They believed, and would always believe, that the true atmospheric vehicle was the aerostat, and that to it alone belonged the future.
Besides, he on whom they had been so terribly--and in their idea so justly--avenged, existed no longer.

None of those who accompanied him had survived.

The secret of the "Albatross" was buried in the depths of the Pacific! That Robur had a retreat, an island in the middle of that vast ocean, where he could put into port, was only a hypothesis; and the colleagues reserved to themselves the right of making inquiries on the subject later on.

The grand experiment which the Weldon Institute had been preparing for so long was at last to take place.

The "Go-Ahead" was the most perfect type of what had up to then been invented in aerostatic art--she was what an "Inflexible" or a "Formidable" is in ships of war.
She possessed all the qualities of a good aerostat.