[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
useless articles, especially when there was a mountaintop to pass. Things
went on thus for more than one hundred and twenty miles; they were worn out
with ascending and falling again; the balloon, like another rock of
Sisyphus, kept continually sinking back toward the ground. The rotundity of
the covering, which was now but little inflated, was collapsing already. It
assumed an elongated shape, and the wind hollowed large cavities in the
silken surface.
Kennedy could not help observing this.
"Is there a crack or a tear in the balloon?" he asked.
"No, but the gutta percha has evidently softened or melted in the heat, and
the hydrogen is escaping through the silk."
Five Weeks in a Balloon
CHAPTER FORTYFIRST.
162
"How can we prevent that?"
"It is impossible. Let us lighten her. That is the only help. So let us
throw out every thing we can spare."
"But what shall it be?" said the hunter, looking at the car, which was
already quite bare.
"Well, let us get rid of the awning, for its weight is quite considerable."
Joe, who was interested in this order, climbed up on the circle which kept
together the cordage of the network, and from that place easily managed to
detach the heavy curtains of the awning and throw them overboard.
Page 148
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"There's something that will gladden the hearts of a whole tribe of blacks,"
said he; "there's enough to dress a thousand of them, for they're not very
extravagant with cloth."
The balloon had risen a little, but it soon became evident that it was again
approaching the ground.
"Let us alight," suggested Kennedy, "and see what can be done with the
covering of the balloon."
"I tell you, again, Dick, that we have no means of repairing it."
"Then what shall we do?"
"We'll have to sacrifice every thing not absolutely indispensable; I am
anxious, at all hazards, to avoid a detention in these regions. The forests
over the tops of which we are skimming are any thing but safe."
"What! are there lions in them, or hyenas?" asked Joe, with an expression of
sovereign contempt.
"Worse than that, my boy! There are men, and some of the most cruel, too, in
all Africa."
"How is that known?"
"By the statements of travellers who have been here before us. Then the
French settlers, who occupy the colony of Senegal, necessarily have relations
with the surrounding tribes. Under the administration of
Colonel Faidherbe, reconnoissances have been pushed far up into the
country. Officers such as Messrs.
Pascal, Vincent, and Lambert, have brought back precious documents from their
expeditions. They have explored these countries formed by the elbow of the
Senegal in places where war and pillage have left nothing but ruins."
"What, then, took place?"
"I will tell you. In 1854 a Marabout of the Senegalese Fouta, AlHadji by
name, declaring himself to be inspired like Mohammed, stirred up all the
tribes to war against the infidelsthat is to say, against the
Europeans. He carried destruction and desolation over the regions between the
Senegal River and its tributary, the Fateme. Three hordes of fanatics led on
by him scoured the country, sparing neither a village nor a hut in their
pillaging, massacring career. He advanced in person on the town of Sego,
which was a long time threatened. In 1857 he worked up farther to the
northward, and invested the fortification of Medina, built by the French on
the bank of the river. This stronghold was defended by Paul Holl, who, for
several months, without provisions or ammunition, held out until Colonel
Faidherbe came to his relief. AlHadji and his bands then repassed the
Senegal, and reappeared in the Kaarta, continuing their rapine and
murder.Well, here below us is the very country in which he has found refuge
with his hordes of banditti; and I assure you
Five Weeks in a Balloon
CHAPTER FORTYFIRST.
163
that it would not be a good thing to fall into his hands."
"We shall not," said Joe, "even if we have to throw overboard our clothes to
save the Victoria."
"We are not far from the river," said the doctor, "but I foresee that our
balloon will not be able to carry us beyond it."
"Let us reach its banks, at all events," said the Scot, "and that will be so
much gained."
"That is what we are trying to do," rejoined Ferguson, "only that one thing
makes me feel anxious."
"What is that?"
"We shall have mountains to pass, and that will be difficult to do, since I
cannot augment the ascensional force of the balloon, even with the greatest
possible heat that I can produce."
"Well, wait a bit," said Kennedy, "and we shall see!"
Page 149
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]