Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/314

 to the French aëronaut, Madame Blanchard. She set fire to the balloon while setting off fireworks, but she did not fall; and she would not have lost her life had her car not been hurled against a chimney, and she herself thrown to the ground."

"Let us trust that no such accident will happen to us," said Dick. "So far our journey has not appeared to me dangerous, and I see no reason why we should not reach our destination."

"Nor do I, my dear Dick. Accidents, moreover, have always been caused either by imprudence on the part of the aëronauts, or by the badly-constructed apparatus they make use of. So, out of many thousands of aërial ascents, we can reckon only about twenty fatal accidents. Generally it is the landings or the departures which offer most danger. So, in like case, we ought not to neglect any precautions."

"It is breakfast time," said Joe; we must content ourselves with preserved meat and coffee until Mr. Kennedy has the opportunity to treat us to a haunch of venison."

wind was becoming violent and squally. The "Victoria" made "tacks" in the air. Sometimes tossed to the north, sometimes to the south, it could not meet with any steady slant of wind.

"We are going very fast without advancing much," said Kennedy, as he remarked the frequent oscillations of the magnetic needle.

"The 'Victoria' is flying at a speed of nearly thirty leagues an hour," said Ferguson. "Lean over and see how quickly the country disappears from beneath us. Mind, this forest appears as if it were about to precipitate itself against us!"

"The forest is already an open space," said Kennedy.

"And the open space is now a village," added Joe, a few seconds later. "Look at the astonished faces of the niggers!"

"No wonder," replied the doctor. "The French peasants, when they first saw balloons, ran away, taking