The morning call., 1893-12-17

Drummond and DR.. Cornelius Burke.
Neither would have bad the smallest pros
poet OF getting place in tile basket,
which was heavy enough to stand siege
itself, but for the feet that both were light
men. although Drummond was feet Q. a
medium tallness which was qualified by
the doctor, who was little more than ieet
5, and only appeared TO be taller by being
excessively slender. Fortunately. also,
the mail bags were light and the pigeons
hardly counted, cooped up in their boxes.
The Indications of wind were favora BILE
for run TO the southwest. but the upper
currents might not be the same as the
lower. All that could be predicted was
that, The day being clear. the Prussians
were extremely unlikely to catch the
arronau or to hit them with a salute Of
rifle-bullets, and two or three hours might
give them safe landing in Southern
Normandy or beyond The Loire, in which
event they would be in France without
having Prussian helmets and needie-guDs
in sight.
Waiting until the sun had given buoyant
expansion to the gas in the huge swaying
aerostat and leaving two hours of daylight
Tor mid-ar flight. the aeronaut at length
gave the signal 10 start, and up rose the
Alouette gracefully and rapidly, so that
in three minutes she was quite 5000 feet
above the city and was still in the ascend
ant turning gently round from still
tttlDS tue RyGdtiuR dS SUE
left the ground. L. was pretty sight
and very consolatory TO the Parisians,
who were thus giving proof of their
herulsm and devotion to country by a
demonstration OF the rniseries they were
prepared to endure rather than surrender.
SPY the immortal GeorgeW exclaimed
Drum mOnd. ''il's worth while to have
stood a siege and diet of pup 10 see this
sight. Ye gods, il is magnif irent!" And
he began to shout ana sing with joyous
ness that the larks might have envied.
The dapper Breton had never been
higher than the truck If ship in his life
before. but he too was intoxicated with
the pleasure of the view and had mounted
into the stays of the netting and was
astride the iron ring to which the square
basket was hung. There, conspicuous
figure, at least from the basket, he was
waving the tricolor of the republic fran
tically to remind the world that France
would emerge from her present aft c;ions.
and that meanwhile he had nothing but
con empt for the scorpion invaders. But
he soon had need of what wits he had in
steering balloon.
A good mile beneath the city lay spread
out as on map. its streets girdling and
crossing like faint creamy lines. its build
iDgs Insignificant, mere fiat tones scarcely
recognizable. the domes of the Pantheon
and lnvalides little more than Inverted egg
cups, the Seine thread of blue green, to
the east and south the Seine and Marine
tiny silver filaments, and far to the west
the slnuOus links OF the cOnjoined rivers
could be traced into fertile distance as
yet little trod by the invader. The sky
overhead was clear, beisg Only streaked
here and there bv few cirrii in symmetrical
/ flakes, but westward were some masses of
cumull already gilded by the !Ow-lving
winter sun. The barometer indicated 5000
feet and the DETECTION OF the little ribbon 8
OF paper streaming out from the stays
showed that The balloon was still rising,
though slowly. In this upper stratum Of
air the current veered to the northward, a
direction Bonu wished TO avoid. and when
he observed the aerostat rircling round as q
consequence of the change from one cur
rent to the other he came down from bis
eiddy perch, looked grave and spat out
fOrcibly over the rim of the basket at some
unknown object of contumely.
'Jacque. you patriot, that will split q
PrussiaD cranium If il strikes the right
spot" remarked the doctor with grin.
"a species of French baptlsm"
"Ah les sceleratsl les chiensP eiacu-
marck! should like TO dust his eyes with
ballast il we cross Versailles"
mo chance of that. think" reioined
the doctor, glancng down on the chimney.
pots OF Bnurget and the cathedral of st.
Denis, and indicating with wave of the
hand the plateau of Versailles and the
| heights from st. German TO Sceaux.
Yes, but we must return" said Jacoue
who opened the valve In the crown of the
balloon just little.
With lessened buoyancy they dropped
two or three hundred feet. and when the
sireamers once more indicated eQuipolse
the balloon had again taken the southwest
direction and would cross the Bots de Bou.
| logDe or perhaps Fort Valeriep. which wa.
| then booming its guns at a terrific rate bui
| was eliciting little more then contem ptuou:
silence from the masked German batterie.
| on The heights opposite. Within half ar
! hour the Alouette was beyond ST. Cloud