ining some farm-houses at Denholme.
Cautiously opening the escape-valve, he continued the journey downwards,
and threw out the grapnels. Impetuous blasts of wind increased the
difficulty of bringing the balloon to anchor. A strong wind prevailing,
it became unmanageable, and drifted over fields and stone walls with
amazing velocity. The flukes of the grapnels penetrated the ground and
uprooted the earth as they followed in the wake of the balloon, while
the aerial chariot dashed onwards, making, in its career, wide gaps in
several stone walls. Mr Vouens, preparing to encounter the worst fate,
wrapped the end of the cord which opens the escape-valve round one of
his wrists, and, burying himself in the car, permitted the balloon to
proceed until the breeze subsided, when, after the car had been thrice
capsized, and every article which it contained thrown out, Mr Vouens,
who received no injuries, anchored, and completed a voyage of many
miles, which occupied half-an-hour in its accomplishment.

CHAPTER NINE.

WAR-BALLOONS.

As the French were the first to teach mankind the art of navigating the
air by means of balloons, so they were the first to set the example of
applying them to the art of war.

It may not be generally known, perhaps, that balloons have actually been
used in war. They were first introduced to this new field of action at
Valenciennes in 1793, and the result of the experiment was a failure;
not, however, owing to the fault of man, but to the unpropitious nature
of the winds. The garrison, being hard pressed by the English and their
allies, attached a letter, addressed to the National Assembly, to a
small balloon, or parachute, and committed it to a breeze which blew in
the direction of Paris. Towards evening the wind changed, and the
faithless messenger fell into the enemy's camp!

About the same time the subject of war-balloons was brought before the
Committee of Public Safety, who commissioned a young captain of
Engineers, named Coutelle, to make experiments, and report on the
matter. He made a balloon twenty-seven feet in diameter, with a car to
hold two persons, which, when filled with hydrogen gas, was capable of
lifting about a quarter of a ton, and cost a little above 80 pounds. It
was not intended that this balloon should go free. It was to be held
down by two guy-ropes, each between four and five hundred yards in
length, by which, when at the full length of its tether, the ballo