NAVIGATING THE AIR 



journeys were made ranging from a minimum of twenty 

 miles an hour to a maximum velocity, in one instance, of 

 eighty miles. 



Shortly after this balloon-post was established, the 

 Germans came into possession of the new Krupp long- 

 range rifle, with which they succeeded in bringing down 

 several of the balloons. Companies of Uhlans, the 

 swiftest cavalry of Germany, scoured the country con- 

 stantly, and kept such a sharp lookout that, as the 

 German lines were extended, it became difficult for the 

 balloons to make their way over them in daylight. 

 Night voyages, therefore, became necessary; but natur- 

 ally these were extremely dangerous, and many of them 

 had dramatic and tragic terminations. One of the 

 longest and most famous of these voyages was that of 

 the balloon named the Ville d'Orleans, which left Paris 

 about midnight of November 24th. As a strong wind 

 was blowing from the north at the time, it was hoped 

 that the balloon would descend in the vicinity of Tours. 

 The first intimation that the voyagers had that there 

 was a deviation from this course was the sound of the 

 waves breaking against the shore beneath them. At 

 this time they were in a thick mist, and it was not until 

 some time after daybreak that this mist cleared away 

 sufiiciently for them to get an idea of their surroundings. 

 Then they found, to their horror, that they were over 

 a large body of water, out of sight of land, in what part 

 of the world they had not the slightest idea. The 

 balloon appeared to be drifting rapidly, and from time 

 to time they passed over vessels, which were frantically 

 signaled by the voyagers. No notice was taken of these 



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