CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH.
An Evening of Delight.--Joe's Culinary Performance.--A Dissertationon Raw Meat.--The Narrative of James Bruce.--Camping out.--Joe'sDreams.--The Barometer begins to fall.--The Barometer risesagain.--Preparations for Departure.--The Tempest.
The evening was lovely, and our three friends enjoyed it in the coolshade of the mimosas, after a substantial repast, at which the tea andthe punch were dealt out with no niggardly hand.
Kennedy had traversed the little domain in all directions. He hadransacked every thicket and satisfied himself that the balloon partywere the only living creatures in this terrestrial paradise; so theystretched themselves upon their blankets and passed a peaceful nightthat brought them forgetfulness of their past sufferings.
On the morrow, May 7th, the sun shone with all his splendor, but hisrays could not penetrate the dense screen of the palm-tree foliage, andas there was no lack of provisions, the doctor resolved to remain wherehe was while waiting for a favorable wind.
Joe had conveyed his portable kitchen to the oasis, and proceeded toindulge in any number of culinary combinations, using water all the timewith the most profuse extravagance.
"What a strange succession of annoyances and enjoyments!" moralizedKennedy. "Such abundance as this after such privations; such luxuryafter such want! Ah! I nearly went mad!"
"My dear Dick," replied the doctor, "had it not been for Joe, you wouldnot be sitting here, to-day, discoursing on the instability of humanaffairs."
"Whole-hearted friend!" said Kennedy, extending his hand to Joe.
"There's no occasion for all that," responded the latter; "but you cantake your revenge some time, Mr. Kennedy, always hoping though that youmay never have occasion to do the same for me!"
"It's a poor constitution this of ours to succumb to so little,"philosophized Dr. Ferguson.
"So little water, you mean, doctor," interposed Joe; "that element mustbe very necessary to life."
"Undoubtedly, and persons deprived of food hold out longer than thosedeprived of water."
"I believe it. Besides, when needs must, one can eat any thing he comesacross, even his fellow-creatures, although that must be a kind of foodthat's pretty hard to digest."
"The savages don't boggle much about it!" said Kennedy.
"Yes; but then they are savages, and accustomed to devouring raw meat;it's something that I'd find very disgusting, for my part."
"It is disgusting enough," said the doctor, "that's a fact; and somuch so, indeed, that nobody believed the narratives of the earliesttravellers in Africa who brought back word that many tribes on thatcontinent subsisted upon raw meat, and people generally refused tocredit the statement. It was under such circumstances that a verysingular adventure befell James Bruce."
"Tell it to us, doctor; we've time enough to hear it," said Joe,stretching himself voluptuously on the cool greensward.
"By all means.--James Bruce was a Scotchman, of Stirlingshire, who,between 1768 and 1772, traversed all Abyssinia, as far as Lake Tyana, insearch of the sources of the Nile. He afterward returned to England, butdid not publish an account of his journeys until 1790. His statementswere received with extreme incredulity, and such may be the receptionaccorded to our own. The manners and customs of the Abyssinians seemedso different from those of the English, that no one would credit thedescription of them. Among other details, Bruce had put forward theassertion that the tribes of Eastern Africa fed upon raw flesh, and thisset everybody against him. He might say so as much as he pleased; therewas no one likely to go and see! One day, in a parlor at Edinburgh, aScotch gentleman took up the subject in his presence, as it had becomethe topic of daily pleasantry, and, in reference to the eating of rawflesh, said that the thing was neither possible nor true. Bruce made noreply, but went out and returned a few minutes later with a raw steak,seasoned with pepper and salt, in the African style.
"'Sir,' said he to the Scotchman, 'in doubting my statements, you havegrossly affronted me; in believing the thing to be impossible, you havebeen egregiously mistaken; and, in proof thereof, you will now eat thisbeef-steak raw, or you will give me instant satisfaction!' The Scotchmanhad a wholesome dread of the brawny traveller, and DID eat the steak,although not without a good many wry faces. Thereupon, with the utmostcoolness, James Bruce added: 'Even admitting, sir, that the thing wereuntrue, you will, at least, no longer maintain that it is impossible.'"
"Well put in!" said Joe, "and if the Scotchman found it lie heavy on hisstomach, he got no more than he deserved. If, on our return to England,they dare to doubt what we say about our travels--"
"Well, Joe, what would you do?"
"Why, I'll make the doubters swallow the pieces of the balloon, withouteither salt or pepper!"
All burst out laughing at Joe's queer notions, and thus the day slippedby in pleasant chat. With returning strength, hope had revived, and withhope came the courage to do and to dare. The past was obliterated in thepresence of the future with providential rapidity.
Joe would have been willing to remain forever in this enchanting asylum;it was the realm he had pictured in his dreams; he felt himself athome; his master had to give him his exact location, and it was with thegravest air imaginable that he wrote down on his tablets fifteen degreesforty-three minutes east longitude, and eight degrees thirty-two minutesnorth latitude.
Kennedy had but one regret, to wit, that he could not hunt in thatminiature forest, because, according to his ideas, there was a slightdeficiency of ferocious wild beasts in it.
"But, my dear Dick," said the doctor, "haven't you rather a shortmemory? How about the lion and the lioness?"
"Oh, that!" he ejaculated with the contempt of a thorough-bred sportsmanfor game already killed. "But the fact is, that finding them here wouldlead one to suppose that we can't be far from a more fertile country."
"It don't prove much, Dick, for those animals, when goaded by hunger orthirst, will travel long distances, and I think that, to-night, we hadbetter keep a more vigilant lookout, and light fires, besides."
"What, in such heat as this?" said Joe. "Well, if it's necessary, we'llhave to do it, but I do think it a real pity to burn this pretty grovethat has been such a comfort to us!"
"Oh! above all things, we must take the utmost care not to set iton fire," replied the doctor, "so that others in the same strait asourselves may some day find shelter here in the middle of the desert."
"I'll be very careful, indeed, doctor; but do you think that this oasisis known?"
"Undoubtedly; it is a halting-place for the caravans that frequent thecentre of Africa, and a visit from one of them might be any thing butpleasant to you, Joe."
"Why, are there any more of those rascally Nyam-Nyams around here?"
"Certainly; that is the general name of all the neighboring tribes,and, under the same climates, the same races are likely to have similarmanners and customs."
"Pah!" said Joe, "but, after all, it's natural enough. If savages hadthe ways of gentlemen, where would be the difference? By George, thesefine fellows wouldn't have to be coaxed long to eat the Scotchman's rawsteak, nor the Scotchman either, into the bargain!"
With this very sensible observation, Joe began to get ready his firewoodfor the night, making just as little of it as possible. Fortunately,these precautions were superfluous; and each of the party, in his turn,dropped off into the soundest slumber.
On the next day the weather still showed no sign of change, but keptprovokingly and obstinately fair. The balloon remained motionless,without any oscillation to betray a breath of wind.
The doctor began to get uneasy again. If their stay in the desert wereto be prolonged like this, their provisions would give out. After nearlyperishing for want of water, they would, at last, have to starve todeath!
But he took fresh courage as he saw the mercury fall considerably inthe barometer, and noticed evident signs of an early change in theatmosphere. He therefore resolved to make all his preparations for astart, so as to avail hims
elf of the first opportunity. The feeding-tankand the water-tank were both completely filled.
Then he had to reestablish the equilibrium of the balloon, and Joewas obliged to part with another considerable portion of his preciousquartz. With restored health, his ambitious notions had come back tohim, and he made more than one wry face before obeying his master;but the latter convinced him that he could not carry so considerablea weight with him through the air, and gave him his choice between thewater and the gold. Joe hesitated no longer, but flung out the requisitequantity of his much-prized ore upon the sand.
"The next people who come this way," he remarked, "will be rathersurprised to find a fortune in such a place."
"And suppose some learned traveller should come across these specimens,eh?" suggested Kennedy.
"You may be certain, Dick, that they would take him by surprise, andthat he would publish his astonishment in several folios; so that someday we shall hear of a wonderful deposit of gold-bearing quartz in themidst of the African sands!"
"And Joe there, will be the cause of it all!"
This idea of mystifying some learned sage tickled Joe hugely, and madehim laugh.
During the rest of the day the doctor vainly kept on the watch for achange of weather. The temperature rose, and, had it not been for theshade of the oasis, would have been insupportable. The thermometermarked a hundred and forty-nine degrees in the sun, and a veritable rainof fire filled the air. This was the most intense heat that they had yetnoted.
Joe arranged their bivouac for that evening, as he had done for theprevious night; and during the watches kept by the doctor and Kennedythere was no fresh incident.
But, toward three o'clock in the morning, while Joe was on guard, thetemperature suddenly fell; the sky became overcast with clouds, and thedarkness increased.
"Turn out!" cried Joe, arousing his companions. "Turn out! Here's thewind!"
"At last!" exclaimed the doctor, eying the heavens. "But it is a storm!The balloon! Let us hasten to the balloon!"
It was high time for them to reach it. The Victoria was bending to theforce of the hurricane, and dragging along the car, the latter grazingthe sand. Had any portion of the ballast been accidentally thrown out,the balloon would have been swept away, and all hope of recovering ithave been forever lost.
But fleet-footed Joe put forth his utmost speed, and checked the car,while the balloon beat upon the sand, at the risk of being tornto pieces. The doctor, followed by Kennedy, leaped in, and lit hiscylinder, while his companions threw out the superfluous ballast.
The travellers took one last look at the trees of the oasis bowing tothe force of the hurricane, and soon, catching the wind at two hundredfeet above the ground, disappeared in the gloom.