message to his paper:

"_Start immediately for Russell by thousand dollar balloon._"

He had sold his horse and team and had purchased provisions with the
proceeds. Five minutes after the sale the horse backed into the hotel
and smashed the buggy into Chinese joss-sticks.

Swift walked calmly to the car and ordered the provisions aboard.

"Have you a long ladder and grapnel?" he inquired.

"Two hundred and fifty feet each."

"Anchor?"

"Two hundred pounds."

"Are you ready, professor?" asked Swift, satisfied with his inspection.

"She's full to bustin'!" said the professor, looking uneasily at the
straining cable.

"Jump in, Mr. Ticks!" The crowd was almost beside itself at the boldness
of the undertaking. Men yelled and hooted encouragement as the venerable
and musty editor stepped into the car with a natural air. It took more
than this to embarrass Mr. Ticks.

"Now, professor!" As Swift spoke he handed the professor a draft on the
_Planet_ for five hundred dollars. The professor hesitated no longer. He
snatched the check and bounded in. An assistant stood ready with an axe
to cut the ropes that held the impatient balloon. Swift then stepped in
leisurely. It was just twenty-nine minutes and a quarter past one
o'clock. The crowd shrieked as if their throats would burst. Swift
lifted his hat in acknowledgment.

"Good luck!"

"Never say die!"

"Come back and tell us all about it."

"If you see my husband tell him I'm waiting for him."

They cheered and yelled and cried and cheered again.

"Are you ready?" asked Swift, looking at his companions.

"Then let her go!"

A cut, a swirl, an indescribable motion, and shouts became to those in
the _High Tariff_ whispers, men became ants, and they were gone.

V.

"Look! For God's sake, look! What is it?"

Swift strained his eyes to the southward, toward the death-bound
territory. The malignant cloud that settled over plain and mountain
slope was broken on the Gopher lake. As soon as Swift had recovered from
the first bound of the balloon he had scanned the dark mist, and by the
borders of the lake he had found a rift. This rift indicated the spot
where the city of Russell should have been. As he spoke he clutched the
arm of his colleague, and pointed over the side of the rising car.

"I--I'm afraid I can't see what you mean," stammered Mr. Statis Ticks,
"my glasses are blurred."

The man of figures was really agitated. But Professor Ariel