to say:

"See here, Ted, you know Barnum's balloon starts tomorrow on her trial
for the record, but what you don't know is that we are in a hole.
Before the ticket came every one wanted to go, from John R. G. Hassard
down to the office boy. Now no one will go--all have funked it, and I
suppose you will want to follow suit!"

Thus diplomatically put, the hinted assignment was not to be refused
without too much personal chagrin.

So it happened that about 3.30 p.m. the next day I arrived at the
Hippodrome, loaded down with wraps and a heavy basket nigh bursting
with good things to eat and drink, which dear Mrs. Shanks had insisted
on providing.

The _Barnum_ was already filled with gas, tugging at her leash and
swaying restlessly as if eager for the start. And right here, at first
sight of the great sphere, I felt more nearly a downright fright than
at any stage of the actual voyage; the balloon appeared such a
hopelessly frail fabric to support even its own car and equipment. The
light cord net enclosing the great gas-bag looked, aloft, where it
towered above the roof, little more substantial than a film of lace;
and to ascend in that balloon appeared about as safe a proposition as
to enmesh a lion in a cobweb.

Already my four mates for the voyage were assembled about the basket,
and Donaldson himself was busy with the last details of the equipment.
My weighty lunch basket had from my mates even a heartier reception
than I received, but their joy over the prospect of delving into its
generous depths was short-lived. The load as Donaldson had planned it
was all aboard, weight carefully adjusted to what he considered a
proper excess lifting power to carry us safely up above any chance of a
collision with another flagstaff, as on the day before above the Gilsey
House. Thus the basket and all its bounty (save only a small flask of
brandy I smuggled into a hip pocket) were given to a passing acrobat.

At 4 p.m. the old Hippodrome rang with applause; a brilliant equestrian
act had just been finished. Suddenly the applause ceased and that
awful hush fell upon the vast audience which is rarely experienced
except in the presence of death or of some impending disaster! We had
been seen to enter the basket, and people held their breath.

Released, the balloon bounded seven hundred feet the air, stood
stationary for a moment, and then drifted northwest before the
prevailing wind.

In this prodigious leap there was