In about four hours and a half I found the balloon sufficiently
inflated. I attached the car, therefore, and put all my implements
in it- not forgetting the condensing apparatus, a copious supply of
water, and a large quantity of provisions, such as pemmican, in
which much nutriment is contained in comparatively little bulk. I also
secured in the car a pair of pigeons and a cat. It was now nearly
daybreak, and I thought it high time to take my departure. Dropping
a lighted cigar on the ground, as if by accident, I took the
opportunity, in stooping to pick it up, of igniting privately the
piece of slow match, whose end, as I said before, protruded a very
little beyond the lower rim of one of the smaller casks. This
manoeuvre was totally unperceived on the part of the three duns;
and, jumping into the car, I immediately cut the single cord which
held me to the earth, and was pleased to find that I shot upward,
carrying with all ease one hundred and seventy-five pounds of leaden
ballast, and able to have carried up as many more.
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