at length arrived the hour for making that important experiment—as to whether their aerial ship would prove herself air-worthy.

all three stood around the spot where the chopped grass and shawl-wool were to be set on fire. this fuel itself appeared underneath—in a little heap lightly laid, and ready for the touch of the tinder.

karl had a piece of blazing torch in his hand; caspar held one of the stay-ropes, to prevent the balloon from rising too rapidly; while ossaroo, equipped as if for a journey, stood by the hamper, in readiness, when the proper time should arrive, to “pack” himself into it.

alas! for the frailty of all human foresight! the most careful calculations often prove erroneous—not that in the present instance there was any unforeseen error: for from the very first, karl had been distrustful of his data; and they were now to disappoint, rather than deceive him. it was not written in the book of destiny that ossaroo should ever set foot in that wicker car or ever make an ascent by that balloon.

the torch was applied to the chopped grass and shawl-wool. both blazed and smoked, and smouldered; and, more being thrown on, the blaze was kept up continuously. the heated air ascended through the aperture, causing the great sphere of stitched skins to swell out to its full dimensions.

it trembled and rocked from side to side, like some huge monster in pain. it rose to the height of a few inches from the ground, sank, and then rose again, sank once more, and so kept on rising and sinking and bobbing about, but alas! never exhibiting sufficient ascending power, to raise the hamper even as high as their heads!

karl continued to feed the furnace with the chopped grass and poshm, but all to no purpose. the air within was sufficiently heated to have raised it for miles—had they only been as low as the sea-level, and the balloon constructed of lighter materials.

as it was, all their efforts were in vain. the gigantic globe could not be raised above six feet from the ground. it had not power enough to carry up a cat—much less a man. in short, it was a failure—one more added to the long list of their dark disappointments!

for more than an hour karl continued to keep his fire ablaze. he even tried faggots of the resinous pine: in hopes that by obtaining a greater strength of caloric he might still succeed in causing the balloon to soar upward; but there was no perceptible difference in the effect. it bobbed about as before, but still obstinately refused to ascend.

at length, with patience exhausted and hopes completely crushed, the engineer turned away from the machine which he had taken so much pains in constructing. for a moment he stood irresolute. then heaving a sigh at the recollection of his wasted labour, with sad, slow step he departed from the spot. caspar soon followed him—fully participating in the feeling of grievous disappointment. ossaroo took leave of the inflated monster in a different fashion. drawing near to it, he stood for some seconds contemplating it in silence—as if reflecting on the vast amount of seam he had stitched to no purpose. then uttering a native ejaculation, coupled with a phrase that meant to say, “no good either for the earth, the water, or the air,” he raised his foot, kicked the balloon in the side—with such violence that the toe of his sandals burst a hole in the distended eel-skins; and, turning scornfully away, left the worthless machine to take care of itself.

this task, however, it proved ill adapted to accomplish: for the disappointed aeronauts had not been gone many minutes from the ground, when the heated air inside, which had for some time been gradually growing cooler, reached at length so low a temperature, that the great sphere began to collapse and settle down upon the embers of the pine faggots still glowing red underneath. the consequence was that the inflammable skins, cords, and woodwork coming in contact with the fire, began to burn like so much tinder. the flames ran upward, licking the oily eel-skins like the tongues of fiery serpents; and when the ci-devant aeronauts looked back from the door of their hut, they perceived that the balloon was ablaze!

had the accident occurred two hours before, they would have looked upon it as the saddest of calamities. now, however, they stood regarding the burning of that abandoned balloon, with as much indifference as is said to have been exhibited by nero, while contemplating the conflagration of the seven-hilled city!