n I heard the Captain
and the mate talking those matters over that I conceived my great
fire-balloon scheme. I didn't say a word, but fished out a lot of stout
wire that was aboard the ship, got my stock of tissue paper together,
and set about making one of the biggest fire-balloons on record. It was
a whopper, and no mistake, for, you see, I wanted it to have carrying
and travelling power. When I had it finished, I secured a stout bottle.
Then I wrote this brief and direct message on a piece of brown paper:

"'The ship _Ellen Burgee_ is on St. Paul's Rocks. All hands safe
and well, but would like to get away.'

"I put that in the bottle and corked it up tight. Then with a stiff
piece of wire and a square of red bunting I made a flag, which I stuck
up on top of the cork. Next I made a wire bridle, and swung the bottle
below the neck of the balloon, so far down that the flag could not catch
fire. I ballasted the bottom of the bottle first, and experimented with
it so that it would float upright, even with the weight of wire hanging
to it. The Captain saw me at work, and said,

"'What are you up to, Elias?'

"'Oh,' I said, 'I'm getting up a balloon ascension to kill time.'

"That night, as luck would have it, there was a nice gentle
southeasterly breeze, and I made ready to send up my balloon. The
Captain and the crew gathered around me and chaffed me a little, but I
didn't mind that.

"'What's the bottle for?' asked the mate.

"'Just for a sort of ballast,' I answered.

"'What do you have the flag for?' asked one of the men.

"'Oh, for instance,' I answered, in school-boy fashion.

"I now lighted the flare in the neck of my balloon, and had the pleasure
of seeing my contrivance slowly but surely inflated with the heated air.
In good time it was ready to rise, and as I released it, to my intense
satisfaction it gently rose toward the sky, carrying the bottle with it.

"'Hooray for the Fourth o' July!' cried one of the sailors, and the crew
gave three hearty cheers.

"Then they all stood about, watching it as it soared away into the
nor'west like a comet.

"'If some ship sights that thing,' said one old fellow, 'she'll think a
picnic has got lost.'

"'By the great hook block!' exclaimed the mate, 'maybe they'll hunt
around and find us.'

"'If that should happen,' said the Captain, 'it would turn out that your
sport paid, Elias.'

"'Yes, sir,' said I, smiling, and rubbing my hands behind my bac