peal of deafening thunder-a wholly unnecessary waste of Nature's energy, for I was already as terrified as I well could be and retain control of my faculties.

The engine was supported by a metal frame that was bolted in four places to the frame of the gondola.