The Eternal Adam and other stories (7 page)

‘Miserable mist!’ said he, after a few
moments.

I did not reply.

‘You owe me a grudge?’ he went on. ‘Bah! I
could not pay for my journey, and it was necessary to take you by surprise.’

‘Nobody asks you to descend, monsieur!’

‘Eh, do you not know, then, that the same
thing happened to the Counts of Laurencin and Dampierre, when they ascended at
Lyons, on the 15th of January, 1784? A young merchant, named Fontaine, scaled
the gallery, at the risk of capsizing the machine. He accomplished the journey,
and nobody died of it!’

‘Once on the ground, we will have an
explanation,’ replied I, piqued at the light tone in which he spoke.

‘Bah! Do not let us think of our return.’

‘Do you think, then, that I shall not hasten
to descend?’

‘Descend!’ said he, in surprise. ‘Descend?
Let us begin by first ascending.’

And before I could prevent it, two more
bags had been thrown over the car, without even having been emptied.

‘Monsieur!’ cried I, in a rage.

‘I know your ability,’ replied the unknown
quietly, ‘and your fine ascents are famous. But if Experience is the sister of
Practice, she is also a cousin of Theory, and I have studied the aerial art
long. It has got into my head!’ he added sadly, falling into a silent reverie.

The balloon, having risen some distance
farther, now became stationary. The unknown consulted the barometer, and said, —

‘Here we are, at 800 yards. Men are like
insects. See! I think we should always contemplate them from this height, to
judge correctly of their proportions. The Place de la Comedie 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 oil 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 greatcoat. 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 at each extremity of this gallery,
for the moist straw which filled it forbade them all motion. A chafing-dish
with fire was suspended below the orifice of the balloon; when the aeronauts
wished to rise, they threw straw upon this brazier, at the risk of setting fire
to the balloon, and the air, more heated, gave it fresh ascending power. The
two bold travellers rose, on the 21st of November, 1783, from the Muette
Gardens, which the dauphin had put at their disposal. The balloon went up
majestically, passed over the Isle of Swans, crossed the Seine at the
Conference barrier, and, drifting between the dome of the Invalides and the
Military School, approached the Church of Saint Sulpice. Then the aeronauts
added to the fire, crossed the Boulevard, and descended beyond the Enfer
barrier. As it touched the soil, the balloon collapsed, and for a few moments
buried Pilatre des Rosiers under its folds.’

‘Unlucky augury,’ I said, interested in the
story, which affected me nearly.

‘An augury of the catastrophe which was
later to cost this unfortunate man his life,’ replied the unknown sadly. ‘Have
you never experienced anything like it?’

‘Never.’

‘Bah! Misfortunes sometimes occur
unforeshadowed!’ added my companion.

He then remained silent.

Meanwhile we were advancing southward, and
Frankfort had already passed from beneath us.

‘Perhaps we shall have a storm,’ said the
young man.

‘We shall descend before that,’ I replied.

‘Indeed! It is better to ascend. We shall
escape it more surely.’

And two more bags of sand were hurled into
space.

The balloon rose rapidly, and stopped at
1,200 yards. I became colder; and yet the sun’s rays, falling upon the surface,
expanded the gas within, and gave it a greater ascending force.

‘Fear nothing,’ said the unknown. ‘We have
still 3,500 fathoms of breathing air. Besides, do not trouble yourself about
what I do.’

I would have risen, but a vigorous hand
held me to my seat.

‘Your name?’ I asked.

‘My name? What matters it to you?’

‘I demand your name!’

‘My name is Erostratus or Empedocles,
whichever you choose!’

This reply was far from reassuring.

The unknown, besides, talked with such
strange coolness that I anxiously asked myself whom I had to deal with.

‘Monsieur,’ he continued, ‘nothing original
has been imagined since the physicist Charles. Four months after the discovery
of balloons, this able man had invented the valve, which permits the gas to
escape when the balloon is too full, or when you wish to descend; the car.
which aids the management of the machine: the netting, which holds the envelope
of the balloon, and divides the weight over its whole surface; the ballast,
which enables you to ascend, and to choose the place of your landing; the
india-rubber coating, which renders the tissue impermeable: the barometer,
which shows the height attained. Lastly, Charles used hydrogen, which, fourteen
times lighter than air, permits you to penetrate to the highest atmospheric
regions, and does not expose you to the dangers of a combustion in the air. On
the 1st of December, 1783, 300,000 spectators were crowded around the
Tuileries. Charles rose, and the soldiers presented arms to him. He travelled
nine leagues in the air, conducting his balloon with an ability not surpassed
by modern aeronauts. The king awarded him a pension of 2,000 livres; for then
they encouraged new inventions.’

The unknown now seemed to be under the influence
of considerable agitation.

‘Monsieur,’ he resumed, ‘I have studied
this, and I am convinced that the first aeronauts guided their balloons.
Without speaking of Blanchard, whose assertions may be received with doubt,
Guyton-Morveaux, by the aid of oars and rudder, made his machine answer to the
helm, and take the direction he determined on. More recently, M. Julien, a
watchmaker, made some convincing experiments at the Hippodrome, in Paris; for,
by a special mechanism, his aerial apparatus, oblong in form, went visibly
against the wind. It occurred to M. Petin to place four hydrogen balloons
together; and, by means of sails hung horizontally and partly folded, he hopes
to be able to disturb the equilibrium, and, thus inclining the apparatus, to
convey it in an oblique direction. They speak, also, of forces to overcome the
resistance of currents, – for instance, the screw; but the screw, working on a
moveable centre, will give no result. I, monsieur, have discovered the only
means of guiding balloons; and no academy has come to my aid, no city has
filled up subscriptions for me, no government has thought fit to listen to me!
It is infamous!’

The unknown gesticulated fiercely, and the
car underwent violent oscillations. I had much trouble in calming him.

Meanwhile the balloon had entered a more
rapid current, and we advanced south, at 1,500 yards above the earth.

‘See, there is Darmstadt,’ said my
companion, leaning over the car. ‘Do you perceive the château? Not very
distinctly, eh? What would you have? The heat of the storm makes the outline of
objects waver, and you must have a skilled eye to recognise localities.’

‘Are you certain it is Darmstadt?’ I asked.

‘I am sure of it. We are now six leagues
from Frankfort.’

‘Then we must descend.’

‘Descend! You would not go down on the
steeples,’ said the unknown, with a chuckle.

‘No, but in the suburbs of the city.’

Well, let us avoid the steeples!’

So speaking, my companion seized some bags
of ballast. I hastened to prevent him; but he overthrew me with one hand, and
the unballasted balloon ascended to 2,000 yards.

‘Rest easy,’ said he, ‘and do not forget
that Brioschi, Biot, Gay-Lussac, Bixio, and Barral ascended to still greater
heights to make their scientific experiments.’

‘Monsieur, we must descend,’ I resumed,
trying to persuade him by gentleness. ‘The storm is gathering around us. It
would be more prudent -’

‘Bah! We will mount higher than the storm,
and then we shall no longer fear it!’ cried my companion. ‘What is nobler than
to overlook the clouds which oppress the earth? Is it not an honour thus to
navigate on aerial billows? The greatest men have travelled as we are doing.
The Marchioness and Countess de Montalembert, the Countess of Podenas,
Mademoiselle la Garde, the Marquis de Montalembert, rose from the Faubourg
Saint-Antoine for these unknown regions, and the Duke de Chartres exhibited
much skill and presence of mind in his ascent on the 15th of July, 1784. At
Lyons, the Counts of Laurencin and Dampierre; at Nantes, M. de Luynes; at
Bordeaux, D’Arbelet des Granges: in Italy, the Chevalier Andreani; in our own
time, the Duke of Brunswick, – have all left the traces of their glory in the
air. To equal these great personages, we must penetrate still higher than they
into the celestial depths! To approach the infinite is to comprehend it!’

The rarefaction of the air was fast
expanding the hydrogen in the balloon, and I saw its lower part, purposely left
empty, swell out, so that it was absolutely necessary to open the valve; but my
companion did not seem to intend that I should manage the balloon as I wished.
I then resolved to pull the valve cord secretly, as he was excitedly talking;
for I feared to guess with whom I had to deal. It would have been too horrible!
It was nearly a quarter before one. We had been gone forty minutes from
Frankfort; heavy clouds were coming against the wind from the south, and seemed
about to burst upon us.

‘Have you lost all hope of succeeding in
your project?’ I asked with anxious interest.

‘All hope!’ exclaimed the unknown in a low
voice. ‘Wounded by slights and caricatures, these asses’ kicks have finished
me! It is the eternal punishment reserved for innovators! Look at these
caricatures of all periods, of which my portfolio is full.’

While my companion was fumbling with his papers,
I had seized the valve-cord without his perceiving it. I feared, however, that
he might hear the hissing noise, like a water-course, which the gas makes in
escaping.

‘How many jokes were made about the Abbé
Miolan!’ said he. ‘He was to go up with Janninet and Bredin. During the filling
their balloon caught fire, and the ignorant populace tore it in pieces! Then
this caricature of "curious animals" appeared, giving each of them a
punning nickname.’

I pulled the valve-cord, and the barometer
began to ascend. It was time. Some far-off rumblings were heard in the south.

‘Here is another engraving,’ resumed the
unknown, not suspecting what I was doing. ‘It is an immense balloon carrying a
ship, strong castles, houses, and so on. The caricaturists did not suspect that
their follies would one day become truths. It is complete, this large vessel.
On the left is its helm, with the pilot’s box; at the prow are pleasure-houses,
an immense organ, and a cannon to call the attention of the inhabitants of the
earth or the moon; above the poop there are the observatory and the balloon
long-boat; in the equatorial circle, the army barrack; on the left, the funnel:
then the upper galleries for promenading, sails, pinions; below, the cafés and
general storehouse. Observe this pompous announcement: "Invented for the
happiness of the human race, this globe will depart at once for the ports of
the Levant, and on its return the programme of its voyages to the two poles and
the extreme west will be announced. No one need furnish himself with anything;
everything is foreseen, and all will prosper. There will be a uniform price for
all places of destination, it will be the same for the most distant countries
of our hemisphere – that is to say, 1,000 louis for one of any of the said
journeys. And it must be confessed that this sum is very moderate, when the
speed, comfort, and arrangements which will be enjoyed on the balloon are
considered – arrangements which are not to be found on land, while on the
balloon each passenger may consult his own habits and tastes. This is so true
that in the same place some will be dancing, others standing; some will be
enjoying delicacies; others fasting. Whoever desires the society of wits may
satisfy himself: whoever is stupid may find stupid people to keep him company.
Thus pleasure will be the soul of the aerial company." All this provoked
laughter: but before long, if I am not cut off, they will see it all realised.’