But before long the hemp began to smoke and steam. The heat was rapidly drying out the moisture, and then—— Suddenly one of the sailors gave a yell, and shouting,—“I’m going to end it all right now,” made a plunge for the edge of the roof. His evident intention was to hurl himself down to death. But before the crazed man could carry out his plan Captain Andrews sprang at the fellow and brought him down with a crash. “If Providence means us to die, we’ll meet death like men,” he said stoutly; “but it’s not like Americans to give up the ship while there’s a shred of hope.” The frenzied sailor fought and struggled on the pile of steaming hemp on which the skipper held him. But Captain Andrews’ strong arms pinned him down. Jack felt his senses reeling. The hot breath of the fire had reached them by this time. The roof gave off heat like the top of a stove. If it had not been for the damp, green hemp they could not have held the situation for an eighth of the space of time that they did. Their throats grew parched and their tongues swelled till they were painful, and they could shout for aid no longer. For all the attention the negroes below paid to their cries, they might as well have remained silent. The blacks seemed to consider the removal of the hemp to a safe place of far more importance than the lives of the flame-marooned white men. Just when Jack’s hope had flickered out and a sort of coma of despair was creeping over him the miracle happened. It was Professor Chadwick who saw it first. Through the red glow that crimsoned the sky came a huge floating form. The Professor shouted and pointed upward. Jack raised a pair of dimmed eyes; but the next instant they cleared as if by magic. “It’s the Flying Road Racer!” he shouted, yelling like a madman. “Hurray! We’re saved! we’re saved!” And then something in his head seemed to snap with a loud report. He swayed, and would have fallen heavily on the hot roof if his father had not caught him in his arms. Then he was startled into alertness again by a sharp hail which came from above them. “Stand by for a rope. We’ll drop as low as we dare!” CHAPTER XX—A RESCUE BY AIRSHIP Just what happened in the moments that followed neither Jack nor any of his companions has ever been able to describe in detail. It was a time in which every second counted, while under their feet the flames roared and crackled hungrily. From the Flying Road Racer a rope came snaking down, and Professor Chadwick caught it. At the corner of the roof in which the adventurers were huddled was a stout post, used sometimes, apparently, for hoisting things from the ground, for a pulley hung from it.