“No, but the gutta percha has evidently softened or melted in the heat, and the hydrogen is escaping through the silk.” “How can we prevent that?” “It is impossible. Let us lighten her. That is the only help. So let us throw out every thing we can spare.” “But what shall it be?” said the hunter, looking at the car, which was already quite bare. “Well, let us get rid of the awning, for its weight is quite considerable.” Joe, who was interested in this order, climbed up on the circle which kept together the cordage of the network, and from that place easily managed to detach the heavy curtains of the awning and throw them overboard. “There’s something that will gladden the hearts of a whole tribe of blacks,” said he; “there’s enough to dress a thousand of them, for they’re not very extravagant with cloth.” The balloon had risen a little, but it soon became evident that it was again approaching the ground. “Let us alight,” suggested Kennedy, “and see what can be done with the covering of the balloon.” “I tell you, again, Dick, that we have no means of repairing it.” “Then what shall we do?” “We’ll have to sacrifice every thing not absolutely indispensable; I am anxious, at all hazards, to avoid a detention in these regions. The forests over the tops of which we are skimming are any thing but safe.” “What! are there lions in them, or hyenas?” asked Joe, with an expression of sovereign contempt. “Worse than that, my boy! There are men, and some of the most cruel, too, in all Africa.” “How is that known?” “By the statements of travellers who have been here before us. Then the French settlers, who occupy the colony of Senegal, necessarily have relations with the surrounding tribes. Under the administration of Colonel Faidherbe, reconnaissances have been pushed far up into the country. Officers such as Messrs. Pascal, Vincent, and Lambert, have brought back precious documents from their expeditions. They have explored these countries formed by the elbow of the Senegal in places where war and pillage have left nothing but ruins.” “What, then, took place?”