Page:Travel by Balloon.pdf/2

 my time, when men went up in balloons they left the earth with an extremely vague idea of where they would land again. They went where the wind took them, and when there was no wind they drifted about, the sport of every current they encountered. But I have shown the world the steerable balloon. I not only start on an aerial trip; I come back again. I have said to my friends, "I shall meet you at the Longchamps racecourse," and I have done so. I have given rendezvous at other places and steered my balloon to the point agreed upon. I have left the Aerostation Park at St. Cloud, have sailed round the Eiffel Tower, and returned to the starting point in half an hour. That is what I have done.