The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-05-16
Over the Desert
By NJ. QUAD
BY Nj. QUAD
Copyright, 1916, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

the celebrated French aeronaut. would
soon make an ascension from the pub
lie gardens" Three or four days later
ran across the professor and was sur
prised and gratified TO find him to be
none other than an old friend whom |
had travelled with in China.
Mazam was now going into balloon
ing just for the fun and adventure It
might bring him, and when he invited
me to accompany him on his first trip
l was not FIVE seconds in accepting the
invitation. We packed the car with
provisions enough to last week, took
rifles. revolvers and ammunition along
end made all preparations for long
journey.
Without her burden Of baggage the
balloon could have carried five or six
men. As 1t was, she shot up like a
bird when all was ready to let go, and
in a few seconds the city and its har-
Dor were far below US. We at once
started on our journey, making a pace
of about fifteen miles an hour.
When night came we added 500 feet
to our altitude as an Offset to the dew,
and as the weather was fine we both
lay down to sleep. l awoke twice dur
ing the night, but to find all quiet and
when | turned out first at sunrise 1t
was to find the Arabian coast almost
under our feet, and soon we were sail
ing over land.
We had no sooner left the water than
the breeze began to subside, and our
pace was reduced 10 five or six miles
per hour. We knew that countercur-
rent would soon be met with. and both
Of us were looking over the edge Of
the basket at the morning panorama
below when we suddenly espied ma
tive village. 1t was, rather, the camp
Of some wandering tribe, all the shell
tiers being Of canvas or skin. We saw
camels. asses, goats and horses, with
many people moving about, and we
had only got sight Of them when they
saw US. Some fell down and others
ran away, and we were laughing at
their fright when we heard the report
Of a gun and the sing of a bullet.
"Over with the ballast"' shouted Ma
Fam, and the next instant we were SO
far above them that their horses APP
peared to be mere specks.
Along In the afternoon, while sailing
about a thousand feet above the earth
at a slow rate, we came to an open
country which seemed to be destitute
Of human life, and the professor an
nounced that we would descend and
replenish our stock of water and see
what was to be seen. After the anchor
had trailed along the ground for about
hundred yards 1t caught in the limbs
Of fallen tree, and we soon hauled
our craft down and secured her. We
were within ten rods Of a small water
course, and while was filling our wa
ter keg Mazam shot a few birds, and
we cooked and ate them on the spot
and decided to make a night of II
where we were. l judge it was about
midnight when Mazam shook me and
whispered:
Come; here is q sight worth seeing.
Be careful not to make any unneces.
sary noise"
AS l looked over the basket saw
two immense lions, standing about
twenty feet apart and facing each
other.
The animals approached each other
slowly with growls of defiance, each
carefully lifting his paws, but they did
not diminish the distance over a rod
before both stopped and stood as II
cut from stone. Suddenly one of the
beasts made a rush so swift that we
could not follow him with our eyes
and they grappled and rolled over and
over ON the ground. Just as we
thought that both would be killed In
the fray one of them turned tail and
ran, being hotly pursued by the victor,
The remainder Of the night passed
without incident. and as daylight came
a breeze from the north came with It
After cold bite we lifted our anchor
and were of, but we had scarcely be-
gun to move before we found ourselves
above long, drawn out caravan, which
had just taken up its line of march.
Perhaps all knew our craft to be bal.
loon; perhaps they believed 1t to be
some great bird. At any rate they be-
gan firing at US, and the very first bull.
let struck the basket. 1t was an open
country, and such men as were mount
ed on horses could keep up with us.
snow, then" said Mazam as the bull.
lets continued to sing about us, over
board with that keg Of water, all extra
clothing, everything to give us a lift
out of range"
Inside of an hour the balloon began
to approach the earth again, and as We
were driving toward Murbat we threw
over all the rest of the ballast, even In
GLIDING the spyglass and the box OF
bread. In a short time we began to de
scend again, however, finally landing
in field Of maize just outside Of Muir
bat.
1t had been most delightful and ex
citing balloon trip, and, although was
anxious to go again, 1t turned out that
/ was not to make another voyage
among the clouds. Shortly after oul
ascension married Bombay girl who
had horror of balloons.
Poor Mazam, This intrepid adven
turer had made six successful ascen
sions In India and was getting an inter
national reputation as an aeronau
when he met his fate. On his seventh
trip something went wrong with th'
balloon and he fell with 1t from a ter
rible height.