Part 27 (1/2)
”Keep nothing but our pemmican, and throw out all the heavy htened by some fifty pounds, and it rose very perceptibly, but that was of little consequence, unless it got above the line of theThe Victoria was rushi+ng on with great rapidity They could feel that she would be dashed to pieces-that the shock would be fearful
The doctor glanced around him in the car It was nearly empty
”If needs be, dick, hold yourself in readiness to throw over your fire-arms!”
”Sacrifice
”My friend, I ask it; it will be absolutely necessary!”
”Sauns, and your stock of powder and ball ht cost us our lives”
”We are close to it!” cried Joe
Sixty feet! The mountain still overtopped the balloon by sixty feet
Joe took the blankets and other coverings and tossed them out; then, without a word to Kennedy, he threw over several bags of bullets and lead
The balloon went up still higher; it sure, and the rays of the sun shone upon its uppermost extremity; but the car was still below the level of certain broken ainst which it would inevitably be dashed
”Kennedy! Kennedy! throw out your fire-arms, or we are lost!” shouted the doctor
”Wait, sir; wait onearound, they saw Joe disappear over the edge of the balloon
”Joe! Joe!” cried Kennedy
”Wretched onized expression
The flat top of the mountain may have had about twenty feet in breadth at this point, and, on the other side, the slope presented a less declivity The car just touched the level of this plane, which happened to be quite even, and it glided over a soil corated as it passed
”We're over it! we're over it! we're clear!” cried out an exulting voice thatfelloas there, grasping the lower ri afoot over the top of the ht He had to hold on with all his strength, too, for it was likely to escape his grasp at any moment
When he had reached the opposite declivity, and the abyss was before hiround, and, clae, rejoined his friends
”That was all!” he coolly ejaculated
”My brave Joe! my friend!” said the doctor, with deep ehed the other, ”was not for you; it was to save Mr Kennedy's rifle I owed hiood turn for the affair with the Arab! I like to payto the sportsman his favorite weapon ”I'd feel very badly to see you deprived of it”
Kennedy heartily shook the brave fellow's hand, without being able to utter a word
The Victoria had nothing to do now but to descend That was easy enough, so that she was soon at a height of only two hundred feet froround, and was then in equilibriuh by a convulsion of nature It presented numerous inequalities, which would have been very difficult to avoid during the night with a balloon that could no longer be controlled Evening was conance, the doctor had to
”We'll now look for a favorable stopping-place,” said he
”Ah!” replied Kennedy, ”you have made up yourti over a plan which we'll try to put into execution; it is only six o'clock in the evening, and we shall have tih Throw out your anchors, Joe!”
Joe iled below the balloon
”I see large forests ahead of us,” said the doctor; ”we are going to sweep along their tops, and we shall grapple to soht below, on the ground”
”But can we not descend?” asked Kennedy
”To what purpose? I repeat that it would be dangerous for us to separate, and, besides, I claim your help for a difficult piece of work”
The Victoria, which was ski the tops of imht, and, the wind falling as dusk came on, she remained motionlessly suspended above a vast field of verdure, formed by the tops of a forest of sycale of Generosity-The Last Sacrifice-The Dilating Apparatus-Joe's Adroitness-Midnight-The Doctor's Watch-Kennedy's Watch-The Latter falls asleep at his Post-The Fire-The Howlings of the Natives-Out of Range
Doctor Ferguson's first care was to take his bearings by stellar observation, and he discovered that he was scarcely twenty-five e to do,pointed his e nor boat, we must, at all hazards, cross it with the balloon, and, in order to do that, we hten up”
”But I don't exactly see hoe can do that?” replied Kennedy, anxious about his fire-arms, ”unless one of us makes up his mind to sacrifice himself for the rest,-that is, to stay behind, and, in my turn, I claim that honor”
”You, indeed!” remonstrated Joe; ”ain't I used to-”
”The question now is, not to throw ourselves out of the car, but simply to reach the coast of Africa on foot I aood sportsman, and-”
”I'll never consent to it!” insisted Joe
”Your generous rivalry is useless, uson; ”I trust that we shall not come to any such extre, we should keep together, so as to make our way across the country in company”
”That's the talk,” said Joe; ”a little tramp won't do us any harm”
”But before we try that,” resu the balloon”
”What will that be? I should like to see it,” said Kennedy, incredulously