Part 5 (2/2)
”Every thing!”
”Well, then, o with you”
”I was sure you would!” said the doctor, betraying in his features swift traces of e arrived The captain and his officers e, not excepting even Joe, orthy felloas as proud and happy as a prince Every one in the party insisted upon having a final shake of the doctor's hand
At nine o'clock the three travellers got into their car The doctor lit the combustible in his cylinder and turned the flame so as to produce a rapid heat, and the balloon, which had rested on the ground in perfect equipoise, began to rise in a few minutes, so that the seamen had to slacken the ropes they held it by The car then rose about twenty feet above their heads
”My friends!” exclai up between his two coive our aerial shi+p a naood luck! let us christen her Victoria!”
This speech was answered with stentorian cheers of ”Huzza for the Queen! Huzza for Old England!”
At this iously, and Ferguson, Kennedy, and Joe, waved a last good-by to their friends
”Let go all!” shouted the doctor, and at the word the Victoria shot rapidly up into the sky, while the four carronades on board the Resolute thundered forth a parting salute in her honor
CHAPTER TWELFTH
Crossing the Strait-The Mrima-dick's Re-The Uzaramo-The Unfortunate Maizan-Mount Dathuht under a Nopal
The air was pure, the wind moderate, and the balloon ascended alht of fifteen hundred feet, as indicated by a depression of two inches in the baroht a more decided current carried the balloon toward the southwest What a aze of the travellers! The island of Zanzibar could be seen in its entire extent, marked out by its deeper color upon a vast planisphere; the fields had the appearance of patterns of different colors, and thick cluroves and thickets
The inhabitants of the island looked no larger than insects The huzzaing and shouting were little by little lost in the distance, and only the discharge of the shi+p's guns could be heard in the concavity beneath the balloon, as the latter sped on its flight
”How fine that is!” said Joe, breaking silence for the first ti the variations of the baro down the details of his ascent
Kennedy looked on, and had not eyes enough to take in all that he saw
The rays of the sun coas increased, and the Victoria attained the height of twenty-five hundred feet
The Resolute looked like a mere cockle-shell, and the African coast could be distinctly seen in the west e of foaain
”We are looking!” said the doctor, directing his spy-glass toward the mainland
”For my part, I must talk!”
”As much as you please, Joe; talk as much as you like!”
And Joe went on alone with a tremendous volley of exclamations The ”ohs!” and the ”ahs!” exploded one after the other, incessantly, froe over the sea the doctor deemed it best to keep at his present elevation He could thus reconnoitre a greater stretch of the coast The ther up inside of the half-opened awning, were alithin sight, and a second baroht watches
At the end of about two hours the Victoria, driven along at a speed of a little ht miles, very visibly neared the coast of the mainland The doctor, thereupon, deterround So he moderated the flame of his cylinder, and the balloon, in a few moments, had descended to an altitude only three hundred feet above the soil
It was then found to be passing just over the Mrima country, the name of this part of the eastern coast of Africa Dense borders of in, and the ebb-tide disclosed to view their thick roots, chafed and gnawed by the teeth of the Indian Ocean The sands which, at an earlier period, for the distant horizon, and Mount Nguru reared aloft its sharp summit in the northwest
The Victoria passed near to a village which the doctor found marked upon his chart as Kaole Its entire population had asseer and fear, at the saainst thisso majestically away above all their powerless fury
The as setting to the southward, but the doctor felt no concern on that score, since it enabled him the better to follow the route traced by Captains Burton and Speke
Kennedy had, at length, become as talkative as Joe, and the two kept up a continual interchange of ade-coaches!” said one
”Steamers indeed!” said the other
”Railroads! eh? rubbish!+” put in Kennedy, ”that you travel on, without seeing the country!”
”Balloons! they're the sort for , and Nature takes the trouble to spread herself out before one's eyes!”
”What a splendid sight! What a spectacle! What a delight! a dream in a hammock!”
”Suppose we take our breakfast?” was Joe's unpoetical change of tune, at last, for the keen, open air had htily sharpened his appetite
”Good idea, -biscuit and potted meat?”
”And as ive you leave to borrow a little heat froh and to spare, for that ration”
”That would be a dreadful misfortune!” ejaculated Kennedy ”It's the saazine suspended over our heads”
”Not precisely,” said Ferguson, ”but still if the gas were to take fire it would burn up gradually, and we should settle down on the ground, which would be disagreeable; but never fear-our balloon is hermetically sealed”
”Let us eat a bite, then,” replied Kennedy
”Now, gentleet you up a cup of coffee that I think you'll have so to say about”