her
ascension at Boulogne. The balloon clung to a tree, and his lamp
again set it on fire. Zambecarri fell, and was killed! And in
presence of these facts, we would still hesitate! No. The higher
we go, the more glorious will be our death!"

[Illustration: "Zambecarri fell, and was killed!"]

The balloon being now entirely relieved of ballast and of all it
contained, we were carried to an enormous height. It vibrated in
the atmosphere. The least noise resounded in the vaults of
heaven. Our globe, the only object which caught my view in
immensity, seemed ready to be annihilated, and above us the
depths of the starry skies were lost in thick darkness.

I saw my companion rise up before me.

"The hour is come!" he said. "We must die. We are rejected of
men. They despise us. Let us crush them!"

"Mercy!" I cried.

"Let us cut these cords! Let this car be abandoned in space. The
attractive force will change its direction, and we shall approach
the sun!"

Despair galvanized me. I threw myself upon the madman, we
struggled together, and a terrible conflict took place. But I was
thrown down, and while he held me under his knee, the madman was
cutting the cords of the car.

"One!" he cried.

"My God!"

"Two! Three!"

I made a superhuman effort, rose up, and violently repulsed the
madman.

"Four!"

The car fell, but I instinctively clung to the cords and hoisted
myself into the meshes of the netting.

The madman disappeared in space!

[Illustration: The madman disappeared in space!]

The balloon was raised to an immeasurable height. A horrible
cracking was heard. The gas, too much dilated, had burst the
balloon. I shut my eyes--

Some instants after, a damp warmth revived me. I was in the midst
of clouds on fire. The balloon turned over with dizzy velocity.
Taken by the wind, it made a hundred leagues an hour in a
horizontal course, the lightning flashing around it.

Meanwhile my fall was not a very rapid one. When I opened my
eyes, I saw the country. I was two miles from the sea, and the
tempest was driving me violently towards it, when an abrupt shock
forced me to loosen my hold. My hands opened, a cord slipped
swiftly between my fingers, and I found myself on the solid
earth!

It was the cord of the anchor, which, sweeping along the surface
of the ground, was caught in a crevice; and my balloon,
unballasted for the last time, careered off to lose itself beyond
the sea.

When I came to myself, I