The Argosy for May — page 126: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

NOT FOR SALE. And, at the very summit of it, Laszlo kicked his feet free of the stirrups, let go his clenching hold upon the bridle and, with outstretched hands, seized and clung to the dangling drag-rope, which switched just within his reach. The chestnut, unexpectedly relieved of his burden, came down to earth with an awkward thud, stumbling and slipping, but regained his footing and, with un- checked speed, galloped away into the darkness. Caxton, however, from his position upon the hillside had no eyes for him. All his faculties were centered upon the slender, athletic figure of his friend clinging, cat-like, to that swaying rope. For a second the balloon seemed about to settle under the added weight. It listed unsteadily, curveted, and sank a dozen feet. ‘Then, catching the full effect of its power, together with a slight rising of the wind, it righted and shot upward toward the stars! CHAPTER XXI. "TWIXT EARTH AND SKY. AH, it is well sometimes to be a trained athlete, with sinews hardened to endur- ance, and a brain accustomed to the quick calculation of chances in an emer- gency. g Laszlo had entertained no other idea when he seized the drag-rope but that his weight would bring the balloon to earth, and that he could hold it there by sheer strength until he had secured an accounting from Von Altdorff and res- cued Muriel. . Now, however, as he felt himself lift- ed like a feather by the expanding pres- sure of the gas and, glancing down, saw the earth dropping away from him as though it were tumbling into space, he gave himself up for lost. He turned sick and giddy with that one downward look, and not daring to cast his eyes in that direction again, “closed them, hanging meanwhile, weak and nerveless, to the slowly gyrating rope. His very terror, though, was, in a way, a stimulus to him; for feeling his flaccid grip relax upon the strands, and his fingers slowly slipping, his peril sent 313 new energy coursing through him, and he fastened upon that cord with a clutch of desperation. But this, he knew, could not last long. Presently his muscles would give way under the strain, his hold would become weakened, and then.would come the end, with that awful plunge downward. His brain reeled before the horror of his im- pending fate. No, he determined fiercely, he would not sell his life so cheaply. There is always a way out of every pass, if one has but the capability to see it, and the resolution to act. Nerving himself to the experiment, he again cautiously dropped his glance earthward. No help there. They were evidently several hundred | feet above terra firma, and mounting higher every moment. - : Hastily he raised his glance again, and took a deep breath, gripping the rope now until the veins stood out in lumps upon his hands. That downward look, prepared for it though he had been, had nearly proved his undoing, and he saw he must attempt it no more. What was there to do, then? Could he clamber up the rope and reach the car swinging lightly above him? Hith- erto he had hung supine, in order to relieve as much as possible the pull upon his arms. Did he have the strength, in his un- strung condition, to climb that length of twisting rope, and support himself like a fly upon the under side of the car until he could work up over the edge? It seemed impossible ; but—and. Cheg- nay gritted his teeth—it had to be done. Even in that moment of shuddering fear, however, Laszlo took time to think upon the possible danger of his under- taking to the woman he loved. Would his attempt be apt to tilt the car in which she sat, and possibly precipitate her out into space? He noted the arrangement of the cords by which it was held, and decided that that chance might be safely risked. All these reflections and inward de- batings take time in the telling; but, as a matter of fact—although it seemed centuries long to Laszlo—it was not more than forty seconds or a minute at the outside {rom the moment that he had KS 0)(0)(6) ANG (C@