“Here! What are you trying to do?” cried Mr. King, through an open window.
“Good land! Is there folks in this shebang!” asked the mountaineer. “Land a’massy! I thought it was a balloon that had come down.”
“And you were going to haul it away and claim a reward, I suppose,” put in the professor, beginning to understand the situation.
“That’s what I was, stranger” came the answer. “But my mules wa’n’t strong enough. I was goin’ arter another pair when yo’-all turned up your kerosene lamps. She wouldn’t hardly budge.”
“I should say not, with the way she is fastened,” said the Frenchman. “But explain yourself, monsieur.”
“That ain’t my name, but it don’t much matter,” came the answer. “I was on my way home from th’ settlement, with a load of stuff t’ keep my wife an’ kids in bacon an’ flour, when I seen ye come down last evenin’. I once went t’ a county fair, an’ they had a balloon assent. Th’ perfesser offered five dollars t’ whoever’d git his balloon arter he jumped out of it, an’ she drifted away.”
“Nate Jackson was th’ lucky man, an’ he found th’ balloon in Black Cedar swamp. He hauled it t’ town an’ got his five. When I seen this contraption come down, I just laid low, aimin’ t’ git th’ reward. I s’posed you folks would all go home until mornin’ anyhow. But ye didn’t. I onhitched my mules arter dark, an’ got a rope from my wagon, an’ tried t’ haul th’ balloon away. But she wouldn’t haul. I’m mighty sorry if I disturbed ye’ an’ I’ll travel on now. This is th’ most forsaken country I ever knowed, an’ it’s hard t’ git money. I thought I saw an easy way t’ make a five dollar bill.”
“It’s worth more than that to have our airship let alone, my man,” said the professor. “This is the kind of a balloon you never saw before. Here are ten dollars for the wife and little ones,” and he passed over a bill.
The man was overwhelmingly grateful and apologized again for the trouble he had caused. A hasty examination showed that he had not damaged the craft any by his pulling and hauling, and a little later he had disappeared in the darkness with his “mule critters,” and soon the rumble of his wagon over the road, that was hardly more than a trail, came fainter and fainter to the ears of the aviators.
“Well, that sure was a scare!” exclaimed Dave, when quiet was once more restored.