This is the first time that the Knolly Estate has allowed the great man's memoirs to be published. What follows is the tenth chapter of 'The African Adventure'.

Ballunatics - Part One

I prayed... then jumped... and kept going up, and up. He'd done it, Bertie had done it. I looked down below to see Guttmann's men scatter
before the terrified dray horses and wagon, slung the rifle over my shoulder and began to climb up to the relative safety of the basket - not easy with the rope oscillating so much but I managed. As I scrambled in there was a pop of a cork and Bertie handed me a glass of champagne.

'Courtesy of Mrs Grey... Gawd Bless her.' I took the proffered glass and downed it in one.

'Well Bertie, we certainly do things in style, eh? Now how do we steer this contraption?' I asked as I untied the rope from my waist and began hauling it in.

'You weren't listening were you the other day... we go where the wind goes. All we can control is its height and we need more of it so hurry up and help me drain this crate of champagne.' I was about to suggest that we just throw it over the side anyway, but Bertie had had a hard time the last few days and needed cheering up and he'd just saved my life... again.

'Bertie, is there any food to go with it? I'm starving and it would seem a shame to drink it all on an empty stomach.' He grinned, and pointed to a hamper. 'Good Oh, let me just check our heading then I'll tuck in'.

'Knolly, we're heading East, which for the moment is good enough for me.' he said as he refilled my glass.

'East... we'll that should take us to Bechuanaland, not quite the Cape but... Oh pass me a sandwich and Bertie... well done old stick.'

With the sandwich in one hand, I rummaged around in my pack, pulled out my field glasses and began to scan below us. From what I could make
out Guttmann had rounded his men up as well as their fallen comrade and
were heading Eastwards the same as us. I trained my glasses East.

'Bertie, during your chats with Trublemacher's crew and Sam did you find out anything about the size of the German settlements out here?'

'Well, from what I could make out, the garrisons pretty poor - been on the downward slope ever since a chap named Goring was removed. Rest is just farmers having a bad deal. Seems the Hottentots won't let on how to look after cattle out here. From the drift of the rest of my conversations the Kaiser thinks the whole adventure's been a mistake.' Bertie took a sip from his glass 'Why do you ask Knolly?' I handed him the field glasses.

'Take a look! We're heading right for some settlement or other and, if you look below, so is Guttmann at a quicker turn of speed than this thing. I hope you're right about the size of the garrison.'

'Knolly, why worry? We're up here and they're down there... drink up, there's plenty more and I'll drop some extra ballast to take us well out of rifle shot.' I smiled, took back my glasses and thought 'He's right, we'll be safe up here'.

We drifted over the odd farmhouse and waved to people below, but no
gunfire was aimed in our direction only the odd moo from frightened
cattle. We settled down into the bottom of the basket. The sun was well up now and its heat made us both drowsy... that plus the alcohol... and the quiet solitude. I awoke with something in my mouth that I hoped was my tongue and not a piece of shoe leather and noticed a faint buzzing sound. 'Odd!' I thought. 'I was unaware that any insects flew this high.' I looked down at Bertie snoring away cuddling an empty bottle. I decided not to wake him as, on closer examination, the noise definitely was not emanating from either us or the balloon. I looked to the horizon. Judging by the sun's current position I'd been asleep for a couple of hours and, looking over the side, we were well over the desert. The buzzing seemed to be growing louder and, therefore, closer.

I turned towards the West where the noise seemed to be coming from and was momentarily blinded by the sun. Then, as my eyes readjusted, I caught site of a new shadow on the desert floor. It was long, almost cigar shaped and, although I couldn't yet see the object, its shadow was gaining on ours. I kicked Bertie awake

'Wha... meng.'

'Bertie, we've got company in a form I've not seen before and I need your opinion of what appears to be a long thin and very fast balloon.' Bertie shot to his feet shaking the basket a bit too much for my head.

'Where?'

'It's hiding in the sun but you can hear it and, down there, is its
shadow,' I pointed over the side.

'Great Scott! Knolly it's an airship. Now there's a turn up, I knew that most of the European countries were working on it, even our mob, but not to this extent. This is amazing.'

'Oh hooray for science! I must remember this method of sobering you up in a hurry.' Bertie had his scientists hat on and scowled. 'Just tell me is it good news or bad?'

'Depends.'

'What do you mean, depends?'

'... on what you call bad.' I pondered on this.

'Is it faster than us?'

'Undoubtedly.'

'Oh!... What else do I need to know?'

'Well it's got at least one engine judging by the sound and even if it's only a prototype it can probably steer.' I closed my eyes and counted to ten, then opened them to see the shiny silver cigar shaped object bearing down on us - the Imperial German flag fluttering behind its tail.

'It's very pretty isn't it? Lovely curves and looks so graceful with the sun on it...'

'Bertie shut up! I'm trying to think... What do you think they'll do next, shoot us down?'

'Unlikely Knolly. All the experiments I've read about or heard about seems to point out the fact that they'll be using some form of lighter-than-air gas... most likely Hydrogen.'

'That's explosive isn't it... burns with a squeaky pop if my brain
serves me right. Bertie, your rifle if you please.'

'Knolly! No! At this close range it will take us with it which is why they haven't opened fire on us yet. No, I think they'll try and force us down and wait for men on the ground.'

'So no gun fire then? Let's wait and see what they try next.' We watched and waited as the silver airship performed what can only be
described as an aerial ballet around us trying to steal our wind. Every
now and again we caught site of the crew in the gondola thingy slung
beneath. I must admit the whole thing looked very modern and futuristic. I thought of my earlier dream, then an idea struck me. I tied the elastic rope round my waist once more.

'Bertie, where's that knife you had to cut the balloon from the wagon?'

'Knolly, what are you up to?... Your not going to... you are.'

'Just watch me fly, Bertie!'

The airship came around for another pass in its now regular pattern of almost level with us, as though it were an animal not sure what it had caught. I poised myself on the edge of the basket and hoped my brief
understanding of ballooning was sound. I counted to three and leaped in
the general direction of the airship. As I left our balloon I felt a tug and turned to see it gain the extra height I had hoped and Bertie waving
the other end of the rope and my headache instantly disappeared.

The crew of the airship looked towards me with amazed looks, but they knew a boarding party when they saw one and tried some form of evasive action which only served to give me a larger target area as the craft tried to spin on it axis.

'Shall I tie this to something then?' I heard in the wind.

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