Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/437

 came "flabby" and loose; the plaits of the taffetas distended, rubbing against each other.

"Heaven has abandoned us," said Kennedy. "We must fall."

Joe did not reply—he looked at his master.

"No!" said the latter, "we have still 150 lbs. to throw away."

"What next?" cried Kennedy, thinking the doctor had lost his senses.

"The car," said Ferguson. "We must lash ourselves to the netting, we can hold on to the meshes, and thus reach the river. Quick, quick!"

And these resolute men did not hesitate to seize such a chance of safety. They suspended themselves to the meshes, as the doctor had suggested, and Joe, holding by one hand, with the other cut the cords that fastened the car; it fell at the moment the balloon was definitely lost.

"Hurrah, hurrah!" he cried, as the balloon rose again 300 feet into the air.

The Talibas spurred their horses to full speed, but the "Victoria" encountering a stronger breeze, left them behind, and sailed rapidly away towards a hill which bounded the horizon in the west. This was a very favorable circumstance for the travelers, as they could pass over it, while the band of Al-Hadji would be obliged to take a détour towards the north to get round it.

The three friends held tightly to the netting, they had tied it beneath their feet, and so it formed a resting-place.

After having cleared the hill, the doctor suddenly exclaimed, "The river, the Senegal!"

There, at two miles' distance, was the river rolling along in its wide bed. The opposite bank, low and fertile, offered a safe retreat and a convenient spot upon which to descend.

"In another quarter of an hour we shall be saved," cried Ferguson.

But it was not to be. The empty balloon fell by degrees upon a spot almost denuded of vegetation. There were long slopes and stony plains, a few bushes, and thick grass, dried up by the heat of the sun.

The "Victoria" touched the ground many times, and rebounded, but less and less each time. At last it caught by the upper part of the net to the high branches of a