“Strindberg,—Fraenkel,—let us go!”
His two companions at once take their places beside him. They are all three armed with a knife for cutting the ropes supporting the groups of ballast bags.
This being done, Captain Ehrensvärd and Lieutenants Norselius and Celsing give their sailors orders which are at once put into execution.
The equatorial straps fall at one stroke.
The balloon, freed from this restraint, moves slightly; it quits the state of torpor in which it seemed to be plunged; it now seems to have come to life, and, notwithstanding its shelter, it rolls greatly on its lower moorings, from which it tries to free itself.
We wait a few seconds, in order to seize a moment of calm, before the order is given to start.
Three of the most adroit sailors, armed with knives, hold themselves in readiness, at a given signal, to cut the three cables by which alone the balloon is now held captive.
The entire crew of the Svensksund are present, and also the crews of the three Norwegian whaling vessels anchored in Virgo Bay.