Page:Bedford-Jones--Boy Scouts of the Air at Cape Peril.djvu/161

 stuff, to see if they would work. But neither did. The only thing they could raise with it was a soap-bubble. After a while two brothers named Montgolfier, paper-makers in France, hit on the idea of generating a gas from slightly-moistened straw and wool set to burning; and found that this gas would raise a silk bag when allowed to enter an opening in its bottom. The truth was, though, it wasn't a gas that did it, but just the hot air.

"Satisfied they could turn the trick, the brothers staged a free show and set Paris frog-eyed. After some improvements to the body of the balloon, the inventors attached a wicker-basket and, after some persuasion, induced a sheep, a rooster, and a duck to take a trip. This congenial trio rose aloft and then came down once more in safety."

"Bah-bah! Quack-quack! Cockadoodle-do!" Cat horseplayed.

"Dunno what sort of language they used," laughed the Tarheel, "but I hope it wasn't that rotten. Anyhow, when I studied French, I was surprised to find that French roosters don't talk like ours, but say 'Co-co-ri-co!—at