SIX MONTHS AMONG BRIGANDS
mentation. Yet in the interest of others who may be tempted to follow his example I can only say that it is folly for any one to attempt unprepared these ascensions. The plan of M. Severo’s air-ship invited disaster. The flame-spitting motor was only about three feet from the envelope.[1] In my air-ship it is at least sixteen feet below the balloon and far to the rear—a total distance of perhaps fifty feet from possible chances of gas ignition. The moment the gas escaped from M. Severo’s balloon, however, it caught fire. M. Lachambre, the balloon constructor, saw the catastrophe. He has told me that the ‘‘Pax’’ shot up with great rapidity, that the gas must have expanded greatly, that there was a detonation, a sheet of fire, and instantly the balloon was in flames; the next second the whole thing came crashing down to earth.
The cause of aërial navigation is injured by such accidents. There have been moments when I have known that, were I to lose my head for an instant, were my skill to fail me for a second, I too should be lost. But we might as well say that because men have gone to their deaths in unsafe vessels, a Columbus should not be encouraged to sail out upon unknown seas.
SIX MONTHS AMONG BRIGANDS
BY ELLEN M. STONE
IV
Negotiations for the Payment of the Ransom—The Payment—Disheartening Continuance in Captivity—The Pursuit Closing in
IT must always be kept in mind that this is the story of one of the captives who could know nothing of what the world knew of the stories circulated in the newspapers concerning them, and next to nothing concerning those who were conducting the negotiations, or of the measures taken by them.
On the sixth day after our capture the first attempt was made toward opening negotiations for the raising of the ransom. After eleven days we heard of the failure of that attempt. We felt then that death was inevitable, but they proceeded to command me to write a second time. This time they transferred the field of their negotiations to Bulgaria, having ordered me to write to one of our missionaries in Samokov, stating the fact of our capture and the intention of the brigands to exact a ransom or put us to death.
In each of these communications the brigands set a limit upon our lives, as well as in a third communication which they compelled me to write after they understood, as we guessed, that a movement was on foot in America for raising the ransom. In each instance they added a threat to murder us, which we were fully persuaded they would carry out if the money were not forthcoming at the expiration of the time appointed. The scene in the sheepfold, one of the last Sabbaths in October, when after consultation they took out their revolvers to execute their threats, was proof enough of the inexorable determination of some of them, at least. Their desire for the money, however, caused another postponement. " Think how many liras! " was the remark of one of them, overheard by me during one of the first nights' journeys.
It was also plainly manifest that they were surprised and disappointed when they learned that the case had passed into the hands of the diplomats. It was of no use for them to set a limit of days to our lives after that. They clearly realized this when they said fiercely, but with unshaken determination: "We'll keep you if necessary five years, but we'll show the world we can keep you until we get our money."
Many and many of the waiting days were spent in such dark holes that we could do nothing but talk together, when not eating or sleeping, to while away the interminable hours, and frequently we could talk only in whispers. At one time we were hidden where the wooden shutters covering the windows were not nailed. In our anxiety to gain a little
- ↑ The Scientific Committee of the Aëro Club of Paris, in its meeting of May 26, 1902, after a long discussion of the ‘‘Pax‘‘ disaster, decided that the explosion was due to the proximity of the motor to the escape valve of the balloon, and that, under such conditions, the Committee would never have admitted M. Severo to the Aëro Club’s competitions.
