Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/234

, he fell out of bed once or twice. His first notion was to exhibit a great contusion on his head.

"There," he said, with a smile," look at that, and only caused by a fall of three feet. Now, what do you think?"

This insinuation, full of sadness though it was, had no effect upon the doctor.

"We shall not fall out/' he said slyly.

"But suppose we do ?"

"We shall not, I tell you."

This was decisive, and Kennedy had nothing to say.

What particularly aggravated Dick was that the doctor appeared completely to ignore his (Dick's) individuality, and looked upon him as fated to become his aerial companion. There was not a shadow of doubt about that.

Samuel was accustomed to make a shameful abuse of the first person plural.

"We" go."We" shall be ready."We" shall leave. And then the adjective (possessive)—"Our" balloon. "Our" boat."Our" undertaking. And again in the plural—"Our" preparations."Our" discoveries."Our" ascents.

Dick shuddered at all this, although determined not to stir, but he did not wish to thwart his friend. Let us confess, indeed, that, without saying anything about it, he had caused some clothes and his best rifles to be forwarded to him secretly from Edinburgh.

One day, having gone so far as to confess that, with good luck, one might have a chance of success, he pretended to agree with the doctor, but in order to delay the journey, he quoted a number of the most wonderfully varied and hairbreadth escapes. He fell back upon the use and expediency of the journey. Was it really a necessity to discover the sources of the Nile? Would their work really prove of benefit to the human race? Suppose, after all, the tribes of Africa should be civilized, how much better off will they be then ? Was it by any means certain, moreover, that they were not already as civilized as Europe? Perhaps so. And, in the first place, why couldn't they wait a little longer? Surely Africa could be crossed one day in a less dangerous fashion? In a month, in six months, before the year was out, some explorer would indubitably present himself.