Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-19


sense Of his peril, while the continued escape
of the gas warned him that he must get away
from the mouth if he did not want to be suf
focated. But could he slide down the slender
rope to safer place?
He did not dare to look down, lest he
should be giddy; but shut his eyes, and work
ing his way to the rope succeeded in lower
ing himself to the bar, where the aeronaut was
now sitting.
"You young cub" the man cried, angrily,
seizing Jerry by the arm. "You have put me
in a nice hole and for that matter you've
put yourself there, too. There was just
enough gas in this balloon to take me over
that mountain" pointing to the pine-covered
slope toward which they were sailing; and
now, with your weight, well land on this
hope you'll break your neck" he added, VIC
iously. "Td let you drop now for a cent"
Jerry glanced down in sudden terror. Far
below him stretched the meadows, looking
like a patchwork quilt; off at one side lay
Chestnutville hardly larger than toy. vii.
tent were like ants. How horrible it would
be to fall Jerry shivered and shut his eyes.
"Oh, don't let me go' he cried piteousy,
as he fancied he felt the mans hold loosen.
"I can't die that way amt ready to die
yet. disobeyed my father. If ! had minded
him wouldn't have been here at all"
To his great joy the aeronaut's grasp once
more frightened.
II ought to let you co. tn. man said,
"there's no valve to pull to make the balloon
go lower, and no ballast to throw out to make
her go higher. When the gas gives out she
the woods is thickest. See!" he suddenly
cried as puff of wind carried them more
swiftly toward the mountain; were go
ing to strike the trees, and we'll be killed,
sure!"
Jerry gave himself up for lost. ALI the
1.oah ahad;o nfl fn 1rIlh hof0
him, crowned by the act of that morning.
How wicked he had been! And how poorly
prepared he was to die
They were dragging now over the tops Of
the trees. Several branches had caught in
the trapeze, threatening to tear it away from
the balloon, or drag Jerry and the man away
from its protection. But beyond the trees,
the sharp eyes of the aeronaut had discovered
little clearing, extending up the mountain
side A second later the balloon had struck
again, carrying with it only the aeronaut into
the air.
When it struck, Jerry involuntarily loosened
his hold, but the rebound was SO sudden that
before he could let go he was already some
distance above the earth. Down, down he
he landed on his side. He felt quick sharp
pain in his arm, and then he knew nothing
at all.
Meanwhile, the balloon, relieved of its extra
weight, rose over Jhe mountain, and came
safely down in the place which the aeronaut
had planned. Presently the wagon, sent up to
bring the canvas down, arrived, and with it
man who showed great anxiety when he found
Signor Ascenseur folding up his balloon
alone.
"Where's the boy?" he cried eagerly. "What
have you done with the boy?"
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"How should l know where the boy isP"
he asked, sullenly. Il didn't fetch him along
He dropped, just over the mountain. | dare
say he's down in the village by this time,o
The stranger grasped the other by the arm.
'You come with me-" he said, excitedlv
"and show me where the boy fell. If be'ss
dead, it was you that killed him."
Signor Ascenseuf, now somewhat frightened
on his own account, dropped the canvas and
with his captor and the circus man, who had
brought up the wagon, tramped off through the
fields.
A short walk brought them to the ton Of
the mountain, from which they could see the he
clearing, hundred feet below. PenetratinS
the thick underbrush, they came in a few mo.
ments to the place where the balloon had
struck There on the ground, his eyes closed,
Continued on Following Pare