The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-03
Life In An
Observation
Balloon


great game of tag. Death is the
Other Fellow He is always hot on
your trail and every now and then
he gets you in a corner Then you r.
1t.
Get the Major to tell you about
the time he was carried over the
German lines and back again all in
one night" said the young Lieuten-
ant, as we tugged at the end of
tiny wire cable. in the little basket
under the sausage" high in the
wintry sky. but the Major was too
modest He said.
"oh. all right I'll tell you about
il after dinner tonight. " He did not
like TO talk about his own exploit
though he mentioned several of his
men who had been the heroes of ad-
ventures in the clouds. But / did
get to read the official report or the
ii cident and this was the story:
shortly after midnight one night
the Major. after carrying out GER
tain experiments al about mil"
high. signalled that he was ready 10
come down The winch on the big
rorry in the road beean to grind and
swaying just ont Of reach Of the
landing squad Then. by an error
or Judgment" as the report puts it,
the winch turned a revolution too
far The metallic Y. whore the bal
Ions short cord was spliched to the
wire cable, wedgcd in the opening
leading to the revolving drum, or
windlass. and the cable parted like
piece Of sewing thread
With bound that ierkcd the bas-
kct this way and that like ball on
the end Of an elastic string. the bal
leon went skying.
At l2:2l the balloon was mile
hi"h The Major had not used his
parachute. to which tho harness
about him was still attached. be-
cause the wind at mile and below,
IA away from the German lines
which ran some two miles away In.
stead he pulled at the ve-cord to
let cut the gas in the sausage
Still "valving,' to use the vernac-
ular of the came the officer at l2:27
Il m found himself at ABOVE 10 600
earth. II was bitter cold and getting
colder every instant
At 12;40 a. m. he passed the Ia
CJ5-foot mark. Though he had been
keeping the valve wide open all the
time, the balloon still scared
Now he looked downward There
were lights below. lights which
ftared up for minute then went out.
great, white balls of light hanging in
the air and Illuminating the ooun-
tryside beneath them.
The Major, in his sausage, was
crossing the line" He knew in an
instant what had happened lie had
risen to a high cross-current of air
and was being swept over the Ger
man trenches into German territory.
1t was too late to jump now. If he
tried the parachute and landed safe
", il w\ld be only to be taken pris-
"ner by the enemy.
SO cold that bis marrow seemed
frozen, he now set about to tear up
his maps. notes and everythin ,
which might help the Germans
Leaning out of the basket aud peer
ing down he could no longer see the
flares sent up TO light the trenches.
The indicator showed that he was
falling now. ra her rapidly Making
sure that he had destroyed all pa
pers. he waited
Still falling. the major threw on,
some ballast to check the rapid des-
cent One fat hope still was left
him; he might be blown back across
his own lines again by the air-cur.
rents nearer the ground.
So as much as he could he hus
banded his ballast and his gas, Jock
eying the balloon like an acronau
in an international race his prize fol
winning being his freedom If HI
lost. the best he could hope for wa
prisoner of war for the duration o
hostilities. There could be no half
way.
At a mile hieh. the balloon wa
still dropping. though slowly N
lights were visible anywhere. TIL
sky was murky and there were n
stars to serve as guides. 1t was I
be a fight in the dark. hit CT mis-
without seeing what he was doine
The absence of trench flares locke
tad He must have drifted far be
hind the German lines.
Altar a time tho faint outlines q