The works of Edgar Allan Poe; newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions, and notes, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry; the illustrations by Albert Edward Sterner.

ADVENTURE OF ONE HANS PFAALL
dressed in a loose surtout of sky-blue satin, with tight
breeches to match, fastened with silver buckles at the
knees. His vest was of some bright yellow material;
a white taffety cap was set jauntily on one side of his
head; and, to complete his equipment, a blood-red
silk handkerchief enveloped his throat, and fell down,
in a dainty manner, upon his bosom, in a fantastic
bow-knot of super-eminent dimensions.
Having descended, as I said before, to about one
hundred feet from the surface of the earth, the little
old gentleman was suddenly seized with a fit of
trepidation, and appeared disinclined to make any
nearer approach to terra firma. Throwing out,
therefore, a quantity of sand from a canvas bag,
which he lifted with great difficulty, he became
stationary in an instant. He then proceeded, in a
hurried and agitated manner, to extract from a
side-pocket in his surtout a large morocco pocketbook. This he poised suspiciously in his hand;
then eyed it with an air of extreme surprise, and
was evidently astonished at its weight. He at
length opened it, and, drawing therefrom a huge
letter sealed with red sealing-wax and tied carefully
with red tape, let it fall precisely at the feet of
the burgomaster Superbus Von Underduk. His Excellency stooped to take it up. But the aeronaut,
still greatly discomposed, and having apparently no
further business to detain him in Rotterdam, began
at this moment to make busy preparations for departure; and, it being necessary to discharge a
portion of ballast to enable him to reascend, the
half-dozen bags which he threw out, one after
another, without taking the trouble to empty their
contents, tumbled, every one of them, most unfortu137