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128
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
98
into
forms
with
a
knife.
As
we
were
without
a
moon,
and
had
no
light
at
all,
in
fact,
we
were
unable
to
distinguish
nicely
the
different
shades
of
colour
in
these
thick
clouds.
Now
and
then,
when
the
clouds
seemed
to
be
lighter,
they
had
a
bluish
tinge;
but
the
thicker
ones
were
dirty
and
muddy-looking.
Dante
must
have
seen
some
like
these.
“Water
trickled
down
our
faces,
hands,
and
clothes,
and
the
ropes
and
sides
of
our
car.
“The
water
did
not
fall
in
rain-drops
or
in
flakes,
as
it
sometimes
does
in
the
tropics;
but
we
were
as
completely
saturated
by
this
heavy,
penetrating
mist
as
if
we
had
been
under
a
waterfall.
We
still
continued
to
traverse
these
rainy
regions.
The
thick
fog
which
the
balloon
dislodged
in
forcing
a
passage
closed
immediately
after
it.
At
one
moment
I
thought
I
felt
something
press
against
my
cheek,
which
could
only
be
compared
to
the
points
of
a
thousand
needles,
or
to
floating
particles
of
ice.
We
were
all
of
us
too
much
absorbed
with
our
situation
to
think
of
the
hour
or
of
the
height
to
which
we
had
attained.
Suddenly
the
Prince
of
Wittgenstein,
who
was
standing
at
my
left
hand,
cried
out
under
his
breath--
“‘Look
at
the
balloon,
sir!
look
at
the
balloon!’
“I
raised
my
eyes,
in
company
with
several
others,
and
shall
never
forget
the
magnificent
sight
which
awaited
them.
I
saw
the
balloon,
for
which
I
had
been
searching
in
vain
a
few
minutes
before.
It
had
undergone
a
transformation.
It
looked
now
as
if
coated
with
silver,
and
floating
in
a
pale
phosphorescent
glimmer.
All
the
ropes
and
cords
seemed
to
be
of
new,
bright,
and
liquid
silver,
like
mercury,
caused
by
the
mist
which
had
rested
on
them
becoming
suddenly
congealed.
Two
luminous
arcs
intervened
between
us,
in
a
sea
of
mother-of-pearl
and
opal,
the
lower
one
being
the
colour
of
red
ochre
and
the
upper
one
orange.
Both
of
them,
blinding
in
their
brilliancy,
seemed
about
to
embrace
one
another.
“‘How
far
are
they
off?’
thought
I
to
myself.
‘Can
I
touch
them
with
my
hand,
or
are
they
separated
from
me
by
an
immense
space?’
We
are
not
capable
of
forming
ideas
of
perspective,
floating
as
we
are
in
the
midst
of
such
a
glimmering
splendour.
“Above
and
around
us
are
nothing
but
thick
fogs
and
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