Thus the little Bobbsey twins sailed on in a balloon, the first ride of this kind they had ever taken.  Their first fright was over, but they began wondering what would happen next.

Suddenly Flossie discovered a hole in the bottom of the basket, through which she could look down to the earth.  And as she looked she cried: 

“Oh, Freddie, we’re going down into a lake!”

Freddie looked and saw what his sister had seen.  The balloon was now going down.  Probably the gas had leaked out, or there may not have been more than enough to carry the balloon a short distance.  At any rate it was now falling, and, as the children saw, straight toward a body of water.

“Shall we fall into the water?” asked Flossie.

“No—­no, I don’t guess so,” Freddie answered.  He hoped that was not going to happen.  But as he looked down and saw the water seemingly coming nearer and nearer, though of course it was the balloon going down, the little boy did not feel at all sure but they would drop right into the lake.

“We’d better hold on hard to the basket,” said Freddie, after thinking over the best thing to do.  “When we get in the lake we can hold on to the basket until somebody comes.”

This idea made Flossie feel a little better.  She was glad she had Freddie with her, and Freddie was glad Flossie was with him.

Down, down the balloon gently dropped.  The rain was pouring hard now, splashing into the lake, which was covered in some places with a blanket of fog.

Then, just when it seemed that Flossie and Freddie and the balloon would splash into the water, an island loomed in sight.

“Oh, if we could only land on the island!” cried Freddie.

And that’s just what happened!  Through the branches of trees the balloon crashed, this helping to stop it more gently.  Down to the island it fell, the basket banging on the ground.  The basket tipped over sideways, spilling Flossie and Freddie out, but not hurting them as they fell in a pile of dried leaves.  Some of the things in the basket fell out with them.

Once the children were out of the balloon it rose a little, was blown along a short distance by the wind, and then, getting tangled in the tree branches, came to a stop.

“Well, we’re all right now,” said Freddie, as he arose and brushed the leaves from him.

“But I’m getting all wet!” sobbed Flossie.  “I’m soaked!”

And so she was, as well as Freddie, for it was raining hard.

CHAPTER XVII

THE SEARCHING PARTY

Every one at the fair grounds was anxious to help Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey get back Flossie and Freddie, who had been carried off in the runaway balloon.  The men who owned the big gas bag were the first to make the right sort of plans.

“The balloon is being blown over the lake,” said Mr. Trench, the owner of the big bag.  “We must go in that direction.”