This I accordingly did, and he accepted it with the eagerness of a child
who has begged and obtained a new play-thing."




CHAPTER IV.


"The next day, Tippoo and his whole court assembled to see my balloon.
Tippoo was seated in a splendid pavilion, and his principal courtiers
stood in a semicircle on each side of him: the youth, whom I formerly
observed, was again on his right hand, and his eyes were immovably
fixed upon my balloon, which had been previously filled and fastened
down by cords. I had the curiosity to ask who this youth was: I was
informed he was the sultan's eldest son, Prince Abdul Calie. I had not
time to make any farther inquiries, for Tippoo now ordered a signal to
be given, as had been previously agreed upon. I instantly cut the cords
which held the balloon, and it ascended with a rapid but graceful
motion, to the unspeakable astonishment and delight of all the
spectators. Some clapped their hands and shouted, others looked up in
speechless ecstasy, and in the general emotion all ranks for an instant
were confounded: even Tippoo Sultan seemed at this interval to be
forgotten, and to forget himself, in the admiration of this new wonder.

"As soon as the balloon was out of sight, the court returned to their
usual places, the noise subsided, and the sultan, as if desirous to
fix the public attention upon himself, and to show his own superior
magnificence, issued orders immediately to his treasurer to present me,
as a token of his royal approbation, with two hundred star pagodas.