The multitude in the Belvidere Gardens
was something wonderful. There they were,
men, women, and children, thronging the
balconies, the orchestra-stairs, and every
available inch of ground; and there, in the
midst of them, rolled and swayed the huge
Wurtemberg balloon, like a sleepy, lolling
giant. The ascent was fixed for six o'clock,
that we might come down again by
daylight; so I made haste to dress, and then
went to the green-room to see after Mr.
Rice, and hear something of what was going
forward.

Mr. Rice was there, and three gentlemen
with him, namely, Colonel Steward, Captain
Crawford, and Sydney Baird, Esquire. They
were fine handsome looking gentlemen, all
three—especially Sydney Baird, Esquire, who
was, as I have since been told, a play-writer,
and one of the cleverest men of the day. I
was going to draw back when I saw them
sitting there with their wine and cigars; but
they would have me in to take a glass of
port, and shook hands with me all round as
polite as possible, and treated me as handsome
as any gentlemen could.

"Here's health and success to you, my
brave fellow," says Colonel Steward, " and a
pleasant trip to us all! " and then I found
that they were going up in the car with Mr.
Staines.

And now, what with their light cheerful
ways and pleasant talking, and what with
the glass of wine that I had taken, and the
excitement, and the hum of voices from the
crowd outside, I was in first-rate spirits, and
as impatient to be off, as a racer at the starting-
point. Presently one of the gentlemen
looked at his watch.

"What are we waiting for? " said he. " It
is ten minutes past, six already."

And so it was. Ten minutes past the hour,
and Griffiths had not yet been seen or heard
of. Well, Mr. Rice grew very uneasy, and
the crowd very noisy, and so twenty minutes
more went by. Then we made up our minds
to go without him, and Mr. Rice made a
little speech and explained it to the people;
and then there was a cheer, and a great
bustle; and the gentlemen took their seats in
the car; and a hamper full of champagne
and cold chicken was put in with them; and
I was made fast by one leg to the base of the
trapeze; and Mr. Staines was just about to
get in himself and give the signal to cut
loose, when who should we see forcing his
way through the crowd but Griffiths.

Of course there was another cheer at this,
and a delay of eight or ten minutes more
while he was dressing. At last he came, and
it was now just a quarter to seven o'clock.
He looked very sullen when he found that
he was to be the undermost; but there was
no time to change anything now, even if I
had been willing; so his left wrist and my
right were bound together by a leathern strap,
the signal was given, the band struck up, the
crowd applauded like mad, and the
balloon rose straight and steady above the heads
of the people.

Down sank the trees and the fountains,
and the pavement of upturned faces. Down
sank the roof of the theatre, and fainter grew
the sound of the hurrahing and the music.
The sensation was so strange that, for the
first moment, I was forced to close my eyes,
and felt as if I must fall and be dashed to
pieces. But that soon passed away, and by
the time we had risen to about three hundred
feet I was as comfortable as if I had been
born and bred in the air with my head
downwards.

Presently we began our performances.
Griffiths was as cool as possible — I never saw
him cooler — and we went through every
conceivable attitude; now swinging by our
hands, now by our feet, now throwing
summersaults one over the other. And during
the whole of this time the streets and squares
seemed to sink away to the right, and the
noises from the living world died on the air—
and, as I turned and slung, changing my
position with every minute, I caught strange
flitting glimpses of the sunset and the city,
the sky and the river, the gentlemen leaning
over the car and the tiny passengers
swarming down below like ants on an ant-hill.

Then the gentlemen grew tired of leaning
over, and began to talk and laugh, and busy
themselves over their hamper. Then the
Surrey hills drew nearer, and the city sank
away to the right, farther and farther. Then
there were nothing but green fields with lines
of railway crossing them here and there; and
presently it grew quite damp and misty, and
we ceased to see anything, except through
breaks and openings in the clouds.

"Come, John," says I, " our share of
this business is done. Don't you think we
might as well be getting into the car?"

He was hanging below just then, holding
on by my two hands, and had been hanging
so quite quiet for some minutes. He didn't
seem to hear me; and no wonder, for the
clouds were gathering about us so thickly,
that even the voices of the gentlemen up
above grew muffled, and I could hardly see
for a yard before me in any direction. So I
called to him again, and repeated the question.

He made no answer, but shifted his grasp
from my hand to my wrist, and then up to
the middle of my arm, so raising himself by
degrees, till our faces came nearly on a level.
There he paused, and I felt his hot breath on
my cheek.

"William Waldur," said he hoarsely,
"wasn't to-morrow to have been your
wedding-day?"

Something in the tone of his voice, in the
question, in the dusk and dreadful solitude,
struck me with horror. I tried to shake off
his hands, but he held too fast for that.

"Well, what if it was?" said I, after a
moment. "You needn't grip so hard. Catch hold