“The ladder!” cried the doctor. “Follow me, Kennedy.” “What do you wish, sir?” “Let us alight. I want a witness.” “Here I am!” “Mind your post, Joe, and keep a good lookout.” “Never fear, doctor; I’ll answer for all that.” “Come, Dick,” said the doctor, as he touched the ground. So saying, he drew his companion along toward a group of rocks that rose upon one point of the island; there, after searching for some time, he began to rummage among the brambles, and, in so doing, scratched his hands until they bled. Suddenly he grasped Kennedy’s arm, exclaiming: “Look! look!” “Letters!” Yes; there, indeed, could be descried, with perfect precision of outline, some letters carved on the rock. It was quite easy to make them out: “A. D.” “A.D.!” repeated Dr. Ferguson. “Andrea Debono—the very signature of the traveller who farthest ascended the current of the Nile.” “No doubt of that, friend Samuel,” assented Kennedy. “Are you now convinced?” “It is the Nile! We cannot entertain a doubt on that score now,” was the reply. The doctor, for the last time, examined those precious initials, the exact form and size of which he carefully noted. “And now,” said he—“now for the balloon!” “Quickly, then, for I see some of the natives getting ready to recross the river.” “That matters little to us now. Let the wind but send us northward for a few hours, and we shall reach Gondokoro, and press the hands of some of our countrymen.” Ten minutes more, and the balloon was majestically ascending, while Dr. Ferguson, in token of success, waved the English flag triumphantly from his car. CHAPTER NINETEENTH. The Nile.—The Trembling Mountain.—A Remembrance of the Country.—The Narratives of the Arabs.—The Nyam-Nyams.—Joe’s Shrewd Cogitations.—The Balloon runs the Gantlet.—Aerostatic Ascensions.—Madame Blanchard. “Which way do we head?” asked Kennedy, as he saw his friend consulting the compass. “North-northeast.” “The deuce! but that’s not the north?” “No, Dick; and I’m afraid that we shall have some trouble in getting to Gondokoro. I am sorry for it; but, at last, we have succeeded in connecting the explorations from the east with those from the north; and we must not complain.” The balloon was now receding gradually from the Nile. “One last look,” said the doctor, “at this impassable latitude, beyond which the most intrepid travellers could not make their way. There are those intractable tribes, of whom Petherick, Arnaud, Miuni, and the young traveller Lejean, to whom we are indebted for the best work on the Upper Nile, have spoken.” “Thus, then,” added Kennedy, inquiringly, “our discoveries agree with the speculations of science.”