indications of the barometer, knew that they were
being precipitated to the surface of the earth with a velocity so
prodigious, that the passage of the balloon through the atmosphere
dispelled the mass of hydrogen with which they had been surrounded.

It was, nevertheless, evident that the small rent which had been
produced in the lower part of the balloon, by the abortive attempt to
obtain access to the valve, could not have been the cause of a fall so
rapid.

M. Barral, accordingly, proceeded to examine the external surface of the
balloon, as far as it was visible from the car, and, to his astonishment
and terror, he discovered that a rupture had taken place, and that a
rent was made, about five feet in length, along the equator of the
machine, through which, of course, the gas was now escaping in immense
quantities. Here was the cause of the frightful precipitation of the
descent, and a source of imminent danger in the fall.

M. Barral promptly decided on the course to be taken.

It was resolved to check the descent by the discharge of the ballast,
and every other article of weight. But this process, to be effectual,
required to be conducted with considerable coolness and skill. They were
some thousand feet above the clouds. If the ballast were dismissed too
soon, the balloon must again acquire a perilous velocity before it would
reach the earth. If, on the other hand, its descent were not moderated
in time, its fall might become so precipitate as to be ungovernable.
Nine or ten sand-bags being, therefore, reserved for the last and
critical moment, all the rest of the ballast was discharged. The fall
being still frightfully rapid, the voyagers cast out, as they descended
through the cloud already mentioned, every article of weight which they
had, among which were the blankets and woolen clothing which they had
brought to cover them in the upper regions of the atmosphere, their
shoes, several bottles of wine, all, in fine, save and except the
philosophical instruments. These they regarded as the soldier does his
flag, not to be surrendered save with life. M. Bixio, when about to
throw over a trifling apparatus, called an aspirator, composed of
copper, and filled with water, was forbidden by M. Barral, and obeyed
the injunction.

They soon emerged from the lower stratum of the cloud, through which
they had fallen in less than two minutes, having taken fifteen minutes
to ascend through it. The earth was now in sigh