Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 33
CHAPTER XXXIII
KENNEDY'S SPORTING
The next morning, the 13th of may, the first thing the travelers did was to search the part of the lake border where they were situated. It was a species of island composed of firm land in the midst of an extensive marsh. Around this piece of terra firma large reeds grew, as high as average European trees, and extended as far as eye could reach.
These trackless swamps rendered the position of the "Victoria" secure; it was only necessary to explore the lake shore; the immense sheet of water expanded towards the east, and nothing was visible on the horizon—neither islet nor continent was to be seen.
The two friends had not yet ventured to speak of their unfortunate companion. Kennedy was the first to impart his surmises to the doctor.
"Perhaps Joe is not lost, after all," said he. "He is a sharp lad and a first-rate swimmer. He had no difficulty in swimming across the Firth of Fourth at Edinburgh. We shall see him again, depend upon it; I cannot say how or when, but do not let us neglect anything that might give him an opportunity to rejoin us.
"Heaven grant it may be as you suggest!" replied the doctor, in a voice choked with emotion. "We will do everything in the world to find our friend. Let us put things to rights at once; and first of all let us take off the exterior covering of the balloon, which will relieve us of 650 lbs. weight, and is surely worth the trouble to get rid of."
The doctor and Kennedy set to work, they overcame the greatest difficulties. It was necessary to tear the tough taffetas away bit by bit, and to cut it into strips to pull it through the meshes of the network. The rent made by the birds' beaks was many feet in length.
This operation occupied at least four hours; but at length the interior balloon, entirely freed, did not appear to have suffered at all. The
The "Victoria" was now diminished by a fifth. This difference was sufficient to astonish Kennedy.
"Will it carry us?" he asked.
"We need fear nothing on that score," said the doctor; "I will re-establish the equilibrium, and if our poor Joe return, we shall be able to resume our route as usual."
"At the moment he fell, Samuel, if my recollection serve me, we were not far from an island."
"I remember; but this isle, like all those in Lake Tchad, is no doubt inhabited by a race of pirates and murderers. These savages have been witnesses of our accident, and if Joe has fallen into their hands, unless superstition protects him, what will become of him?"
"He is a man of resource, I tell you; I have great confidence in his pluck and intelligence."
"I hope he will prove so. Now, Dick, you can go and shoot in the neighborhood, without going too far, mind. It is absolutely necessary for us to replenish our larder, of which the greater part has been sacrificed."
"All right, Samuel, I shall not be long away."
Kennedy took a double-barrelled gun, and advanced into the giant reeds towards a coppice at no great distance, and soon the reports of his gun in quick succession told the doctor that the sportsman was successful.
Meantime, the doctor employed himself in overhauling the remaining contents of the car, and in establishing the equilibrium of the second balloon. There remained thirty pounds of pemmican, some tea and coffee, about a gallon and a half of brandy, an empty water-tank; all the salted meat had disappeared.
The doctor was aware that, by the loss of the hydrogen from the first balloon, his ascensional force was reduced to about 900 lbs. He must, therefore, base his calculations for the establishment of the equilibrium on this difference. The new "Victoria's" "content" was 67,000 feet of gas; the dilating apparatus appeared to be in good order, neither the pile nor the serpentine had received any injury.
The ascensional force of the new balloon was then about 3,000 lbs., and adding the weight of the apparatus, the travelers, and the water, the car and accessories, and putting on board fifty gallons of water, and 100 lbs of fresh meat, the doctor arrived at a total of 2,830 lbs. He could therefore, carry 170 lbs. of ballast for contingencies, and the balloon would then be in equilibrium with the atmospheric air.
His dispositions were made accordingly; he replaced the weight of Joe by ballast. The entire day was occupied in these preparations, and were finished when Kennedy returned. He had had good sport. He brought a quantity of geese, wild ducks, snipe, teal, and plover. He employed himself in preparing the game and smoking it. Each bird was spitted through with a small stick, and suspended above a fire of green wood. When the operation appeared complete, the whole were carefully packed within the car.
Next day the sportsman determined to complete the stock of provisions.
Evening surprised the travelers while still at work.
Their supper consisted of pemmican, biscuits, and tea. Fatigue, having given them appetite, ensured them sleep. Each during his watch peered anxiously into the darkness, sometimes almost fancying they heard the voice of Joe; but, alas! that voice they so desired to hear was far away.
At daybreak the doctor aroused Kennedy.
"I have been thinking," said he, "what we must do to recover our companion."
"What is your suggestion, Samuel? I agree to everything. Speak."
"First of all, it is important that Joe should have knowledge of our whereabouts."
"Certainly, or he will think we mean to leave him to his fate."
"He! He knows us too well to think that; he would never think of such a thing; but he must be told where we are."
"How?"
"We must take our places in the car and ascend again."
"But if the wind carry us away?"
"Fortunately it will do nothing of the kind. Look, Dick; the wind will bring us back again over the lake, and this, which would have been annoying yesterday, is to-day most propitious. We must therefore direct all our efforts to maintain ourselves above the lake all day. Joe will not fail to see us up there, where he will be anxiously looking for us. Perhaps he will be able to tell us where he is."
"If he be alone, and at liberty, he will certainly do so."
"And if he be a prisoner," replied the doctor, "as the natives do not incarcerate their prisoners, he will see us, and understand the object of our maneuvers."
"But if, after all," said Kennedy, "for we must be prepared for every contingency, if he has left no trace, what can we do?"
"We must endeavor to regain the northern side of the lake, keeping ourselves in view as much as possible. There we will wait, explore the banks, search the edges of the lake, which Joe would certainly endeavor to reach; and we will not leave the neighborhood without making every effort to find him."
"Let us go, then," said Kennedy.
The doctor took the exact bearings of the piece of dry ground they were about to leave; he estimated that, according to the map and his observations, they were to the north of Lake Tchad, between the town of Lari and the village of Ingernini, both of which had been visited by Major Denham. Meantime Kennedy completed the provisioning of the balloon. In many places he perceived the tracks of rhinoceros, manatees, and hippopotomi, but he never encountered any of these formidable beasts.
At seven in the morning, and not without great difficulty, which poor Joe would have made light of, the grapnel was detached from the tree. The gas was dilated, and the new "Victoria" ascended 200 feet into the air. After some coquetting with the wind, it fell in with a pretty strong current, and sailed over the lake, and was soon progressing at twenty miles an hour.
The doctor steadily maintained an elevation of between 200 and 500 feet. Kennedy often discharged his carbine. The travelers even approached imprudently near to the islands, examining the coppices, the brushwood, the bushes, and every shaded place, in which their late companion could have found shelter, then descended close to the long pirogues which skimmed over the lake. The fishermen on their approach threw themselves into the water, and swam to the island with every demonstration of terror.
"We can discover nothing," said Kennedy, after a search of two hours.
"Patience, Dick; let us not be discouraged, we cannot be very distant from the scene of the accident."
At eleven o'clock the "Victoria" had made ninety miles; it then encountered a new current, which carried it at almost right angles to its previous course for sixty miles towards the east. It hovered over a large and thickly-inhabited island, which the doctor pronounced to be Fanam, the capital of the Biddiomahs. They were in hopes to see Joe rise out of each bush, escaping and calling to them for assistance. If free, they could have taken him up without any difficulty; if a prisoner, they must put the same plan in practice to rescue him as they had for the missionary's release. He would soon have rejoined his friends, but nothing appeared, nothing was stirring. They were beginning to despair.
At half-past two the "Victoria" came in sight of Tangalia, a village situated upon the eastern side of the Tchad, and which was the extreme point attained by Denham in his expedition.
The doctor became uneasy at this persistent direction of the wind. He felt he was being driven towards the east, pushed back into the center of Africa, towards the trackless deserts.
"We must halt," said he, "and come down to the earth; for Joe's sake, before everything, we must return above the lake; but first we must find a current in the opposite direction."
For a quarter of an hour they searched at different altitudes. The "Victoria" always drifted over the land. But fortunately, at 1,000 feet, a very violent wind carried them to the northwest.
It was scarcely possible that Joe had remained on one of the islands, else he would have found some means to make his presence known. Perhaps he had reached terra firma. Thus the doctor reasoned when he regained the north side of the lake.
As to fancy Joe drowned was ridiculous. A terrible idea had occurred to both Kennedy and Ferguson, viz., the number of alligators existing in these places. But neither had the courage to give vent to their supposition. At length it was impossible not to refer to the ever-present thought, and the doctor said boldly:
"Crocodiles are only met with upon the banks or islands of the lake. Joe has skill enough to avoid them; besides, they are not dangerous, and the Africans bathe fearlessly and with impunity."
Kennedy did not reply; he preferred silence to the discussion of such a terrible eventuality.
The doctor perceived the town of Lari about five o'clock in the afternoon. The inhabitants were gathering their cotton crops before their huts of plaited straw, in the midst of their own well-kept enclosures. This assemblage of fifty houses occupied a small depression in the valley, which extended between the bases of the mountains. The violence of the wind carried the doctor too far, but it again changed, and he descended at the exact point of departure in the little island of hard ground where they had passed the previous night. The grapnel, instead of being fastened to a tree, was secured to the reeds mixed with the thick mud of the marsh, which gave a good holding ground. The doctor had considerable trouble to control the balloon, but at length the wind fell and the two friends kept watch together, almost despairing.