The weekly soliphone., 1917-03-08

iof atiny 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 it after dinner tonight" He ldid not like to talk about his own exploit though he mentioned several l of his men who had been the heroes jof adventures in the clouds. But l ldid get to read the official report 1 of the incident and this was the story:
 l Shortly after midnight one night lthe major, after carrying out cer- tain experiments at about a mile lhigh. signaled that he was ready to come down. The winch on the big Terry in the road began to grind and at 12:17 a. m. the sausage" was swaying just out of reach of the landing squad. Then, "by an error of judgment" as the report puts it, the winch turned revolu- ltion too far. The metallic V, where | the balloons short cord was spliced | to the wire cable, wedged in the lopening leading to the revolving drum or windlass, and the cable parted like a piece of sewing thread. With a bound that jerked the basket this way and that like l ball on the end of an elastic string, lthe balloon went skying.
 At 12:21 al m., the balloon was a mile high. The major had not used | his parachute, to which the harness about him was still attached, be- cause the wind at mile, and be- i low, was away from the German Hines which ran some two miles away Instead he pulled at the valve cord to let out the gas in the | sausage" -- | Still "valving,' to use the yer nacular of the game, the officer, at l12:27 a. m. found himself at above 10000 feet or about two miles above the earth. It was bitter cold and getting colder every instant. At 12:40 a. m. he passed the 15,- | 900 foot mark. Though he had been keeping his valve wide open l all the time, tho balloon still soar ed.
 Now he looked downward. There
 were lights below, lights which
 flared up for a minute, then went out: great, white balls of light hanging in the air and illuminat- ling the countryside beneath them.
 The major, in his "sausage," was "crossing tho line" He knew in
 instant what had happened. He ihad risen to high oss-current of air and was being swept over lthc German trenches into German
 territory.
 It was too late to jump now. If he tried tho parachute and landed
 safely it would be only to be talk len prisoner by the enemy.
 So cold that his marrow seemed frozen, he now set about to tear iup his maps, notes and everything
 which might help the Germans Leaning out of the basket and peer ing down he could no longer sec
 the flares sent up to light the trenches. The indicator showed that
 he was falling now, rather rapidly
 Making sure that he had destroyed all papers, he waited.
 Still falling, the major threw out some ballast to check the rapid de- lscent. One faint hope still was left him: he might be blown back iacross his own lines again by the Hair currents nearer the ground.
 So as much as he husbanded his ballast and his gas, jockeying the balloon like an aeronaut in an in lternational race, his prize for win ming being his freedom. If he lost, the best he could hope for was pris- loner of war for the duration of hos Utilities. There could betno halfway. 1 At a mile high. the balloon was lstill dropping, though slowly. No flights were visible anywhere. The lsky was~ murky and there were no
 stars to serve as guides. It was to be a fight in the dark, a hit or
 miss without seeing what he was doing. The absence of trench flares Hooked bad. He must have drifted far behind the German lines.
 After time the faint outlines of lfields, houses. trees and haystacks began to loom up and presently, with a fairly hard bump. the bas- Iket struck the earth, bounding up lagain some 200 feet After a few jof these bounds, the officer, calcu-
 lating the right moment as best he lcould in tho dark, pulled the rip
 cord to let out the gas.
 The rip-cord broke at the point
 where it entered the balloon!
 Suddenly the balloon came to a lhalt just above the ground. There