e is
transformed into an immense ant-hill. Observe the crowd which is
gathered on the quays; and the mountains also get smaller and
smaller. We are over the Cathedral. The Main is only a line,
cutting the city in two, and the bridge seems a thread thrown
between the two banks of the river."

The atmosphere became somewhat chilly.

"There is nothing I would not do for you, my host," said the
unknown. "If you are cold, I will take off my coat and lend it to
you."

"Thanks," said I dryly.

"Bah! Necessity makes law. Give me your hand. I am your
fellow-countryman; you will learn something in my company, and my
conversation will indemnify you for the trouble I have given
you."

I sat down, without replying, at the opposite extremity of the
car. The young man had taken a voluminous manuscript from his
great-coat. It was an essay on ballooning.

"I possess," said he, "the most curious collection of engravings
and caricatures extant concerning aerial manias. How people
admired and scoffed at the same time at this precious discovery!
We are happily no longer in the age in which Montgolfier tried to
make artificial clouds with steam, or a gas having electrical
properties, produced by the combustion of moist straw and
chopped-up wool."

"Do you wish to depreciate the talent of the inventors?" I asked,
for I had resolved to enter into the adventure. "Was it not good
to have proved by experience the possibility of rising in the
air?"

"Ah, monsieur, who denies the glory of the first aerial
navigators? It required immense courage to rise by means of those
frail envelopes which only contained heated air. But I ask you,
has the aerial science made great progress since Blanchard's
ascensions, that is, since nearly a century ago? Look here,
monsieur."

The unknown took an engraving from his portfolio.

"Here," said he, "is the first aerial voyage undertaken by
Pilatre des Rosiers and the Marquis d'Arlandes, four months after
the discovery of balloons. Louis XVI. refused to consent to the
venture, and two men who were condemned to death were the first
to attempt the aerial ascent. Pilatre des Rosiers became
indignant at this injustice, and, by means of intrigues, obtained
permission to make the experiment. The car, which renders the
management easy, had not then been invented, and a circular
gallery was placed around the lower and contracted part of the
Montgolfier balloon. The two aeronauts must then remain
motionless