eir alarm and admiration.

"We cried, 'Vive le Roi!' and the people responded. We heard, very
distinctly--'My good friends, have you no fear? Are you not sick? How
beautiful it is! Heaven preserve you! Adieu, my friends.'

"I was touched to tears by this tender and true interest which our
appearance had called forth.

"We continued to wave our flags without cessation, and we perceived
that these signals greatly increased the cheerfulness and calmed the
solicitude of the people below. Often we descended sufficiently low to
hear what they shouted to us. They asked us where we came from, and at
what hour we had started.

"We threw over successively frock-coats, muffs, and habits. Sailing on
above the Ile d'Adam, after having admired the splendid view, we made
signals with our flags, and demanded news of the Prince of Conti. One
cried up to us, in a very powerful voice, that he was at Paris, and
that he was ill. We regretted missing such an opportunity of paying our
respects, for we could have descended into the prince's gardens, if we
had wished, but we preferred to pursue our course, and we re-ascended.
Finally, we arrived at the plain of Nesles.

"We saw from the distance groups of peasants, who ran on before us
across the fields. 'Let us go,' I said, and we descended towards a vast
meadow.

"Some shrubs and trees stood round its border. Our car advanced
majestically in a long inclined plane. On arriving near the trees, I
feared that their branches might damage the car, so I threw over two
pounds of ballast, and we rose again. We ran along more than 120 feet,
at a distance of one or two feet from the ground, and had the appearance
of travelling in a sledge. The peasants ran after us without being able
to catch us, like children pursuing a butterfly in the fields.

"Finally, we stopped, and were instantly surrounded. Nothing could equal
the simple and tender regard of the country people, their admiration,
and their lively emotion.

"I called at once for the cures and the magistrates. They came round
me on all sides: there was quite a fete on the spot. I prepared a short
report, which the cures and the syndics signed. Then arrived a company
of horsemen at a gallop. These were the Duke of Chartres, the Duke of
Fitzjames, and M. Farrer. By a very singular chance, we had come down
close by the hunting-lodge of the latter. He leaped from his horse and
threw himself into my arms, crying, 'Monsieur Charles, I was first!