Page 16 of 194 CHAPTER THIRD. - Five Weeks in a Balloon

"My dear Dick, I have only one word to answer--I shall not lose one particle of gas."

"And yet you can descend when you please?"

"I shall descend when I please."

"And how will you do that?"

"Ah, ha! therein lies my secret, friend Dick. Have faith, and let my device be yours--'Excelsior!'"

"'Excelsior' be it then," said the sportsman, who did not understand a word of Latin.

But he made up his mind to oppose his friend's departure by all means in his power, and so pretended to give in, at the same time keeping on the watch. As for the doctor, he went on diligently with his preparations.

		"What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories." William Somerset Maugham

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