Andwithoutwaitingformyassent, helightenedtheballoonbytwobagsofsandwhichheemptiedintotheair.
“Monsieur，”saidI, takingtheonlypossiblecourse，“youarehere, well! youchoosetoremain, well！Buttomealonebelongsthemanagementoftheaerostat.”
“Monsieur，”repliedhe，“yoururbanityisentirelyFrench；itisofthesamecountrywithmyself！-actasitmayseemgoodtoyou；Iwillwaittillyouhaveended.”
“To.”
“Toconversewithyou.”
Thebarometerhadfallentotwenty-sixinches；wehadattainedaheightofaboutsixhundredmetres, andwereoverthecity；whichsatisfedmeofourcompletequiescence, ；, .
, simplyclad；theboldoutlinesofhisfeaturesbetokenedindomitableenergy；, heremainedimmovable, seekingtodistinguishtheobjectswhichpassedbeneathhisview.
“Vexatiousmist！”saidhe, attheexpirationofafewmoments.
Imadenoreply.
“Whatwouldyou?Icouldnotpayformyvoyage；Iwasobligedtotakeyoubysurprise.”
“Noonehasaskedyoutodescend！”
“Asimilaroccurrence，”heresumed，“happenedtotheCountsofLaurencinandDampierre, whentheyascendedatLyons, onthe15thofJanuary，, namedFontaine, scaledtherailing, , andnobodywaskilled！”
“Onceontheearth, wewillconverse！”saidI, piquedatthetoneoflightnesswithwhichhespoke.
“Bah! donottalkofreturning！”
“DoyouthinkthenthatIshalldelaymydescent?”
“Descent！”saidhe, withsurprise.“Letusascend！”
AndbeforeIcouldpreventhim, twobagsofsandwerethrownout, withoutevenbeingemptied.
“Monsieur！”saidI, angrily.
“Iknowyourskill，”repliedhe, composedly；“, butitisalsofirstcousintotheory, ，”addedhe, sadly, fallingintoamutetorpor.
