– Are we going up again?
– Not at all; we are going down!
– Mr. Smith[1] , we are falling!
– Throw over all the ballast!
– The last sack is empty!
– Does the balloon rise again?
– No!
– I hear the waves, they are splashing!
– The sea is under us!
– Five hundred feet!
– God help us![2]
These words rang through the air above the Pacific[3] , at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the 23d of March, 1865.
The hurricane was lasting without intermission from the 18th to the 26th of March. It covered a space of 1,800 miles, it occasioned immense destruction in America and Europe and Asia. Cities were in ruins, forests were uprooted. Hundreds of shipwrecks, thousands of persons in the sea!
While these catastrophes were upon the land and the sea, something was in the heavens, too.
A balloon was spinning around as in some aerial whirlpool. It rushed through space with a velocity of ninety miles an hour. Below the balloon, there was a basket with five persons.
The storm was terrible. The balloon came from a great distance, the passengers were unable to determine the course. They could not calculate their position. They could not see anything, the thick fog was under the balloon. Around them everything was obscure. The clouds were very dense. No light, no sound, no roaring of the ocean penetrated that profound obscurity.
Meanwhile the balloon rose to a height of 4,500 feet, and the passengers discovered that the sea was beneath them. They realized that the dangers above were less formidable than below.
The night passed. At dawn, the clouds rose high into the heavens; and, in a few hours more, the whirlwind disappeared. Now, however, it became evident that the balloon was again sinking slowly. The voyagers threw overboard different articles, few provisions, and everything they had in their pockets. But the gas was escaping, and the voyagers were going down!
There was no land, not even an island, beneath them. It was a vast sea on which the waves were surging. It was the limitless ocean. Not even a ship was in sight.
In order to save themselves it was necessary to stop the downward movement. But the balloon continued to descend!
It was a terrible situation. These men were unfortunate. The gas continued to escape. They fell faster and faster. At 1 o’clock they were not more than 600 feet above the sea. The gas poured out. If no land appears before nightfall, voyagers, balloon, and basket will disappear beneath the waves.
It was evident that these men were strong. Not a murmur escaped their lips. They were ready to struggle to the last second. The basket was constructed of willow osiers, it could not float, and they could not support it on the surface of the water. It was 2 o’clock, and the balloon was only 400 feet above the waves.
Then they heard a voice. It was the voice of a man whose heart knew no fear.
– Is everything thrown out?[4]
– No, we yet have 10,000 francs in gold.
A heavy bag fell into the sea.
– Does the balloon rise?
– A little, but it will soon fall again.
– Is there anything else to throw out?
– Nothing.
– Yes there is; there is the basket! Let it go.
This was, indeed, the last means. They wanted to lighten the apparatus. The five passengers clambered into the net around the hoop, and looked into the abyss below.
The balloon went up. But soon it began to descend. It was impossible to repair the rent, through which the gas was rushing.
At 4 o’clock, when the balloon was only 500 feet above the sea, they heard the loud barking.
– Top[5] saw something! Land! Land!
They saw a land. But it is far, it takes an hour to reach it. An hour! They did not know whether it was an island or a continent. They do not know what part of the world the tempest brought them. How to reach that land?
At 4 o’clock they saw that the balloon could not sustain itself much longer. It grazed the surface of the sea.
A half hour later, and the land was a mile distant. The balloon jumped into the air. It rose 1,500 feet, and soon, however, it fell upon the sand. The passengers, assisting each other, hastened to the ground.
The basket contained five passengers and a dog. Four men were upon the shore. The fifth one, then, was in the water. His friends cried:
– Perhaps he is trying to swim ashore. Save him! Let us save him!
