Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/313

 "Dogs' heads! Most convenient for barking, and for cannibals."

"What has been proved is unfortunately this, that the people are most savage, and they are very desirous of human flesh, which they seek for with avidity."

"All I ask is," said Joe, "that they won't seek me individually so anxiously."

"I say!" cried Dick.

"I mean it this way, Mr. Dick. If ever I am to be eaten in a moment of scarcity, I hope that it will be for your advantage, and for my master's. But to sustain those blackamoors, never! I should die of shame!"

"Well, then my brave Joe, now that is understood, we may count upon you at a pinch," said Kennedy.

"At your service, gentlemen," said Joe.

"Joe talks like that," said the doctor, so that we may take great care of him, and feed him up."

"Very likely," replied Joe. Man is a terribly selfish animal."

During the afternoon the sky was hidden by a thick mist, which made the earth damp. The fog scarcely allowed objects to be distinguished on the ground, and, fearful of striking against some invisible peak, the doctor ascended for about five hours. The night passed without accident, but it was necessary to be doubly vigilant in the profound darkness.

The trade-wind blew with extreme violence during the early part of the following day. The wind roared in the lower part of the balloon, and shook the appendages by which the tubes of dilatation penetrated with great force. They were compelled to fasten them with ropes, in which work Joe acquitted himself very skillfully.

They ascertained, at the same time, that the opening at the top of the balloon remained hermetically sealed. "This is of the utmost importance to us," said Doctor Ferguson. "We obviate the escape of the precious gas; besides, we leave nothing round us of an inflammable nature by which, if a light were applied, we should be stopped altogether."

"That would be a very unpleasant incident of our journey," said Joe.

"Should we be precipitated to the ground?" asked Dick.

"No, not precipitated. The gas would burn quietly, and we should descend by degrees. A similar accident happened