CHAPTER VIII.—AMONG THE CLOUDS IN A THUNDERSTORM.
A cry arose.
“The balloon has gone up!”
“Why, the balloonist is nothing but a boy!”
“My! but ain’t it going up fast!”
Daniel Hawkins could do nothing but stare after the balloon.
“Foolish boy, he will be killed!” he gasped.
Ben Barkley was also amazed.
“He said he would go up,” he murmured, “but I never supposed that he meant it.”
The crowd continued to shout. They wondered what it all meant, and some asked the men who had had the balloon in charge, but those individuals had no time to explain.