The men then ran up and helped to get the balloon clear of the trees, so that I received plenty of attention; and later, when I went to the damsel’s house, her mother made coffee for me, after which I was driven some miles to the railway station and returned to Elberfeld.
My second ascent from Johannisberg took place on July 24th. A third soon followed, but the fourth was chiefly remarkable from the fact that Herr Küpper ascended with me himself, although he had always said that no real or imaginable inducement would get him up in a balloon.
If Küpper’s courage was not in proportion to the bulk of his body he pulled himself very well together at the start. It was only when I left him alone to go down the ladder that large drops of perspiration started from his brow.
I promised to be back soon.
“Yah, aber mein Gott—if you go down headlong,” he added, but I heard this not, and might not have understood the German rendering if I had.
When the bombardment of Elberfeld commenced certain utterances did reach my ear in the second car below, but whether I was being cheered or denounced, whether Küpper was sick or joyful, I could not divine; this I know, that when I returned or (to use parliamentary language) when I was promoted from the lower house to the upper, I certainly did notice that my sole companion was in a pitiable plight so far as facial moisture was concerned.
A capacious handkerchief appeared drenched, and still the drops were oozing fast from the expanded pores of his skin. He must have lost a couple of pounds’ weight while I was down below. A rapid recovery, however, took place, especially after both of us had benefited by restoratives; then was Abraham more composed, and anxious not to go too far, as he looked forward, I could gather by his pointing to, and his remarks about Johannisberg, that he wished to get back as soon as convenient.
I managed accordingly, and just as the ball-room lights appeared resplendent, and the band was tuning up for a dance, we entered amidst cries of “Hoch Küpper;” “Leben sie lang Herr Coxvel,” &c.; and great indeed were the rejoicings which were, it is perhaps needless to observe, participated in by Mr. B—— and Mr. S——, cum multis aliis.
During the autumn of this year (1848) I made a dozen voyages from this place, and the confidence displayed by the proprietor was felt also by Madame Küpper, her daughter and sons, as also by Mr. B—— and a very long list of ladies and gentlemen, who by watching the safe return, and good reports of the pioneers who first ventured, felt satisfied of the pleasure to be derived, and were prepared to venture themselves.
Before making the two concluding trips of the season, a speculation was entered into by Herr Küpper, Mr. S——, and myself, at Cologne, with a view of trying an ascent during the grand visit of the late King of Prussia, on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the building of the cathedral.