"Are you sufficiently wearied?"
I was not sufficiently wearied--I wasn't wearied at all--but he was the
captain of the ship and I was not even paying for my passage.
The car jerked beneath our unsteady feet and heeled over, and I had the
sensation of being in an elevator that has started downward suddenly,
and at an angle to boot. The balloon resisted the pressure from below.
It curled up its tail like a fat bumblebee trying to sting itself, and
the guy ropes, to which I held with both hands, snapped in imitation of
the rigging of a sailboat in a fair breeze. Plainly the balloon wished
to remain where it was or go farther; but the pull of the cable was
steady and hard, and the world began to rise up to meet us. Nearing the
earth it struck me that we were making a remarkably speedy return. I
craned my neck to get a view of what was directly beneath.
The six-horse team was advancing toward us at a brisk canter and the
drum turned fast, taking up the slack of the tether; but, as though not
satisfied with this rate of progress, several soldiers were running back
and jumping up to haul in the rope.
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