t an electrical exhibition held at Paris in 1881, most of the sightseers were very interested in a little model balloon which had been made by two famous balloonists, Messrs. Gaston and Albert Tissandier. It was quite unlike any balloon ever seen before. The silk bag for containing the gas was long and pointed at either end, and floated horizontally in the air, so that at a little distance it was not unlike a fish without a tail, though a sheet of canvas, shaped like a fish's tail, was placed beneath the balloon at the rear end to be used as a rudder. Suspended by a number of slender ropes, which met under the centre of the gas-bag, were the car for the sailors and a small electric engine for driving a powerful screw, the wings of which striking against the air would propel the 'ship' at the rate of some nine feet a second. The baby balloon may be said to have set the example for all modern air-ships, though others something like it had been built before. Two years later Messrs. Tissandier made a large copy of their model, and ascended on October 8th, 1883. As the screw succeeded in driving the balloon forward at a greater speed than that at which the wind was blowing, they were able to steer a course, just as the steamboats on the St. Lawrence River are able to shoot the rapids in safety by putting on full steam and over-racing the current. Messrs. Tissandier repeated their experiment in November, 1883, and actually drove their balloon against the wind for a short distance. As night overtook them while on this triumphant journey they did not attempt to return by balloon to Paris, but descended in the country two hours after leaving the capital.
Such was the first successful effort to steer a balloon, and it was not long before many aeronauts were following in their steps. In 1884 the air-ship 'France,' with Captains Krebs and Renard on board, was watched by a large crowd as it sailed from Meudon, near Paris, and after a wonderful flight came back against the wind to the place from which it started. Five more similar voyages were made, and in each the 'France' showed great obedience to the rudder and sail. But all these experiments were very expensive, and involved great danger. It was found, moreover, that the machinery necessary for driving the screw could not be made light enough to be really suitable. Thus there was not much heard about steerable balloons until some years later, when M. Santos Dumont began his cruises—and many strange adventures he has had.
Instead of the electric engine used by the Tissandiers, he employed the small petrol engine out of a motor tricycle. With this he started on his aerial voyages. But before we follow him we must look at his ship for a moment. From each end of the long balloon he allows a cord to hang, supporting a small weight. These are to enable him to alter his course upward or downward. If he wishes to travel upwards, he pulls into the car, by means of a thin cord, the weight which is hanging in front. This, of course, allows the head of the balloon to rise, at the same time changing the angle of the screw in the rear so that it drives the balloon upward. When he pulls the rear weight into the car, the reverse takes place. The car, the engine, and the screw are all suspended from the silk envelope by piano wires, so that it looks, from the ground, as though M. Santos Dumont were moving about in a spider's web.
On one of the first cruises the balloon behaved very well while floating at a great height, but when he descended into denser atmosphere, the gas contracted in the long thin bag, and he saw with horror that it was doubling up 'like a pocket-knife.' This made some of the cords so much tighter than others that at any moment they might cut through the silk and send him to the earth like a stone. Yet it was no use throwing out ballast, though to rise into thinner atmosphere might have put the balloon right again. 'I must descend sooner or later,' thought the aeronaut, 'so why not now?'
Beneath him lay a grassy stretch of country on which a number of boys were flying their kites. As he rapidly drew nearer, M. Santos Dumont, leaning from his basket, called to them to seize the guide-rope, which had already reached the ground, and run with it as fast as they could against the wind. The boys were sharp-witted, and obeyed at once. The speed of the descent was checked by the rush of wind, and the voyager landed in safety.
Misadventures of this sort have only increased the keenness with which M. Santos Dumont pursues his studies. The principal triumph he has yet secured was won some three years ago, when he steered his balloon round the Eiffel Tower and back to the starting-point. It only meant a distance of some fourteen miles in all, but it carried him to fame and honour in half an hour, and the Government of his native country (Brazil) had a gold medal struck to commemorate the event. Never before had the power of navigating the skies been proved so thoroughly. But it was not accomplished without several unsuccessful attempts. On one occasion the engine stopped when the winning-post was only a few yards away. Another time, the balloon lost gas through a faulty valve, and some of the suspension wires slackened so much that they caught in the whirling screw, which was beating itself into shreds. The traveller instantly stopped the engine, and found himself the next moment drifting dangerously near to the Eiffel Tower. It was safer under the circumstances to let the ship sink, and a few minutes later, like a vessel being driven on the rocks, the aeronaut's car crashed against the roof of a large hotel, the framework of the air-ship lodging itself at last over a deep courtyard, with its occupant in mid-air. From this perilous position he was rescued by a party of firemen. In each of these misadventures M. Santos Dumont reads some lesson for the improvement of his ships, so that the day may come when he will be able to show us an aerial vessel in which even timid people might travel without anxiety.
THE SLATE'S STORY.
