# Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 24

CHAPTER XXIV. THE DESERT
The "Victoria" was fastened to an almost withered and solitary tree, and the night passed tranquilly. The travelers were thus enabled to enjoy a little of that sleep of which they stood in so great need. The incidents of the past few days had left some sad memories.
​Towards morning the sky appeared in all its warmth and light. The balloon rose, and after many failures it encountered a current less rapid than before, which carried it towards the northwest.
"We do not make much progress," said the doctor.
"If I do not mistake, we have accomplished the half of our journey in ten days, but at the rate we are now going it will take months to finish. That is so much the more to be regretted, as we are threatened with a scarcity of water."
"But we shall find some," replied Dick; "it is impossible that we should not fall in with some river, stream, or pond in this enormous stretch of country."
"I hope so, I'm sure."
"Don't you think it is Joe's baggage that keeps us back?"
Kennedy said this to tease the lad, and did so the more willingly that he had himself for a moment experienced the hallucinations of Joe; but not having let it appear, he assumed a stern countenance, laughing in his sleeve all the time.
Joe gave him a piteous look. But the doctor did not reply. He was thinking, not without secret terror, of the vast solitudes of the Sahara. Three weeks pass without the caravans meeting with a well where they can slake their thirst. So the travelers watched most anxiously for the least depressions of the ground. These precautions and the late incidents had had a sensible effect upon the spirits of all. They spoke less, and retired more into themselves.
The worthy Joe had not been the same man since his thoughts had plunged into the ocean of gold. He was silent, and thinking deeply about those stones heaped up in the car—to-day worthless, to-morrow, priceless.
The appearance of this part of the country was really alarming. The desert was opening up by degrees. Here were no villages, not even a collection of huts. Vegetation was gradually disappearing. A few stunted bushes as on Scotch moors, a whitish sand, flint stones, some mastic trees, and brushwood, that was all. In the midst of this sterility the primary formations of the world could be distinguished in the faces of the high and sharp-edged rocks.
These tokens of barrenness supplied Doctor Ferguson
A MYSTERIOUS RIVAL
In fact, 200 paces distant, a balloon was floating in the air, with car and travelers complete. It was following exactly the same route as the "Victoria."
"Well," said the doctor, "it only remains for us to make them a signal. Take the flag, Kennedy, and show them our colors."
It seemed that the travelers in the other balloon had conceived the same idea at the same time, for a similar flag repeated the identical signal in a hand which held it in the same position.
"What is the meaning of that?" asked the Scot.
"They are monkeys," said Joe. "and they are imitating us."—Page 311.
​with much food for thought. It did not appear to him that a single caravan had ever traversed this desert region; it would have left behind it visible traces of its encampment in the bleaching skeletons of man or beast.
But there was nothing, and they could but be aware that a boundless extent of sand was taking possession of the whole region.
However, as it was impossible to return, they must go forward. The doctor desired no better. He had been wishing for a storm to carry him beyond the limits of this region. But there was not a cloud in the sky. At the end of that day the "Victoria" had not accomplished thirty miles.
If only water were not required! But in all, they had but three gallons remaining. Ferguson put aside one gallon to assuage the burning thirst which the heat at ninety degrees rendered intolerable. Then two gallons remained for the blow-pipe; they could only produce 490 cubic feet of gas, and the blow-pipe required about nine cubic feet an hour; so they could only proceed therefore for fifty-four hours longer. This was a mathematical certainty.
"Fifty-four hours," said the doctor to his companions. "Now, as I have decided not to travel during the night, so as not to run the risk of passing a stream, a spring, or lake, we have just three days and a half more to travel, and during that period, we must obtain water at any price. I thought I ought to make you acquainted with the serious circumstances of the case, my friends, for I have put aside only one gallon for drinking purposes, and we must submit to a small allowance of it."
"By all means 'allowance' us," replied the Scot, "but we need not despair; you say we have three days before us still?"
"Yes, Dick."
"Well, complaining will do no good; in three days it will be time enough to take that line; till then, let us keep a good look-out."
At the evening meal, the water was strictly measured, the quantity of brandy was rather increased in the grog, but it was necessary to be cautious in using this liquor, more likely to cause thirst than to quench it.
The car rested during the night upon an immense plain, ​which was at a very low level. The height was scarcely 800 feet above the level of the sea. This circumstance gave the doctor some hope. He recalled the theories broached by geographers, respecting the existence of a vast expanse of water in the interior of Africa. But, if such a lake existed, they must arrive at it; still there was no change in the unruffled sky.
To a calm and starlit night succeeded a burning, stagnant day. From its earliest dawn, the temperature was broiling. At five o'clock in the morning the doctor gave the signal for departure, and for a long time the "Victoria" remained stationary in the leaden atmosphere.
The doctor had the power to escape this intense heat, by attaining a greater altitude, but to do this would necessitate the expenditure of a quantity of water, a thing now impossible. So he was constrained to maintain the balloon at a height of 100 feet, where a gentle breeze carried them towards the west. Breakfast consisted of dried meat and pemmican. At mid-day the "Victoria" had scarcely made any progress.
"We cannot go faster," said the doctor; "we do not command—we obey."
"Ah, my dear Samuel," said the Scot, "this is one of the occasions in which a propeller is not to be despised."
"No doubt, Dick, always admitting that it did not depend upon the action of water to move it, for in that case the position would be exactly similar. Up to the present time, however, nothing practical has been invented. Balloons are now at the point where ships were before the invention of steam. It took 6,000 years to bring out the paddle and the screw, so we have plenty of time to wait."
"Confound this heat," muttered Joe, wiping his forehead. "If we had sufficient water, this heat would do us good service, for it would expand the hydrogen, and we should not require so great a flame in the coil. It is true that, were we not at the end of our water-supply, we should not need to economize it. Ah! that cursed savage who obliged us to cast away that precious tank!"
"Do you regret what you have done, Samuel?"
"No, Dick, since we have been able to rescue that poor fellow from a horrible death. Yet the 100 lbs. of water which we cast away would have been very useful; there ​would then have been twelve or thirteen days' journey certain, and we could have crossed this desert in that time."
"I suppose we have got over half the journey at least," said Joe.
"In distance, yes, in time, no; if the wind drops. At present it appears likely to give out altogether."
"Well, let us go on," replied Joe, "there is no use complaining. We have got on pretty well hitherto, and whatever I do I am not going to despair. We shall find water, mark my words."
The ground, however, was still level, mile after mile, the last spurs of the "golden" mountains died upon the plain, these were the last efforts of exhausted nature! Scattered herbs began to take the place of the trees of the eastern side; a few patches of verdure here and there fought stoutly against the ever-encroaching sand. Great rocks, fallen from the neighboring heights, and broken in their fall, lay scattered in sharp pebbles, which soon became a coarser sand, and finally an imperceptible dust.
"There is Africa as it is represented, Joe. I am right in counseling patience.
"Well, sir," replied Joe, "this is nature, at any rate; between the sand and the heat, it would be absurd to search for anything in such a country as this. Don't you see," added he, laughing, "that I have no faith in your forests and your prairies. It is unreasonable. What was the use of coming so far to see merely a country like England? I now, for the first time, believe that I am in Africa, and I am not altogether sorry to see something of it."
In the evening the doctor calculated that the "Victoria" had not traveled twenty miles during that broiling day. A warm haze enveloped them as soon as the sun had set behind the horizon, which could be traced as distinctly as a straight line.
Next day was Thursday, the 1st of May, but the days succeeded each other with depressing monotony. One morning exactly resembled the preceding; mid-day brought its own rays, ever inexhaustible; and the night condensed in its gloom the scattered heat which the following day bequeathed to its successor, night. The wind, scarcely ​perceptible, became more like a breath than a breeze, and they could prophesy the moment when this breath would itself die away.
The doctor tried to overcome the weariness of the position. He retained the self-possession and coolness of a man inured to hardship. Glass in hand, he scanned the horizon in every direction. He perceived the east hills insensibly disappear, and the last traces of vegetation vanish away. Before him stretched the wide extent of the desert.
The responsibility which devolved upon him affected him a great deal, and the more as he sought to conceal the feeling. Those two men, Dick and Joe, friends both, he had brought from a distance almost by the force of friendship and duty. Had he done rightly? Was not this to attempt forbidden paths? Was not he in this journey attempting to pass the limits of the impossible? Had not Providence reserved the knowledge of this ungrateful continent for future generations.
All these thoughts, as he grew less hopeful, increased in his mind, and by an irresistible association of ideas, Samuel reasoned himself beyond his logic, and his better sense. After having made up his mind that there was nothing that it behooved him to do, he began to ask himself what he ought to do. Was it impossible to return? Did not some upper currents exist which would carry them back to less torrid climates. Sure of the regions passed, he was ignorant of the country in front. His conscience reproached him, and he determined to explain the circumstances frankly to his companions, and tell them the worst. He would show them what he had done, and what remained to do. If absolutely necessary, they might return—attempt to do so at least. What was their opinion?
"I have no opinion other than my master's," said Joe. "What he can endure, I can endure; or better than he. Where he goes I will go."
"And you, Kennedy?"
"I, my dear Samuel? I am not a man to despair; no one ignores less than I do the dangers of this expedition, but I have not particularly desired to examine them since the moment I determined to meet them with you. I am yours, body and soul. Under the circumstances, my ad​vice is that we ought to persevere—just go on to the end. So let us onward, you may reckon upon us."
"Thanks, my worthy friends," replied the doctor with visible emotion. "I anticipated your devotion, but these encouraging words were necessary to me. Once more I thank you from my heart."
And the three friends shook hands warmly.
"Listen to me," said Ferguson. According to my calculations, we cannot be more than 300 miles from the Gulf of Guinea; the desert cannot therefore extend indefinitely, since the coast is inhabited and explored to a certain distance into the interior. If it become necessary, we must direct our course towards this coast, and it is impossible for us not to meet with some oasis or well where we can replenish our store of water. But we require wind, and without it we are kept becalmed in the air."
"Let us wait patiently," said Kennedy.
But each in his turn vainly scanned the desert. During the interminable day nothing appeared that could give birth to any hope. The last undulations of the ground disappeared as the sun was setting, and his rays stretched in long lines of fire over the immense plain. It was indeed the desert.
The travelers had not gained fifteen miles, having lost, including the previous day, 135 cubic feet of gas to keep the blow-pipe in action, and two pints of water out of eight had to be sacrificed to quench their raging thirst.
The night was quiet—too quiet. The doctor did not sleep.
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