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


us, eh, when they bade Ills bon voyage9"
that was incomprehensible to me.
The moon, half full, had now risen,
and l could see the face of my COM
panion-the swarthy, keen face of man
forty years of age, with short dark hair,
slightly grizzled, fiery black eyes, and
very white, strong, sharp pointed teeth,
which gave him, when he smiled, some
what the expression of laughing wolf.
He was a man of powerful frame, and
the fingers of the gloved hand which he
now laid upon my arm were as strong
and supple as steel.
"Avow," said this strange passenger,
with grin that an ogre might have
envied, "avow that you take me for a
queer specimen of the French provin-
cial gentry But first, how comes it
that Killick is absent, and one of your
age has the honor to be my pilot 2"
1 told him briefly and in offended
tones what had occurred. "We must
now," 1 added, look out for a place
to descend, for the wind is freshening,
and -
"Let it freshen!" rudely interrupted
M. de Villeneuve. "Sets fair for Spain,
does it not2"
"For Spain2" 1 echoed, in surprise.
Gould this self-conceited country gentle
man really deem that we were bound on
such a journey as that2 could not
help laughing as 1 said: "Why for
Spain, monsieur2"
"Well, Italy would have served me
as well had the wind been westerly one.
Ha, lad, what are you about that you
finger that rope 2"
81 am opening the valve above"
answered, coldly, because it is time now
to sink to lower level and descend
Descend, eh2" briskly put in my
fellow-voyager. "We may as well
understand each other at once. Hands
of that rope, say, if you would keep
the roof on your skull, he added, threat
i'll his waistcoat, and deliberately pointed
the barrel at my head. "I'll show you
who's captain up here"
My brain reeled and my blood ran
cold as the horrid thought flashed upon
me that I was, at that fearful height
above the earth, in company with mad
man. Nothing surely save insanity
could account for the extraordinary be-
havour of M. de Villeneuve.
But I suppose I put tolerably good
countenance on the matter, for my
formidable companion laughed again, but
less ill-naturedly, as he said:
"You face it out well, boy. 1 like a
youngster who shows heart somewhat
bigger than chickens. And I'm not
so bad as 1 look-never do this "-ha
drew his hand as he spoke edgeways,
with meaning gesture, across his throat
-" when 1 can get my little profits by
quieter means. But you stare at me as if
l were mountebank selling quack
medicines. Can you guess why those
gendarmes were so peremptory an hour
ago. Because they wanted the pleasure
of my company back to Toulon, that S
all. Did you never hear of Risque-son-
cou 2"
And then 1 remembered to have seen
a paragraph in local paper announcing
the escape from Toulon of a criminal Of
And here was l, Edward Holmes, artist,
voyaging by night in balloon, in com
pany with a runaway galley-slave, well
armed with knife and pistol. and more
than match in strength for me, even
had he been less well provided
My terrible companion was only too
much disposed to be talkatiye and as
we swept onward before the freshening
wind, he was kind enough to favor me
with few brief anecdotes of his past
career, In which the jocose and the hor-
rible seemed to mingle in cynic confu-
sion. He told graphically of the ten
days of hardship and hunger which he
had endured while skulking among the
rocky hills by night, and lying hidden
among thorny brakes by day, until at
last he broke into pecan of triumph in
relating how he had encountered and
robbed the true NJ. lie Villeneuve on his
way to the village fcte.
Twenty shining maps in his purse,
the IDIOT" he said, exultingly, and three
thousand francs, besides, in notes.
Well, well I left him gagged and
bound to tree, after had taken the
freedom to change clothes with him
and there he stands, no doubt trem-
bling, but fortunate to keep a whole
skin. And l found in his pocket the
letter of M. Killick, promising to take
him as passenger in the balloon here
and SO -
And so the idea had presented itself
to this daring and ready witted ruffian to
personate the victim of his recent rob
berry, and thus to procure the means of
fight in what was certainly an unexam-
pied fashion, while was the luckless
scapegoat of his audacious enterprise.
Meanwhile the wind, es 1 have said,
was rising, and as we hurried on look
ed downwards, and saw by the simmer
of the moonlight on the tremulous
waves that the sea was below us. /
could not forbear from an exclamation
of dismay.
The desperate at my side also looked
down.
Bah sea or land-what matters it?"
he said, recklessly. "Throw out bal
last; do you hear me9" and unwillingly
l complied.
The balloon instantly rose, and it soon
became perceptibly colder, SO that /
shivered, and had to chafe my hands to-
gether to prevent them from stiffening.
My companions iron frame showed no
signs of suffering from the abrupt low
ering of the temperature but after a
time the Defiance seemed to be nearer
to the sea, for / heard the low roar of
the waves and then Risque-son-cou i'm
patiently flung out another bag of bal
last, and we rose.
elf we come down in France, my
young FRIEND" said the strident voice of
the escaped convict, as we hoated
through masses of misty vapor, the con-
densed moisture of which wetted me to
the skin &c Won NAV hid adieu To what