"Something like that," Curlie smiled.
He next brought out a small brass retort and a tiny spirit lamp.
"Lucky our matches are dry," he murmured, after unwrapping some oiled cloth and lighting the spirit lamp with one of the matches inclosed.
After firmly tying the end of a toy balloon over the mouth of the retort he held the spirit lamp beneath the bowl of the retort. At once the balloon began to expand.
"Chemicals already in the retort," he explained.
When the balloon was sufficiently inflated, he quickly tied it at the mouth, then began inflating another.
"The gas is very buoyant," he explained. "Hold that," he said as he passed the string to the engineer.
"There's enough," he said quietly when the third had been filled.
He next drew forth some shiny fine copper wire coiled about some round, insulated bars.
When he had fastened the balloons to one end of the bars, he attached a strong cord to the balloons, then allowed them to rise, at the same time paying out the strands of copper wire.