Jules Verne 
Clipper of the Clouds [PDF ebook] 

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Who were these two gentlemen? We do not know, although this would be an excellent Opportunity to hand down their names to posterity. All we can say is that the elder was an Englishman and the younger an Ameri can, and both of them were old enough to know better.