"I seem to have everything I want, Ralph; lots of beef tea, and soup, and jelly, and so on."
"Yes, Percy; but you obtain your food from the hospital. The hotel could not furnish anything of the kind, I can tell you.
"Here we are. Now you lie down at once, and get to sleep. I will wake you in plenty of time."
At ten minutes before the appointed time, the boys arrived at the Northern Railway Station; which presented a very different appearance to that which it ordinarily wore. No whistle of locomotives, or rumble of heavy trains, disturbed the silence of the station. A smell of varnish pervaded the whole place; and several empty balloons hung from the roof, undergoing the process of drying. The official--who had received them at the entrance--conducted them outside the station; and there, in the light of some torches, a great black mass could be seen, swaying heavily to and fro. The aeronaut was standing beside it.
"Here are the gentlemen who accompany you," the officer said to him.
"How are you, gentlemen?" he said, cheerily. "We have a fine night, or rather morning; the wind is northerly. I suppose this is your first ascent?"
"Yes, indeed," Ralph said, "and I own I hope it will be the last. Have the dispatches arrived?"
"No; I have the mail bags, but not the dispatches Hush! There are a horse's hoofs."
A few minutes afterwards a railway official brought a note, which he delivered to Monsieur Teclier.
"Bah!" he said, in an annoyed tone, "why cannot they be punctual?"