Evening star., 1896-11-07

1 Stuffed the Sheet Into My Ears,
night. In Oldendorf. some of the best and
most aristocratic people lived in apart
nents over the shops. and my friend s
apartments were so situated. My room was
in the third story, and the French window.
which / had opened. led out upon fiat
roof, which was inclosed three sides by
brick walls, and the fourth side of which
faced upon a street. l had noticed this
roof and this area when l was in my cham
Der before tea They seemed different to
me now. There was something there which
l mad not seen them. The area now was al
most filed with something vast and globu-
lar and vague and vascilating. l stepped
out upon the roof and advanced toward this
monster. which, as l approached. took the
appearance OF a great yellow rubber ball,
twelve feet and more in diameter: and it
suddenly flashed upon me that had found
the runaway balloon.
l did not wonder at it, nor was / sur
prised. 1t was the most natural thing in
the world. The roof was guarded on the
street side by an iron fence or railing
curiously wrought with leaves and spikes,
and the balloon drifting that way, the
cordage of the lower part had become en-
tangled in this iron work. so that the aerial
ship safely housed and concealed be-
tween these three walls.
My first feeling was one of proprietor
ship. 1t was clearly mine by all the laws
regarding salvage and treasure trove. 1t
struck me. somehow, that the first thing
to do was to untangle the rigging where it
y
When it was wrecked, so to speak, upon
the railing. several of the many cords
which held the car had become unfaStened
OF unlocked from the ring or hoop above.
and the car had tilted over. and had
dumped it's contents-eight bags of sand
upon the roof. l righted the wicker car
and disentangled several of the cords by
which it should have hung, and refastened
them to the hoop at the bottom of the bal
loon; then. as it was warm night. and
was somewhat heated by the exertion, 1
took off my coat, and because it was the
handiest place. threw it into the car. Very
soon there remained but two of the cords
to disengage from the ironwork. The
straining OF the balloon made it so difficult
that l threw one leg over the edge of the
car and bore my weight upon it. as to
slacken the cords. Even then l could not
get them off. So / took out my knife and
reached down and cut them both with one
stroke. The balloon was now free. ! knew
it, beca in one second. it lifted me about
fifty feet above the top of the building.
Part II.
This was not what 1 wished or intended
1t was also not what I expected: but / did
not wonder at it, nor was l at all surprised.
l should have known that If the balloon
could carry eight twenty-ive-pound bags
of sand. or 200 pounds altogether that
there would be no difficulty about it's get
ting away with me. who weighed some-
thing less than a hundred and Seventy-fve.
The only trouble was that did not think
OF this fact until had cut those last two
cords. and all at once found myself float
ing over the house tops. with one arm and
one leg thrown over the edge of the car
and with both hands tightly gripping the
rim of 1t.
1t only arose to an elevation of seventy
five eighty feet from the ground: from
which fact. argued, that some of the gas
had escaped: otherwise, the weight being
less, 1t would have been more buoyant and
gone higher.
The wind had now changed. and the bal
loon logged along at pretty lively rate
in a direction which would soon bring it
over the market place. from which II had
originally started. l now thought I should
be more comfortable If could get into the
car and l made the effort to do So but II
was a ticklish operation. as 1 had to
squeeze in between the cords which held It
Besides this. the car itself tilted over so
abominably every time 1 tried to get into