Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 17
CHAPTER XVII
NIGHT ON THE GROUND
About six o'clock in the morning (Sunday) the sun rose above the horizon, the clouds dispersed and a most pleasant breeze tempered the first rays of the morning light.
The sweetly-refreshed earth again became visible to the travelers. The balloon, having been turning round in the midst of opposing currents, had scarcely drifted at all, and the doctor, permitting the gas to contract, descended at length to strike a more northerly direction. For a long time his search was in vain, the breeze carried him to the west, even within sight of the celebrated Mountains of the Moon, which rise up in a semicircle round the end of Lake Tanganyika. Their chain, but little broken, stood out against the bluish horizon—a natural fortification, as it were, impassable to explorers of the center of Africa; some of the peaks bore traces of eternal snow.
"We are now in an unexplored country," said the doctor; "Captains Burton and Speke advanced far into the west, but they were not able to reach these celebrated mountains. Burton even denied their existence as affirmed by his companion; he pretended that they only existed in the imagination of the latter. For us, my friends, no doubt is possible."
"Shall we pass over them?" asked Kennedy.
"I hope not. I expect to find a favorable wind to bring me back to the equator. I will wait for it even, if necessary, and treat the 'Victoria' like a ship that casts anchor when the wind is contrary."
The prognostications of the doctor were soon realized. After having tried different elevations, the "Victoria" sailed away to the northeast at a moderate speed.
"We are in the right direction," said he, consulting the barometer as he spoke, "and scarcely 200 feet from the ground; the circumstances are most favorable to explore these unknown regions. Captain Speke, when proceeding to discover Lake Ukéréoné, went up more to the east in a straight line above Kazeh."
"Shall we go long in this direction?" asked Kennedy.
"Perhaps. Our aim is to strike a point near the sources of the Nile, and we have more than 600 miles to traverse to the extreme limit reached by the explorers from the north."
"And shall we not put our feet on the ground in order to stretch our legs?" said Joe.
"Yes, certainly. We must also be sparing of our larder, and on the way you will be able to provide us with fresh meats."
"As soon as ever you like, friend Samuel."
"We shall also have to replenish our supply of water. Who knows we may not be borne away towards barren districts? We must therefore take precautions."
At mid-day the "Victoria" was in 29° 15' long. and 3° 15' lat. It passed over the village of Uyofu, the northern boundary of Unyamwezi, abreast of the Lake Ukéréoné, which they had not hitherto been able to perceive. The tribes near the equator appear to be a little more civilized, and are governed by absolute monarchs, whose despotism is unlimited. Their very close union constitutes the province of Karaywah.
The three travelers decided that they would descend at the first favorable landing-place. They proposed to make a lengthy halt, and the balloon was to be carefully examined; so the flame of the blow-pipe was moderated. The grapnels, thrown from the car, soon came in contact with the high grass of an immense prairie; at a little distance it appeared to be covered with close verdure, but in reality the grass was seven or eight feet high.
The "Victoria" skimmed over the grass without bending it, like an immense butterfly. Nothing was in sight; it was like an ocean of verdure without a single wave.
"We may go a long time like this," said Kennedy. "I do not perceive a tree to which we can fasten ourselves. It appears to me that the chase must be given up."
"Wait, my dear Dick; you never could hunt in grass higher than yourself. We shall find a favorable place presently."
It was, indeed, a charming excursion—a veritable navigation upon this sea—so beautifully green, almost transparent—undulating softly at the breathing of the wind. The boat now justified its name, and appeared to cleave the waves, except when a flight of birds with splendid plumage escaped sometimes from the high grass, and with a thousand joyous cries broke the illusion. The grapnels plunged into this lake of flowers and formed a furrow which immediately closed behind them like the wake of a vessel.
All at once the balloon experienced a great shock; the grapnel had no doubt been caught in the fissure of a rock concealed beneath the gigantic mass. "We have caught," said Joe.
"All right, throw out the ladder," said Kennedy.
These words had scarcely been uttered, when a sharp cry resounded through the air, and was thus commented upon by the travelers.
"What's that?" said one.
"A most singular cry!"
"Hollo! we are moving."
"The anchor has detached."
"No, it is all right," said Joe, who was hauling at the rope. "It is the rock that moves."
A great disturbance was now perceived in the grass, and soon a long and sinuous form raised itself over them. "A serpent!" cried Joe.
"A serpent!" said Kennedy, snatching up a carbine.
"No," said the doctor, "it is the trunk of an elephant."
"An elephant, Samuel?" and Kennedy, as he spoke, brought the gun to his shoulder.
"Wait, Dick, wait."
"Without doubt, the animal will pull us along."
"And in the right direction, Joe."
The elephant advanced with some rapidity, and soon arrived at an open space, where they had an uninterrupted view of him. In his enormous bulk, the doctor recognized the male of a magnificent species; he had two beautiful tusks, with a most graceful curve, which appeared about eight feet long—the flukes of the grapnel were firmly fastened between them.
The animal tried in vain with his trunk to loose the cord that bound him to the car.
"Go ahead cheerily!" cried Joe delighted, and doing his best to urge on this strange turn-out. "Here is quite a new way of traveling. Talk of a horse, indeed! An elephant, if you please."
"But where will he lead us to?" asked Kennedy, shifting his gun from hand to hand.
"He will take us wherever he likes, my dear Dick; have a little patience."
"Wig-a-more! wig-a-more! as the Scotch peasants say," cried the delighted Joe. "Go on, go on."
Th animal broke into a rapid gallop, he flung his trunk from right to left, and in his boundings he gave some violent shocks to the car. The doctor, ax in hand, was ready to cut the rope if occasion demanded.
"But," said he, "we will not give up our anchor till the last moment."
This race at the tail of an elephant lasted nearly an hour and a half. The animal did not appear in any way fatigued. These enormous quadrupeds can keep up a trot for a considerable time, and day after day they accomplish immense distances, like the whales, whose size and speed they possess.
"I believe it is a whale we have harpooned," said Joe, "and we are only imitating the maneuvers of the whalers when fishing."
But a change in the nature of the ground obliged the doctor to modify his mode of progression.
A thick wood appeared towards the north of the prairie, about three miles distant; it then became absolutely necessary that the balloon should be separated from its conductor.
So Kennedy was assigned the duty of stopping the elephant. He shouldered his carbine, but his position was not favorable to strike the animal successfully. The first ball fired at the skull was flattened as if against an iron plate. The elephant did not appear the least inconvenienced. At the sound of the discharge he accelerated his pace, and his speed was now that of a horse at full gallop.
"The devil!" exclaimed Kennedy.
"What a hard head he must have," said Joe.
"We must try a conical bullet in the shoulder," said Dick, loading his gun with great care. He fired. The elephant uttered a fearful scream, but still went on gallantly.
"Look here," said Joe, taking up one of the rifles, "I must help you, Mr. Dick, or we shall never get to the end of this."
And two bullets were quickly lodged in the flank of the animal. He stopped, raised his trunk high in the air, and then continued his rapid course towards the wood. He kept shaking his enormous head, and blood began to flow from his wounds.
"Let us keep firing, Mr. Dick," said Joe.
"Yes, and well-sustained fire, too," said the doctor; "we are only a few yards from the wood."
Ten shots were rapidly fired; the elephant made a terrific bound; the car and the balloon cracked as if they were coming to pieces. The shock caused the doctor to drop the ax to the ground.
Their situation was critical. The rope of the grapnel was fastened so tightly that it could not be detached, nor could it be cut by the knives the travelers possessed. The balloon was rapidly nearing the wood when the elephant received a bullet in the eye at the moment he raised his head. He stopped, appeared to hesitate for a moment, then his knees bent beneath him, and he exposed his flank to the assailants.
"Now for a bullet in his heart," cried Kennedy, as he discharged his carbine for the last time.
The elephant uttered a roar of agony and distress, half raised himself for an instant as he waved his trunk to and fro, and then fell with all his immense weight upon one of his tusks, which was broken short off. He was dead.
"His tusk is broken," cried Kennedy. "That ivory would fetch thirty-five guineas the hundredweight in England."
"So much for that," said Joe, as he lowered himself to the ground by the grapnel-rope.
"Why these regrets, my dear Dick?" replied the doctor. "We are not ivory merchants, and we have not come here to make our fortunes, have we?"
Joe inspected the grapnel. It was still firmly fastened to the remaining tusk. Samuel and Dick got down on the ground while the half-inflated balloon hovered above the carcass of the elephant.
"What a splendid beast," cried Kennedy. "What an enormous mass he is. I have never, even in India, seen such a fine fellow."
"That is not so surprising, my dear Dick. The elephants of Central Africa are the biggest naturally. They have been hunted so much in the neighborhood of the Cape by the Andersons and the Cummings, that they have migrated towards the equator, where we shall frequently meet them in large numbers."
"In the meantime," said Joe, "I hope we shall have a taste of this fellow. I will pledge myself to provide you a savory meal at this gentleman's expense. Mr. Kennedy can go hunting for an hour or two; Mr. Samuel can inspect and overhaul the 'Victoria,' and I will play the cook."
"That is well arranged," replied the doctor. "So each to his occupation."
"Well, I shall take the two hours' liberty that Joe has been so kind as to give me," said Kennedy.
"By all means, my friend, but don't be rash. Do not go too far."
"You may be easy on that score," said Dick; and, armed with his rifle, he plunged into the wood.
Then Joe set about his avocations. First, he made a hole in the ground about two feet deep, which he filled with the dead branches of trees which strewed the ground in consequence of the passages forced through the woods by the elephants, traces of which were clearly seen. The hole filled up, he thrust in at the top a log about two feet long, and set fire to it.
He then turned to the elephant, which had fallen only about fifty yards from the wood, and dexterously cut off the trunk, which measured nearly two feet wide at the head. He chose the most delicate portions, and added one of the sponge-like feet. These are considered the tid-bits of the animal, as is the buffalo-hump, the paws of the bear, or the boar's head.
When the log was completely consumed inside and outside, the hole, emptied of the cinders and ashes, was very hot, so the pieces of the elephant's flesh, wrapped in aromatic leaves, were laid at the bottom of this improvised furnace, and covered with the hot embers. Then Joe placed a second log over all, and when the wood was burned out, the meat was done to a turn.
Then Joe took the dinner from the oven, placed it upon green leaves, and laid the repast in the center of a meadow-like space. He brought the biscuits, brandy, and coffee, and fetched some fresh and sparkling water from a neighboring stream.
The feast thus sent up was pleasant to behold, and Joe, without vanity, thought that it would be very good to eat.
"Here," he said to himself, "here is a journey without danger, meals when you choose, and sleep when you like: what can a man want more? And that good Mr. Kennedy did not want to come!"
Doctor Ferguson, for his part, was devoting himself to a thorough examination of his balloon. It did not appear to have suffered by the storm, the taffetas and gutta-percha had resisted wonderfully. Taking the actual distance from the ground, and calculating the ascensional force of the balloon, he perceived with satisfaction that the hydrogen was still in the same volume. The envelope up to this time had remained impermeable.
It was only five days since the travelers had quitted Zanzibar, the pemmican had not been cut, the store, of biscuit and preserved meat was sufficient for a long period, and they had only to renew their reserve of water. The tubes and the coil appeared to be in perfect order; thanks to their india-rubber joints, they yielded to all the oscillations of the balloon.
Having finished his inspection, the doctor put his notes in order. He made a most successful sketch of the surrounding country, with the immense prairie as far as the eye could reach, the forest, and the balloon standing motionless over the body of the enormous elephant.
At the end of the two hours Kennedy returned with a string of partridges and a haunch of venison cut from the oryx—a sort of gemsbok, the most agile species of antelopes. Joe took upon himself to prepare this addition to the repast.
"Dinner is ready!" he soon cried, in his cheery voice. And the three travelers had only to seat themselves upon the verdant meadow. The feet and trunk of the elephant were pronounced exquisite. They drank to "Old England," as usual, and some delicious havanas perfumed the air of this beautiful region for the first time.
Kennedy ate, drank, and talked enough for four. He was intoxicated with the surroundings. He seriously proposed to the doctor to remain in that forest, and to construct a leafy cabin, and begin a sort of African Robinson Crusoe life. This proposition was not otherwise followed up, although Joe promised himself to take the part of "Friday."
The country appeared so quiet, so deserted, that the Doctor determined to pass the night on the ground. Joe made a circle of fire, an indispensable barricade against wild beasts. Hyenas, cougars, and jackals, attracted by the scent of the elephant's carcass, came prowling around. Kennedy occasionally sent a shot after the most pressing of these visitors, but the night passed without any unpleasant incident.