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

The following story had from the lips of
weil-known eronaut and nearly in the
some words.
1t was one of my ascents from Vaux hall,
and gentleman of the name of Mavor had
engaged himself as companion in my aeri
al excursion. But when the time came his
nerves failed him. and looked vainiy 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 tue earth was about 10 be cast
of, 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, hav-
ing satisfied myself BY few questions of
his respectabiity, and received his promise to
submit in every point to my directions, i
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 NY experience, no per-
son at 2 first ascent had ever shown such
perfect coolness and sef-possession. 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 trepidation, or
Mt any rate, excitement in the boldest lndi-
viduals 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 in its element, and yet be 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, lie evinced the livlest pleasure
whenever eIpptied 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
q ntly along in a north east direction, and
the day being particularly bright and clear,
we enjoyed IL delightful birds eye view of the
great metropolis and the surrounding ccun-
try. My companion listened with great ia
teresJ, While I 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-
ness, and aniously inquired whether he could
be recognized By any one at orr then dis
tance from the earth. 1t was, / told him,
quite impossible Nevertheless he contin-
ued very uneasy, frequently repeating |
hope they don't see 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 whim OF the mo-
ment, and that he feared being seen at that
perilous 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 emptying of the remaining sand
bags.
This, however, was out, 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 going high
er; and on my refusal to discharge more
ballast, deliberately pulled off and threw his
hat, coat and waistcoat overheard.
"Hnrrah, that lighted her!' he shouted;
"but it's not enough yet" and he began un-
loosening his cravat.
"Nonsense," said J. ''my GOO fellow, no.
body can recognize you at this distance,
even with telescope"
"Dont be too sure of that" he retorted
rather simply they have sharp eyes at
Miles's."
"At where?"
tAt Miles, Madhousel'
Gracious Heayen the truth flashed upon
me in an instant. | was sitting in the frail
car of a balloon at least a mile above the
earth, with lunatic The horror of the
situation, for a minute, seemed to deprive
me of my senses A very sudden freak of
distempered faucy-a transient fury-the
slightest struggle might send us both, at a
inf N
meantime, the maniac, still repeating his in
sane cry of s'hlgher, higher" divested him-
self successively, of every remaining article
of clothing, throwing each portion, to the
winds. The inutility of remonstrance, or
rather the probability of its producing fatal
irritation, kept me silent during these oper-
ations, but judge of my terror, when having
thrown his stockings overheard. heard him
say, 1--WE are not high enough yet by ten
thousand miles, one of Us must throw out
The other p
To describe my feelings at this speech is
impossible Not only the awfulness of my
position, but its novelty, conspired me-for
no fight of the imagination-no, not the
widest nightmare dream had ever placed
me in so desperate and forlorn a situation
twas horriblel horrible! Words, pleadings
remonstrances were useless, and resistance
would be certain destruction. had better
been in an American wilderness, at the mer-
cy of savage Indianl And now, without
daring to stir a hand in opposition, | saw
the Lunatic deliberately heave first one, ane
then the other bag of ballast from the cai'
the balloon of course rising with proper
tionate rapidity. Up: up, up it sored-to ar
altitude had never even dared to contem-