The ship was an English three-master, the “Two Friends.” bound for Melbourne, where she arrived a few days afterwards. Robur was in Australia, but a long way from X Island, to which he desired to return as soon as possible. In the ruins of the aftermost cabin he had found a considerable sum of money, quite enough to provide for himself and companions without applying to anyone for help. A short time after he arrived in Melbourne he became the owner of a small brigantine of about a hundred tons, and in her he sailed for X Island. There he had but one idea—to be avenged. But to secure his vengeance he would have to make another “Albatross.” This after all was an easy task for him who made the first. He used up what he could of the old material; the propellers and engines he had brought back in the brigantine. The mechanism was fitted with new piles and new accumulators, and, in short, in less than eight months, the work was finished, and a new “Albatross.” identical with the one destroyed by the explosion, was ready to take flight. And he had the same crew. The “Albatross” left X Island in the first week of April. During this aerial passage Robur did not want to be seen from the earth, and he came along almost always above the clouds. When he arrived over North America he descended in a desolate spot in the Far West. There the engineer, keeping a profound incognito, learnt with considerable pleasure that the Weldon Institute was about to begin its experiments, and that the “Go-Ahead.” with Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans, was going to start from Philadelphia on the 29th of April. Here was a chance for Robur and his crew to gratify their longing for revenge. Here was a chance for inflicting on their foes a terrible vengeance, which in the “Go-Ahead” they could not escape. A public vengeance, which would at the same time prove the superiority of the aeronef to all aerostats and contrivances of that nature! And that is why, on this very day, like a vulture from the clouds, the aeronef appeared over Fairmount Park. Yes! It was the “Albatross.” easily recognizable by all those who had never before seen her. The “Go-Ahead” was in full flight; but it soon appeared that she could not escape horizontally, and so she sought her safety in a vertical direction, not dropping to the ground, for the aeronef would have cut her off, but rising to a zone where she could not perhaps be reached. This was very daring, and at the same time very logical. But the “Albatross” began to rise after her. Although she was smaller than the “Go-Ahead.” it was a case of the swordfish and the whale. This could easily be seen from below and with what anxiety! In a few moments the aerostat had attained a height of sixteen thousand feet.