The hydraulic press., 1861-01-12
A Tale of error.

A Tale of Il error.
The following story / had from the lips OF
well known eronaut. and nearly in the
some words.
1t was one Of my ascents from Vaux hall,
and a gentleman of the name of Mavor had
engaged himself as companion in my aer
al excursion. But when the time came bis
nerves failed him, and looked vainy around
for the person who was to occupy the vacant
seat in the car. Having waited for him till
the last possible moment, and the crowd in
the gardens becoming impatient, prepared
to ascend alone; and the last chord that at
tached me to the earth was about 10 be cast
off, when suddenly a strange gentleman
pushed forward and volunteered to 90 up
with me into the clouds. He pressed the re-
quest with so much earnestness, that, hay
ing satisfied myself by few questions of
his srespectability, and received his promise to
submit in every point to my directions, /
consented to receive him in lieu of the alb
sentee whereupon he stepped with evident
cagerncss and alacrity into the machine
In another minute we were rising above the
trees and in justice to my companion,
must say that in all my experience, no per-
son at first ascent had ever shown such
perfect coolness and self-possesson. The
sudden rise Of the machine, novelty of the
situation, the real and exaggerated dangers
of the voyage, and the cheering OF the spec
tators, are apt to cause some tiepidation, or
at any rate, excitement in the boldest midi
vduals whereas the stranger was rs COM
posed and comfortable as if he had been sit
ting quite at home in his own library chair.
A bird could not have seemed more at ease,
or more III its element, and yet he solemnly
assured me upon his honor, that he had new
er been up before in his life. Instead of ex
hibiting any alarm at our great hight from
the earth, he evinced the livliest pleasure
whenever | emptied one of my bags of sand
and even once or twice urged me to part
with more of the ballast. In the meantime
the wind, which WAS very light, carried us
'g ntly along in north east direction, and
the day being particularly bright and clear,
we enjoyed a delightful birds-eye view Of the
great metropolis and the surrounding conn
try. My companion listened with great in
tereS1, While / pointed to him the various
objects over which we passed till happened
casually to observe that the balloon must be
directly over Hoxton. Ny fellow traveller
then for the first time betrayed some uneasi-
HISS, anu tulOhSil iHIuiiNN NHStIlSt ne SOuIQ
be recognized by any one ~ cur then dis
tance from the earth. 1t was, l told him,
quite impossible Nevertheless lie contin-
ued very uneasy, frequently repeating 8
hope they don't sec me- and entrcating me
to discharge more ballast. 1t then flashed
upon me, for the first time. that this offer to
ascend with me had been a whim of the mo-
ment, and that be feared being seen at that
perious situation by any member of his fam
lily. / therefore asked him if he resided at
Hoxton, to which he replied in the atfirma-
tive; urging again and with greater vehe-
mence, the emptyiDg of the remaining sand
bags.
This, however, was of the question,
considering the altitude of the balloon, the
course of the wind, and the proximity OF
the sea-coast. But my companion was deaf
to these reasons-he insisted on gong high
er; and on my refusal to discharge more
ballast, deliberately pulled off and threw his
hat coat and waistcoat overheard.
"Hurrah, that lighted herl' he shouted;
"but it's not enough yet" and he began un-
loosening his cravat.
Nonsense said ], smy good fellow, no
body can recognize you at this distance,
even with telescope"
"Don't be too sure of that" he retorted
rather simply they have sharp eyes at
Miles'sn
DAT where?"
"At Miles Madhouse"
Gracious Heaven!--the truth flashed upon
me in an instant. | was sitting in the frail
car of balloon at least mile above the
earth, with lunatic The horror of the
situation, for minute, seemed to deprive
me of my senses, A very sudden freak OF
distempered fancy-a transient fary-the
slightest struggle might send us both, at a
moments notice, into eternityl In the
meantime, the maniac, still repeating his in
sane cry of "higher, higher" divested him.
self successively, of every remaining article
of clothing, throwing each portion, to the
winds. The inutility of remonstrance, oil
rather the probability of its producing fatal
Irritation, kept me silent during these oper-
ations, bit judge of my terror, when having
thrown his stockings overheard. heard him
say, 1--WE are not high enough yet by ter
thousand miles, one of Us must throw ou
The other p
To describe my feelings at this speech i;
impossible Not only the awfulness of my
position, but its novelty, conspired me-fol
no fight of the imagination-no, not til,
widest nightmare dream had ever place.
me in so desperate and forlorn a situation
Itwas horribe horriblel Words, pleadings
remonstrances were useless, and resistanc,
would be certain destruction. l had bette
been in an American wilderness, at the mer
CIV of savage Indianl And now, withou
daring to stir hand in opposition. l saw
the Lunatic deliberately beave first one, ant
then the other bag of ballast from the car
the balloon of course rising with proper
tionate rapidity. Up. up, up it sored-to al
altitude had never even dared to contem