The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-09
THE MAJORS BALLOON STORY.
Els Way of Getting Bullets and Ballast
Caused 1t to Be Told.

always willing 70 tell ANYBODY who yyould
listen all about himself. To Jack and
Molly he was the greatest hero that lad
ever lived. the youngsters had only 10
ask the major questiOn-apy one, it mat
tered not what it waste start him of on a
story Of adventure, and as he called upon
jack and Molly's father once q month
regularly, the children were not long in
getting together a collection OF tales. be-
side which the most exciting episodes in
history paled into Insignificant common
places.
Uncle Major" said Jack one day as be
climbed up into the visitors lap, were you
ever up in a ballOon?"
"Only once" said the major calmly.
But 1 had enough Of it that time to last
me for q llfetime.n
Were you in it longF' queried Molly.
taking possession of the other knee.
"Well, 1t seemed long enough" the major
answered. Three months off in the country
playing all day long and sleeping all night
seems a very short time but three months
IN a balloon and the CONSTANT center of at
tack from every source is too long for
comfort"
''Were you up in the air for three whols
months" asked Jack, his eyes wide open
with establishment.
"All but two days." said the major.
''FOr two OF those days we rested in the
this: was always, as you know, a great
favorite with the Emperor Napoleon III. of
France, and when, in 1870 he found him
self involved in war with Germany. he
replied TO one of his courtiers, who warned
him that his army was not in condition 10
fight the Prussisus: ANY army is prepared
fer war whose commander in chief num-
bers Maj Carraway among his advisers
Let me have CarTaway at my right hand
and l will fight the world
$50 they sent for me, and as was not
very busy concluded to 90 and assist the
French, although King William and were
also very good friends. l reasoned it out
this way: In this fight William is the
stronger. He does not need me- Napoleon
does Eight for the weak, Carraway, l said
to myself, and so l went. OF course when
l reached Paris went at once to the en-
perOr's palace and remained at his side until
he took to the field, when remained be-
hind for few days TO put things to rights
for the imperial family. Unfortunately
for the French the King of Prussia heard
of my delay in going to the front, and he
sent word to his forces to intercept me on
my way to join Napoleon at all hazards,
and this they did. When l was within ten
miles of Napoleon's headquarters [ was
stopped by the Prussians, and had it not
been that / had provided myself with a
balloon for just such an emergency, l
should have been captured and confined in
the kings palace at Berlin until the war
was over.
s"Foreseeing all this had brought with
me large balloon packed away in a secret
section OF my trunk, and while my body
guard was fighting with the Prussian troops
sent to capture me, and my servant in
hsted the balloon, jumped into the car and
were soon high up out Of the enemY's reach.
They fired several shots at US, and one of
hau nd bo hall hoI
not, By rare good shot. fired my own rifle
at the bullet, and, hitting it squarely in the
middle, as Is my custom, diverted ig from
Its course, and so saved our lives.
1T had been my intention to sail directly
over the heads of the attacking party and
drop down into Napoleon's camp the next
morning, but unfortunately for my calcula-
ton heavy wind storm came up in the
night and and my servant were caught
by a southerly blast and blown into Africa,
where, poised in the air directly over the
desert of Sahara, We encountered a dead
calm, which kept US stalled for two miser-
able weeks"
Why didn't you come downp' asked
"We didn's dare to-" explained the
major. Aft we had we'd have wasted a
great deal Of our gas, and our condition
would have been worse than ever. As |
Bold you, we were right over the center Of
the desert. There was no way Of getting
out Of it except by long and wearisome
marches over the hot, burning sands, with
the chances largely in favor Of our never
getting out OF 1t alive. The only thing to
do was to stay just where we were and wait
for faVoring breeze. This we did, having
to wait four mortal weeks"
You said two weeks q minute ago,
major" said Jack.
Two! HEM Well, yes, it WAS two now
I If ! Il -
said the major, strokiug bis mustache q lit
Tie nervously- You see, two weeks in a
balloon over a vast desert of sand, with
nothing to do but whistle for q breeze is
equal to four weeks anywhere else. That is
1t seems 80. Any how, two weeks or four,
whichever it was, the breeze came finally
and along about midnight left us stranded
sgain directly over an Arab encampmene
near WadY Halfa. 1t was a more periious
position really than the first, because the
moment the Arabs caught sight OF US they
began to make frantic efforts to get US
down. At first we simply laughed them to
scorn and made faces at them because, as
far as we could see, we were safely out of
reach. This enraged them, aud they ap-
parently made up their minds to kill us If
they could. At first their idea was to get
us down alive and sell us as slaves, but our
Jeers changed ali that, and what should they
do but whip out lot OF guns and begin TO
pepper us.
" I'll settle them in minute l said to
myself, and set about loading my own gun.
Would you believe it, found that my last
bullet was the one with which l had saved
the balloon from the Prussian shotP'
"Mercyp said Molly. what did you
II threw out bag of sand ballast so
that the balloon would rise just out of the |
bullets reach, aud then, as the bullets got |
to their highest point and began to drop |
back, reached oup and caught them with |
adlpper. In less than twenty minutes 1 !
mad every bullet the Arabs had fired. With !
these loaded my rife and shot every one |
oCt the hostile party, and when the last Of |
tae attacking party dropped | found |
there were enough bullets left to fill the |
sald bag again, so that the lost |
ballast was not missed. In fact, !
taere were enough of them 10 weight TO |
Oflng the balloon down 50 near to the |
earth that our anchor rope dRngled directly |
over the encampment 30 that my valet and !
l. without wasting any of our gas could |
Chmb down and secure all the magnificent |
treasures In rugs and silks and rare jewels |
tlese robbers Of the desert had managed to |
KY together in the course of their depreda- !
u0s. When these were placed In the car
another breeze came up and for the balance |
VI the time we drifted about the heavens |
,%talsing for a convenient place to land. In /
md yrcr