Five Weeks in a Balloon [71]
doctor rekindled the light in the cylinder; the spiral became heated; the current of hydrogen came in a few minutes, and the gas dilated; but the balloon did not stir an inch. Joe looked on uneasily, but kept silent. "Joe!" said the doctor. Joe made no reply. "Joe! Don't you hear me?" Joe made a sign that he heard; but he would not understand. "Do me the kindness to throw out some of that quartz!" "But, doctor, you gave me leave--" "I gave you leave to replace the ballast; that was all!" "But--" "Do you want to stay forever in this desert?" Joe cast a despairing look at Kennedy; but the hunter put on the air of a man who could do nothing in the matter. "Well, Joe?" "Then your cylinder don't work," said the obstinate fellow. "My cylinder? It is lit, as you perceive. But the balloon will not rise until you have thrown off a little ballast." Joe scratched his ear, picked up a piece of quartz, the smallest in the lot, weighed and reweighed it, and tossed it up and down in his hand. It was a fragment of about three or four pounds. At last he threw it out. But the balloon did not budge. "Humph!" said he; "we're not going up yet." "Not yet," said the doctor. "Keep on throwing." Kennedy laughed. Joe now threw out some ten pounds, but the balloon stood still. Joe got very pale. "Poor fellow!" said the doctor. "Mr. Kennedy, you and I weigh, unless I am mistaken, about four hundred pounds--so that you'll have to get rid of at least that weight, since it was put in here to make up for us." "Throw away four hundred pounds!" said Joe, piteously. "And some more with it, or we can't rise. Come, courage, Joe!" The brave fellow, heaving deep sighs, began at last to lighten the balloon; but, from time to time, he would stop, and ask: "Are you going up?" "No, not yet," was the invariable response. "It moves!" said he, at last. "Keep on!" replied the doctor. "It's going up; I'm sure." "Keep on yet," said Kennedy. And Joe, picking up one more block, desperately tossed it out of the car. The balloon rose a hundred feet or so, and, aided by the cylinder, soon passed above the surrounding summits. "Now, Joe," resumed the doctor, "there still remains a handsome fortune for you; and, if we can only keep the rest of this with us until the end of our trip, there you are--rich for the balance of your days!" Joe made no answer, but stretched himself out luxuriously on his heap of quartz. "See, my dear Dick!" the doctor went on. "Just see the power of this metal over the cleverest lad in the world! What passions, what greed, what crimes, the knowledge of such a mine as that would cause! It is sad to think of it!" By evening the balloon had made ninety miles to the westward, and was, in a direct line, fourteen hundred miles from Zanzibar.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. The Wind dies away.--The Vicinity of the Desert.--The Mistake in the Water-Supply.--The Nights of the Equator.--Dr. Ferguson's Anxieties. --The Situation flatly stated.--Energetic Replies of Kennedy and Joe. --One Night more. The balloon, having been made fast to a solitary tree, almost completely dried up by the aridity of the region in which it stood, passed the night in perfect quietness; and the travellers were enabled to enjoy a little of the repose which they so greatly needed. The emotions of the day had left sad impressions on their minds. Toward morning, the sky had resumed its brilliant purity and its heat. The balloon ascended, and, after several ineffectual attempts, fell into a current that, although not rapid, bore them toward the northwest. "We are not making progress," said the doctor. "If I am not mistaken, we have accomplished nearly half of our journey in ten days; but, at the rate at which we are going, it would take months to end it; and that is all the more vexatious, that we are threatened with a lack of water." "But we'll find some," said Joe. "It is not to be thought of that we shouldn't discover some river, some stream, or pond, in all this vast extent of country." "I hope so." "Now don't you think that it's Joe's cargo of stone that is keeping us back?" Kennedy asked
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. The Wind dies away.--The Vicinity of the Desert.--The Mistake in the Water-Supply.--The Nights of the Equator.--Dr. Ferguson's Anxieties. --The Situation flatly stated.--Energetic Replies of Kennedy and Joe. --One Night more. The balloon, having been made fast to a solitary tree, almost completely dried up by the aridity of the region in which it stood, passed the night in perfect quietness; and the travellers were enabled to enjoy a little of the repose which they so greatly needed. The emotions of the day had left sad impressions on their minds. Toward morning, the sky had resumed its brilliant purity and its heat. The balloon ascended, and, after several ineffectual attempts, fell into a current that, although not rapid, bore them toward the northwest. "We are not making progress," said the doctor. "If I am not mistaken, we have accomplished nearly half of our journey in ten days; but, at the rate at which we are going, it would take months to end it; and that is all the more vexatious, that we are threatened with a lack of water." "But we'll find some," said Joe. "It is not to be thought of that we shouldn't discover some river, some stream, or pond, in all this vast extent of country." "I hope so." "Now don't you think that it's Joe's cargo of stone that is keeping us back?" Kennedy asked