in Bombay again, whence,
proceeding to Calcutta, he repeats his success of the year before. Next
he visits Allahabad, where the same fortune attends him, though his
balloon flies away in a temporary escape into the Jumna. By May he is
ascending at Singapore, armed here, however, with a cork jacket.

Hence, flushed with success, he repairs to the Dutch Indies, and
demonstrates to the Dutch officers the use of the balloon in war. As a
natural consequence, he is moved up to the seat of the Achinese War
in Sumatra, where, his balloon being moored to the rear of an armoured
train, an immediate move is made to the front, and orders are forthwith
telephoned from various centres to open fire on the enemy. Mr. Spencer,
the while accompanied by an officer, makes a captive ascent, in which
for some time he is actually under the enemy's fire. The result of
this plucky experiment is a most flattering official report. In all the
above-mentioned ascents he made his own gas without a hitch.

Thence he travels on with the same trusty little 12,000 cubic feet
balloon, the same programme, and the same success. This is slightly
varied, however, at Kobe, Japan, where his impatient craft fairly breaks
away with him, and, soaring high, flies overhead of a man-of-war, and
plumps into the water a mile out at sea. But "Smartly" was the word. The
ship's crew was beat to quarters, and within one minute a boat was to
the rescue. An ascent at Cairo, where he made a parachute descent in
sight of the Pyramids and landed in the desert, completed this oriental
tour, and home duties necessitated his return to England. Among exploits
far too many to enumerate may be mentioned four several occasions when
Mr. Percival Spencer has crossed the English Channel.

It fell to the lot of the second son, Arthur, to carry fame into fresh
fields. In the year 1897 he visited Australia, taking with him two
balloons, one of these being a noble craft of 80,000 cubic feet,
considerably larger than any balloon used in England, and the singular
fate of this aerial monster is deserving of mention.

Its trial trip in the new country was arranged to take place on Boxing
Day in the Melbourne Exhibition ground, and for the lengthy and critical
work of inflation the able assistance of British bluejackets was
secured. To all appearance, the main difficulties to be provided against
were likely to arise simply from a somewhat inadequate supply of gas,
and on this account filling