The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-08-05

, sidsfate idiot not 20 have thought OF her feel
, | ings in the FIRST instance. But there was nc
help for il now; 80 l gave her the only conso
lation in nv power by solemnly promising tnal
| would be the first man tied to the trapeze. L,
was. of course the safest position, and when
assured her of this, she grew calmer. On al
other points 1 kept my own counsel. IA JON may
be certain and as to John Grifhths, L saw
less of him than ever. he even took his meals
| in the CITY now, and during the seven days thai
ELAPSED between the twenty ninth and the sixth
| be never once came face to face with me, ex
| cept upon the stage.
l had hard matter to get away from home
when the afternoon of the sixth came around.
My darling chung about me as if her heart
would break, and although / did my best to
cheer her, don't mind confessing new that l
went out and cried a tear or two in the passage.
keep up your spirits, Ally, DEAR" says l,
smiling, and kissed her the last thing before L
left the house. Sand don't be spelling your
pretty eyes in that way. Remember l want
you to look well, and that we are to be married
tomorrow"
The multitude in the Belvidere Gardens was
something wonderful There they were, men,
women, and children, thronging the balconies,
the orchestra ssirs and every available inch OF
ground and there, in the midst of them, rolled
and swayed the Wurtemburg balloon, like
sleepy, rolling giant. The ascent was fixed for
six o'clock, that we might come down again by
daylight; so made haste to dress, and then
went to the green room to see after Mr.. Rice,
and learn something of what was going forward.
Mr. Rice was there, and three gentlemen
with him, namely, Colonel Steward, Captain
Crawford, and Sydney Baird, Esq. They were
fine, handsomelooking gentlemen all three
especially Sydney Baird, ESQ.,, who was, as l
have since been told, play writer, and one of the
cleverest men of the day. / was going to draw
back, VIXEN / saw them sitting there with their
wine and cigars but they would have me in,
TO take glass of port, and shook hands with
me all round, as polite as possible, and treated
me as handsome as any gentlemen could.
Here's health and success to you, my brave
fellow" says Colonel Steward, "and a pleasant
trip to US ALL" And then / found that they
were going up in the car with Mr.. Staines.
And now, what with their light, cheerful
ways, and pleasant talking, and what with the
glass of wine that had taken, and the excite
ment, and the hum of voices from the crowd
outside, was in frst-rate spirits, and as impa-
tient tc be off as a racer at the starting point
Presently one of the gentlemen looked at his
watch.
"What are we waiting for2" said he. "It
is ten minutes past six, already"
And 30 it was. Ten minutes past the hour,
and Grifliths had not been seen or heard Of
Well, Mr.. Rice grew very uneasy, and the
crowd very noisy, and SO twenty minutes more
went by. Then we made up our minds to 90
without him, and Mr.. Rice made little speech,
and explained it to the people; and then there
was cheer, and a great hustle; and the gen.
tlemen took their seats in the car; and a
hamper full of champagne and cold chicken
y1r,f, H., i r.
by one leg to the base of the trspeze, and Mr..
Staines was just about to get in himself, and
give the signal to cut loose, when who should
we see, forcing his way through the crowd, but
Griffiths.
Of course, there was another cheer a. this,
and delay of eight or ten minutes more while
he was dressing. At last he came, and it was
just quarter to seven o'clock. He looked very
sullen when he found he was to be the under
most; but there was no time to change anything
now, even if l had been willing 80 his left
wrist and my right were bound together by
leathern strap, the signal was given, the
band struck up, the crowd applauded like mad,
and the balloon rose straight and steady above
the heads of the people.
Down sank the trees and the fountains, and
the pavement of upturned faces. Down sank
the roof of the theatre, and fainter grew the
sound of the hurraing and the music. The sen
sstien was so strange, that for the first moment
| was forced to close my eyes, and felt as if
must fall, and be dashed to pieces. But that
soon passed away, and by the time we had risen
to about three hundred feet, was as comfort
able as if had been born and bred in the air,
with my head downward.
Presently we began our performances. Grit.
iths was az cool as possible never saw him
cooler-and we went through every conceivable
attitude; now swinging by our hands, now by
our feet, now throwing summersaults, one over
the other. And during the whole of the time
the streets and squares seemed to sink away to
the right, and the noise from the living world died
on the air; and as turned and swung, changing
my position with every minute, caught strange
lifting slimpses of the sunset and the city, the
sky and the river, the gentlemen leaning over
the car, and the tiny passengers swarming
down below, like ants on an anthill.
Then the gentlemen grew tired Of leaning
over, and began to talk and laugh, and busy
themselves over their hamper Then the Surry
hills drew nearer, and the city sank away to
the right, further and further. Then there
we're nothing but green fields, with lines of
railway crossing them here and there; and
presently 1T grew quite damp and misty, and we
ceased to see anything, except through breaks
and openings in the clouds.
Come, john" says /, our share of this
business is done. Don't you think we might
as well be getting in the car ?''
He was hanging below just then, holding on
By my two hands, and had been hanging SO
quiet for some minutes. He did not seem to
hear me; and no wonder, for the clouds were
gathering about us so thickly, that even the
voices OF the gentlemen up above grew muffl ed,
and | could hardly see for yard before me in
any direction. So called to him again, and
repeated the question.
He made no answer, but shifted his grasp
from my hand 10 my wrist, and then up to the
middle OF my arm, 30 raising himself by de-
grees, till our faces came nearly on a level.
There he paused, and felt his hot breath on
my cheek.
William Wsldur," said he, hoarsely.
" wasn't tomorrow to have been your wedding
day?"
Something in the tone of his voice. in the
question, IN the dusk and dreadful solitude.
struck me with horror. tried to shake off
his hands, but he held too fast for that
Well, what if it was2 ?" said l, after n mo-
ment. You needn't grip go hard. Catch
hold OF the pole, will you ? and let go of nv
arms"
He gave short, hard laugh, but never
stirred.
al suppose we're about two thousand feet
hlgh, says be, and it seemed to me that he
had something between his teeth. "If either
OF MS was to fall, he'd be a dead man before he
touched the ground"
L would have given the world at that mo-
ment to be able to see his face; but what with
my own head being downward, and all his
weight hanging to my arms, / had no more
power than an infant.
"Johnl =" l exclaimed, "what do you mean
Catch hold of the pole, aud let me do the same.
My heads on fire i"