Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-06-02
Whole Number 1878.

at intervals something white and lus-
trous, like the marble pinnacles of
the Cathedral at Milan.
We're steering straight. Fasality.
for once, befriends me, exclaimed
the desperate sharer of nv Journey.
for, miles bombesi those ara the
peaks of the Eastern Pyrenees-
Chuck, over ballast, boy, don't let
US ground on them.
We were, IN reality, floating
among the seTrated SUBMITS, and
snow clad mnuataiH-tops of the huge
chain of mountains that forms nat
ural barrier between Gaul and Spain.
Below, the sullen cloud.banks men
acedi elemental war, and already
low, muttering growls of thunder
reyerberated among the serrated
ridges beneath US.
Throw over more ballast, COM
manded my rufianly companion.
lung out, with some misgiYinge,
the remainder of thelast bag Of sand
and small pebbles, but the Defiance
did not rise with its former buoyan-
cy. Much gas had been lost. The
once smooth surface of the silk
painted in gaudy stripes Of pink and
blae-was wrinkled now, and fut-
tered loosely IN irregular festoons.
More than once it seemed as though
we must be dashed against some one
Of the towering peaks above which
the balloon slowly beYolved.
Crash after crash, peal upon peal,
rang cut the deep diapason of the
echoed from glen TO glen,
and from ridge to ridge, while far
and wide the lightning sent its fam
ing arrows across the darkening skv.
How strange it was to see beneath
US those forked shafts of dazzling
light, to hear from beneath US those
awful rolls of heavens own terrible
artillery, and to float helpIessly
above the raging tempest.
Day had broken; the sun was ris-
ing, red and angry, in. the stormy
eastern sky, and as current of air
waited the balloon rapidly forward,
I could dimly distinguish forest and
meadow, and spurs Of od-clothed
hills, lying to & the southward of us.
The snowy peaks, rOsy-pink in the
morning radiance, we're being grad
ually left behind rs. sl6
Hurrah ! as you say, you other is
landers, cried out the galley-slaYe,
triumphantly, as be, too, scanned the
landscape. Vive La joie! We're well
across the frontier now, and Pierre
Paul Grincheux is as safe as any 9TH
er Frenchman from the odious sum-
mons TO trudge back to the chain
gang and the rattan Of the garde-
chiourme! Thank your stars, En-
A stunning peal of thunder cut
short his boastfuI discourse, and as it
did so the Defiance heeled over, and
was driven like dead leaf before
the gale by the sudden rush Of a
mighty wind that bore Us almost to
the surface of the ground, and hur-
ried MS along with headlong rapid
ty. Fields, woodlands, houses, seem
ed to pass us with feverish haste,
and still we sped onward-so near
now to the earth that momentarily
expected that we should become en-
tangled among the trees that loom
ed so near us. s. .t.ia103 ,elf
What was that, like a river of
glancing water, on the dusty high
road beneath us-the yellow road
like a ribbon winding amid rocks
and thickets? Troops on the march,
no doubt, the sunlight glinting on
their bsyonets. / could see that as
we approached they came confused
ly to halt.
Again hurrah! shouted the galley
slave. a cheer, noble Spaniards,
for your guest-Pierre Paul, now
As he spoke, I saw the earth very
near us, saw the soldiers run to right
and left, as though to clear the way
for our passage; and then, with a
crash, the balloon and car
seemed to strike against rock, and
a thousand sparks of FIRE filed my
bewildered eyes, and then all grew
dark.
He'll live-this one-never fear,
said CHEEKY voice, speaking In the
Spanish language, which I partially
understood, as l awoke to find my
self lying upon a truckle-bed in a
cottage, surrounded by 4
groop of officers, while a regimental
was feeling my pulse.
Give him a few more drops of bran
dy! Only a couple of ribs the
worse, I think.
And the man who was with me?
asked feebly.
The doctor shook his head.
Not your father or your brother, I
trust, CabalIero /? he said. An then,
I may tell you that his head was
dashed against a rock, and his neck,
tough one, very effectually dislo-
Gated.
And 80 it was, Rlsque-son-cOu
had shared the proverbial fate of the
pitcher that goes too often to the
wen.
Strange to say, any fortune was, TO
a qualified extent made by the acci.
dent which had so nearly put an end
to my worldly anxieties. The kind
projectors who had picked me mp, q
wayworn stranger, BY the roadside,
had me conveyed along with them on
a litter to the garrison town Of Giro
ma, whittier they were bound, and in
the military hospital of this place I
was cared for, until youth and ro-
bust constitution enabled me to get
the better Of the fever that sBsned.
My story was noised abroad, and ali
seemed eager to sit for
its portrait TO the young English
artist who had visited Spain IN so
singular manner; and thence, with
good professional recommendation,
passed on to Madrid, Paris and
London, and have never since known
the actual pressure of want.
/ afterwards heard that a sub
scription set on foot at Marseilles
Mr. Killick for the loss
Of bis balloon, but he and l never met
49,