"What would you? I could not pay for my voyage; I was obliged to take
you by surprise."
"No one has asked you to descend!"
"A similar occurrence," he resumed, "happened to the Counts of Laurencin
and Dampierre, when they ascended at Lyons, on the 15th of January,
1784. A young merchant, named Fontaine, scaled the railing, at the risk
of upsetting the equipage. He accomplished the voyage, and nobody was
killed!"
"Once on the earth, we will converse!" said I, piqued at the tone of
lightness with which he spoke.
"Bah! do not talk of returning!"
"Do you think then that I shall delay my descent?"
"Descent!" said he, with surprise. "Let us ascend!"
And before I could prevent him, two bags of sand were thrown out,
without even being emptied.
"Monsieur!" said I, angrily.
"I know your skill," replied he, composedly; "your brilliant ascensions
have made some noise in the world. Experience is the sister of practice,
but it is also first cousin to theory, and I have long and deeply
studied the aerostatic art. It has affected my brain," added he, sadly,
falling into a mute torpor.
The balloon, after having risen, remained stationary; the unknown
consulted the barometer, and said:
"Here we are at 800 metres! Men resemble insects! See, I think it is
from this height that we should always look at them, to judge correctly
of their moral proportions! The Place de la ComÈdie is transformed to an
immense ant-hill. Look at the crowd piled up on the quays. The Zeil
diminishes. We are above the church of Dom. The Mein is now only a white
line dividing the city, and this bridge, the Mein-Brucke, looks like a
white thread thrown between the two banks of the river."
The atmosphere grew cooler.
"There is nothing I will not do for you, my host," said my companion.
"If you are cold, I will take off my clothes and lend them to you."
"Thanks!"
"Necessity makes laws. Give me your hand, I am your countryman. You
shall be instructed by my company, and my conversation shall compensate
you for the annoyance I have caused you."
I seated myself, without replying, at the opposite extremity of the car.
The young man had drawn from his great coat a voluminous portfolio; it
was a work on aerostation.
"I possess," said he, "a most curious collection of engraving, and
caricatures appertaining to our aerial mania. This precious discovery
has been at once admired and ridiculed. Fortunately we have passed the
period when the Mongolfiers sought to make factitious clouds with the
vapour of water; and of the gas affecting electric properties, which
they produced by the combustion of damp straw with chopped wool."
"Would you detract from the merit of these inventions?" replied I. "Was
it not well done to have proved by experiment the possibility of rising
in the air?"
"Who denies the glory of the first aerial navigators? Immense courage
was necessary to ascend by means of those fragile envelopes which
contained only warm air. Besides, has not aerostatic science made great
progress since the ascensions of Blanchard? Look, Monsieur."
He took from his collection an engraving.
"Here is the first aerial voyage undertaken by Pilatre des Rosiers and
the Marquis d'Arlandes, four months after the discovery of balloons.
Louis XVI. refused his consent to this voyage; two condemned criminals
were to have first attempted aerial travelling. Pilatre des Rosiers was
indignant at this injustice and, by means of artifice, succeeded in
setting out. This car, which renders the management of the balloon easy,
had not then been invented; a circular gallery surrounded the lower part
of the aerostat. The two aeronauts stationed themselves at the
extremities of this gallery. The damp straw with which it was filled
encumbered their movements. A chafing-dish was suspended beneath the
orifice of the balloon; when the voyagers wished to ascend, they threw,
with a long fork, straw upon this brazier, at the risk of burning the
machine, and the air, growing warmer, gave to the balloon a new
ascensional force. The two bold navigators ascended, on the 21st of
November, 1783, from the gardens of La Muette, which the Dauphin had
placed at their disposal. The aerostat rose majestically, passed the
Isle des Cygnes, crossed the Seine at the BarriËre de la Conference,
and, directing its way between the dome of the Invalides and L'Ecole
Militaire, approached St. Sulpice; then the aeronauts increased the
fire, ascended, cleared the Boulevard, and descended beyond the BarriËre
d'Enfer. As it touched the ground, the collapsed, and buried Pilatre des
Rosiers beneath its folds."
"Unfortunate presage!" said I, interested in these details, which so
nearly concerned me.
"Presage of his catastrophe," replied the unknown, with sadness. "You
have experienced nothing similar?"
"Nothing!"
"Bah! misfortunes often arrive without presage." And he remained silent.
We were advancing towards the south; the magnetic needle pointed in the
direction of Frankfort, which was flying beneath our feet.
"Perhaps we shall have a storm," said the young man.
"We will descend first."
"Indeed! it will be better to ascend; we shall escape more surely;" and
two bags of sand were thrown overboard.
The balloon rose rapidly, and stopped at twelve hundred metres. The cold
was now intense, and there was a slight buzzing in my ears.
Nevertheless, the rays of the sun fell hotly on the globe, and, dilating
the gas it contained, gave it a greater ascensional force. I was
stupified.
"Fear nothing," said the young man to me.
"We have three thousand five hundred toises of respirable air. You need
not trouble yourself about my proceedings."