Take your measures,--act as it may seem good to you; I will
wait till you have ended--"
"To--"
"To converse with you."
The barometer had fallen to twenty-six inches; we had attained a height
of about six hundred metres, and were over the city; which satisfied me
of our complete quiescence, for I could not judge by our motionless
flags. Nothing betrays the horizontal voyage of a balloon; it is the
mass of air surrounding it which moves. A kind of wavering heat bathed
the objects extended at our feet, and gave their outlines an
indistinctness to be regretted. The needle of the compass indicated a
slight tendency to float towards the south.
I looked again at my companion. He was a man of thirty, simply clad; the
bold outlines of his features betokened indomitable energy; he appeared
very muscular. Absorbed in the emotion of this silent suspension, he
remained immovable, seeking to distinguish the objects which passed
beneath his view.
"Vexatious mist!" said he, at the expiration of a few moments.
I made no reply.
"What would you? I could not pay for my voyage; I was obliged to take
you by surprise."
"No one has asked you to descend!"
"A similar occurrence," he resumed, "happened to the Counts of Laurencin
and Dampierre, when they ascended at Lyons, on the 15th of January,
1784. A young merchant, named Fontaine, scaled the railing, at the risk
of upsetting the equipage. He accomplished the voyage, and nobody was
killed!"
"Once on the earth, we will converse!" said I, piqued at the tone of
lightness with which he spoke.
"Bah! do not talk of returning!"
"Do you think then that I shall delay my descent?"
"Descent!" said he, with surprise. "Let us ascend!"
And before I could prevent him, two bags of sand were thrown out,
without even being emptied.
"Monsieur!" said I, angrily.
"I know your skill," replied he, composedly; "your brilliant ascensions
have made some noise in the world. Experience is the sister of practice,
but it is also first cousin to theory, and I have long and deeply
studied the aerostatic art. It has affected my brain," added he, sadly,
falling into a mute torpor.
The balloon, after having risen, remained stationary; the unknown
consulted the barometer, and said:
"Here we are at 800 metres! Men resemble insects! See, I think it is
from this height that we should always look at them, to judge correctly
of their moral proportions! The Place de la Comedie is transformed
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