"
"But before we try that," resumed the doctor, "we
must employ a last means of lightening the balloon."
"What will that be? I should like to see it," said
Kennedy, incredulously.
"We must get rid of the cylinder-chests, the spiral,
and the Buntzen battery. Nine hundred pounds make a
rather heavy load to carry through the air."
"But then, Samuel, how will you dilate your gas?"
"I shall not do so at all. We'll have to get along
without it."
"But--"
"Listen, my friends: I have calculated very exactly
the amount of ascensional force left to us, and it is
sufficient to carry us every one with the few objects that
remain. We shall make in all a weight of hardly five
hundred pounds, including the two anchors which I desire
to keep."
"Dear doctor, you know more about the matter than
we do; you are the sole judge of the situation. Tell us
what we ought to do, and we will do it."
"I am at your orders, master," added Joe.
"I repeat, my friends, that however serious the decision
may appear, we must sacrifice our apparatus."
"Let it go, then!" said Kennedy, promptly.
"To work!" said Joe.
It was no easy job. The apparatus had to be taken
down piece by piece. First, they took out the mixing
reservoir, then the one belonging to the cylinder, and
lastly the tank in which the decomposition of the water
was effected.
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