Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 36
CHAPTER XXXVI
TAKEN UP FLYING
Since Kennedy had taken up his post of observation in front of the balloon, he had not ceased to search the horizon attentively. After some time he turned towards the doctor and said, "If I be not mistaken, there is a troop of horsemen moving over there—I cannot distinguish them yet. At any rate they are disturbed, for they are raising a cloud of dust."
"May it not be a contrary wind?" said Samuel; "a current which may carry us to the north?" And he got up to examine the horizon.
"I do not think that, Samuel," replied Kennedy; "it is a herd of gazelles, or wild oxen."
"Perhaps, Dick, but the gathering is at least nine or ten miles off; and, for my part, even with the telescope, I can make nothing of them."
"Well, I shall not lose sight of them, there is something extraordinary going on which interests me, it is something like the movements of cavalry. Ha! I was not mistaken, they are horsemen—look!"
The doctor scanned the group attentively.
"I believe you are right," said he. "It is a detachment of Arabs from Tibbous; they are flying in the same direction as we, but we are going faster, and will easily overtake them. In half an hour we shall be within sight, and be able to determine upon our course of action."
Kennedy had again seized the glass, and was attentively studying the group. They had become more visible; some of them were separated from the others.
"It is evident," replied Kennedy, "that it is some maneuver being executed, or it is a hunt. They seem to be chasing something. I should like to know what it is."
"Patience, Dick, we shall soon have come up with them, and even passed them, if they continue to keep the same course. We are going at twenty miles an hour, and no horse can keep up such a pace as that."
Kennedy resumed his scrutiny, and some minutes afterwards he said:
"These Arabs are going at top speed—I can distinguish them perfectly. There are about fifty of them—I see their bournous flying in the wind. It is cavalry exercise, their chief is a hundred paces in front, and they are after him."
"Whatever they may be, we need not fear them; and, if necessary, I can ascend."
"Wait—wait a moment, Samuel!'
"This is very odd," added Dick, after examining the troop anew; "there is something that I do not understand. In their headlong speed and the irregularity of their formation these Arabs have rather the appearance of pursuers than followers."
"Are you sure of that, Dick?"
"It is certain; I am not mistaken. It is a chase, but a man-chase. It is not their chief they are pursuing, after all; it is a fugitive."
"A fugitive!" said Samuel, with emotion.
"Yes."
"We must not lose sight of them—but wait."
They quickly gained upon the troop, which was going, nevertheless, at a great pace.
"Samuel, Samuel!" cried Kennedy, in a tremulous voice.
"What is it, Dick?"
"Is it a dream—is it possible?"
"What?"
"Wait a second;" and the Scot rapidly arranged the glasses and looked again.
"Well," said the doctor.
"'Tis he, Samuel!"
"He!" exclaimed the latter. They both said "he," there was no necessity to name him.
"'Tis he on horseback, and scarcely a hundred paces in advance of his enemies. He is flying from them."
"It is Joe, indeed," said the doctor, growing pale.
"He cannot see us in his flight," said Kennedy.
"He shall very soon see us, then," said the doctor, lowering the flame of the blow-pipe.
"How?"
"In five minutes we shall be within fifty feet of the ground, in fifteen close above him."
"I had better fire a shot to attract his attention."
"No, he cannot retrace his steps; he is cut off."
"What is to be done then?"
"Wait."
"Wait! with those Arabs there?"
"We shall catch them! We shall pass them! We are only two miles distant, and provided Joe's horse holds out."
"Great Heaven!" exclaimed Kennedy.
"What is it?"
Kennedy had uttered a cry of despair at beholding Joe thrown to the ground. His horse, evidently exhausted and worn out, fell beneath him.
"He sees us!" cried the doctor; "he raised his arm as a signal to us."
"But the Arabs will take him! what is he waiting for! Ah! the brave fellow! Hurrah!" cried Dick, who could no longer contain himself.
Joe had immediately jumped up after his fall, and at the moment when one of the foremost horsemen came riding down upon him, he bounded up like a panther, avoided his blow by a step aside, threw himself upon the horse, seized the Arab by the throat in his muscular hands, and strangled him, threw him upon the sand, and continued his headlong course.
A simultaneous shout from the Arabs rent the air, but, occupied in their pursuit, they had not observed the "Victoria" 500 paces behind them, and only thirty feet above the ground. They were now within twenty lengths of the fugitive.
One of them nearly approached Joe, and was about to thrust his lance into his body, when Kennedy, with firm eye and steady hand, stopped him neatly with a bullet, and he rolled on the plain.
Joe did not even turn round at the report.
A portion of the troop halted, and fell on their faces in the dust before the "Victoria," the remainder continued the pursuit.
"But what is Joe about? why doesn't he stop?"
"He knows better than to do that, Dick. I understand him. He keeps going in the same direction as the balloon. He depends upon us. Brave lad! We will take him out of the very jaws of these Arabs. We are only fifty paces off."
"What must be done?" asked Kennedy.
"Put your gun aside."
"There it is," said the Scot, as he laid it down.
"Can you hold 500 lbs. of ballast in your arms?"
"More than that."
"No, that will be sufficient."
And the bags of sand were then piled up by the doctor upon Kennedy's arms.
"Now wait at the back of the car, and be ready to throw all that ballast out at once. But, for your very life, do not do so till I tell you."
"All right."
"Without that we cannot help Joe, and he will be lost."
"You may depend upon me."
The "Victoria" was flying almost above the troop of horsemen who were riding with loose reins after Joe. The doctor in the front of the car held the ladder extended, ready to launch it at the proper moment. Joe still kept about fifty feet ahead of his pursuers. The "Victoria" passed them.
"Attention!" cried Samuel to Kennedy.
"I am ready."
"Joe, look out!" cried the doctor in a ringing voice, as he threw down the ladder, whose lowest round dragged up the dust as they fell.
At the doctor's summons, Joe, without checking his horse, turned round. The ladder was close to him, and in a moment he had caught it.
"Throw out the ballast!" roared the doctor.
"Done," replied Kennedy; and the "Victoria," lightened by a weight more than that of Joe, rose 150 feet into the air.
Joe held on tightly to the ladder during its tremendous oscillations; then, making an indescribable gesture to the Arabs, and climbing up with the agility of a clown, he arrived at the car, where his companions received him in their arms. The Arabs uttered yells of surprise and rage when they perceived the "Victoria" bearing away the fugitive, and rapidly increasing her distance.
"Master—Mr. Dick!" Joe had said, and, yielding to emotion and fatigue, he had fainted, while Kennedy, with delirious joy, cried out "Saved—saved!"
"Well—yes!" said the doctor, who had regained his usual impassibility.
Joe was almost naked, his arms bleeding and his body covered with wounds; all these told of his sufferings. The doctor dressed his hurts and laid him down in the tent.
Joe soon regained consciousness, and asked for a glass of brandy, which the doctor did not refuse, Joe not being a person to be treated like an ordinary individual. After drinking it he shook hands with his two companions, and declared himself ready to relate his adventures.
But they would not permit him to speak, and the brave lad fell into a sound sleep, of which he was in great need.
The "Victoria" then took an oblique course towards the west. In consequence of a strong wind, it arrived at the confines of the thorny desert above the palm trees, bent and torn by the tempest, and after having completed a journey of 200 miles since Joe had been received on board again, it passed the tenth degree of longitude towards evening.