Edward S. Ellis - "Two Boys in Wyoming"

Emile Zola - "L'Assommoir"

Grace Miller White - "The Secret of the Storm Country"

Henry Blanc - "A Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Five Weeks in a Balloon

J >> Jules Verne >> Five Weeks in a Balloon




When he had reached the opposite declivity, and the
abyss was before him, Joe, by a vigorous effort, hoisted
himself from the ground, and, clambering up by the cordage,
rejoined his friends.

"That was all!" he coolly ejaculated.

"My brave Joe! my friend!" said the doctor, with
deep emotion.

"Oh! what I did," laughed the other, "was not for
you; it was to save Mr. Kennedy's rifle. I owed him
that good turn for the affair with the Arab! I like to
pay my debts, and now we are even," added he, handing
to the sportsman his favorite weapon. "I'd feel very
badly to see you deprived of it."

Kennedy heartily shook the brave fellow's hand, without
being able to utter a word.

The Victoria had nothing to do now but to descend.
That was easy enough, so that she was soon at a height
of only two hundred feet from the ground, and was then
in equilibrium. The surface seemed very much broken
as though by a convulsion of nature. It presented numerous
inequalities, which would have been very difficult to
avoid during the night with a balloon that could no longer
be controlled. Evening was coming on rapidly, and,
notwithstanding his repugnance, the doctor had to make
up his mind to halt until morning.

"We'll now look for a favorable stopping-place," said he.

"Ah!" replied Kennedy, "you have made up your
mind, then, at last?"

"Yes, I have for a long time been thinking over a plan
which we'll try to put into execution; it is only six o'clock
in the evening, and we shall have time enough. Throw
out your anchors, Joe!"

Joe immediately obeyed, and the two anchors dangled
below the balloon.

"I see large forests ahead of us," said the doctor; "we
are going to sweep along their tops, and we shall grapple
to some tree, for nothing would make me think of passing
the night below, on the ground."

"But can we not descend?" asked Kennedy.

"To what purpose? I repeat that it would be dangerous
for us to separate, and, besides, I claim your help
for a difficult piece of work."

The Victoria, which was skimming along the tops of
immense forests, soon came to a sharp halt. Her anchors
had caught, and, the wind falling as dusk came on, she
remained motionlessly suspended above a vast field of
verdure, formed by the tops of a forest of sycamores.



CHAPTER FORTY-SECOND.

A Struggle of Generosity.--The Last Sacrifice.--The Dilating Apparatus.
--Joe's Adroitness.--Midnight.--The Doctor's Watch.--Kennedy's Watch.
--The Latter falls asleep at his Post.--The Fire.--The Howlings of the
Natives.--Out of Range.

Doctor Ferguson's first care was to take his bearings
by stellar observation, and he discovered that he was
scarcely twenty-five miles from Senegal.

"All that we can manage to do, my friends," said he,
after having pointed his map, "is to cross the river; but,
as there is neither bridge nor boat, we must, at all hazards,
cross it with the balloon, and, in order to do that, we must
still lighten up."

"But I don't exactly see how we can do that?" replied
Kennedy, anxious about his fire-arms, "unless one of us
makes up his mind to sacrifice himself for the rest,--that
is, to stay behind, and, in my turn, I claim that honor."

"You, indeed!" remonstrated Joe; "ain't I used to--"

"The question now is, not to throw ourselves out of
the car, but simply to reach the coast of Africa on foot. I
am a first-rate walker, a good sportsman, and--"

"I'll never consent to it!" insisted Joe.

"Your generous rivalry is useless, my brave friends,"
said Ferguson; "I trust that we shall not come to any
such extremity: besides, if we did, instead of separating,
we should keep together, so as to make our way across the
country in company."

"That's the talk," said Joe; "a little tramp won't do
us any harm."

"But before we try that," resumed the doctor, "we
must employ a last means of lightening the balloon."

"What will that be? I should like to see it," said
Kennedy, incredulously.

"We must get rid of the cylinder-chests, the spiral,
and the Buntzen battery. Nine hundred pounds make a
rather heavy load to carry through the air."

"But then, Samuel, how will you dilate your gas?"

"I shall not do so at all. We'll have to get along
without it."

"But--"

"Listen, my friends: I have calculated very exactly
the amount of ascensional force left to us, and it is
sufficient to carry us every one with the few objects that
remain. We shall make in all a weight of hardly five
hundred pounds, including the two anchors which I desire
to keep."

"Dear doctor, you know more about the matter than
we do; you are the sole judge of the situation. Tell us
what we ought to do, and we will do it."

"I am at your orders, master," added Joe.

"I repeat, my friends, that however serious the decision
may appear, we must sacrifice our apparatus."

"Let it go, then!" said Kennedy, promptly.

"To work!" said Joe.

It was no easy job. The apparatus had to be taken
down piece by piece. First, they took out the mixing
reservoir, then the one belonging to the cylinder, and
lastly the tank in which the decomposition of the water
was effected. The united strength of all three travellers
was required to detach these reservoirs from the bottom
of the car in which they had been so firmly secured; but
Kennedy was so strong, Joe so adroit, and the doctor so
ingenious, that they finally succeeded. The different
pieces were thrown out, one after the other, and they
disappeared below, making huge gaps in the foliage of
the sycamores.

"The black fellows will be mightily astonished," said
Joe, "at finding things like those in the woods; they'll
make idols of them!"

The next thing to be looked after was the displacement
of the pipes that were fastened in the balloon and
connected with the spiral. Joe succeeded in cutting the
caoutchouc jointings above the car, but when he came to
the pipes he found it more difficult to disengage them,
because they were held by their upper extremity and fastened
by wires to the very circlet of the valve.

Then it was that Joe showed wonderful adroitness.
In his naked feet, so as not to scratch the covering, he
succeeded by the aid of the network, and in spite of the
oscillations of the balloon, in climbing to the upper
extremity, and after a thousand difficulties, in holding on
with one hand to that slippery surface, while he detached
the outside screws that secured the pipes in their place.
These were then easily taken out, and drawn away by the
lower end, which was hermetically sealed by means of a
strong ligature.

The Victoria, relieved of this considerable weight, rose
upright in the air and tugged strongly at the anchor-rope.

About midnight this work ended without accident, but
at the cost of most severe exertion, and the trio partook
of a luncheon of pemmican and cold punch, as the doctor
had no more fire to place at Joe's disposal.

Besides, the latter and Kennedy were dropping off
their feet with fatigue.

"Lie down, my friends, and get some rest," said the
doctor. "I'll take the first watch; at two o'clock I'll
waken Kennedy; at four, Kennedy will waken Joe, and
at six we'll start; and may Heaven have us in its keeping
for this last day of the trip!"

Without waiting to be coaxed, the doctor's two companions
stretched themselves at the bottom of the car and
dropped into profound slumber on the instant.

The night was calm. A few clouds broke against the
last quarter of the moon, whose uncertain rays scarcely
pierced the darkness. Ferguson, resting his elbows on the
rim of the car, gazed attentively around him. He watched
with close attention the dark screen of foliage that spread
beneath him, hiding the ground from his view. 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. When his watch had expired, he
woke Kennedy, and, enjoining upon him to observe the
extremest vigilance, took his place beside Joe, and fell
sound asleep.

Kennedy, while still rubbing his eyes, which he could
scarcely keep open, calmly lit his pipe. He then ensconced
himself in a corner, and began to smoke vigorously by way
of keeping awake.

The most absolute silence reigned around him; a light
wind shook the tree-tops and gently rocked the car, inviting
the hunter to taste the sleep that stole over him in
spite of himself. He strove hard to resist it, and repeatedly
opened his eyes to plunge into the outer darkness one
of those looks that see nothing; but at last, yielding to
fatigue, he sank back and slumbered.

How long he had been buried in this stupor he knew
not, but he was suddenly aroused from it by a strange,
unexpected crackling sound.

He rubbed his eyes and sprang to his feet. An intense
glare half-blinded him and heated his cheek--the forest
was in flames!

"Fire! fire!" he shouted, scarcely comprehending
what had happened.

His two companions started up in alarm.

"What's the matter?" was the doctor's immediate
exclamation.

"Fire!" said Joe. "But who could--"

At this moment loud yells were heard under the foliage,
which was now illuminated as brightly as the day.

"Ah! the savages!" cried Joe again; "they have set
fire to the forest so as to be the more certain of burning
us up."

"The Talabas! Al-Hadji's marabouts, no doubt," said
the doctor.

A circle of fire hemmed the Victoria in; the crackling
of the dry wood mingled with the hissing and sputtering
of the green branches; the clambering vines, the foliage,
all the living part of this vegetation, writhed in the
destructive element. The eye took in nothing but one vast
ocean of flame; the large trees stood forth in black relief
in this huge furnace, their branches covered with glowing
coals, while the whole blazing mass, the entire conflagration,
was reflected on the clouds, and the travellers could
fancy themselves enveloped in a hollow globe of fire.

"Let us escape to the ground!" shouted Kennedy,
"it is our only chance of safety!"

But Ferguson checked him with a firm grasp, and,
dashing at the anchor-rope, severed it with one well-directed
blow of his hatchet. Meanwhile, the flames, leaping up at
the balloon, already quivered on its illuminated sides; but
the Victoria, released from her fastenings, spun
upward a thousand feet into the air.

Frightful yells resounded through the forest, along
with the report of fire-arms, while the balloon, caught in a
current of air that rose with the dawn of day, was borne to
the westward.

It was now four o'clock in the morning.



CHAPTER FORTY-THIRD.

The Talabas.--The Pursuit.--A Devastated Country.--The Wind begins to
fall.--The Victoria sinks.--The last of the Provisions.--The Leaps of
the Balloon.--A Defence with Fire-arms.--The Wind freshens.--The Senegal
River.--The Cataracts of Gouina.--The Hot Air.--The Passage of the River.

"Had we not taken the precaution to lighten the balloon
yesterday evening, we should have been lost beyond
redemption," said the doctor, after a long silence.

"See what's gained by doing things at the right
time!" replied Joe. "One gets out of scrapes then, and
nothing is more natural."

"We are not out of danger yet," said the doctor.

"What do you still apprehend?" queried Kennedy.
"The balloon can't descend without your permission, and
even were it to do so--"

"Were it to do so, Dick? Look!"

They had just passed the borders of the forest, and
the three friends could see some thirty mounted men clad
in broad pantaloons and the floating bournouses. They were
armed, some with lances, and others with long muskets,
and they were following, on their quick, fiery little steeds,
the direction of the balloon, which was moving at only
moderate speed.

When they caught sight of the aeronauts, they uttered
savage cries, and brandished their weapons. Anger and
menace could be read upon their swarthy faces, made
more ferocious by thin but bristling beards. Meanwhile
they galloped along without difficulty over the low levels
and gentle declivities that lead down to the Senegal.

"It is, indeed, they!" said the doctor; "the cruel
Talabas! the ferocious marabouts of Al-Hadji! I would
rather find myself in the middle of the forest encircled by
wild beasts than fall into the hands of these banditti."

"They haven't a very obliging look!" assented Kennedy;
"and they are rough, stalwart fellows."

"Happily those brutes can't fly," remarked Joe; "and
that's something."

"See," said Ferguson, "those villages in ruins, those
huts burned down--that is their work! Where vast
stretches of cultivated land were once seen, they have
brought barrenness and devastation."

"At all events, however," interposed Kennedy, "they
can't overtake us; and, if we succeed in putting the river
between us and them, we are safe."

"Perfectly, Dick," replied Ferguson; "but we must
not fall to the ground!" and, as he said this, he glanced
at the barometer.

"In any case, Joe," added Kennedy, "it would do us
no harm to look to our fire-arms."

"No harm in the world, Mr. Dick! We are lucky
that we didn't scatter them along the road."

"My rifle!" said the sportsman. "I hope that I shall
never be separated from it!"

And so saying, Kennedy loaded the pet piece with the
greatest care, for he had plenty of powder and ball remaining.

"At what height are we?" he asked the doctor.

"About seven hundred and fifty feet; but we no longer
have the power of seeking favorable currents, either going
up or coming down. We are at the mercy of the balloon!"

"That is vexatious!" rejoined Kennedy. "The wind
is poor; but if we had come across a hurricane like some
of those we met before, these vile brigands would have
been out of sight long ago."

"The rascals follow us at their leisure," said Joe.
"They're only at a short gallop. Quite a nice little
ride!"

"If we were within range," sighed the sportsman, "I
should amuse myself with dismounting a few of them."

"Exactly," said the doctor; "but then they would
have you within range also, and our balloon would offer
only too plain a target to the bullets from their long guns;
and, if they were to make a hole in it, I leave you to judge
what our situation would be!"

The pursuit of the Talabas continued all morning;
and by eleven o'clock the aeronauts had made scarcely
fifteen miles to the westward.

The doctor was anxiously watching for the least cloud
on the horizon. He feared, above all things, a change in
the atmosphere. Should he be thrown back toward the
Niger, what would become of him? Besides, he remarked
that the balloon tended to fall considerably. Since the
start, he had already lost more than three hundred feet,
and the Senegal must be about a dozen miles distant.
At his present rate of speed, he could count upon
travelling only three hours longer.

At this moment his attention was attracted by fresh
cries. The Talabas appeared to be much excited, and
were spurring their horses.

The doctor consulted his barometer, and at once discovered
the cause of these symptoms.

"Are we descending?" asked Kennedy.

"Yes!" replied the doctor.

"The mischief!" thought Joe

In the lapse of fifteen minutes the Victoria was only
one hundred and fifty feet above the ground; but the
wind was much stronger than before.

The Talabas checked their horses, and soon a volley
of musketry pealed out on the air.

"Too far, you fools!" bawled Joe. "I think it would
be well to keep those scamps at a distance."

And, as he spoke, he aimed at one of the horsemen
who was farthest to the front, and fired. The Talaba fell
headlong, and, his companions halting for a moment, the
balloon gained upon them.

"They are prudent!" said Kennedy.

"Because they think that they are certain to take us,"
replied the doctor; "and, they will succeed if we descend
much farther. We must, absolutely, get higher into the air."

"What can we throw out?" asked Joe.

"All that remains of our stock of pemmican; that will
be thirty pounds less weight to carry."

"Out it goes, sir!" said Joe, obeying orders.

The car, which was now almost touching the ground,
rose again, amid the cries of the Talabas; but, half an
hour later, the balloon was again falling rapidly, because
the gas was escaping through the pores of the covering.

Ere long the car was once more grazing the soil, and
Al-Hadji's black riders rushed toward it; but, as frequently
happens in like cases, the balloon had scarcely
touched the surface ere it rebounded, and only came down
again a mile away.

"So we shall not escape!" said Kennedy, between his teeth.

"Throw out our reserved store of brandy, Joe," cried
the doctor; "our instruments, and every thing that has
any weight, even to our last anchor, because go they must!"

Joe flung out the barometers and thermometers, but
all that amounted to little; and the balloon, which had
risen for an instant, fell again toward the ground.

The Talabas flew toward it, and at length were not
more than two hundred paces away.

"Throw out the two fowling-pieces!" shouted Ferguson.

"Not without discharging them, at least," responded
the sportsman; and four shots in quick succession struck
the thick of the advancing group of horsemen. Four
Talabas fell, amid the frantic howls and imprecations of
their comrades.

The Victoria ascended once more, and made some
enormous leaps, like a huge gum-elastic ball, bounding
and rebounding through the air. A strange sight it was
to see these unfortunate men endeavoring to escape by
those huge aerial strides, and seeming, like the giant
Antaeus, to receive fresh strength every time they touched
the earth. But this situation had to terminate. It was
now nearly noon; the Victoria was getting empty and
exhausted, and assuming a more and more elongated form
every instant. Its outer covering was becoming flaccid,
and floated loosely in the air, and the folds of the silk
rustled and grated on each other.

"Heaven abandons us!" said Kennedy; "we have to fall!"

Joe made no answer. He kept looking intently at his master.

"No!" said the latter; "we have more than one hundred
and fifty pounds yet to throw out."

"What can it be, then?" said Kennedy, thinking that
the doctor must be going mad.

"The car!" was his reply; "we can cling to the
network. There we can hang on in the meshes until we
reach the river. Quick! quick!"

And these daring men did not hesitate a moment to
avail themselves of this last desperate means of escape.
They clutched the network, as the doctor directed, and
Joe, holding on by one hand, with the other cut the cords
that suspended the car; and the latter dropped to the
ground just as the balloon was sinking for the last time.

"Hurrah! hurrah!" shouted the brave fellow exultingly,
as the Victoria, once more relieved, shot up again to a
height of three hundred feet.

The Talabas spurred their horses, which now came
tearing on at a furious gallop; but the balloon, falling in
with a much more favorable wind, shot ahead of them,
and was rapidly carried toward a hill that stretched across
the horizon to the westward. This was a circumstance
favorable to the aeronauts, because they could rise over
the hill, while Al-Hadji's horde had to diverge to the
northward in order to pass this obstacle.

The three friends still clung to the network. They
had been able to fasten it under their feet, where it had
formed a sort of swinging pocket.

Suddenly, after they had crossed the hill, the doctor
exclaimed: "The river! the river! the Senegal, my friends!"

And about two miles ahead of them, there was indeed
the river rolling along its broad mass of water, while the
farther bank, which was low and fertile, offered a sure
refuge, and a place favorable for a descent.

"Another quarter of an hour," said Ferguson, "and
we are saved!"

But it was not to happen thus; the empty balloon descended
slowly upon a tract almost entirely bare of vegetation. It
was made up of long slopes and stony plains, a
few bushes and some coarse grass, scorched by the sun.

The Victoria touched the ground several times, and
rose again, but her rebound was diminishing in height and
length. At the last one, it caught by the upper part of
the network in the lofty branches of a baobab, the only
tree that stood there, solitary and alone, in the midst of
the waste.

"It's all over," said Kennedy.

"And at a hundred paces only from the river!"
groaned Joe.

The three hapless aeronauts descended to the ground,
and the doctor drew his companions toward the Senegal.

At this point the river sent forth a prolonged roaring;
and when Ferguson reached its bank, he recognized the
falls of Gouina. But not a boat, not a living creature was
to be seen. With a breadth of two thousand feet, the
Senegal precipitates itself for a height of one hundred and
fifty, with a thundering reverberation. It ran, where they
saw it, from east to west, and the line of rocks that barred
its course extended from north to south. In the midst of
the falls, rocks of strange forms started up like huge
ante-diluvian animals, petrified there amid the waters.

The impossibility of crossing this gulf was self-evident,
and Kennedy could not restrain a gesture of despair.

But Dr. Ferguson, with an energetic accent of undaunted
daring, exclaimed--

"All is not over!"

"I knew it," said Joe, with that confidence in his master
which nothing could ever shake.

The sight of the dried-up grass had inspired the doctor
with a bold idea. It was the last chance of escape. He
led his friends quickly back to where they had left the
covering of the balloon.

"We have at least an hour's start of those banditti,"
said he; "let us lose no time, my friends; gather a quantity
of this dried grass; I want a hundred pounds of it, at least."

"For what purpose?" asked Kennedy, surprised.

"I have no more gas; well, I'll cross the river with hot air!"

"Ah, doctor," exclaimed Kennedy, "you are, indeed,
a great man!"

Joe and Kennedy at once went to work, and soon had
an immense pile of dried grass heaped up near the baobab.

In the mean time, the doctor had enlarged the orifice
of the balloon by cutting it open at the lower end. He
then was very careful to expel the last remnant of hydrogen
through the valve, after which he heaped up a quantity of
grass under the balloon, and set fire to it.

It takes but a little while to inflate a balloon with hot
air. A head of one hundred and eighty degrees is sufficient
to diminish the weight of the air it contains to the
extent of one-half, by rarefying it. Thus, the Victoria
quickly began to assume a more rounded form. There
was no lack of grass; the fire was kept in full blast by the
doctor's assiduous efforts, and the balloon grew fuller every
instant.

It was then a quarter to four o'clock.

At this moment the band of Talabas reappeared about
two miles to the northward, and the three friends could
hear their cries, and the clatter of their horses galloping
at full speed.

"In twenty minutes they will be here!" said Kennedy.

"More grass! more grass, Joe! In ten minutes we
shall have her full of hot air."

"Here it is, doctor!"

The Victoria was now two-thirds inflated.

"Come, my friends, let us take hold of the network, as
we did before."

"All right!" they answered together.

In about ten minutes a few jerking motions by the balloon
indicated that it was disposed to start again. The
Talabas were approaching. They were hardly five hundred
paces away.

"Hold on fast!" cried Ferguson.

"Have no fear, master--have no fear!"

And the doctor, with his foot pushed another heap of
grass upon the fire.

With this the balloon, now completely inflated by the
increased temperature, moved away, sweeping the branches
of the baobab in her flight.

"We're off!" shouted Joe.

A volley of musketry responded to his exclamation. A
bullet even ploughed his shoulder; but Kennedy, leaning
over, and discharging his rifle with one hand, brought
another of the enemy to the ground.

Cries of fury exceeding all description hailed the departure
of the balloon, which had at once ascended nearly
eight hundred feet. A swift current caught and swept it
along with the most alarming oscillations, while the
intrepid doctor and his friends saw the gulf of the
cataracts yawning below them.

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