During that night, as on that of our departure from Niagara, I was not allowed to watch the movements of the "Terror." Nevertheless, if I could see nothing of what was passing on board, I could hear the noises of the machinery.

I had first the feeling that our craft, its bow slightly raised, lost contact with the earth.

Some swerves and balancings in the air followed.

Then the turbines underneath spun with prodigious rapidity, while the great wings beat with steady regularity.
Thus the "Terror," probably forever, had left the Great Eyrie, and launched into the air as a ship launches into the waters.

Our captain soared above the double chain of the Alleghanies, and without doubt he would remain in the upper zones of the air until he had left all the mountain region behind.
But in what direction would he turn?
Would he pass in flight across the plains of North Carolina, seeking the Atlantic Ocean?
Or would he head to the west to reach the Pacific?
Perhaps he would seek, to the south, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.