Iron County register., 1882-08-17

| at his door at six O'Clock in the morn
ing. He remembered lighting his Etna,
| making his cup of coffee, and thinking
| as he drank it it might be his last.
Then they must have caught the train.
In fact, he remembered the sound of the
| rushing carriage, the darkness of the
! tunnel, the glories of the dawning day,
and felt around him the bright, fresh
sunlit air that made all nature glad.
They drove out to the balloon, which
| was down by the gas-works. and was
| now in process of imitation. Josiah
looked upon the monster, swerving first
to the right then to the left, and threat
! eningl every moment to break its bonds
and 60 off on its own account. There
| settled upon Josiah certain mood of
quiet despair. What must be must, and
it was better to avoid scene and imi-
| tate closely as possible the cheerful in
difference of the Captain. -
NOW, old man, in you tumble, - said
the Captain. ''Sit down in the bottom
of the car and keep quiet till we get past
this stack of chimneys. Ii we run into
them it's all over; but I reckon I'll take
you clear.''
He got in and sat down in the bottom
of the car. 1t was, he noticed, some-
thing like one of the eoracles of which
he had made mention in the preface to
Underground England.'' There was
something good in that. The Romans
made long journeys in the coracle. II
the worst came to the worst, they might
float.
Even in the anguish of his mind he
couldn't help wondering when Capt.
Mulberry would finish coming in. He
had never noticed how tail he was till
he found the necessity of getting out of
the way of his legs as he crept between
the ropes into the car.
s'Let go all" cried the Captain, and
Josiah felt his last hour had come. He
held his breath and stuck to his hat,
being under the impression the whole
affair would shoot up into the air like
rocket. He expected to be deafened
with the noise of whizzing through the
air, and to be half suffocated with the
rush of wind. Looking over to get a,
last look at the nature of the soil on
which he would presently fall, Josiah
beheld strange sight. As far; as he
knew, the balloon was motionless, while
the earth was dropping rapidly from
under them as if the laws of gravitation
were irrevocably broken and the world
was falling through space. .,. -
'sDone it!'' he heard the Captain
cry, in voice that sounded curiously
remote. a
''Done what?" said Josiah, anxiously
looking up.
''Why, the chimney-stack. Just clear
ed it by half a foot. I didn't like to say
much about it, but it was pretty near
touch-and-go affair. That's the worst
of filling balloon. You must do it
near gasw works, and there's sure to be
a stack of chimneys at hand.'
1t seemed but a moment since Josiah
had heard the Captain call out "Let 60
all" and they were in space a thousand
feet above the level of the land, sailing
calmly along in bright warm sunlight,
and with no more motion perceptible
than if they were still sitting in the
room in King street-that cherished
apartment which Josiah felt his eye
would never light on more.
"This won't do,' said the Captain,
rent, and instead of going out to sea are
going inland. In half an hour Wen be
at Canterbury" =.
81 have heard Canterbury's very
nice old town. said Josiah. cit wouldn't
be bad place to stop at; and if the
winds contrary to-day,it might be right
tomorrow. 'tt <s5 He
The balloon slowly rose till the
aneroid marked height of 1900 feet,
and still the current drove it steadily
north vest. Looking southwark Josiah
beheld sight which, if it were the last
he was ever to look upon, was at least
a glorious glimpse Of earth and sky
and sea. There lay the channel CLEAN
ing in the sun, a broad belt of silver.
Beyond it, like cloud, was France.
The fields, stretched out in illimitable
extent, far as the eye could reach,
seemed to form a gigantic carpet, with
patterns chiefly diamond-shaped, and in
color shaded from bright emerald to
russet-brown.
s'T This won't do,'' the Captain said
again, and seizing bag of ballast he
emptied it. The balloon swiftly rose,
and the aneroid marked $500 feet. The
villages seemed mere spots; the pattern
was distinguishable-n horses, nor
sheep, nor any living thing.
Hurrah!" cried the Captain, "we're |
off now.",, s- -5s.' -.
Nearer and nearer came the belt of !
=
and island. They were close to Dover,
and could make out the town. Josiah,
knowing we'll the irregular plan on
which the streets were laid out, was |
struck by the manner in which, as
looked down upon from this height,
they formed themselves into beautifully
defined curves, straight lines and other |
highly respectable geometrical shapes.
They saw the castle, and the pier with
what seemed to be ants crawling ON it.
A little patch of color, that to Josiah
looked like ball of scarlet worsted,
was, the Captain said, a sentry on duty.
1t was passing strange and at first
dreadful, this intense silence and this
of the familiar earth. But
after awhile everything like terror passed
away from Josiah's mind. He began to
feel the fascination of the thing. His
spirits rose as he breathed the delicious
air, and when the Captain said: "We
are over the water now," and Josiah
looking down discerned the sea gleam-
ing below: he could have fclaDDed his |