CIRCLING EIFFEL TOWER IN AIR SHIP. 581 



When he had cut the wires between the balloon and the car, he dis- 

 covered, greatly to his surprise, that the damage was really nothing. 

 The delicate skeleton framework was unhurt, except for a slight sprain- 

 ing of the propeller shaft. Then the young man was jubilant, for his 

 treasure had certainly looked like a wreck. He could listen to ques- 

 tions at last, and he gave his story of the flight and fall, which you may 

 be sure was listened to eagerly. To say nothing of the strong wind 

 he had to fight against in coming back, his chief trouble was with his 

 motor. Soon after going up one of the cylinders had stopped, and a 

 little later a second. As he could not restart them, his motive power 

 was thus cut down one-half for the rest of the trip, the motor at last 

 giving out altogether. The wind, of course, carried him back over 

 the river, and as he did not wish to come down in the streets of 

 Boulogne beyond, and perhaps on top of somebody, and be taken up 

 for reckless ballooning, he decided to come down quick where he was. 

 So he ripped out a panel of silk and found himself in the tree tops. 



But, after all, the only thing that kept him from winning the prize 

 was the time limit. It must be considered, however, that the donor 

 asks the competitors to do something in a half hour which has never 

 been done before, although men have been trying for a century, and 

 that is to steer a balloon. Weighed against a century, a delay of 

 eleven minutes can not count for much against success. 



PREPARATION FOR A THIRD TRIAL. 



Within a week the Santos- Dumont I "was all shipshape again, and 

 awaiting good weather for another try at the Grand Prix. The 

 weather, though, had been unobliging, and Parisians had haunted the 

 Aero Club Park in vain. Sunday, August 1, Santos- Dumont did, in 

 fact, start for another trial, but he had not gone a quarter of the dis- 

 tance when he turned around and came back. The guide rope was 

 not working right. Another spectacle, however, rather offset the 

 popular disappointment. When fully 600 feet in air, the plucky little 

 fellow climbed out of his basket and moved around on the slender 

 framework to adjust a cord that did not suit him. 



THE TRIAL AROUND THE EIFFEL TOWER AND PACK. 



It was on August 8, 1901, that M. Santos-Dumont made a third trial 

 for the Grand Prix, with the odd-looking air ship constructed of two 

 cigar-shaped balloons, with the car for the basket and motors sus- 

 pended between them. Instead of disaster and destruction, he began 

 with every prospect of success, and strengthened his claim as a navi- 

 gator of the air. He started from the park at 6.12 a. m., under the 

 best of conditions. His balloon rose quickly in the almost absolute 

 calm, so that without loss of time he started the screw and veered 

 round in a straight line for Eiffel Tower. The trip there was as a 



