Ben’s eyes started from their sockets in surprise.

“I—­I don’t know,” he stammered.  “By Jove! we must stop him.  Maybe he’s going to skip.”

The boys had crowded about Ted as he spoke.

“We’ll have to hurry if we get him,” shouted Ben.  “He’s in the basket now.”

With shouts of warning Ted and the boys pushed their horses through the crowd, which rushed aside to let them through.

They could see Skip Riley lift a large tin box into the basket from the ground.  As he was getting ready to start there was a shrill cry, and the midget came waddling through the crowd and climbed over the side of the car and up Riley’s body until it clung to his shoulder like a monkey.  A great many of the thoughtless laughed at this.  They did not understand the significance of the move.

“Get ready to cut her loose,” shouted Riley.

Two or three men stood by with sharp knives in their hands.

Riley saw Ted and the boys pushing rapidly through the crowd.

“Cut her loose!” shouted Riley, and the balloon shot upward, amid the shouts of the people.

“Too late,’” said Ben.

“Not yet,” cried Ted, spurring through the crowd.

A long guide rope was dragging from the car of the balloon.

“Follow me, Bud.  The balance of you catch Creviss and the rest of them.  I’m going with Riley.”

Before they knew exactly what he meant, Ted grasped the guide rope as it passed over his head, and was swung out of the saddle and dangled in the air, to the horror of the people, who expected to see him fall and be dashed to pieces at any minute, for the balloon had shot up rapidly and was now several hundred feet above the ground.

But Riley, looking over the country and taking account of the direction in which the balloon was traveling, was unaware that he had taken on another passenger.

Hand over hand Ted climbed steadily, until at last he reached the car and looked over the edge of it.

Riley’s back was toward him, and noiselessly Ted slipped over the side and into the basket.

Then the midget happened to turn his head, and saw Ted and uttered a frightened cry, which brought Riley around so that he found himself looking into the cold, dark bore of Ted’s forty-four.

“Got you!” said Ted coolly.

“How did you get here?” said Riley, trying to smile.  “If I’d known that you wanted to come I’d have waited for you.”

“I don’t think,” said Ted.  “But now we’ll go down.”

“No, I’ve got to give the people a run for their money.  We must go a little farther.”

“I said we’d go down.”

“But we can’t until the gas gets cool and exhausts.  I have no escape valve.”

“Then I’ll shoot a hole in the bag.  I guess we’ll go down then.”

“For Heaven’s sake, don’t do that!  You’d blow us all to pieces.”

“Then down with her.  I mean what I say.”