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Page 8
"We are lost!"
"In the Antilles there are currents of air which travel a hundred leagues
an hour! On the occasion of Napoleon's coronation, Gavnerin let off a
balloon illuminated with coloured lamps, at eleven o'clock in the
evening! The wind blew from the N.N.E.; the next morning at daybreak the
inhabitants of Rome saluted its passage above the dome of St. Peter's.
We will go farther."
I scarcely heard him; everything was buzzing around me! There was an
opening in the clouds!
"See that city, my host;" said the unknown. "It is Spire. Nothing else!"
I dared not lean over the railing of the car. Nevertheless I perceived a
little black spot. This was Spire. The broad Rhine looked like a riband,
the great roads like threads. Above our heads the sky was of a deep
azure; I was benumbed with the cold. The birds had long since forsaken
us; in this rarefied sir their flight would have been impossible. We
were alone in space, and I in the presence of a strange man!
"It is useless for you to know whither I am taking you," said he, and he
threw the compass into the clouds. "A fall is a fine thing. You know
that there have been a few victims from Pilatre des Rosiers down to
Lieutenant Gale, and these misfortunes have always been caused by
imprudence. Pilatre des Rosiers ascended in company with Remain, at
Boulogne, on the 13th of June, 1785. To his balloon, inflated with gas,
he had suspended a _mongolfier_ filled with warm air, undoubtedly to
save the trouble of letting off gas, or throwing out ballast. It was
like putting a chafing-dish beneath a powder-cask. The imprudent men
rose to a height of four hundred metres, and encountered opposing winds,
which drove them over the ocean. In order to descend, Pilatre attempted
to open the valve of the aerostat; but the cord of this valve caught in
the balloon, and tore it so that it was emptied in an instant. It fell
on the mongolfier, overturned it, and the imprudent men were dashed to
pieces in a few seconds. It is _frightful, is_ it not?" said the
unknown, shaking me from my torpor.
I could reply only by these words:
"In pity, let us descend! The clouds are gathering around us in every
direction, and frightful detonations reverberating from the cavity of
the aerostat are multiplying around us."
"You make me impatient!" said he. "You shall no longer know whether we
are ascending or descending."
And the barometer went after the compass, along with some bags of sand.
We must have been at a height of four thousand metres. Some icicles were
attached to the sides of the car, and a sort of fine snow penetrated to
my bones. Meanwhile a terrific storm was bursting beneath our feet. We
were above it.
"Do not fear," said my strange companion; "it is only imprudence that
makes victims. Olivari, who perished at Orleans, ascended in a
mongolfier made of paper; his car, suspended below the chafing-dish, and
ballasted with combustible materials, became a prey to the flames!
Olivari fell, and was killed. Mosment ascended at Lille, on a light
platform; an oscillation made him lose his equilibrium. Mosment fell,
and was killed. Bittorf, at Manheim, saw his paper balloon take fire in
the air! Bittorf fell, and was killed. Harris ascended in a balloon
badly constructed, the valve of which was too large to be closed again.
Harris fell, and was killed. Sadler, deprived of ballast by his long
stay in the air, was dragged over the city of Boston, and thrown against
the chimneys. Sadler fell, and was killed. Cocking descended with a
convex parachute which he pretended to have perfected. Cocking fell, and
was killed. Well, I love them, those noble victims of their courage! and
I will die like them! Higher! higher!"
All the phantoms of this necrology were passing before my eyes! The
rarefaction of the air and the rays of tile sun increased the dilatation
of the gas; the balloon continued to ascend! I mechanically attempted to
open the valve; but the unknown cut the cord a few feet above my head. I
was lost!
"Did you see Madame Blanchard fall?" said he to me. "I saw her, I--yes,
I was at Tivoli on the 6th of July, 1819. Madame Blanchard ascended in a
balloon of small size, to save the expense of filling; she was therefore
obliged to inflate it entirely, and the gas escaped by the lower
orifice, leaving on its route a train of hydrogen. She carried,
suspended above her car, by an iron wire, a kind of firework, forming an
aureola, which she was to kindle. She had often repeated this
experiment. On this occasion she carried, besides, a little parachute,
ballasted by a firework terminating in a ball with silver rain. Site was
to launch this apparatus, after having lighted it with a _lance � feu_,
prepared for the purpose. She ascended. The night was dark. At the
moment of lighting the firework, she was so imprudent as to let the
lance pass beneath the column of hydrogen, which was escaping from the
balloon. My eyes were fixed on her. Suddenly an unexpected flash
illuminated the darkness. I thought it a surprise of the skilful
aeronaut. The flame increased, suddenly disappeared, and re-appeared at
the top of the aerostat under the form of an immense jet of burning gas.
This sinister light projected over the Boulevard, and over the quarter
Montmartre. Then I saw the unfortunate woman rise, twice attempt to
compress the orifice of the balloon, to extinguish the fire, then seat
herself in the car and seek to direct its descent; for she did not fall.
The combustion of the gas lasted several minutes. The balloon,
diminishing by degrees, continued to descend, but this was not a fall!
The wind blew from the northeast, and drove her over Paris. There were,
at that time, in the neighbourhood of the house No. 16 Rue de Provence,
immense gardens. The aeronaut might have fallen there without danger.
But unhappily the balloon and the car alighted on the roof of the house.
The shock was slight. 'Help!' cried the unfortunate woman. I arrived in
the street at that moment. The car slid along the roof, and encountered
an iron hook. At this shock, Madame Blanchard was thrown out of the car,
and precipitated on the pavement! She was killed!"
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