"Can you spare any of this?" said the captain, looking down at the instruments; "There are not many more sandbags."
So, with another pang, two cameras and other sundries were handed out.
Another bump, a swaying straining of the ropes, while the balloon seemed rapidly losing both patience and temper. One more bag out, a rush upwards, a momentary hesitation, a cheer from the spectators, "She's off! Let go!" and forthwith the tossing car was at peace and still. But the people and the trees, the water-towers and the Palace, took a sudden headlong plunge downwards, and ere I could struggle up from the bottom of the car were hundreds of feet below.
THE CAR OF THE BALLOON CONTAINS CAMERAS, ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS,
AND A GLASS BULB FOR BOTTLING SOME AIR.
THE CAR OF THE BALLOON CONTAINS CAMERAS, ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS, AND A GLASS BULB FOR BOTTLING SOME AIR.
From this moment until we again touched the earth the balloon never moved. Of this I can be sure, for I was in it; but a strange motion caused the earth beneath us to recede rapidly, and at the same time to move backwards; so that trees, fields, houses, gardens, streets, and rivers were rushing madly by under our gaze. Not a breeze disturbed us; not a breath came nigh us. Quickly we rose 1,000 feet, 2,000, 3,000, and very shortly we had attained our greatest altitude, almost 6,000 feet—rather over a mile—high.
And now what a glorious panorama spread itself before our delighted gaze! Above, our view was mainly confined to old Jack's boots, for the commodore maintained his position in the ring. Above him spread the gaudy red and yellow silk, with a vista of the valve through the open mouth of the balloon. The sun, now sinking towards the west, beamed hotly upon us, and directly under it was a fleecy white cloud, but unlike any cloud I had ever seen before, because we were looking at it "end on," from a height as great as its own.