in the wind and keep her from folding in on herself; also, that it was
his duty to remain aloft, at the end of his tether, as long as he could,
meantime studying the effect of the German shell-fire on the enemy's
position and telephoning down instructions for the better aiming of the
guns--a job wherein the aeroplane scouts ably reenforced him, since they
could range at will, whereas his position was comparatively fixed and
stationary.

Also I remember his saying, with a tinge of polite regret in his tone,
that he was sorry I had not put on a uniform overcoat with shoulder
straps on it, before boarding the car; because, as he took pains to
explain, in the event of our cable parting and of our drifting over the
Allies' lines and then descending, he might possibly escape, but I
should most likely be shot on the spot as a spy before I had a chance to
explain. "However," he added consolingly, "those are possibilities most
remote. The rope is not likely to break; and if it did we both should
probably be dead before we ever reached the earth."

That last statement sank deep into my consciousness; but I fear I did
not hearken so attentively as I ought to the continuation of the
lieutenant's conversation, because, right in the middle of his remarks,
something had begun to happen.

An officer had stepped up alongside to tell me that very shortly I
should undoubtedly be quite seasick--or, rather, skysick--because of the
pitching about of the basket when the balloon reached the end of the
cable; and I was trying to listen to him with one ear and to my
prospective traveling companion with the other when I suddenly realized
that the officer's face was no longer on a level with mine. It was
several feet below mine. No; it was not--it was several yards below