--The Well in the Midst of the Desert.
On the morrow, there was the same purity of sky, the
same stillness of the atmosphere. The balloon rose to an
elevation of five hundred feet, but it had scarcely changed
its position to the westward in any perceptible degree.
"We are right in the open desert," said the doctor.
"Look at that vast reach of sand! What a strange spectacle!
What a singular arrangement of nature! Why should there be,
in one place, such extreme luxuriance of vegetation yonder,
and here, this extreme aridity, and that in the same latitude,
and under the same rays of the sun?"
"The why concerns me but little," answered Kennedy,
"the reason interests me less than the fact. The thing is
so; that's the important part of it!"
"Oh, it is well to philosophize a little, Dick; it does
no harm."
"Let us philosophize, then, if you will; we have time
enough before us; we are hardly moving; the wind is
afraid to blow; it sleeps."
"That will not last forever," put in Joe; "I think I
see some banks of clouds in the east."
"Joe's right!" said the doctor, after he had taken a look.
"Good!" said Kennedy; "now for our clouds, with a
fine rain, and a fresh wind to dash it into our faces!"
"Well, we'll see, Dick, we'll see!"
"But this is Friday, master, and I'm afraid of Fridays!"
"Well, I hope that this very day you'll get over those
notions.
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