We became aware of that fact when we dismounted from the
automobile and were clambering up the steep bank alongside. Soldiers
materialized from everywhere, like dusty specters, but fell back,
saluting, when they saw that officers accompanied us. On advice we had
already thrown away our lighted cigars; but two noncommissioned officers
felt it to be their bounden duty to warn us against striking matches in
that neighborhood. You dare not take chances with a woven bag that is
packed with many hundred cubic feet of gas.
At the moment of our arrival the balloon was drawn down so near the
earth that its distorted bottommost extremity dipped and twisted slackly
within fifty or sixty feet of the grass.
The upper end, reaching much farther into the air, underwent convulsive
writhings and contortions as an intermittent breeze came over the
sheltering treetops and buffeted it in puffs. Almost beneath the
balloon six big draft horses stood, hitched in pairs to a stout wagon
frame on which a huge wooden drum was mounted.
Pages:
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281