The morning call., 1893-10-22

4
Both the female passenger ana began &c
ask questions.
what does this mean ?-What is it?-
What has happenedP"
The captain, who was the first to regain
bis feet leaned over the void.
THE cable is broken!" said he. 1--WE
are loose!''
Secretly frightened. but unwilling to LEI
1t be seen, said:
This is a captive balloon; will 1t be
strong enough to permit US to land in
safety?"
There are only three of us and the bal
| loon is inflated for thirty. That's the me-
dunn number of passengers. You will
| nave only the annoyance OF passing two
or three hours more than you calculated 10
my company. and doubtless the inconven-
lence OF not getting back to Sydney until
| Tomorrow morning."
"ln that case, captain" replied. II am
doubly delighted at the accident; the as
censlon has grown exciting, and we could
not desire more courteous pilot than
yourself. Is it not so, madame?"
Miss, II you please" rectifed the very
slight and slender lady. Miss Arabslla
| ipton. at your servicer' And she added !:
But shall miss my last car for Wooloo-
moolooop'
From new vibrations the captain conjec-
tured that we were carrying suspended be-
cable. Its weight visibly impeded the
ascent OF the Condor of the Andes; and
there was reason to fear that on the de-
scent it would occasion very grave dam
ages.
The aeronaut was, fortunately, prompt
In decision. Like true captain he armed
himself with his penknife, and, hoisting
himself over the interior abyss Of the osier
basket, strove to saw away the thick rope.
How high are we?" he asked. without
iDterrupting his difficult and perilOus task.
Twelve hundred and twenty five
yards! responded Miss Arabella, getting
ahead of me again.
Painting greatly. the asronaut added. ad-
dressing himself to me:
"As soon as the cable is detached, with
bound we will ascend to two"
The sentence remained unfinished.
At slight cry turned around, ceasing
to observe the barometer. Over the gap
ing void could no longer see either the
man or the cable. In the captains su-
preme effort, one drawing the other, both
had fallen! Above US, toward the pro-
found night, still stretched unfathoma Bile
SPACE.
had not much time for pity; the bal
loon. suddenly freed, scaled the inaccess-
ible with prodigi0us bound! And with
out any idea of aerial navigation, lost in
space and darkness. found myself alone
sciOus as she of the danger, unable to at
tempt the slightest maneuver.
Mute, but terrified-I OWNED it without
seeing her, for her fingers had plunged
their nails into my garments and flesh
Miss Arabela had seized my arm. Sud-
denly she let 60 her hold to stoop and I
saw that she was thro wing our sand over
board.
was about to grasp her unceremoni-
ously by the waist-loglcally convinced
that unballasted we would mount higher
yet-when of themselves her arms fell;
| realized that she was inert. A prey also to
very painful uDeasiness / cast glance of
anguish at the barometer. The atmos-
pherlc pressure had sensibly diminished
we had passed 1000 yards! In the air the
oxygen had rarefied. l experienced SON
satiOn had already felt on high SUBMITS.
Miss" called ], striving to raise up the
young girl, but it was in vain, for ! had no
strength. My legs trembled. my head
sank upon my shoulders; no longer felt
the existence OF my body.
Crawling, l dragged myself to the
barometer and saw with terror that the
pressure had gone down to Zero-338.
That was the equivalent of 6500 yards in
heght-the altitude of Chmborazo or of
the Kouen-LOnn chain. By the light of
tie little lantern ! noticed that my hands
were growing black and swelling. My
pulse counted the improbable number Of
130 to 40 beatings. simultaneously with
an insurmounta BILE desire to sleep. the
forerunner of asphyxia, cadaveric insensi-
biity was gaining possession of me.
| had, however. the will to take the little
lantern in my hand, but on stretching up
to reach it / felt myself enveloped by ter
rlbls cold. Ice coated the Condor of the
Andes. The mercury of the therm ometer
had fallen to "a deg. below zero.
l then clearly comprehended that the
end had come. and, without further striv-
ing to recover, closed my eyes and. gave
myself up.
At the horizon. low and distant, bril-
liant and blue light was appearing
When l returned to the knowledge of
things magnificent moon was illumina-
ting the night. My eyes. turning mecban-
ically to the rim of the car, distinguished a
small silk ballon fastened to strap. 1t
bore a label: Oxygen at rs per cent"
tainments enabled me to understand this
salvation almost at my hand! A few in-
halations of that over-oxygenated air
would restore me life, with strength.
/ seized the little balloon as quickly as I
was capable of doing and, carefully un-
screwing lis stopper, applied IL to my
mouth TO breathe. afterward thought of
Miss Arabella and introduced the slender
neck between her Hips which l saw were
horribly black and swollen.
Greedily, as she returned TO life, took
it from her again. and then ensued between
US strange struggle of feroclous famished
creatures
Very far below US vast undulations
shone. which, at that height, judged to
be the Blue Mountains. We therefore had
been carried about fifty miles to the west
of Sydney.
Cool now and completely restored / was
considering the quickest way in which to
end our adventure. The more so as. saved
also from asy byxia and strength hened. Miss
Upton kept shouting In my ears in deaf
ening tone: II want to descend. Monsieur
Frenchmani repeat to you that l want
to descendw
Parbleu! also wanted to descend, but
could not in reason burst our balloon under
pretext of showing myself gallant toward
her.
Without losing time in answering her
strove to maneuver the ropes; pulled
them one after the other. hoping thus to
discover that which communicated with
the escape valve. And / evidently sue
ceeded. for Miss Arabella exclaimed, clap
ping her hands:
1--WE are descending, monsieur; the bal
loon Is descendingw
We were really descending, as could he
told by the strong shocks of the ear, and
again pulled at the rope but much more