The suburban citizen., 1901-09-28


usual. but when 1 saw how the wind
blew l had no notion of attempting to
use the parachute. In fact, was as
cending under compulsion, and had no
clear idea how l should get down. I
wanted to get away from that crowd,
1 actually had been afraid they would
kill me If failed to go up. The howl
ing was something frightful.
Goodbye, you unfeeling animals"
I shouted. "Unless this balloon bursts
you will not see me again very soon"
An upturned sea of swarthy faces was
watching for me to descend.
However, 1 had soon left them all
behind Now that l was aloft, borne
on the wings of the mighty air current
did not feel the wind at all. The bal
loon moved with it. Not a breath
seemed to stir It was only by look
ing down at the earth that saw how
rapidly l was travelling onward, over
river, wide spruce forests and scat
tered clearngs. l knew the story Of
La Mountain and his balloon, and had
a horror of being carried Off into the
Canadian wilderness. l hoped that in
the course Of an hour or two the wind
might fall, or the direction of the air
current change.
The balloon continued to go steadily
forward however, in q northerly
course until the little clearings and
cabins below grew few and far be-
tween.
l must have Travelled nearly $50
miles when l saw a large lake, or
rather n group Of three or four lakes,
come into view on the horizon. Di-
rectly the black of the spruce woods
had begun to fade into the pale gray
of messy bOgs of tamarack and the
purple hue of caribou barrens.
| could not see a clearing or sign Of hu-
man habitation anywhere. The crowd
which l had left behind was bad
enough, but the unexplored wilderness
| Of lake and swamp ahead of me be-
! gan to have an aspect even more gEim
and terrifying. Moreover, I desaed
If possible, to save my balloon To de-
scend in a gale is always perilous, but
there seemed no help for it. 1 dared
not try the parachute, and so finally 1
pulled open the gas valve. The bal
loon soon began to approach the gray
swamps that stretched away to the
! lakes ahead.
All the time l was flying as fast as
a horse could run; and as sank lower
l perceived that 1 was likely to do
some rough trailing"
When 1 came within 800 or 400 feet
of the ground threw out a strong
grapnel and line, which swung clear
for some minutes, then began to brush
the tall tree tops and catch in them.
By good luck-of which l had had
little enough thus far that day-these
slight bitches greatly diminished the
! speed of the balloon, and the grapnel
soon catching stronger hold, basket,
balloon and all came down with a sud
den hard aounce in a thicket Of low,
shrub-like frs, bordering a small bay
on one Of the lakes-and there, hold
ing fast, swayed up and down.
was pitched out Of the basket into
mud and water, but jumped TO my feet
and started to run back among the
thick frs to secure the anchorage when
l became suddenly aware that 1 was
not alone.
A loud squawking and squalling
arose all about me- 1 had come down
in a swamp where wild geese were on
their nests. l was actually treading
on them and on their great white eggs
before l saw them. Every fir bush,
with its widespread boughs appeared
to have a nest under it,
The outcry that all these geese set
up was something deafening. They
rose up, tapping their wings, kissing
and squalling, and at once from all
sides, from the thlckets and from the
pond, there came rushing flying, skim.
ming over the frs whole focks of the
biggest and most savage gray ganders
L ever set eyes on. They dashed at me
at the balloon, at the parachute, and
at the basket, and bit like bulldogs
and the blows from their long. hard
wings were like blows from a fail.
Before l could make shift to defend
myself with my knife or balloon hook
they had hold of me by my clothing
by my legs, by my hair even, tug
ging yelling and thrashing me. One
pinched my cheek so that the blood
flowed. Their wings pounded my
head like clubs. l lodged this way
and that, and laying about me with
the stah Of my hook, knocked down
ganders right and left, but still they
came.
lost a moment in foolish effort to
get my revolver from the wicker lock.
er in the basket, and was well nigh
overborne. If once they had beaten
me down they would have killed me-
beyond doubt, but now began lump.
ing from side to side among the frs
lodging and striking with the hook
These tactics confused the ganders
for in their mad fury they few blind.
ly against each other. 1 was con.
stantly stumbling into more nests, but