"
"It's breakfast-time," said Joe; "we'll have to put up
with preserved meat and coffee until Mr. Kennedy has had
another chance to get us a good slice of venison."
CHAPTER TWENTIETH.
The Celestial Bottle.--The Fig-Palms.--The Mammoth Trees.--The Tree of
War.--The Winged Team.--Two Native Tribes in Battle.--A Massacre.--An
Intervention from above.
The wind had become violent and irregular; the balloon
was running the gantlet through the air. Tossed
at one moment toward the north, at another toward the
south, it could not find one steady current.
"We are moving very swiftly without advancing
much," said Kennedy, remarking the frequent oscillations
of the needle of the compass.
"The balloon is rushing at the rate of at least thirty
miles an hour. Lean over, and see how the country is
gliding away beneath us!" said the doctor.
"See! that forest looks as though it were precipitating
itself upon us!"
"The forest has become a clearing!" added the other.
"And the clearing a village!" continued Joe, a moment or two
later. "Look at the faces of those astonished darkys!"
"Oh! it's natural enough that they should be astonished,"
said the doctor. "The French peasants, when they
first saw a balloon, fired at it, thinking that it was an aerial
monster.
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