Excerpt from In the Grip of the Barren Lands The whole business began in Edmonton on 20th May three years ago, but it seems at least ten years, so much has happened since. I have good reason to remember the day, and so have Alec and Bill. It was one of those spring days when, at last, after the long hard Winter the air has lost its bite. Everything was once more fresh and green. I had a job for the summer, and not a worry in the world. The balloon was barely moving, just gently swaying now and then in the light breeze from the north. It seemed almost as sleepy as I was. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.