"
"And it would be a pleasure to press their hands; but,
are we going in the desirable direction?"
"Not any too well, Dick; not any too well! Look at
the needle of the compass; we are bearing southward, and
ascending the Niger toward its sources."
"A fine chance to discover them," said Joe, "if they
were not known already. Now, couldn't we just find
others for it, on a pinch?"
"Not exactly, Joe; but don't be alarmed: I hardly
expect to go so far as that."
At nightfall the doctor threw out the last bags of sand.
The Victoria rose higher, and the blow-pipe, although working
at full blast, could scarcely keep her up. At that time
she was sixty miles to the southward of Timbuctoo, and in
the morning the aeronauts awoke over the banks of the
Niger, not far from Lake Debo.
CHAPTER FORTIETH.
Dr. Ferguson's Anxieties.--Persistent Movement southward.--A Cloud of
Grasshoppers.--A View of Jenne.--A View of Sego.--Change of the
Wind.--Joe's Regrets.
The flow of the river was, at that point, divided by
large islands into narrow branches, with a very rapid current.
Upon one among them stood some shepherds' huts,
but it had become impossible to take an exact observation
of them, because the speed of the balloon was constantly
increasing.
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