Chapter Chapter 41 · The Approaches to Senegal.—The Balloon sinks lower and lower.—They keep
. The Approaches to Senegal.—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 Manœuvres.—A Halt over a
Forest.
On the 27th of May, at nine o’clock in the morning, 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
from the basin of the Senegal, 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 marked down as dangerous. Dr.
Ferguson knew it through the recitals of his predecessors. They had
suffered a thousand privations and been exposed to a thousand dangers
in the midst of these barbarous negro tribes. It was this fatal climate
that had devoured most of the companions of Mungo Park. Ferguson,
therefore, was more than ever decided not to set foot in this
inhospitable region.
But he had not enjoyed one moment of repose. The _Victoria_ was
descending very perceptibly, so much so that he had to throw overboard
a number more of useless articles, especially when there was a
mountain-top to pass. Things went on thus for more than one hundred and
twenty miles; they were worn out with ascending and falling again; 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 assumed an elongated shape,
and the wind hollowed large 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 melted in the heat,
and the hydrogen is escaping through the silk.”
“How can we prevent that?”
“It is impossible. Let us lighten 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.
“Well, let us get rid of the awning, for its weight is quite
considerable.”
Joe, who was interested in this order, climbed up on the circle which
kept together the cordage of the network, and from that place easily
managed to detach the heavy curtains of the awning and throw them
overboard.
“There’s something that will gladden the hearts of a whole tribe of
blacks,” said he; “there’s enough to dress a thousand of them, for
they’re not very extravagant with cloth.”
The balloon had risen a little, but it soon became evident that it was
again approaching the ground.
“Let us alight,” suggested Kennedy, “and see what can be done with the
covering of the balloon.”
“I tell you, again, Dick, that we have no means of repairing it.”
“Then what shall we do?”
“We’ll have to sacrifice every thing not absolutely indispensable; I am
anxious, at all hazards, to avoid a detention in these regions. The
forests over the tops of which we are skimming are any thing but safe.”
“What! are there lions in them, or hyenas?” asked Joe, with an
expression of sovereign contempt.
“Worse than that, my boy! There are men, and some of the most cruel,
too, in all Africa.”
“How is that known?”
“By the statements of travellers who have been here before us. Then the
French settlers, who occupy the colony of Senegal, necessarily have
relations with the surrounding tribes. Under the administration of
Colonel Faidherbe, reconnaissances have been pushed far up into the
country. Officers such as Messrs. Pascal, Vincent, and Lambert, have
brought back precious documents from their expeditions. They have
explored these countries formed by the elbow of the Senegal in places
where war and pillage have left nothing but ruins.”
“What, then, took place?”
“I will tell you. In 1854 a Marabout of the Senegalese Fouta, Al-Hadji
by name, declaring himself to be inspired like Mohammed, stirred up all
the tribes to war against the infidels—that is to say, against the
Europeans. He carried destruction and desolation over the regions
between the Senegal River and its tributary, the Fatémé. Three hordes
of fanatics led on by him scoured the country, sparing neither a
village nor a hut in their pillaging, massacring career. He advanced in
person on the town of Ségo, which was a long time threatened. In 1857
he worked up farther to the northward, and invested the fortification
of Medina, built by the French on the bank of the river. This
stronghold was defended by Paul Holl, who, for several months, without
provisions or ammunition, held out until Colonel Faidherbe came to his
relief. Al-Hadji and his bands then repassed the Senegal, and
reappeared in the Kaarta, continuing their rapine and murder.—Well,
here below us is the very country in which he has found refuge with his
hordes of banditti; and I assure you that it would not be a good thing
to fall into his hands.”
“We shall not,” said Joe, “even if we have to throw overboard our
clothes to save the _Victoria_.”
“We are not far from the river,” said the doctor, “but I foresee that
our balloon will not be able to carry us beyond it.”
“Let us reach its banks, at all events,” said the Scot, “and that will
be so much gained.”
“That is what we are trying to do,” rejoined Ferguson, “only that one
thing makes me feel anxious.”
“What is that?”
“We shall have mountains to pass, and that will be difficult to do,
since I cannot augment the ascensional force of the balloon, even with
the greatest possible heat that I can produce.”
“Well, wait a bit,” said Kennedy, “and we shall see!”
“The poor _Victoria!_” sighed Joe; “I had got fond of her as the sailor
does of his ship, and I’ll not give her up so easily. She may not be
what she was at the start—granted; but we shouldn’t say a word against
her. She has done us good service, and it would break my heart to
desert her.”
“Be at your ease, Joe; if we leave her, it will be in spite of
ourselves. She’ll serve us until she’s completely worn out, and I ask
of her only twenty-four hours more!”
“Ah, she’s getting used up! She grows thinner and thinner,” said Joe,
dolefully, while he eyed her. “Poor balloon!”
“Unless I am deceived,” said Kennedy, “there on the horizon are the
mountains of which you were speaking, doctor.”
“Yes, there they are, indeed!” exclaimed the doctor, after having
examined them through his spy-glass, “and they look very high. We shall
have some trouble in crossing them.”
“Can we not avoid them?”
“I am afraid not, Dick. See what an immense space they occupy—nearly
one-half of the horizon!”
“They even seem to shut us in,” added Joe. “They are gaining on both
our right and our left.”
“We must then pass over them.”
These obstacles, which threatened such imminent peril, seemed to
approach with extreme rapidity, or, to speak more accurately, the wind,
which was very fresh, was hurrying the balloon toward the sharp peaks.
So rise it must, or be dashed to pieces.
“Let us empty our tank of water,” said the doctor, “and keep only
enough for one day.”
“There it goes,” shouted Joe.
“Does the balloon rise at all?” asked Kennedy.
“A little—some fifty feet,” replied the doctor, who kept his eyes fixed
on the barometer. “But that is not enough.”
In truth the lofty peaks were starting up so swiftly before the
travellers that they seemed to be rushing down upon them. The balloon
was far from rising above them. She lacked an elevation of more than
five hundred feet more.
The stock of water for the cylinder was also thrown overboard and only
a few pints were retained, but still all this was not enough.
“We must pass them though!” urged the doctor.
“Let us throw out the tanks—we have emptied them.” said Kennedy.
“Over with them!”
“There they go!” panted Joe. “But it’s hard to see ourselves dropping
off this way by piecemeal.”
“Now, for your part, Joe, make no attempt to sacrifice yourself as you
did the other day! Whatever happens, swear to me that you will not
leave us!”
“Have no fears, my master, we shall not be separated.”
The _Victoria_ had ascended some hundred and twenty feet, but the crest
of the mountain still towered above it. It was an almost perpendicular
ridge that ended in a regular wall rising abruptly in a straight line.
It still rose more than two hundred feet over the aëronauts.
“In ten minutes,” said the doctor to himself, “our car will be dashed
against those rocks unless we succeed in passing them!”
“Well, doctor?” queried Joe.
“Keep nothing but our pemmican, and throw out all the heavy meat.”
Thereupon the balloon was again lightened by some fifty pounds, and it
rose very perceptibly, but that was of little consequence, unless it
got above the line of the mountain-tops. The situation was terrifying.
The _Victoria_ was rushing 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 fire-arms?” repeated the sportsman, with intense feeling.
“My friend, I ask it; it will be absolutely necessary!”
“Samuel! Doctor!”
“Your guns, and your stock of powder and ball might 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 surmounted the dangerous ridge,
and the rays of the sun shone upon its uppermost extremity; but the car
was still below the level of certain broken masses of rock, against
which it would inevitably be dashed.
“Kennedy! Kennedy! throw out your fire-arms, or we are lost!” shouted
the doctor.
“Wait, sir; wait one moment!” they heard Joe exclaim, and, looking
around, they saw Joe disappear over the edge of the balloon.
“Joe! Joe!” cried Kennedy.
“Wretched man!” was the doctor’s agonized 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 composed of sharp pebbles
that grated as it passed.
“We’re over it! we’re over it! we’re clear!” cried out an exulting
voice that made Ferguson’s heart leap to his throat.
The daring fellow was there, grasping the lower rim of the car, and
running afoot over the top of the mountain, thus lightening the balloon
of his whole weight. 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
him, Joe, by a vigorous effort, hoisted himself from the ground, and,
clambering up by the cordage, rejoined his friends.
“That was all!” he coolly ejaculated.
“My brave Joe! my friend!” said the doctor, with deep emotion.
“Oh! what I did,” laughed the other, “was not for you; it was to save
Mr. Kennedy’s rifle. I owed him that good turn for the affair with the
Arab! I like to pay my debts, and now we are even,” added he, handing
to 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 from
the ground, and was then in equilibrium. The surface seemed very much
broken as though 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
coming on rapidly, and, notwithstanding his repugnance, the doctor had
to make up his mind to halt until morning.
“We’ll now look for a favorable stopping-place,” said he.
“Ah!” replied Kennedy, “you have made up your mind, then, at last?”
“Yes, I have for a long time been thinking over a plan which we’ll try
to put into execution; it is only six o’clock in the evening, and we
shall have time enough. Throw out your anchors, Joe!”
Joe immediately obeyed, and the two anchors dangled 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 some tree, for nothing
would make me think of passing the night 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 skimming along the tops of immense forests,
soon came to a sharp halt. Her anchors had caught, 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 sycamores.