Five days afterwards four of them were thrown on a desert coast, seven thousand miles from their country! But one of their number was missing, the man who was to be their guide, their leading spirit, the engineer, Captain Harding!
És aki hiányzott közülük, akinek most a léggömb épségben maradt utasai valamennyien a kutatására siettek, nem más volt, mint a kis csoport önként elismert vezére, Cyrus Smith mérnök!