"
"You were pretty lucky, at that," observed Billy.
"You bet I was!" assented the other. "Another time I had to jump
for it, too; only this time the balloon caught fire from some
incendiary bullets fired at it. After I jumped the parachute was
mighty slow in acting, and I dropped two thirds of the way before
it finally took hold. I gave myself up for lost that time, and, as
it was, I landed so hard that my left leg was broken, but even at
that I wasn't doing much kicking."
"No, you wouldn't, with a leg broken," observed Billy slyly.
"That's one on me," conceded the observer, with a laugh. "At the
time, though, I couldn't see much humor in it. Take it altogether,
I guess a balloon will give a man his fair share of thrills."
"Gosh! I'd like to try it once," said Frank, longingly.
"If you'd really like to try it so much, I don't know but what I
can arrange it for you," said the observer slowly. "The trouble
is, though, that I can take only two of you, because I have only
two extra parachutes."
"We're not apt to need them, are we?" asked Frank.
"Oh, of course, the chances are that we won't, seeing that we
won't be attacked now by a hostile machine, as we would likely
have been a few months ago," responded the other.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129