The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-04-08

Don't you think other people be-
things?" he said at last. I'm
studyin' the pretty dears. That's
enough for you"
mo offense," said I.
His good-humor returned and he
laughed.
mo offense, young fellah. I'm
goin to get young devil chick
for Challenger. That's one Of my
jobs. No, 1 don't want your COM
pany. I'm safe in this cage, and you
are not. So long, and I'll be back
in camp by night-fall."
He turned away and I left him
wandering on through the wood
with his extraordinary cage around
him.
Challenger had been in the habit
of walking off by himself every
morning and returning from time
to time with looks of portentous
solemnity as one who bears the
full weight of a great enterprise
upon his shoulders. One day. palm
branch in hand, and his crowd of
adoI'ing Indian women behind him,
he led us down to his hidden work
shop and took us into the secret of
his plans.
The place was a small clearing In
the center of a palm grove. In this
was one of those boiling mud
seysers which l have already de-
scribed. Around it's edge were
scattered number OF leathern
thongs cut from iguanodon hide,
and large collapsed membrane
which proved to be the dried and
scraped stomach of one of the great
| fish lizards from the lake. This
huge sack had been seven UP at one
end and only a small orifice left at
the other. Into this opening several
bambo canes had been inserted and
the other ends of these canes were
in contact with conical Gay tunnels
which collected the gas bubbling UP
through the mud Of the geyser.
Soon the flaccid organ began to
slowly expand and show such a
tendency to upward movements that
Challenger fastened the cords which
held 1t to the trunks Of the sur
rounding trees. In half an hour a
good-sized gas-bag had been formed,
and the jerking and straining upon
the thongs showed that it was cap
able ofNconsiderable lift. Challenger
Ella 70 IN, h.
of his first-born, stood smiling and
stroking, his beard, in silent, self
satisfied content as he gazed at the
creation Of his brain. 1t was Sum
merlee who first broke the silence.
You don't mean us to go up in
that thing, Challenger" said he, in
an acid voice.
II mean, my dear Summerlee, to
give you such a demonstration Of
it's powers that after seeing it you
will, I am sure, have no hesitation
in trusting yourself to it,"
you can put it right out OF your
head now, at once" said Summer
lee with decision, nothing on earth
would induce me to commit such a
folly. Lord John, trust that you
will not countenance such mad
ness?"
"Dooced ingenious, I call it," said
our peer. I'D like to see how II
works"
so you shall" said Challenger
For some days I have exerted my
whole brain force upon the problem
of how we shall descend from these
cliffs. We have satisfied ourselves
that we cannot climb down and that
there is no tunnel. We are also un
able to construct any kind of bridge
which may take us back to the pin
-nacle from which we came. How
then shall / find a means to convey
us? Some little time ago I had re
marked to our young friend here
the geyser The idea Of a balloon
naturally followed. 1 was, I will adj
init, somewhat baffled by the diff
Guilty Of discovering an envelope to
contain the gas, but the contempla
ton Of the immense entrails of these
to the problem. Behold the result
He put one hand in the front of
his ragged jacket and pointed proud
ly with the other.
BY this time the gas-bag had swol-
len to a goodly rotundity and was
jerking strongly upon it's lashings
Midsummer madness!" snorted
Summerlee.
Lord John was delighted with the
whole idea. Clever old dear, amt
he?" he whispered to me, and then
louder to Challenger What about
carr"
1.-THE car will be my next care.
have already planned how it is to
be made and attached. Meanwhile
1 will simply show you how capable
my apparatus is of supporting the
weight of each of u.s."
IAN of us, surely?"
mo. it is part OF my plan that
each in turn shall descend as in a
parachute, and the balloon be
drawn back by means which I shall
have no difficulty in perfecting. If
it will support the weight of one and
let him gently down, it will have
done all that Is required of it. l will
now show you it's capacity in that
direction"
He brought out a lump Of basal;
Of considerable size, constructed
in the middle so that a cord could
be easily attached to it, This cord
was the one which we had brought
with us on the plateau after we had
used 1t for climbing the pinnacle It
was over a hundred feet long, and
thougL it was thin 1t was very
strong. He had prepared a sort
of collar Of leather with many
straps depending from it. This
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