398 AN DREE' S FATAL FLIGHT IN A BALLOON 



in keeping the height uniform. The only peril encountered was 

 from an ice-clad hill, six hundred feet high, which lay in their 

 path. But when the balloon neared this it rose and soared over it 

 like an enormous bird, keeping steadily to its distance from the 

 surface. When finally all hopes of catching another glimpse of the 

 balloon were at an end, the spectators turned away, glad that the 

 opportunity had been theirs of seeing so unusual an event. 



The explorers had set out prepared to face a possibly long 

 detention in the frozen world. In the car of the balloon they carried 

 weapons, ammunition, and material suitable with which to build a 

 shelter, should the balloon collapse and leave them on the ice. An 

 aluminium boat was also carried, so that the party could escape by 

 sea if necessary. Of the carrier pigeons taken with them, to be 

 liberated at intervals on the passage, nothing certain was after- 

 wards known. Although one pigeon is said to have been shot in 

 the far north, it is doubtful whether it was one of the Andree birds. 



The balloon, when it went out of sight, was traveling at a speed 

 which would have carried it over the Pole in a few days, and prob- 

 ably have enabled it to descend in Siberia or America in about a 

 week. For the first fortnight after it had started, therefore, interest 

 all over the world was keenly excited for further news. But the 

 fotnight passed without any reliable intelligence being received, and 

 a month followed, and so on until a year had gone by. Then relief 

 and search parties were talked about, and the Swedish Geographical 

 Society sent one out to look for the missing balloonists in Siberia. 

 It did not meet with Andree, nor did it obtain any reliable informa- 

 tion respecting him. 



News was published to the effect that some outlying hunting 

 tribes had come upon a huge bag, having a mass of cordage attached 

 to it, together with the remains of some human bodies. The Rus- 

 sian, Swedish, and Norwegian governments immediately sent 

 forward auxiliary search parties, but their only success was to trace 

 the origin of the report, and find that a Siberian trader had, in a 



