In each of the five smaller holes, I deposited a
      canister containing fifty pounds, and in the larger one a keg
      holding one hundred and fifty pounds, of cannon powder. These—the
      keg and canisters—I connected in a proper manner with covered
      trains; and having let into one of the canisters the end of about
      four feet of slow match, I covered up the hole, and placed the
      cask over it, leaving the other end of the match protruding about
      an inch, and barely visible beyond the cask. I then filled up the
      remaining holes, and placed the barrels over them in their
      destined situation. “Besides the articles above enumerated, I conveyed to the depot,
      and there secreted, one of M. Grimm’s improvements upon the
      apparatus for condensation of the atmospheric air. I found this
      machine, however, to require considerable alteration before it
      could be adapted to the purposes to which I intended making it
      applicable. But, with severe labor and unremitting perseverance,
      I at length met with entire success in all my preparations. My
      balloon was soon completed. It would contain more than forty
      thousand cubic feet of gas; would take me up easily, I
      calculated, with all my implements, and, if I managed rightly,
      with one hundred and seventy-five pounds of ballast into the
      bargain. It had received three coats of varnish, and I found the
      cambric muslin to answer all the purposes of silk itself, quite
      as strong and a good deal less expensive. “Everything being now ready, I exacted from my wife an oath of
      secrecy in relation to all my actions from the day of my first
      visit to the bookseller’s stall; and promising, on my part, to
      return as soon as circumstances would permit, I gave her what
      little money I had left, and bade her farewell. Indeed I had no
      fear on her account. She was what people call a notable woman,
      and could manage matters in the world without my assistance. I
      believe, to tell the truth, she always looked upon me as an idle
      boy, a mere make-weight, good for nothing but building castles in
      the air, and was rather glad to get rid of me. It was a dark
      night when I bade her good-bye, and taking with me, as
      aides-de-camp, the three creditors who had given me so much
      trouble, we carried the balloon, with the car and accoutrements,
      by a roundabout way, to the station where the other articles were
      deposited. We there found them all unmolested, and I proceeded
      immediately to business. “It was the first of April. The night, as I said before, was
      dark; there was not a star to be seen; and a drizzling rain,
      falling at intervals, rendered us very uncomfortable. But my
      chief anxiety was concerning the balloon, which, in spite of the
      varnish with which it was defended, began to grow rather heavy
      with the moisture; the powder also was liable to damage. I
      therefore kept my three duns working with great diligence,
      pounding down ice around the central cask, and stirring the acid
      in the others. They did not cease, however, importuning me with
      questions as to what I intended to do with all this apparatus,
      and expressed much dissatisfaction at the terrible labor I made
      them undergo. They could not perceive, so they said, what good
      was likely to result from their getting wet to the skin, merely
      to take a part in such horrible incantations. I began to get
      uneasy, and worked away with all my might, for I verily believe
      the idiots supposed that I had entered into a compact with the
      devil, and that, in short, what I was now doing was nothing
      better than it should be. I was, therefore, in great fear of
      their leaving me altogether. I contrived, however, to pacify them
      by promises of payment of all scores in full, as soon as I could
      bring the present business to a termination. To these speeches
      they gave, of course, their own interpretation; fancying, no
      doubt, that at all events I should come into possession of vast
      quantities of ready money; and provided I paid them all I owed,
      and a trifle more, in consideration of their services, I dare say
      they cared very little what became of either my soul or my
      carcass. “In about four hours and a half I found the balloon sufficiently
      inflated. I attached the car, therefore, and put all my
      implements in it—not forgetting the condensing apparatus, a
      copious supply of water, and a large quantity of provisions, such
      as pemmican, in which much nutriment is contained in
      comparatively little bulk. I also secured in the car a pair of
      pigeons and a cat. It was now nearly daybreak, and I thought it
      high time to take my departure. Dropping a lighted cigar on the
      ground, as if by accident, I took the opportunity, in stooping to
      pick it up, of igniting privately the piece of slow match, whose
      end, as I said before, protruded a very little beyond the lower
      rim of one of the smaller casks. This manoeuvre was totally
      unperceived on the part of the three duns; and, jumping into the
      car, I immediately cut the single cord which held me to the
      earth, and was pleased to find that I shot upward, carrying with
      all ease one hundred and seventy-five pounds of leaden ballast,
      and able to have carried up as many more. “Scarcely, however, had I attained the height of fifty yards,
      when, roaring and rumbling up after me in the most horrible and
      tumultuous manner, came so dense a hurricane of fire, and smoke,
      and sulphur, and legs and arms, and gravel, and burning wood, and
      blazing metal, that my very heart sunk within me, and I fell down
      in the bottom of the car, trembling with unmitigated terror. Indeed, I now perceived that I had entirely overdone the
      business, and that the main consequences of the shock were yet to
      be experienced. Accordingly, in less than a second, I felt all
      the blood in my body rushing to my temples, and immediately
      thereupon, a concussion, which I shall never forget, burst
      abruptly through the night and seemed to rip the very firmament
      asunder. When I afterward had time for reflection, I did not fail
      to attribute the extreme violence of the explosion, as regarded
      myself, to its proper cause—my situation directly above it, and
      in the line of its greatest power. But at the time, I thought
      only of preserving my life.