mendous energy. He was quite silent, and his eyes were fixed. His terror mastered his astonishment completely. A light breeze carried the balloon below the town.
Half an hour later, the doctor, seeing the coast was clear, moderated the blow-pipe, and approached the earth. At twenty feet from the ground the sorcerer took courage and dropped, fell upon his feet, and ran towards Kazeh at the top of his speed, while the "Victoria" once more ascended into the air.
CHAPTER XVI
THE FUTURE OF AFRICA
"There!" cried Joe, "that comes of being sons of the moon without leave. That satellite was very nearly playing us a shabby trick. Do you think, now, sir, that you in any way compromised her reputation by your medicine?"
"By-the-by," said the Scot, "who is this sultan of Kazeh?"
"An old, half-dead drunkard, whose loss will not be very much felt; but the moral of the thing is this: that honors are ephemeral, and we ought only to taste them."
"So much the worse," said Joe; "that was my case. To be adored, to play the god at one's pleasure, when, all of a sudden, the moon rises with a very red face to show she does not approve of it."
During this conversation, and subsequently, while Joe was examining the evening star from an entirely new point of view, the sky towards the north was covering itself with heavy clouds—with heavy and threatening clouds too. A pretty brisk breeze had sprung up at 300 feet from the ground, and was impelling the "Victoria" towards the north-northwest. The sky was clear, but the air felt heavy.
The travelers found themselves about eight o'clock in 32° 40' longitude, and latitude 4° 17'; the atmospheric currents, under the influence of an approaching storm, hurried them forward at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour. The fertile and undulating plains of Mfuto passed rapidly beneath. The view was worthy of admiration, and was duly admired.
