explanation being that he began
ballooning as a mere child. Before he was ten he had gained some mastery
of slack-wire feats, and at thirteen he was known over the country as
Prince Leo, a marvel of the air, in black and gold, making the fortune
of some gentlemen who exploited him.

His arrival recalled the object of my visit, which was to get from him
some practical ideas for balloon and parachute experiments on a small
scale, the sort of thing boys might undertake in their own backyards;
and, on learning this, Stevens caught my idea at once. He knew just what
I wanted, and was glad to help me. He liked boys himself, and we settled
down forthwith to a consideration of segments and materials and
dimensions and, after a little planning and measuring, he had the
problem solved.

"A hot-air balloon is the easiest and cheapest for boys to make," said
Stevens, "and it goes up with more of a rush than a gas balloon. So
we'll tell them how to make a hot-air balloon. I remember a boys'
balloon picnic that I got up one summer at Chautauqua Lake while I was
making ascensions there. What fun those boys did have! We sent up a
kitten in a strawberry basket, strapped fast, you know, so she couldn't
fall out, and the basket hung from the parachute by a time fuse that
burned loose about a thousand feet up, and down came the whole thing,
parachute, kitten, and all, sailing beautifully and landing as easily as
you please. It never hurt the kitten at all. But the balloon drifted
nearly a mile away across a swamp and stuck in a big tree. What a time
those boys had chasing it and climbing after it and slopping home with
it after dark through the swamp, with lanterns and torches! I suppose
they got well spanked, a good many of them, but boys don't mind."

"How big was this balloon?"

[Illustration]

"About eleven feet high, inflated; that's a good size. I mean eleven
feet high inflated, but the segments must be cut out eighteen feet long
to allow for the curve. See," and he made a sketch of a single segment.
"There must be fourteen segments like this, each one eighteen feet long
and two feet wide at the widest part, then tapering to a point at one
end, the top, and to a width of five inches at the other end, the mouth,
which must be left open. These segments are made from ordinary sheets of
tissue paper, first pasted into long sheets (use ordinary starch paste)
and then cut out after the pattern. Then the fourteen segments must be
pas