Year: 1873

One dull day in August, Just after
noon, balloon rose in the air at the
foot of elect Hills, on the western edge
of the central plain of England.


1t was inflated with the hghtest of
gasses which chemical skill could pro-
duce, and it rose with amazing velocity.
A mile up it entered a stratum of clouds
more than thousand feet thick.


Emerging from this, the sun shone
brightly on the air ship the sky over
head was the clearest and deepest blue,
and below lay cloudland-an immeasure-
able expanse of cloud whose surface look
ed as solid as that of earth now wholly lost
to view. Lofty mountains and deep,
dark ravines appeared below the peaks
and sides of those cloud mountains
next the sun glittered like snow, but
casting shadows as black as if they
were solid rock. Up rose the balloon
with tremendous velocity. Four miles
above earth pigeon was let loose it
dropped through the air as if it had
been a stone. The air was too thin to
enable it to fly. 1t was as if a bark
laden to deck were to pass the. heavy
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lake the bark would sink at once in
thinner water. Up, up, still higher
what silence profound


The heights of the sky were as still
as the deepest depths of the ocean, as
was found during the search for the
lost Atlantic cable, the mud lies I'M
stirred from year to year as the dust
which imperceptibly gathers on furni-
ture of a deserted house. No sound,
no ife-only the bright sunshine falling
through sky which it could not warm.


Up-fve miles above earth higher
than the inaccessible summit of Chin
borazo. Despite the sunshine, every
thing freezes, The air grows too thin
to support life even for a few minutes.
Two men only are in that adventurous
balloon-the one steering the air ship,
the other watching the scientific instru-
ments, and recording them with rapidity
bred of long practice. Suddenly, as
the latter looks at his instruments, his
sight grows dim he takes a lens to
help his sight, and only marks from the
falling barometer that they are rising
rapidly.


A flask of brandy lies within a foot of
him; he tries to reach it, but his arms
refuse to obey his will. He tries to call
on his comrade, who has gone up into
the ring above. A whisper in that deep
silence would suffice, but no sound
comes from his lips-he is voiceless.


The steersman comes down into the
car. He sees his companion in swoon
and feels his own senses failing him.


He saw at once that life and death
hung upon few moments. He seized
or tried to seize the valve, in order to
let out the gas. His hands are purple
with intense cold; they are paralyzed
they will not respond to his will.


He seizes the valve with his teeth {; it
opens little-once, twice, thrice. The
balloon began to descend. Then the
swooning man returned to conscious
ness and saw the steersman standing
before him. He looked at his instru-
ments; they must have been nearly
eight miles up. Brandy was used.
They had been higher above earth than
mortal man or living thing had ever
been before. One minute more of in
action-of compulsory inaction-on the
part of the steersman, whose senses
were failing him, and the air-ship, with
its intensely rarifed gas, would have
been floating unattended, with two
corpses, in the wide realms of space.