The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-06

them that Ine.r llo.ses appeared to be mere
specks on the earth.
1--WE have lost the breeze and are stand
ing still" said my companion as | went
| over to him. II don't know what those
| fellows take US for, but they seem bound
to bring US down"
There were four or five of the Arabs
| shooting at us at this time, and now and
then we could catch the noise of their bull
lets. If we went higher there was fear
of meeting with current of air that
might set us off over the sea again; and as
| the Arabs continued to blaze away, we the
! hanging right above the camp, Mazal1
opened the safety valve with the remark:
Lets show them that two can play at
this game We don't want to kill, but let's
! give them good scare"
AS we dropped down we began firing
over the edge of the basket down among
the flocks, and in two minutes there was
a rumpus which set us both laughing.
The entire village made rush and aban-
doned everything. Some of the men leaped
upon their horses and galloped away, while
others fed on foot, and women and chill
dren ran for grove near by and reached it
to throw themselves PROSTATE on the earth
For an hour we hung above the place as if
anchored there, and then a gentle current
carried US to the northward into the prov
ince of Muscgt. About mid afternoon,
while sailing along thousand feet above
the earth at a slow rate, we came to an
open country which seemed to be destitute
of human life, and Mazam announced that
we would descend and replenish our stock
of water and see what was to be seen.
After the anchor had traied along the
ground for a hundred yards it caught in
the limbs of a PROSTATE tree, and we soon
hauled our craft down and secured her.
We were within ten rods of q small water
course, and while was filing our keg
Mazam shot a couple of fat birds, and we
built fire and cooked and ate them on
the spot. We then gave the balloon a care
ful inspection, and were considerably cast
down at the result of our investigations.
1t was full of folds and wrinkles, and after
we had thrown out the regular ballast left,
which was not above ten pounds, articles
of value of necessity would have to follow
to keep the balloon above the earth. There
was not a breath of air stirring below, and
by watching the clouds we saw that the
set of the upper current was toward the
sea- 1t was therefore deemed best to wait
a more favorable hour, but the afternoon
wore away and no change came. At dusk
breeze did come, but it would have sent
us off to sea, and it was decided to make
night of it where we were.
At dusk we entered the basket and let 90
our line until we were hundred feet above |
the earth, and then prepared for a quiet !
night. But darkness had hardly come be- !
fore we heard the roaring of lions, and there !
mol oh Of hot
could hardly make his voice heard without /
shouting. As we had seen no people about |
we did not think it necessary to keep /
watch, and both went to sleep about the |
same time. AT midnight Mazam shook me |
and whispered in my ear:
Come, now. but here is a sight worth |
seeing. Be careful TO make no noise.'
As | looked over the basket he pointed |
to the west There, on the open ground, |
made almost as light as day by the rising |
moon, was a large male lion. Then he |
pointed to the east, and turned my eyes
that way to discover another. Taking our
balloon as a center, each animal was about |
five rods away and facing each other.
"They were roaring at each other for
fifteen minutes before woke you" whis-
pered Mazam. ut was a challenge to COM
The animals approached each other as
you have seen two dogs, each carefully
lifting his paws and setting them down,
but they did not diminish the distance over
a rod before both stopped and stood as if
cut from stone. The only signs of life
were the low growls of defiance. By and
by one turned to the right as if to half
circle the other This was met by coun-
to,- L. ~
left, and was countered again. Then he
backed off and the other advanced. Then
be advanced and the other backed off. The
play had been going on in this fashion for
at least twenty minutes when the one 10
the east Of us made "A rush so swift and
sudden that we could not follow him. The
beasts grappled and rolled over and over,
making a tremendous fuss, but after two
or three minutes of this one of them turned
tail and ran away, holly pursued by the
victor
The remainder of the night passed with
out incident, and as daylight came breeze
from the north came with it. After cold
bite we lifted our anchor and were off; but
now we found that after every pound of
the regular ballast had gone overheard we
were not above rife shot from the earth.
anu VIC IdO SNdINtiy btBuu 10 move DelOTe
we found ourselves above long drawn ont
or moving village, which had just
taken up its line of march Perhaps all
knew our craft to be a balloon; perhaps
they believed it to be some great bird. At
any rate they began firing at us, and the
very first bullet struck the basket. Ii was
an open country, and such men as were
on horses could keep up with u.s.
Now, then, " said MaZam, as the bullets
cont hued to sing about us, overheard
with that keg of water, all extra clothing,
to give US a lift out of range, |
and l will do some shooting for myself"
He seized a rife and fired at a horseman
almost under us, and then exchanged for
the other-and fired at anothe-, end by this
time we were in the clouds and driving
away at a much faster pace. Inside of an
hour the balloon began 80 approach the
earth again, and as we were driving toward
Nirbat we threw over our overcoats. the
spy glass and the box of bread We shot
upward and drove ahead for about fifteen
miles, and then descended until we were
no more than 500 feet above the ground.
To maintain this distance we had to throw
over the two rifles, and twenty minutes
later we dropped into Il field of maize Just
outside of Mirbat.-NCw York sun.
How to Tell Good Bananas.
d. B. Welsh. the steward of the steamer