He saw coming down from the sky, through the
branches of the trees, a big round thing, like more than ten thousand
rubber balls, made into one. Below the round thing hung a square basket,
with many ropes, and other things, fast to it. And in the basket were
two men. They looked over the edge of the basket. One of them pulled on
a rope, and the big thing, which was a balloon, though Squinty did not
know it, came to the ground with a bang.
"Well, at last we have made a landing," said one of the men.
"Yes," said the other. "And we shall have to throw out some bags of sand
to go up again."
Squinty did not know what this meant. But I'll explain to you that a
"landing" is when a balloon comes down to the ground. And when the men
in it want to go up again, they have to toss out some of the bags of
sand, or ballast, they carry to make the balloon so light that the gas
in it will take it up again.
The men began tossing out the bags of sand. Squinty saw them, but he was
not afraid. Why should he be? for no men or boys had ever been cruel to
him.
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