The Pulaskian., 1915-12-31

opened, would send the dirigible to earth with speed and aim that noth- 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 field--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 a 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 1t is the most difficult thing in the world to hit quickly rising balloon, and neither Durand nor Lamarche had any fears on that score. If 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 mo- 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 it's 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 airmans intentions became obvious when a 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 it's slighter burden, shot upward, in spite of the rapid escape of gas. The dirigible ascended five hundred feet before it paused, stood still. and then began its downward rush.
 Durand had planned his descent so that it should carry him into the French lines. But to his horror a sudden breeze drove the parachute straight toward the inside of the fort ress walls. 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.
 It was about minute after he had pulled the cord of the valve when Du- rand dropped, unharmed, at the feet of the general in defense of Fort Gleichen.
 But nobody noticed him, for all eyes were strained upward to where the great balloon came whirling down, straight toward the fortress. Here Durand had not miscalculated. It fell true as an arrow, and the heat light ming played about it and
 Boom!
 The most awful detonation that had ever been heard since war began filled the whole air with sound. A coil of cloud enveloped everything and shut out the sunlight Slowly it drifted away. And everyone knew what had occurred. The dirigible had been struck by lightning during it's descent
 An instant later the sun disap- peared And suddenly, with the sound of a million bullets, hailstones the size of pigeons eggs whizzed to the earth, followed by drenching down. pour.
 Never had it rained as it rained that afternoon. The water fell in torrents. It was as though a million hoses were turned earthward from the heav- ems. In two minutes the camps were flooded. The streets of the be- leaguered town ran water. Men flung themselves upon their faces and wal lowed in the precious rain. From every house buckets, bath tubs, inn plements of every kind were out stretched to hold the life-giving water. The cisterns overfiowed. The be- sieged city was saved.
 Durand stood before the general within the fortress. His hope had failed, by the interposition of the un- expected element, fate, which sends so many schemes agIey.