The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1914-12-29

opened, would send the dirigible to
earth with a speed and aim that moth
ing could avert.
Seven days later Durand. with a
thousand pounds of melinite IN his
dirigible balloon, and the parachute
attached to the aluminium stern, rose
slowly above the French camp into
the. air.
From the walls of the fortress the |
besieged general. glass to his eyes,
watched and wondered at this new
maneuver.
He had sworn never to surrender,
and by heroic privations his men had
managed to conserve still another
| days supply Of water. though nearly
all their animals were dead OF thirst.
It was the generals intention to cut
his way out at the head Of his troops
! on the morrow, and die upon the
feld-unless it rained.
But the scorched heavens refused
/ to open. Day and night were one
brazen glow Of heat. All night heat
lightning played on the horizon, and
sometimes the distant muttering OF
thunder was heard. but never drop
( Of rain had fallen.
Durand rose slowly into the air,
and. as he did SO. the airguns OF the
fortress opened fire upon him. But
it Is the most difficult thing in the
world to hit quickly rising balloon.
and neither Durand nor Lamarche had
any fears on that score. II the bal.
loon were hit, the melinite would ex.
plode in the air and the balloon and
aviator would vanish-but no harm
would come to the besiegers. At
worst, the experiment would harm no.
body.
At an altitude of two thousand feet
the balloon was safe from danger.
Durand smiled as he heard the great
shells whizzing around him. He
knew that only miracle of marks.
manship could bring him down.
At four thousand feet Durand was
only speck in the sky, hardly to be
discerned even through Lamarche's
glasses The French camp strained
its eyes upward. The report OF the
broken mans exploit, which was to
restore his honor and bring, no doubt,
the ribbon Of the legion of honor,
had become universal. And In the
beleaguered fortress for the first time
an inkling Of the airman's intentions
became obvious when q tiny speck
was seen to detach itself from the
slightly larger mass and drop toward
earth.
Instantly It had begun the swift
descent, while the balloon, relieved OF
its slighter burden. shot upward, In
spite Of the rapid escape Of gas. The
dirigible ascended 1--WE hundred feet
| before 1t paused, stood still. and then
began its downward rush.
Durand had planned his descent %
that it should carry him into the
French lines. But to his horror q
sudden breeze drove the parachute
straight toward the inside Of the fort
/ ress wallis And then, resigning him
self to the inevitable. he devoted all
his efforts toward saving his life
rather than attempting to gain the
camp Of the besiegers. which would
mean an instant drop to death.
4 It was about minute after he had
pulled the cord of the valve when Du
rand dropped, unframed, at the feet
of the general in defense of For'
Gleichen.
n But nobody noticed him, for all eye'
were strained upward to where thu
great balloon came whirling down
straight toward the fortress. Here
Durand had not miscalculated. It fel
d true as an arrow, and the heat light
o ming played about it and
q Boom!
q The most awful defamation that hat
d ever been heard since war began
+ filled the whole air with sound.
l. coil of cloud enveloped everything
d and shut out the sunlight. Slowly l
Q drifted away. And everyone knew
what had occurred. The dirigible hal
\, been struck by lightning during IT
descent.
d An instant later the sun disap
). peared. And suddenly, with the SCUM
n Of a million bullets. hailstones tn
size OF pigeons eggs whizzed to tn
v earth, followed by a drenching d0wr
pour.
0. Never had 1t rained as 1t rained tina
e. afternoon. The water fell In torrents
IT II was as though million lose
;" were turned earthward from the hea'
u ems. In two minutes the camps wer
flooded. The streets Of the b
a. leaguered town ran water. Men fun
ID themselves upon their faces and wa
le lowed in the precious rain. Frol
every house buckets, bath tubs, In
Of plements of every kind were on
stretched to hold the life-giving waite
Ill The cisterns overlooked. The b
sieged city was saved.
Of Durand stood before the gener
Ill within the fortress. His hope hs
ce failed, by the interposition of the u
y" expected element, fate, which SEM
SO many schemes agley.
ID. He expected death. He was n
Is, even in uniform-a hopeless, ragg'
lst ex-convict, bearing the stamp