Part 26 (1/2)
CHAPTER FORTIETH
Dr Ferguson's Anxieties-Persistent Movement southward-A Cloud of Grasshoppers-A View of Jenne-A View of Sego-Change of the Wind-Joe's Regrets
The flow of the river was, at that point, divided by large islands into narrow branches, with a very rapid current Upon one a them stood some shepherds' huts, but it had become impossible to take an exact observation of the Unfortunately, it turned still more toward the south, and in a fewthe dilation of his aerial craft to the uthts, but in vain; and he soon gave up the atte it against the orn tissue of the balloon
He an to feel very anxious This persistence of the wind to head hi his calculations, and he no longer knew upon wholish or French territories, as to become of him in the midst of the barbarous tribes that infest the coasts of Guinea? How should he there get to a shi+p to take hiland? And the actual direction of the as driving hie races, and into the power of a ruler as in the habit of sacrificing thousands of huies There he would be lost!
On the other hand, the balloon was visibly wearing out, and the doctor felt it failing hi up a little, he hoped that the cessation of the rain would bring about a change in the atreeable reminder of the actual situation when Joe said aloud: ”There! the rain's going to pour down harder than ever; and this tie by yon cloud that's couson
”Yes, and a famous one,” replied Kennedy
”I never saw the like of it,” added Joe
”I breathe freely again!” said the doctor, laying down his spy-glass ”That's not a cloud!”
”Not a cloud?” queried Joe, with surprise
”No; it is a swarrasshoppers!”
”That? Grasshoppers!”
”Myriads of grasshoppers, that are going to sweep over this country like a water-spout; and woe to it! for, should these insects alight, it will be laid waste”
”That would be a sight worth beholding!”
”Wait a little, Joe In ten minutes that cloud will have arrived where we are, and you can then judge by the aid of your own eyes”
The doctor was right The cloud, thick, opaque, and severalits immense shadow over the fields It was corasshopper called crickets About a hundred paces froe and verdure Fifteen ht, and our travellers could, even at a distance, see the trees and the bushes entirely stripped, and the fields as bare as though they had been sith the scythe One would have thought that a sudden winter had just descended upon the earth and struck the region with the most complete sterility
”Well, Joe, what do you think of that?”
”Well, doctor, it's very curious, but quite natural What one grasshopper does on a srand scale”
”It's a terrible shower,” said the hunter; ”more so than hail itself in the devastation it causes”
”It is iuson ”Sometimes the inhabitants have had the idea to burn the forests, and even the standing crops, in order to arrest the progress of these insects; but the first ranks plunging into the flauish them beneath their mass, and the rest of the sould then pass irresistibly onward Fortunately, in these regions, there is soather these insects in great nureedily eat them”
”They are the prawns of the air,” said Joe, who added that he was sorry that he had never had the chance to taste them-just for information's sake!
The country beca; the forests dwindled to isolated clumps of trees; and on the borders of the river could be seen plantations of tobacco, and swae At last the city of Jenne, on a large island, caht, with the ters of its clay-built mosque, and the putrid odor of the millions of ss' nests accumulated in its walls The tops of some baobabs, mimosas, and date-trees peeped up between the houses; and, even at night, the activity of the place seereat Jenne is, in fact, quite a commercial city: it supplies all the wants of Ti the shaded roads, bear thither the various products of its industry
”Were it not that to do so would prolong our journey,” said the doctor, ”I should like to alight at this place There land and France, and to whoether new But it would not be prudent”
”Let us put off the visit until our next trip,” said Joe, laughing
”Besides, ht tendency to veer a little more to the eastward, and we must not lose such an opportunity”
The doctor threw overboard soer of use-some empty bottles, and a case that had contained preserved-ed to keep the balloon in a belt of the atmospherethe first rays of the sun lighted up Sego, the capital of Banized at once by the four towns that co and co of the flat-bottomed boats that convey its inhabitants from one quarter to the other But the travellers were not more seen than they saw They sped rapidly and directly to the northwest, and the doctor's anxiety gradually subsided
”Two more days in this direction, and at this rate of speed, and we'll reach the Senegal River”
”And we'll be in a friendly country?” asked the hunter
”Not altogether; but, if the worst caht make our way to the French settlements But, let it hold out only for a few hundred er, at the western coast”
”And the thing will be over!” added Joe ”Heigh-ho! soabout it, I would never want to set foot on the ground again! Do you think anybody will believe our story, doctor?”
”Who can tell, Joe? One thing, however, will be undeniable: a thousand witnesses saw us start on one side of the African Continent, and a thousand more will see us arrive on the other”
”And, in that case, it seems to me that it would be hard to say that we had not crossed it,” added Kennedy
”Ah, doctor!” said Joe again, with a deep sigh, ”I'll think old-ore! There was sorain of gold per head, I could have got together a nice crowd to listen to me, and even to admire al-The Balloon sinks lower and lower-They keep throwing out, throwing out-The Marabout Al-Hadji-Messrs Pascal, Vincent, and Lambert-A Rival of Mohammed-The Difficult Mountains-Kennedy's Weapons-One of Joe's Manoeuvres-A Halt over a Forest
On the 27th of May, at nine o'clock in the , the country presented an entirely different aspect The slopes, extending far away, changed to hills that gave evidence of mountains soon to follow They would have to cross the chain which separates the basin of the Niger froal, and determines the course of the water-shed, whether to the Gulf of Guinea on the one hand, or to the bay of Cape Verde on the other
As far as Senegal, this part of Africa is h the recitals of his predecessors They had suffered a thousand privations and been exposed to a thousand dangers in the ro tribes It was this fatal clio Park Ferguson, therefore, was more than ever decided not to set foot in this inhospitable region
But he had not enjoyed onevery perceptibly, so much so that he had to throw overboard a number more of useless articles, especially when there was a s went on thus for more than one hundred and twenty ain; 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 assue 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 h the silk”
”How can we prevent that?”
”It is ihten 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