The Washington times., 1910-01-27
-=By-=
ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE

II you could have taken a month or so
20 study aErOnauJicS IN general ana
oaLi0oninE IN particular But, u, for
l-r HSIJ time IN your lites you uHeN-
pectedly found yourself whlzzlng up
ward I'm a balloon
! had not the remOtest knowledge Of
Sucn matters I had read in q general
way OF balloon aSceuslOus- knew one
threw out sandbags when the balloon
sank too rapidly.
Yes, there were the saudbags. al my
feet. Those little tight sacks Ike salt
bass. ] had always supposed balloon
sand bags were as big as potato sacks.
And in any case the sandbags would
not serve now, for / wanted to so
down not up
Of my surroundings recognized the
anchor role that ] had read ess--.,-v,
cooled neatly about its 1OUhie-nUpk an
CHgr- one threw that over ] knew
when wanting 70 stop, and the anchor
caught in tree OF earth and brought
the balloon 10 a standstiU.
Indeed, 7 remembered a comic raper
picture of a balloon anchor that caught
IN the suSpeuderS Of q farmer, IS he
was hoeing IL a field. and carried MIN
over his own barn.
But the anchor rope seemed less than
q hundred feet long. and was a mile
or more above ground That would
No, must look elsewhere, and ran
sack my memory for further details.
had never cared especially % read about
balloons They had not. IN the abstract,
interested me Now I wished vainiy
that 7 had made a life study Of them
What else could I remember On,
yes a valve A valve that was open
ed when the balloon was 10 be lowered
and then closed again when one was
ueaT earth
remembered a patent medicine ad-
FeTJlSemenr about an aerCuaut " no be-
came so strong Of nerve after using
Somebody's TOuIJ, that when the escape
valve got out OF order in midaiT and
the rope would not work he climbed
feaTleSslE up INFO the netting and re-
paired the mlSHap- There had been a
picture of him in the act Of making the
perilous climb And he said afterward
that II Il had not been for his course
o. Somebody's Tonic
The EalVe-and the valve rOpeS- That
was the idea BY pulling a rope one
opened a valve This would let gas out
OF the bag, and the balloon would Of
course. sink When II had sunk far
enough, one pulled another rope The
valve closed and the rapid descent
ceased To was assUrediy simple. But
was ~
] looked about me. Ropes every
where Ropes that ran 90 the netting.
ropes Of every sort and description Hut
which were for the vaIves2
7 moved laborioUsIy from place TO
place IN the car. tuEEinE fTanricaiIy AT
them gave
The cold now struck throuEh my
C-cSe-V--1p ped blankets and the pres
sure on my chest was no longer a fE-
ueCt Of the ina gilariou.
I noted two lines. scarce thicker than
light sash cord, running through latch
cts aI one side OF a large rope They
had been SO small that amid the Iabv-
rlnth Of thicker cordage, I had totally
overlooked them
7 gave one Of them q sharp tug. As
wei have pulled against the side 0f a
wall ] had scarce heart or strength
20 Try the other as a last resort. But
I did &C..
And 20 my nervous pun the cord re-
SDouded by giving Not far. but per-
eeUrihl--
I held on 20 IL with one hand and
looked about me There was no means
Of seeing whether or not the velocity
OF the balloon had increased
Tn a few moments I f0OSeled my hold
on the cord and caught up what was
left Of the newspaper sheet.
T tore of a bit and tossed IL over
board II hung an instant IN the air
beside me Then r. fIGated SLOWLY
upward The balloon had ceased to
rise The escaping gas had made nv
weight felt We were slowly sinking
] collapsed. SeaSich and faint into the
bottom Of the car There I lay SILVER
ing rautiuE. dizzy.