A few broken arms and legs paid
for their temerity in meddling with this monster, and one and all
of the passengers have reason to be thankful that it will be
unnecessary for us to proclaim their virtues and their fate in
our next chapter.
Chapter X. The Necrology of Aeronautic
We will conclude this second part by giving a brief notice of
some of those who, in the early days of aerostation, fell martyrs
to their devotion to the new cause, and sometimes victims to
their own want of foresight and their inexperience.
First among these is Pilatre des Roziers, with whose courage and
ingenuity our readers are already familiar. After the passage of
Blanchard from England over to France this hero, who was the
first to trust himself to the wide space of the sky, resolved to
undertake the return voyage from France to England--a more
difficult feat, owing to the generally adverse character of the
winds and currents. In vain did Roziers' friends attempt to make
him understand the perils to which this enterprise must expose
him; his only reply was that he had discovered a new balloon
which united in itself all the necessary conditions of security,
and would permit the voyager to remain an unusually long time in
the air.
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