Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/227

 "Always, but in the good sense of the term. We need not, therefore, worry ourselves about the fate. in store for us; let us not forget the proverb, 'He that is born to be hanged will never be drowned.

There was obviously no direct reply to be made to this, but that fact did not prevent Kennedy from producing a series of arguments easy to imagine, but too long to repeat here. "But, after all," he said, after about an hour's discussion, "if you really must cross Africa, and if it is necessary for your happiness to do so, why don't you go by the ordinary routes?"

"Why?" replied the doctor with animation, "because all such attempts have failed. Because from Mungo Park murdered on the Niger, till the time when Vogel disappeared in the Wadai; from Oudney dead at Murmur, Clapperton at Sackatou, to the time when Maizan was cut to pieces; from the period that Major Laing was killed by the Touaregs to the massacre of Roscher in the beginning of the year 1860, such a number of victims have had their names written in the record of African martyrdom. Because, to fight against the elements, against hunger, thirst, fever, and wild animals, and tribes even more ferocious, is impossible. Because that which cannot be accomplished one way must be accomplished in another. Finally, because when one is unable to pass through a place, one must pass either at the side of it or over it."

"If it were only a question of getting across, "replied Kennedy;" but to pass over the top"

"Well," said the doctor, with the greatest coolness, "what have I to fear? You will confess that I have taken precautions to guard against a fall from my balloon. If, however, such a thing did happen, I should only then be in the normal condition of travelers; but my balloon will not fail me, so we need not speak of that."

"On the contrary, we must consider that point."

"Not so, my dear Dick; I have quite made up my mind not to part from it until we have reached the western coast of Africa. With it everything is possible, without it I fall into all the dangers and difficulties of former expeditions. With my balloon I need fear neither heat nor cold, torrent nor tempest, simoom nor unhealthy climates, wild beasts nor men. If I feel too hot, I can ascend; if I feel cold, I