before. In less than a quarter of an hour the balloon got
into Westphalia near Renheim; then we crossed the great river Ems, the
towns of Rheine and Ibbenburen, and returned to Hanover a little above
Osnabruck. We traversed, without deigning to take notice of them, a
little chain of mountains, and by way, no doubt, of relaxation after so
long a journey, went all round a lake which is called in German
Dummersee. We then got into a great plain, through which runs a road.
At this time the balloon became almost motionless. The reason of this
was, that the heat of the sun had caused the gas to expand. The
thermometer was then at 145 degrees (about 59 degrees Fahrenheit [No!
editor]). Louis Godard was very uneasy about this dilation. After two
or three oscillations, our aerial courser decided upon going off rapidly
in an eastern direction, with about two degrees variation towards the
north. This course would have taken us to Hamburg and the Baltic; but
we were all so completely absorbed by the splendour of the tableau
before us that we took little note of the change. Our hippogriff passed
over Wagenfeld-Steyerberg, where there is a river which flows into the
Weser. We came within sight of the great river and Nienburg, a
considerable town on one of its banks. We saw a steamboat going down
the river from the town. The view here was charming. A rustling of the
silk of our balloon made us look upwards; the monster, under the
influence of the sun, now very hot, was palpably swelling. As it would
have been supremely ridiculous, after having made such a first-rate
journey, to have treated the inhabitants of Nienburg with the spectacle
of seeing us blown up--to say nothing of the consequences of such a
catastrophe to our own limbs--we resolved to come down. The remaining
bags of ballast were got in order, the ropes and the anchors prepared,
and Godard opened the safety-valve. `The monster is disgorging!'
exclaimed Thirion. And the balloon did vomit forth its gas with a
tremendous noise, which may be compared to the snoring of some gigantic
animal. While our companion made this observation, we were descending
at the rate of two metres to the second. `To the ropes! to the ropes!--
hold on well!' cried the brothers Godard, who seemed quite in their
element, `take care of the shock!' Every one climbed up to the ropes
which attach the car to the circular handles underneath the balloon.
Madame Nadar, whose _sang-froid_ w