Part 12 (1/2)

CHAPTER XXII THE STORY OF THE SPENCERS

It has been in the hands of the Spencers that the parachute, as also many other practical details of aeronautics, has been perfected, and some due sketch of the career of this faer delayed

Charles Green had stood Godfather to the youngest son of his friend and colleague, Mr Edward Spencer, and in later years, as though to vindicate the fact, this same son took up the science of aeronautics at the point where his father had left it We find his name in the records of the Patent Office of 1868 as the inventor of aleaps of several hundred feet which he was enabled to take by ain, in 1882 we find him an inventor, this time of the patent asbestos fire balloon, by er to such balloons was overcome

At this point it is needful to eneration--the several sons who early showed their zeal and aptitude for perpetuating the faround that the eldest son, Percival, witnessed with intense interest what appeared like a drop floating in the sky at an immense altitude This proved to be Simmons's balloon, which had just risen to a vast elevation over Cre liberated the unfortunate De Groof, as mentioned in a former chapter And one may be sure that the terrible reality of the disaster that had happened was not lost on the young schoolboy But his as to beco deterred hian to accompany his father aloft, and in a very few years, ie in 1888, he had assumed the full responsibilities of a professional balloonist

It was in this year that Professor Baldwin appeared in England, and it is easy to understand that the parachute beca Spencer, who commenced on his own account a series of trials at the Alexandra Palace, and it was now, also, that chance good fortune caentleman, itness of his experiments, and convinced that a favourable field for their further develop aspirant that he should acco of a successful can

Thus it caht of the season, Mr Percival Spencer arrived at Bombay, and at once co here available, a ed, and duly announced to take place at the Govern the parachute descent, the first ever atte in all ways a complete success, Mr Spencer, after a few repetitions of his perforreat difficulties were experienced in the as available was inadequate, and when recourse was had to pure hydrogen the supply proved too sluggish At the advertised hour of departure the balloon was not sufficiently inflated, while the spectators were growing impatient It was at this critical mo off the parachute, and seated on abelow the half-inflated balloon, without ballast, without grapnel, and unprovided with a valve, he sailed away over the heads of the multitude

The afternoon was already far advanced, and the short tropical twilight soon gave way to darkness, when the intrepid voyager disappeared coht in Calcutta, and greater still the next day when, as hour after hour went by, no news save a series of wild and false reports reached the city Trains arriving froraphic enquiries sent in all directions proved fruitless The Great Eastern Hotel, where the young ed for hours by a large crowd eager for any tidings Then the Press gave expression to the gloos, and the toas in a fever of unrest Froht that, even if the aeronaut had descended in safety, he could only have been landed in the jungle of the Sunderbunds, beset with perils, and without a chance of succour A large reas offered for reliable inforanise a search But ere this was fully carried into effectthat Mr Spencer had lost his life For all this, after three days he returned to Calcutta, none the worse for the exploit

Then the true tale was unravelled The balloon had changed its course froht of Calcutta, and eventually cahbourhood of Hossainabad, thirty-six er's alling of his sling seat, and the nuh altitudes; but, as twilight darkened into gloo, for he could with difficulty see the earth underneath He heard the distant roll of the waters, caused by the nues, and when darkness completely shut out the vieas impossible to tell whether he was over land or sea Fortune favoured hi fro at the same moment his hold of the balloon, which instantly disappeared into the darkness

Then his wanderings began He was in an unknown country, without knowledge of the language, and with only a few rupees in his pocket

Presently, however, seeing a light, he proceeded towards it, but only to find himself stopped by a creek Foiled th arrived at the dwelling of a family of natives, who promptly fled in terror To inspire confidence and prove that he was mortal, Mr Spencer threw his coat over the mud wall of the coarment, he was received and cared for in true native fashi+on, fed with rice and goat's milk, and allowed the use of the verandah to sleep in He succeeded in co with the natives by dint of lead pencil sketches and dus, that he had descended in a little clearing surrounded by woods, and bounded by tidal creeks, which were infested with alligators Yet, in the end, the ays befriended hi ferried across, he chanced on his balloon sailing down on the tide, recovered it, and used the tidal waters for the return journey

The greeting upon his arrival in Calcutta was enthusiastic beyond description from both Europeans and natives The hero of the adventure was visited by rajahs and notables, who vied with each other in expressions of welco him to visit the sacred precincts of their zenanas The promised parachute descent was subsequently successfully made at Cossipore, and then followed a busy, brilliant season, after which the wanderer returned to England

By September he is in Dublin, and makes the first parachute descent ever witnessed in Ireland; but by Nove to Calcutta, he repeats his success of the year before Next he visits Allahabad, where the sah his balloon flies away in a teapore, armed here, however, with a cork jacket

Hence, flushed with success, he repairs to the Dutch Indies, and demonstrates to the Dutch officers the use of the balloon in war As a natural consequence, he is moved up to the seat of the Achinese War in Su moored to the rear of an armoured train, an immediate move is made to the front, and orders are forthwith telephoned from various centres to open fire on the enemy Mr Spencer, the while accompanied by an officer, makes a captive ascent, in which for some time he is actually under the enemy's fire The result of this plucky experi official report In all the above-as without a hitch

Thence he travels on with the sarahtly varied, however, at Kobe, japan, where his ih, flies overhead of a man-of-war, and plumps into the water a mile out at sea But ”Smartly” was the word The shi+p's creas beat to quarters, and within one minute a boat was to the rescue An ascent at Cairo, where he ht of the Pyramids and landed in the desert, completed this oriental tour, and ho exploits far too many to enumerate may be mentioned four several occasions when Mr Percival Spencer has crossed the English Channel

It fell to the lot of the second son, Arthur, to carry fame into fresh fields In the year 1897 he visited Australia, taking with hi a noble craft of 80,000 cubic feet, considerably larger than any balloon used in England, and the singular fate of this aerialof ed to take place on Boxing Day in the Melbourne Exhibition ground, and for the lengthy and critical work of inflation the able assistance of British bluejackets was secured To all appearance, the ainst were likely to arise sias, and on this account filling co of the day previous to the exhibition, and was continued till 6 o'clock in the afternoon, by which ti about half full, was staved doith sandbags through the night till 4 o'clock the next ain proceeded ithout hindrance and apparently under favourable conditions Thewas beautifully fine, warm, brilliant, and still, and so re rapidity, there blew up a sudden squall known in the country as a ”Hot Buster,” and in two or three round A dozen s, endeavoured to control the plunging balloon, but wholly without avail Men and bags together were lifted clean up in the air on the ard side, and the silk envelope, not yet co upwards to a height estiain ninetydaunted, however, Mr Spencer at once endeavoured to retrieve his fortunes, and started straightway for the gold-o with a hot-air balloon, hich he successfully gave a series of popular exhibitions of parachute descents Few aeronauts are more consistently reliable than Mr Arthur Spencer A few suive proof of his prowess and presence of e captive ascents throughout the afternoon, and was requested to conclude the evening with a ”right away,” in which two passengers had agreed to accompany him The balloon had been hauled down for the last tiine used for the purpose proceeded to work its puear

The consequence of this was that the cable instantly snapped, and in a rapnel, or other appliances, and with neck still tied, was free, and started skyward

The inevitable result of this accident must have been that the balloon in a few seconds would rise to a height where the expansion of the ias would burst and destroy it Mr Spencer, however, was standing near, and, grasping the situation in ahold, succeeded in drawing hi Quickly as this was done, the balloon was already distended to the point of bursting, and only the proas averted catastrophe

Mr Stanley Spencer made himself early known to the world by a series of parachute descents, performed from the roof of Olympia It was a bold and sensational exhibition, and on the expiration of his engage, felt fully qualified to attempt any aerial feat connected with the profession of an aeronaut

And at this juncture an eested to Stanley a business tour in South America

As an extra attraction it was proposed that a young lady parachutist should be one of the coland, the party ed, and by the day and hour appointed the balloon was successfully inflated with hydrogen, an enormous concourse collected, and the lady perfore mischance happened By so woman, at the moment of release, slipped fro into the air, turned over and fell a the people, who vindictively destroyed it Then the crowd grew ungovernable, and threatened the lives of the aeronauts, who eventually were, with difficulty, rescued by the soldiery

This was a bad start; but with a spare balloon a fresh atteh, from another cause, with no better success

This time a furious storm arose, before the inflation was co aas torn to ribbons Yet a third time, with a hot air balloon now, a performance was advertised and successfully carried out; but, immediately after, Mr Spencer's A ht his oay until his fortunes had been sufficiently restored to return to England

A few months later he set sail for Canada, where for several months he had awith so an exhibition on Prince Edward's Island, not far from the sea, but on a day so cal 3,000 feet, however, he was suddenly caught by a strong land breeze, which, ere he could reach the water, had carried hi interval, during which he had become much exhausted in his atte

Early in 1892 our traveller visited South Africa with a hot air balloon, and, fortune continuing to favour him, he subsequently returned to Canada, and proceeded thence to the United States and Cuba It was at Havannah that popular enthusiash that he was presented with a medal by the townsfolk It was fros of his own death reached hi obituary notices It would see to personate him, met with his death

In November, 1897, he followed his elder brother's footsteps to the East, and exhibited in Calcutta, Singapore, Canton, and also Hong-Kong, where, for the first and only time in his experience, he met with serious accident He was about to ascend for the ordinary parachute perfor held down by about thirtya Chinaer nails By e a considerable hole in the fabric of the balloon

Mr Spencer, to avoid a disappointment, risked an ascent, and it was not till the balloon had reached 600 feet that the rent developed into a long slit, and so brought about a sudden fall to earth Alighting on the side of atill the arrival of soeon, when, after due attention, he was sent home Other remarkable exploits, which Mr Stanley Spencer shared with Dr Berson and with the writer and his daughter, will be recorded later