Potts.—"You see old Bradley over here is perfectly crazy on the subject of gases, and the atmosphere, and such things—absolutely wild; and one day he was disputing with Green about how high up in the air life could be sustained, and Bradley said an animal could live about forty million miles above the earth, if——"
Mrs. Potts.—"Not forty millions, my dear; only forty miles, he said."
P.—"Forty, was it? Thank you. Well sir, old Green, you know, said that was ridiculous; and he said he'd bet Bradley a couple of hundred thousand dollars that life couldn't be sustained half that way up, and so——"
Mrs. P.—"William, you are wrong; he offered to bet only fifty dollars."
P.—"Well, anyhow, Bradley took him up quicker'n a wink, and they agreed to send up a cat in a balloon to decide the bet. So what does Bradley do but buy a balloon about twice as big as our barn, and begin to——"
Mrs P.—"It was only about ten feet in diameter, Mr. Adeler; William forgets."
P.—"Begin to inflate her. When she was filled, it took eighty men to hold her, and——"
Mrs. P.—"Eighty men, Mr. Potts? Why, you know Mr. Bradley held the balloon himself."
P.—"He did, did he? Oh, very well; what's the odds? And when everything was ready, they brought out Bradley's tom-cat, and put it in the basket, and tied it in so that it couldn't jump, you know. There were about one hundred thousand people looking on, and, when they let go, you never heard such a——"