The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-01-12


I've Dropped ny False Teeth Over
o.rd"
fail OF say 10000 feet. OF the two
was more sorry for Montgomery than
for the Professor, for ne didn't have
the love of science to sustain him,
which the Professor had.
I'VE went up and up. The gas eX-
banded with the heat of the sun and
flowed over into the rubber bag, as
Van WAGNER had meant it should
and when this happened we about
doubled our pace. We lost sight OF the
earth by o'clock in the morning, and
by II O'Clock the air had grown so thin
that we began to have difficulty in
breathing. Prof Van Wagner, whose
lungs were weak, suffered worse than
the rest of us, but he kept right on
making his scientific notes, and to
all appearances was enjoying himself
as much as he had ever done in his
life. Montgomery sat quiet, having
grown tired of cussin' the Professor,
dDhs1lot ObIAis3 " CNtNHS AAtN
mind. / turned around to look over the
side when the hilt of my revolver,
which was in my hip pocket. caught
in the wicker work of the car, and
gave me an idea.
" See here, Montgomery, | said, /
can let the gas out of this balloon, but
wen have TO take the risk of its es-
Gaping so fast that we shall land in al
almost as much Of hurry as we will
when the thing bursts
''sI'll take the chances, says Mont
gomery. If you let out the gas we
shall have chance, even if it is a
slim one; but if you don't let it out
we're as dead as Julius Caesar"
"'What do you say, Professor
said. for / didn't want to act rashIy.
Certainly says the Professor. by
all means try your experiment, Colo
mel, though | should prefer that you
should wait till we reach an elevation
of $1,000 feet, which will be greater
than anyone else has ever attained
We're high enough says Mont
gomery. / amt pining TO get among
the angels just yet Terry firmy is
good enough for me-
"'All right says ], and ! drew my
revolver and fired at the aluminium
globe OF course the bullet went
through it as if it was paper, making
where it came out. This gave the gas
the choice of two ways of escaping
and it took them both.
I'm the course of the next five min
utes the balloon began TO sink, and i
had hopes that we might reach land
safely. But Montgomery knew bet
ter. The balloon kept sinking faster
and faster, as more and more gas es-
capped, and in n little while we were
dropping down almost as fast as we
would have done had the balloon burst.
The earth wasn't long in coming in
sight, and the trees and fields and
houses seemed TO be rushing up to
meet us.
There was a good breeze blowing
when we were, as Montgomery judged
about mile highr and it drifted us
westward towards a good-sized lake.
eff we can only stay up till we're
over that lake we shall be all right,
said Montgomery. Colonel, just
heaye overheard everything there is
III this car
with that he seized whatever he
could lay his hands on, and / did the
same, and for a minute or two it just
rained instruments and things over
that section of the country.
"'Off with your boots, coats, waist
coats, and hats yells Montgomery.
Professor, if you've got any more
portable teeth heave 'em over. We
must get rid of every ounce of weight
If we want to reach that lake
We'll we reduced our clothing down
to a pretty low point, and Van Wagon
err went so far as to throw over his
glass eye, he having no more teeth
ready for discharging. Then we sat
down and waited to see what the end
would be.
I'VE were perhaps q quarter of a
mile high when we came over the lake,
and the moment we got where the wa
ter looked as if it might be fairly deep,
Montgomery caught the Professor in
his arms and threw him over, without
waiting to ask him if he was ready to
go. Then Montgomery yelled to me to
jump, and we all three left that bal
loon so suddenly that we all struck the
water at pretty near the same time.
Il went down to the bottom, which
was, as / judged, about so miles from
the surface, though afterwards heard
that the lake was nowhere over 40
feet deep. When / came up, Montgom-
cry and the Professor were already
swimming for land. and ] followed
their example Al the people in the
neighborbooa had seen the balloon,
and there was already a crowd of men,
women and children on the shore wait
ing for us to land.
This is exceedingly awkward,
says the Professor, 4 really can't face
those people with only one eye and nc
teeth. Colonel, there's the balloon float
ing out there; / think we had better
swim back to her and wait for an OPP
portunity TO land after dark.
+. I'm going ashore said Montgom-
cry. 'andrd golf hadn't limb left,
and every female boarding school in
Illinois was standing on the shore.
However, the Professors general ap-
peafanee Was 50 CHASTITY that most OF