Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/223

  He was easily accessible, and the most unaffected man in the world. Many a bold adventurer called upon him with the object of being permitted to share the glory and perils of the undertaking, but the doctor always declined, without giving any reason for his refusal. Many patentees came to him to propose their plans to direct the course of balloons; he would accept none of them. To those who inquired whether he had discovered anything of that nature for himself, he refused explanation, and turned to the completion of his arrangements with greater diligence than ever.

possessed a friend. Not another self, an alter ego—friendship cannot exist between two people of like disposition. But if Dick Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson possessed different qualities, tastes, and temperaments, they possessed the same heart, and that did not embarrass them in the least. Quite the contrary!

Dick Kennedy was a Scotchman, in the true acceptation of the term. He was honest, resolute, and obstinate. He lived at Leith, a suburb of "Auld Reekie." He was something of a fisherman, but above all and everything an indefatigable sportsman, which was the less astonishing in a Scot somewhat accustomed to roam the Highlands. He was quoted as a wonderful shot with the rifle, for not only could he split a bullet on the blade of a knife, but could divide it into two such equal parts that, when weighed, there was no perceptible difference between them.

In appearance Kennedy resembled Halbert Glendinning, as pictured by Walter Scott in the "Monastery." He was more than six feet high, of graceful and easy bearing. He appeared to be gifted with Herculean strength. His face was bronzed by exposure to the sun, his eyes were black and piercing. He possessed a naturally fearless temperament, and, in fact, everything about him prepossessed one in his favor.

The two friends had become acquainted in India, where they were serving in the same regiment. While Dick used to hunt the tiger and the elephant, Samuel was occupied in