Show PERILS OF ballooning an exciting TO trip V la in the midst or of u V wild Thunder on one occasion rising suddenly through a stratum of clouds feet in the air into brilliant sunshine the gas dilated I 1 let out a little down we dropped into a cold air current the immediate condensation of the gas dropped us back into the cloud layer which condensed the gas still more and accelerated the drop we came cam 0 out ut directly above a stretch of woods over over which lay another cool belt by this time we were falling failing like a rock we were going so fast that the bagfuls of sand we threw out went up instead of down hastily we threw out the drag rope the anchor the lunch askel baskel b to little purpose we struck the tree with a terrific crash but escaped esc ese apoL however 1101 V with nothing worse than a abak ing up tip and a few brul bruises seg the most exciting trip I 1 ever made md was a reco record rd breaking voyage that be gan one sunday evening tho the weather was not propitious but we cast off we sailed across the hudson river to new jersey and plunged juto a cloud after traveling twenty miles I 1 desind descended to drop a note to my wife assuring her of our safety again we shot into a ft cloud presently we drifted over a village and with that exaltation that accompanies the tile sensation of floating in the air enjoyed to a it strange degree the tile music of church bells drifting up ill from below before we were aware we plunged into the midst of a huge bilge approaching thunder cloud it seemed to open and swallow us into a pit of 9 gloom loom and simultaneously into the I 1 heart of the wildest thunderstorm I 1 think I 1 have ever seen the clouds r rolled and tossed and twisted the balloon would now low be forced down then tossed up and again spun swiftly about like a top we lost all sense of direction thunder was crashing and rolling and cr acklin all around us lightning flashed not in forked zig zigg but in great lashes flashes of ahre it was frightful we did not want avant to descend but presently we heard the unmistakable sound of water not far away letting letting out a 1 little gas we shot downward faster we dropped and faster land was below us the problem was to land in tile high wind without damage I 1 let out more gas we landed in a treetop with a jar that fixed the basket so firmly in a acro crotch teb that it could not be dislodged by the wind for now wo we had dropped below the storm worlds work |