The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-01-07

with questions ss.to what + IN tended tc
do withal this apparatus; and expires.
sed much dissatisfaction at the terrible
labor L made them undergo.i DPhey
could not pereeive $50 they said,i what
good was likely to result from, their
getting wette the skin, m ereIy To take
a part In such horrible incantations. j
began te'get uneasy, and worked away
with all my might; for verify believe
the idiots supposed tifas had entered
into a.eompaet with the devil, and that,
inishert, what I was now doing was
nothing better than II should be- / was,
therefore, in great fear of their leaving
me>altogether&I contrived, however,
TO pacify them by promises of payrn ent
'of all scores in full, az soon az T. could
bring the present business to a termi.
nation. 10 these speeches they gave
of course their own Interpretation; fan
cying, no doubt, that at all events /
should come into possession of vast
quantities of ready money; and provi-
ded / paid them all / owed, and trifle
more In consideration of their services,
l dare say they cared very little what
became ofeither my soul or my carcass.
In about four hours and halfI found
the balloon sufficiently inflated. / att
tached the car, therefore, and put all
my implements in it--a telescope; q
barometer. with some important modi-
fications; a thermometer; an electrom-
eter; a compass; magnetic needle; a
seconds watch; a bell;a a speaking trum-
pet, etc., ETC., etc.-also globe of glass
exhausted of air and carefully closed
with stopper--not forgetting the con-
densng apparatus, some unslacked
lime, Il stick of sealing wax, a copious
supply of water, and large quantity of
provisions, such as pemmican, in which
much nutriment is contained in COM
paratively little bulk. l also secured
in the car pair of pigeons and cat.
1t was now nearly daybreak, and L
thought it high time to take my depart
ure. Dropping a lighted cigar on the
ground, as ifby accident, 1 took the op-
portunity, in STOPPING to pick it up, of
igniting privately the piece of slow
match, the end of which, as 1 said be-
fore, protruded little beyond the low
er rim of one of the smaller casks. This
manRuvre was totally unperceived on
the part of the three duns; and, jump
Ing into the car, l Immediately cut the
single cord which held me tn the earth,
and was pleased to find that shot up.
wards with Uncomfortable rapidity, car
rying with all ease one hundred and
seventy-tive pounds of leaden ballast
and able to have carried up as many
more. AS left the earth, the barome-
ter stood at thirty inches, and the cen
tigrade. Thermometer at 1872. ....
Scarcely, however, had attained the
height of fifty. yards, when, roaring
and rumbling up after me in the most
.tumultuous and terrible manner, came
so dense a hurricane of fire, and gravel, !,
and burning wood, and blazing metal,
and mangled limbs, that my very heart
sunk within me, and ] fell down in the
bottom of the car, trembling with ter
ror. Indeed, now perceived that L.
had entirely overdone the business and.
that the main consequences of the shock.
were. yet to be experienced. Accord
ingly, in less than second, / felt all
the blood in my body. rushing to my
temples, and, Immediately thereupon, a
concussion, which shall never forget,
burst abruptly through the night. and
seemed to rip the very armament asun-
der. When l afterwards had time for
reflection, ] did not fail to attribute the
extreme violence of the explosion, as re-
garded myself. to its proper cause--my
situation directly above it, and in the
line of its greatest power. But at the
time, thought only of preserving my
life. The balloon at first collapsed, then
furiously expanded, then whirled round,
and round with sickening velocity, and
finally, reeling and staggering like a
drunken man, hurled me over the rim
Of the car, and left me dangling, at a
errificheight, with my head downward,
and my face outward, by a piece of
slender cord about three feet in length,
which hung accidentally through crey-
ice near the bottom of the wicker-work.
and:in which ,1as T. Ifeli-my left foot be-
came most proyidentially entangled,
1t is impOssible--utterly impossible-to
form any adequate idea of the horror of
my situation. 1 gasped eonvulsively.
for breath-a shudder resembling a fit
Of the ague agitated every nerve and
muscle in my frame--felt my eyes start
ing from their soekets--a horrible nausea
me-and at length j lost
all consciousness in a swoon. 4.s.a
How long remained in this state it is
to say. 1t must, however,
have been no inconsiderable time, for
when partially recovered the sense of
1 found the day breaking,
the balloon alta prodigious height over
a wilderness OF ocean, and not trace of
land to be discovered far and wide
within the limits Of the vast horizon.
Wy ochShsions, hoWcNtT upUn tHuh Cer,
covering, We're by no means SO replete.
with agony as might have been antici-
pated Indeed, there was much of
in the calm survey which l..
began to take ofmy situation. Il drew
up to my eyes each OF my hands, one
after the other, and wondered what oc,
could have given rise to the
swelling ofthe'veins, and the horrible
blackness ofthe finger nails. 4 AFTER.
wards carefully examined my head,
shaking ii repeatedly, and feeling it.
with minute attention, until. L succeed
ed in satisfying myself that 1t was not,
as lhad morethan. half lfsuspected,i larger
t han my balloon. Then, In. a, knowing
manner, 4 felt in both any. hreeches
pockets, and, missing .therafrqm set
oftablets and a tooth pick case, endeav4'
ored TO account for their disappearance,
aad, not being able tn do So, felt mex