He had declined the honor of accompanying his master, and he took no part in the frenzied declamations that greeted the president and secretary of the Weldon Institute.
Of the members of the illustrious assembly not one was absent from the reserved places within the ropes.

There were Truck Milnor, Bat T.
Fynn, and William T.Forbes with his two daughters on his arm.

All had come to affirm by their presence that nothing could separate them from the partisans of "lighter than air." About twenty minutes past eleven a gun announced the end of the final preparations.

The "Go-Ahead" only waited the signal to start.

At twenty-five minutes past eleven the second gun was fired.
The "Go-Ahead" was about one hundred and fifty feet above the clearing, and was held by a rope.