Now, lads--now!"

As I spoke; the gun exploded, and the instant after we heard the
crashing rattle of the timber, as the shot struck the bridge, and
splintered the wood-work in all directions.

"The range is perfect, lads," cried I. "Load and fire with all speed."

Another shot, followed by a terrific scream from the bridge, told how
the work was doing. Oh! the savage exultation, the fiendish joy of my
heart, as I drank in that cry of agony, and called upon my men to load
faster.

Six shots were poured in with tremendous precision and effect, and the
seventh tore away one of the main supports of the bridge, and down went
the densely crowded column into the Rhine; at the same instant, the guns
of our launches opened a destructive fire upon the banks, which soon
were swept clean of the enemy.

High up on the stream, and for nearly a mile below also, we could see
the boats of our army pulling in for shore; the crossing of the Rhine
had been effected, and we now prepared to follow.

_To be continued._

[From the Dublin University Magazine.]

AN AERIAL VOYAGE.

Of all the wonderful discoveries which modern science has given birth
to, there is perhaps not one which has been applied to useful purposes
on a scale so unexpectedly contracted as that by which we are enabled to
penetrate into the immense ocean of air with which our globe is
surrounded, and to examine the physical phenomena which are manifested
in its upper strata. One would have supposed that the moment the power
was conferred upon us to leave the surface of the earth, and rise above
the clouds into the superior regions, a thousand eager inquirers would
present themselves as agents in researches in a region so completely
untrodden, if such a term may here be permitted.

Nevertheless, this great invention of aerial navigation has remained
almost barren. If we except the celebrated aerial voyage of Gay-Lussac
in 1804, the balloon, with its wonderful powers, has been allowed to
degenerate into a mere theatrical exhibition, exciting the vacant and
unreflecting wonder of the multitude. Instead of being an instrument of
philosophical research, it has become a mere expedient for profit in
the hands of charlatans, so much so, that, on the occasion to which we
are now about to advert, the persons who engaged in the project incurred
failure, and risked their lives, from their aversion to avail themselves
of the experience of those who had made aerostation