Between the two of them ensued a sharp interchange of short German sentences.

I gathered the sense of what passed.
"I don't see it now," said, in effect, my late traveling mate, staring skyward and turning his head.
"Nor do I," answered the captain.

"I thought it was yonder." He flirted a thumb backward and upward over his shoulder.
"Are you sure you saw it ?" "No, not sure," said the captain.

"I called you down at the first alarm, and right after that it disappeared, I think; but I shall make sure." He snapped an order to the soldiers and vaulted nimbly into the basket.
The horses turned about and moved off and the balloon rose.

As for the lieutenant, he spun round and ran toward the edge of the field, fumbling at his belt for his private field glasses as he ran.