The least
noise aroused his suspicions, and he questioned even the
slightest rustling of the leaves.
He was in that mood which solitude makes more keenly
felt, and during which vague terrors mount to the brain.
At the close of such a journey, after having surmounted
so many obstacles, and at the moment of touching the
goal, one's fears are more vivid, one's emotions keener.
The point of arrival seems to fly farther from our gaze.
Moreover, the present situation had nothing very consolatory
about it. They were in the midst of a barbarous
country, and dependent upon a vehicle that might fail
them at any moment. The doctor no longer counted implicitly
on his balloon; the time had gone by when he
manoevred it boldly because he felt sure of it.
Under the influence of these impressions, the doctor,
from time to time, thought that he heard vague sounds in
the vast forests around him; he even fancied that he saw
a swift gleam of fire shining between the trees. He looked
sharply and turned his night-glass toward the spot; but
there was nothing to be seen, and the profoundest silence
appeared to return.
He had, no doubt, been under the dominion of a mere
hallucination. He continued to listen, but without hearing
the slightest noise.
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