"
"Oh, we shall not go so far as that, my friend--at
least, I hope not."
"But where do you expect to halt?"
"Come, Dick, don't you feel some curiosity to see
Timbuctoo?"
"Timbuctoo?"
"Certainly," said Joe; "nobody nowadays can think
of making the trip to Africa without going to see
Timbuctoo."
"You will be only the fifth or sixth European who has
ever set eyes on that mysterious city."
"Ho, then, for Timbuctoo!"
"Well, then, let us try to get as far as between the
seventeenth and eighteenth degrees of north latitude, and
there we will seek a favorable wind to carry us westward."
"Good!" said the hunter. "But have we still far to
go to the northward?"
"One hundred and fifty miles at least."
"In that case," said Kennedy, "I'll turn in and sleep
a bit."
"Sleep, sir; sleep!" urged Joe. "And you, doctor, do
the same yourself: you must have need of rest, for I made
you keep watch a little out of time."
The sportsman stretched himself under the awning;
but Ferguson, who was not easily conquered by fatigue,
remained at his post.
In about three hours the Victoria was crossing with
extreme rapidity an expanse of stony country, with ranges
of lofty, naked mountains of granitic formation at the
base.
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