The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1883-06-16

fairyland, and II we could have enjoyed
the view with light hearts, could have
fioated through the air, free from care
without fear, it would have been d.
vinely beautiful. and remember plainly
that thought for q few minutes OF the
old Greek gods. But quite different
thoughts began to force Themselves with
irresistible power upon us. The wrath
of the storm-wind drove US, like light
ming, into the far, far distance. We
could not lower ourselves, and the bal
loon rose inexorably, always higher, to
the regions in which human life is inn
possible and where breath fails.
Only too soon we perceived the in
fiuence of the cold and the rarified air.
How high we were do not know, but
we began to SILVER in the frozen atmos-
phere; our teeth chartered and we
crowded together. DIR. Grassetti soon
grew feeble, began to gasp. staggered,
struggled convulsively, closed his eyes
and moved no more. In the f1ne, thin
air one breathes quickly and is soon ex-
hausted. The result is weakness, pain
| in the heart, vertigo, fainting and fin-
ally death, IL the man does not come
again into air of greater density. A
| few minutes after Grassetti, Zambeccari
also fell and gave no more signs OF life.
Now think of my situation! The wax
light in the lantern was extinguished.
l vainly tried to light it with tapers; it
would not ignite. With much trouble
l obtained light with ordinary matches.
It had scarcely succeeded in this when l
was seized with dizziness and faintness.
| It took great force of will to keep onmy
legs. Balanced between heaven and
earth, the balloon few on, swift as an
arrow. At my side lay the two who
had tainted or were dead. ! was with
out means of delivering myself from so
horrible . condition. Yet it became
worse.
below us? 1t was the surging Of the
ocean. 1t could be nothing else. We
must have been hurled through the air .
distance of over q hundred miles, and,
according to the direction of the wind,
had now reached the region of the sea.
What now? 1t would be impossible to
descend until we were again above land.
In vain l strove to read the barometer.
/ NV ewes knew nothing more. Faint
ING, / stared into the darkness and upon
the moonlight clouds. Not to swoon,
grasped the side of the basket in which
4 we sailed.
1 Ii was about quarter after two o clock;
our fight had lasted an hour and hall,
when it seemed to me rs II the clouds
flew upwards Was it delusiOn
brought about by my bodily conditionf
All at once frightful thought came "a
me, the clouds were not floating up,
but we were falling! bent over the
side of the basket-yes, yes, heard
palmer and louder the roar Of the ocean
| as we rushed downward. How it hap
pened l do not know; whether the bal
loon got some opening above, which
let the gas escape. or what else.
looked over again. Almighty God, b<
gracious and merciful to usi We ar
about to sink in the sea. ! gripped the
nearest of my companions, shook hin
and called to him: Awake! awake
We are falling into the ocean, Their
| bent far out again and stared down
: ward-yes, there was gray mass o
crowding pillows, there it boiled and
seethed and hissed--one moment more
we should be buried in the flood. '.Zam
: beccari!'' shrieked, seizing him in 1
convulsive grasp, 1--WE are plunging in
to the scar and looked over again in
: to our watery grave. I,
The Count lifted his head, and whis
pered: Ballast -out!''-sl0wly rsAet
himself, mechanically seized the bag o
! sand that we had in our basket q
!. cargo; i laid hold Of it, too; lam
/; bcccari quickly recovered himself, WI
: worked the bag up, we got it over tn
side; the doctor came to himself also
in q moment understood the situation
J theoretically hurled barometer, com
: pass, the whole collection of instru
: ments and our provisions, all, all over
. board. In another moment the baske
: touched the water, and we wer
drenched by the salt water. But at tn
same instant we flew aloft with tn
!. speed of an arrow. We were in tn
!. water only long enough to fill GU
! basket half full and wet us to tn
: skin. The balloon had now nothing 3
; carry but us three; the water ran out Q
. the basket, and we fiew again into space
! Great Heavens! That was an ascen
I sion! In thrice we had reached th
: louds-gone through and above them
' Now we poised over the clouds far be
low; below us the blood red moon shon
o ON the vaporous masses and on u
4 poor children of earth, trembling wit
E cold in our frail basket. The cold sud
!: denly froze the water; our wet clothe
= were coated with ice. We felt shar