he air, all by itself. And when it is inside a
bag the gas takes the bag up into the air with it."

"And the basket too? Doesn't it take the basket?" Freddie asked.

"Yes, the basket goes up with the balloon," said Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Who goes in the basket?" asked Freddie.

"Oh, the man," his father answered.

"Do any children go in the balloon?" called out Flossie. "Any boys or
girls?"

"Oh, no!" quickly said Nan, for she did not want her little sister and
brother to tease for a ride in a balloon basket.

"I'd like a ride in a balloon," murmured Freddie.

Just then the wind began to blow more strongly, and the big gas bag
swayed to one side, toward a crowd of people who ran to get out of the
way.

"Get more ropes!" cried one of the balloon men. "Get more ropes and sand
bags!"

"That's right!" shouted another man. "There's going to be a storm. I
don't know whether we ought to send the balloon up!"

"Oh, let her go!" cried several in the crowd. They did not want to be
disappointed. Bert and Harry added their voices to the cries for an
ascension.

"Well, we'll have to tie the balloon down until we get more gas in it,"
said the first man. "Come on now, more ropes and sand bags!"

While these were being brought the Bobbsey twins and their relatives
drew as near to the balloon as they could get, closely looking at it. At
times the big bag, partly filled with gas, swayed until it swept the
ground. The basket, too, pulled and tugged at the ropes that held it
down.

"What does the man do when he's in the basket?" Freddie asked.

"Oh, he sits there and rides along up in the clouds," said Bert. "I wish
I could go up."

"Does he have anything to eat?" Flossie wanted to know.

"Oh, yes," said Nan. "There are things to eat in the basket. See!" And
she held Flossie up so she could look over the edge and down into the
basket. Of course Freddie had to be lifted up, also.

The basket seemed a cosy place. There were blankets in it, for it is
often very cold high up in the air where balloons go, though it may be
very warm on the earth. And there were boxes and packages containing
food and many strange things at which the Bobbsey twins wondered.

The wind kept blowing harder and harder, and the crowd grew larger as
word went around the fair grounds that the balloon was soon to go up.

"What about those ropes?" cried the man who was in charge of the
balloon.

"They're coming," another man told him. "Be here right awa