576 CIRCLING EIFFEL TOWER IN AIR SHIP. 



FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY AN AIK SHIl' OBEYS HER RUDDER. 



Before climbing^ into his ba.sket, the slender little aeronaut took a 

 linal look up at the sky. He had .spent the last two nights near his 

 balloon, patiently waiting for favorable weather. He seemed satisfied 

 now. and climbed into his tiny car, which is just a narrow crating of 

 willow fixed into the forward nose of the triangular framework. The 

 guide rope was slackened and the balloon lifted him .slowly from the 

 ground. He gave a signal and the guide rope Avas released. The bal- 

 loon bounded into the calm air. Those below, bending back their 

 necks, saw in the stern two big fans, the screw of the ves.sel, begin to 

 turn. They watched breathlessly, foi' the question of that moment 

 wa.s. Would those fans serve as wings, or would the balloon prove only 

 a balloon after all, obeying no will other than that of the breeze? 

 That has ever l)een the question when some outlandish contrivance 

 would mount into the air, and hitherto the answer at best has been 

 only a sadly (Qualified negative. But this latest contrivance of the 

 series appeared to ]>e acting deli])erately and rationalh^ She pointed 

 her nose slightl}^ upward and rose higher. Her rudder shifted and she 

 slowly began to turn, and, following the track, made the circuit of 

 the race course. On nearing the spectators the vessel pointed her 

 nose downward and slowly descended. A moment later the little 

 aeronaut climbed from his basket to the ground as one might alight 

 from a bicycle. But the blood was stinging in his face, and joy fairly 

 burned in his e3'es. He appreciated, though only vaguely, what he 

 had done. He had been striving to do this .same thing with one bal- 

 loon after another for a number of long, patient years. Before night 

 of that day his name was known all over the world. 



Once more, then, this little Brazilian aeronaut, Alberto Santos- 

 Dumont, climbed l)ack into his ])asket. He .said that he would make 

 the round again, and with a gesture indicated his intended landing- 

 place. He mounted as easily as before, swept around the track, and 

 descended neatly on the spot he had pointed out. This was certainly 

 an accumulating of evidence, and he had to believe that this last air 

 ship of his, the Santos- Duuiont Y, had proved a success on her first 

 trial. It was as simple as spinning around the track on an automo- 

 bile. Four more times he did the same thing. His chariot was per- 

 fectly manageable, and answered the rudder as docilel}'^ as a good 

 horse does the reins. During all the oxperhnents of that morning he 

 had no recourse whatever to ballast, and was j^et entirel}^ master of his 

 altitude. This was due to the guide rope, a heavy cord several hun- 

 dred feet long, hanging from the forward nose of the car. B}' pulling 

 it toward the center of equilibrium or letting it out again, he could 

 incline the axis of the balloon, pointing her up or down, and then, by 

 propulsion of the fans, he could mount higher or drop lower at will. 

 Sometimes he attained a speed of 25 miles an hour. 



