The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-10-11

falling. Still borne on by the air current,
the balon sagged slowly towards the
earth, as If strung an long, descending
guy or rather 1 should say, the earth,
with all its array of orchards, farms and
fields, rose steadily to meet us.
We are now not more than eight or
ten hundred feet from the ground, tend
ing slowly downward, when suddenly
we seemed to strike into fresh, quick
wind which whisked us along with it.
So sharply did 1t strike us, that the bas-
ket lurched and swung.
"The ground currentl'' muttsred Ned.
II was afraid of it, Generally after
shower there's fresh, breeze along the
ground"
We instantly let go the valve-line, to
close the throttle, and threw out the little
ballast we had left; butit was too late.
We had let out too much gas to rise but
brief distance. The great silken globe
above us, wrinkling with a deafening
noise, like the rattling of sheet-iron,
swayed and shook, and then tended still
lower.
"A hard lighting this time, old fel-
low !" exclaimed Ned. els your neck
insured p''
Four thousand dollars on it, my
boyl" said L. Policy runs to my dear
old mother.'
"All right, then. Hang hard I'm
going to throw out the grapple, ''and my
comrade tossed out the first of the two
anchors. Two hundred feet of line went
whizzing off the reel. Still, the anchor
did not touch the earth, but swung clear,
and went dangling over roofs and tree
tops, as we flew along with the speed of
a railway train.
Our grapple. hook ratified on several
roofs; then dangling for some distance
above the main street, caught the sus-
pended rope of large campaign flag,
which we hauled after us for mile or
two. A tremendous hoorah! rose in the
rear. 'Twasa Hayes and Wheeler flag.
We carried it far enough for me to read
the names.
A moment after it tore one of the top
rails from a fence and caught in pile of
apple tree brush, snarl of which we
dragged after us across several fields and
pastures till we struck road which
chanced to run in our course.
Just then, 1 saw on the road ahead q
load of wheat piled on a rack cart, drawn
by yoke of oxen.
"Turn out Turn out ~ we both yell
ed down at it.
"Gee, Buck I" shouted the man driv-
ing. But before he could turn half round
we were overhead. A young fellow on
the load gave yell and leap off at the
same monochrome too soon, either, for
we took the rail off the rack on the high
side, and left the apple brush on the
load
BY Jingr' heard the fellow sing
out. "Ole Splithuf hisself's ou fishin,
to- night Dye see his big hook ?'
But "dad'' was screaming, "Whoa-
hish Whoa-hish !" trying to stop the
oxen. The cattle, frightened half to
death, were trying to run away, despite
the whacks the old man dealt them with
the pitchfork. We could look back, as
we flew on, to see the result of the mis-
chief we had unavoidably caused.
A minute after, our basket almost
grazed ledge of rocks on the crest of a
hill, and 10, right down in front of us
lay great pond. In the dim light 1t
looked like sea. A fog hung over it.
That's fatal for us, I'm afraid ~
cried Ned. I" We shall he down into it..
/ can't even see the other sidel"
We were not half mile off from it,
Black and cheerless enough the water
looked.
Ned gave one glance and decided what
to do.
Z" Good by, Frank !" he exclaimed.
'Stick to the basket. I'll drop off and
take my chance. Then the balloon will
rise, and you will cross the pond" Be-
fore could even speak, he swung out of
the car, and went down the anchor line,
hand over hand. The rapid motion
whirled him round and round. The
grapple itself was trailing and bouncing
along the ground. We were close to the
water before Ned was half way down the
long line.
"Drop" l screamed "or you'll be
drowned ~
He looked downward, but even then
was too late. The line switched him
violently through some willow tops, and
the balloon sailed out over the water.