San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-29
A BALLOON TRIP.


OF value OF necessity would nave TO follow
to keep the balloon above the earth. There
was not 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
more favorable hour, but the afternoon
wore away and no change came. At dusk
a breeze did come, but it would have sent
us off to sea, and it was decided to make a
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 quiet
night But darkness had hardly come be-
fore we heard the roaring of lions, and there
was such a chirping of insects that one
could hardly make his voice heard without
shouting. As we had seen no people about
we did not think it necessary to keep a
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 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 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-
pcred Mazam. 1T was challenge to COM
bat, and now you will see some fun"
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-
ter movement. Then he turned to the
left, and was countered again. Then he
backed off and the other advanced. Then
he advanced and the other backed off The
play had been going on in this fashion for
at least twenty minutes when the one to
the east of us made rush so swift and
sudden that we could not follow him. The
beasts grappied and rolled over and over,
making tremendous fuss, but after two
Or three minutes of this one of them turned
tail and ran away, hotly pursued by the
victor.
out incident. and as daylight came breeze
from the north came with it. After a 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 rifle shot from the earth
And we had scarcely begun to move before
we found ourselves above long drawn out
caravan or moving village, which had just
taken up its line of march. Perhaps all
knew our craft to be 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. 1t was
an open country, aud such men as were
mounted on horses could keep up with us.
Now, then" said MaZam, as the bullets
continued to sing about us, overheard
with that key of water, all extra clothing,
everything to give us lift out of range
and ! will do some shooting for myself"
He seized rifle and fred at a horseman
almost under us, and then exchanged for
the other and fired at another, and by this
time we were in the clouds and driving
away at much faster pace. Inside of an
hour the balloon began to approach the
Earth again. and as we were driving toward
Mirbat 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 800 feet above the ground.
To maintain this distance we had to throw
over the two rifles, and twenty minutes
later we dropped into field of maize just
outside of Mirbat-New York Sun.