The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-11-18

gendarmerie to give notice that his fell
low traveller was Peter Paul Grincheux
Thank you. I prefer to keep my own
counsel So sure as we drop where Ma
poleon is emperor prove that one can
keep secret better than two."
There's something wrong with the
valves" said my companion, roughly,
an hour later; "the gas is coming down,
and we are sinking. It's for you,
aeronaut, to ascend the netting and stop
the escape of gas"
I was very reluctant to obey. To
climb the netting of balloon, when at
q great height above the earth, is never
a very pleasant task; but to do 30, leav-
ing behind me ruffian who might at
any moment pistol or stab, me as 1 de-
scended, thus relieving himself from an
inconvenient witness, was indeed irk-
some. However, Risque-son-cou evinced
such vehement pertinacity that at last l
complied; and having adjusted the valve,
crept back to the Car, sick and giddy,
but unhurt.
The moon had faded away. There
were pale crimson streaks in what took
to be the eastern sky, and below lay
piled up gloomy masses of black
cloud, through which cleaned at inter
walls something white and lustrous, like
the marble pinnacles of the cathedral at
Milan.
"We're steering straight. Fatality,
for once, befriends me-" exclaimed the
desperate sharer of my journey, for
those are the peaks of the Eastern Py-
renees. Chuck over ballast, boy, don't
let us ground on them"
We were, in reality, floating amongst
the serrated submits and snow-clad
mountain-tops of the huge chain of
mountains that form a natural barrier
between Gaul and Spain. Below, the
sullen cloud-banks menaced elemental
war, and already low-muttering growls
of thunder reverberated among the SER
rated ridges beneath us.
"Throw over more ballast" COM
manded my ruffianly companion.
flung out, with some misgivings,
the remainder of the last bag of sand
and small pebbles, but the Defiance did
not rise with its former buoyancy.
Much gas had been lost. The once
smooth surface of the silk, painted in
gaudy stripes of pink and blue, was
wrinkled now, and futtered loosely in
|
seemed as though we must be dashed
against rome one of the towering peaks
above which the balloon slowly revolved
Day had broken the sun was rising,
red and angry, in the stormy eastern
sky, and as O current of air waited the
balloon rapidly forward, could dlmly
distinguish forest, and meadows, and
spurs of wood-clothed hills, lying to the
southwark of us. The snowy peaks,
rosy-pink in the morning radiance, were
being gradually left behind us.
"Hurrah !" cried out the galley-slave,
triumphantly, as he too scanned the
landscape. "We're well across the
frontier now, and Pierre Paul Grin
chuck is as safe as any other French
man from the odious summons to trudge
back to the chain-gang. Thank your
stars, Enghshman -
A stunning peal of thunder cut short
his boastful discourse, and as it did so
the Defiance heeled over, and was
driven like dead leaf before the gale,
by the sudden rush of mighty wind,
that bore us almost to the surface of the
ground, and hurried us along with head
long rapidity.
What was that, like river of glancing
water, on the dusty high road beneath
us, the yellow road like ribbon wind
ing amid rocks and thickets2 Troops
on the march, no doubt, the sunlight
glinting on their bayonets. l could see
that as we approached they came con.
fusedly to halt.
"Again, hurrah |" shouted the galley
slave. "A cheer, noble Spaniards, fol
your guest, Pierre Paul, now safely -
AS he spoke 1 saw the earth very neal
us, saw the soldiers run to right and
left, as though to clear the way for oul
crash, the balloon and the car seemed
to strike against rock, and thousand
sparks of fire filled my bewildered eyes
and then all grew dark.
"Hell live, this one, never fear,
said CHEEKY voice speaking in the
Spanish language, which I partially un
derstood, as I awoke to find myself lying
upon truckle-b bed in wayside cottage
surrounded by group of officers, while
a reginental surgeon was feeling my
pulse. "Only couple of ribs the
worse, I think"
"And-and the man that was witt
me?" asked, feebly.
The doctor shook his head. .-
"Not your father or your brother,
trust, Caballero2" he said. "Ah, then
l may tell you that his head was dashed
against a rock, and his neck-a tougl
one, by-the-bye-very effectually dislo
Gated"
And so it was. Risque- -son-cou haC
shared the proverbial fate of the pitcher
that goes too often to the well.
Strange to say, my fortune was, to q
qualified extent, made by the accident
which had so nearly put an end alto
gether to my worldly anxieties. The
kind protectors who had picked me up
a wayworn stranger, with two ribs
broken, by the roadside, had me con
veyed along with them on litter to the
garrison town of Girona, whittier they
were bound, and in the military hospi
tai of this place was cared Cor, until
youth and robust constitution enabled
me to get the better of the fever that en-
sued. My story was noised abroad, anG
all Barcelona seemed eager to sit for iti
portrait to the young English artist who
had visited Spain in so singular man
ner; and thence, with good professiona
recommendations, passed on to Mad
rid, Paris, and London, and have nevel
since known the actual pressure O.
want. -.-.
1 afterwards heard that subscription
set on foot at Marseilles compensated
M. Killick for the loss of his balloon
but he and l never met again.
OwE.-"Oh for plainly dressed