The mountain range, which had been gradually looming up before us, now gave us fresh courage, for surely where there are mountains there must be water. Help was ahead, but we must reach it before the air ship collapsed. The poor thing which had been so buoyant, so fleet and powerful hitherto, was now a miserable cripple, requiring constant care to keep it afloat. Every bulky or weighty object that we could possibly spare was thrown over, but there came a time when we saw that she must sink to the ground within a mile. Our speed had also been greatly decreased, so that during the last hour we could have walked very nearly as far as we had sailed. At last we settled gently upon the red, burning sand like a feather undecided whether to fall or rise. We scrambled over the side, and for the first time since leaving London felt the poverty of man’s power of locomotion. "And is this to be the end of all our efforts?" I inquired despondingly, throwing myself on the hot sand beside Torrence. "Undoubtedly, if we lie here more than five minutes!" he answered, wiping his face with the damp sponge. "And what do you propose doing?" I inquired. "We must get to those hills, dead or alive," he replied; "and we must be about it directly." "Do you intend walking?" "Yes, if we can’t patch up the machine." "We are a helpless couple, as it is," I remarked, rising, for the sand was burning me. "It’s a long way from home," observed Torrence with a sickly smile. I grinned. "Yes, and how magnificently we were talking about sailing through the South Pole; treating the earth as if it were a mere ball to be jumped about in at our pleasure. I feel as if I had suddenly fallen from the powers of a god to those of a paralyzed caterpillar!" But Torrence was up. "I am dying of thirst," he said; "we must get to the hills or perish in the sand. Do you know we shall be raving maniacs if we remain in this temperature without water? Let us get to work and see what we can do. I have brought all kinds of tools and materials, perhaps we can get her afloat again." And so we crawled back into the big machine and down into the lowest compartment, where the great vibrators and delicate mechanism were located. We worked hard for hours, under the most trying conditions, where heat and thirst were maddening, and feeling that every moment’s delay brought us nearer the end of what we could stand. At last we effected what Torrence believed would be a temporary adjustment of the parts, for it was all we could do under the circumstances. "With water and a cooler atmosphere I could make a perfect job," he declared; "but I am exhausted, and this must answer for the present."