relieved of a great part of the weight he had been drawing,
turned his trot into a gallop. Le Bris gave the jerk of the
rope that should have unfastened the slip knot, but a concealed
nail on the cart caught the rope, so that it failed to run. The
lift of the machine was such, however, that it relieved the
horse of very nearly the weight of the cart and driver, as well
as that of Le Bris and his machine, and in the end the rails of
the cart gave way. Le Bris rose in the air, the machine
maintaining perfect balance and rising to a height of nearly 300
ft., the total length of the glide being upwards of an eighth of
a mile. But at the last moment the rope which had originally
fastened the machine to the cart got wound round the driver's
body, so that this unfortunate dangled in the air under Le Bris
and probably assisted in maintaining the balance of the
artificial albatross. Le Bris, congratulating himself on his
success, was prepared to enjoy just as long a time in the air as
the pressure of the wind would permit, but the howls of the
unfortunate driver at the end of the rope beneath him dispelled
his dreams; by working his levers he altered the angle of the
front wing edges so skilfully as to make a very successful
landing indeed for the driver, who, entirely uninjured,
disentangled himself from the rope as soon as he touched the
ground, and ran off to retrieve his horse and cart.

Apparently his release made a difference in the centre of
gravity, for Le Bris could not manipulate his levers for further
ascent; by skilful manipulation he retarded the descent
sufficiently to escape injury to himself; the machine descended
at an angle, so that one wing, striking the ground in front of
the other, received a certain amount of damage.