toward the Eiffel Tower; the navigator had lost control; 500 feet below
were the roofs of the Trocadero Hotels; he had to decide which was the
least dangerous; there was but a moment to think. Santos-Dumont, death
staring him in the face, chose the roofs. A swift jerk of a cord, and a
big slit was made in the balloon. Instantly man, motor, gas-bag, and
keel went tumbling down straight into the court of the hotels. The great
balloon burst with a noise like an explosion, and the man was lost in a
confusion of yellow-silk covering, cords, and wires. When the firemen
reached the place and put down their long ladders they found him
standing calmly in his wicker basket, entirely unhurt. The long, staunch
keel, resting by its ends on the walls of the court, prevented him from
being dashed to pieces. And so ended No. 5.

Most men would have given up aerial navigation after such an experience,
but Santos-Dumont could not be deterred from continuing his experiments.
The night of the very day which witnessed his fearful fall and the
destruction of No. 5 he ordered a new balloon for "Santos-Dumont No. 6."
It showed the pluck and determination of the man as nothing else could.

Twenty-two days after the aeronaut's narrow escape his new air-ship was
finished and ready for a flight. No. 6 was practically the same as its
predecessor--the triangular keel was retained, but an eighteen
horse-power gasoline motor was substituted for the sixteen horse-power
used previously. The propeller, made of silk stretched over a bamboo
frame, was hung at the after end of the keel; the motor was a little aft
of the centre, while the basket to which led the steering-gear, the
emergency valve to the balloon, and the motor-controlling gear was
suspended farther forward. To control the upward or downward pointing of
the new air-ship, shifting ballast was used which ran along a wire under
the keel from one end to the other; the cords controlling this ran to