Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/333

 Next day the wind sprang from the south, and the "Victoria" passed slowly over a vast range of mountains. Here were extinct craters, there barren ravines; not a drop of water lay in these arid crests; heaped-up masses of rock, erratic blocks of stone, and white marl-pits, all denoted the profound sterility of the district.

Towards mid-day the doctor, in order to bury the body, determined to descend to a ravine surrounded by volcanic rocks of primitive formation; the surrounding mountains acted as shelter, and permitted him to bring the car down upon the earth, for there was no tree which could be utilized as a hold for the grapnels.

But, as he had explained to Kennedy, in consequence of the loss of the ballast at the time of the rescue of the priest, he could not now descend without letting a proportionate quantity of the gas escape: he then opened the safety valve of the exterior balloon. The hydrogen escaped, and the "Victoria" descended quietly towards the ravine.

So soon as the car touched the ground the doctor closed the valve, Joe jumped out, but kept one hand upon the edge of the car, and with the other he collected a number of stones which soon equaled his own weight. He then set to work with both hands, and soon placed in the car more than 500 lbs. weight of stone, when the doctor and Kennedy were able to descend in their turn. The "Victoria" was thus balanced, and its ascensional force was not sufficient to raise her.

Moreover, it was not necessary to use a great number of these blocks of stone, for those thrown in by Joe were of a very great weight; a fact which at once directed Ferguson's attention to them. The ground was strewn with quartz and porphyritic rocks.

"Here is a curious discovery!" said the doctor to himself.

Meantime Kennedy and Joe were seeking a suitable spot for the grave. It was fearfully hot in the ravine, shut in as it was like a kind of furnace. The mid-day sun poured his rays directly upon it.

It was necessary first to get rid of the rocky fragments which encumbered the ground; then a grave was dug sufficiently deep to preserve the body from the attacks of wild beasts. Then the body of the priestly martyr was interred