"Monsieur, " said I, taking the only possible course, "you are here, well! you choose to remain, well! But to me alone belongs the management of the aerostat."
"Monsieur, " replied he, "your urbanity is entirely French; it is of the same country with myself! I press in imagination the hand which you refuse me. Take your measures—act as it may seem good to you; I will wait till you have ended."
"To."
"To converse with you."
The barometer had fallen to twenty-six inches; we had attained a height of about six hundred metres, and were over the city; which satisfied me of our complete quiescence, for I could not judge by our motionless flags. Nothing betrays the horizontal voyage of a balloon; it is the mass of air surrounding it which moves. A kind of wavering heat bathed the objects extended at our feet, and gave their outlines an indistinctness to be regretted. The needle of the compass indicated a slight tendency to float towards the south.
I looked again at my companion. He was a man of thirty, simply clad; the bold outlines of his features betokened indomitable energy; he appeared very muscular. Absorbed in the emotion of this silent suspension, he remained immovable, seeking to distinguish the objects which passed beneath his view.
"Vexatious mist! " said he, at the expiration of a few moments.
I made no reply.
"What would you? I could not pay for my voyage; I was obliged to take you by surprise."
"No one has asked you to descend! "
"A similar occurrence, " he resumed, "happened to the Counts of Laurencin and Dampierre, when they ascended at Lyons, on the 15th of January, 1784. A young merchant, named Fontaine, scaled the railing, at the risk of upsetting the equipage. He accomplished the voyage, and nobody was killed!"
"Once on the earth, we will converse! " said I, piqued at the tone of lightness with which he spoke.