At length arrived the hour for making that important experiment--as to
whether their aerial ship would prove herself air-worthy.
All three stood around the spot where the chopped grass and shawl-wool
were to be set on fire. This fuel itself appeared underneath--in a
little heap lightly laid, and ready for the touch of the tinder.
Karl had a piece of blazing torch in his hand; Caspar held one of the
stay-ropes, to prevent the balloon from rising too rapidly; while
Ossaroo, equipped as if for a journey, stood by the hamper, in
readiness, when the proper time should arrive, to "pack" himself into
it.
Alas! for the frailty of all human foresight! The most careful
calculations often prove erroneous--not that in the present instance
there was any unforeseen error: for from the very first, Karl had been
distrustful of his data; and they were now to disappoint, rather than
deceive him. It was not written in the book of destiny that Ossaroo
should ever set foot in that wicker car or ever make an ascent by that
balloon.
The torch was applied to the chopped grass and shawl-wool. Both blazed
and smoked, and smouldered; and, more being thrown on, the blaze was
kept up continuously. The heated air ascended through the aperture,
causing the great sphere of stitched skins to swell out to its full
dimensions.
It trembled and rocked from side to side, like some huge monster in
pain. It rose to the height of a few inches from the ground, sank, and
then rose again, sank once more, and so kept on rising and sinking and
bobbing about, but alas! never exhibiting sufficient ascending power, to
raise the hamper even as high as their heads!
Karl continued to feed the furnace with the chopped grass and poshm, but
all to no purpose. The air within was sufficiently heated to have
raised it for miles--had they only been as low as the sea-level, and the
balloon constructed of lighter materials.
As it was, all their efforts were in vain. The gigantic globe could not
be raised above six feet from the ground. It had not power enough to
carry up a cat--much less a man. In short, it was a failure--one more
added to the long list of their dark disappointments!
For more than an hour Karl continued to keep his fire ablaze. He even
tried faggots of the resinous pine: in hopes that by obtaining a greater
strength of caloric he might still succeed in causing the balloon to
soar upward; but there was no perceptible difference in the effect. It
bobbed about as before, but still obstinately refused to ascend.
At length, with patience exhausted and hopes completely crushed, the
engineer turned away from the machine which he had taken so much pains
in constructing. For a moment he stood irresolute. Then heaving a sigh
at the recollection of his wasted labour, with sad, slow step he
departed from the spot. Caspar soon followed him--fully participating
in the feeling of grievous disappointment. Ossaroo took leave of the
inflated monster in a different fashion. Drawing near to it, he stood
for some seconds contemplating it in silence--as if reflecting on the
vast amount of seam he had stitched to no purpose. Then uttering a
native ejaculation, coupled with a phrase that meant to say, "No good
either for the earth, the water, or the air," he raised his foot, kicked
the balloon in the side--with such violence that the toe of his sandals
burst a hole in the distended eel-skins; and, turning scornfully away,
left the worthless machine to take care of itself.
This task, however, it proved ill adapted to accomplish: for the
disappointed aeronauts had not been gone many minutes from the ground,
when the heated air inside, which had for some time been gradually
growing cooler, reached at length so low a temperature, that the great
sphere began to collapse and settle down upon the embers of the pine
faggots still glowing red underneath. The consequence was that the
inflammable skins, cords, and woodwork coming in contact with the fire,
began to burn like so much tinder. The flames ran upward, licking the
oily eel-skins like the tongues of fiery serpents; and when the
_ci-devant_ aeronauts looked back from the door of their hut, they
perceived that the balloon was ablaze!
Had the accident occurred two hours before, they would have looked upon
it as the saddest of calamities. Now, however, they stood regarding the
burning of that abandoned balloon, with as much indifference as is said
to have been exhibited by Nero, while contemplating the conflagration of
the seven-hilled city!