Five Weeks in a Balloon. Illustrated Edition

Author: (French) Jules Verne
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: During this time, his hunter friend followed him everywhere, afraid he would fly away without a word. He was still persistently urging Dr. Ferguson to give up the exploration plan. However, no matter how persuasive his words were, they couldn’t move the doctor. Ferguson remained unmoved by Kennedy’s pleading requests, always finding ways to avoid him. Kennedy gradually felt that he was slipping through his fingers. Now, the poor Scot was terrified at the mere thought of the sky, filled with sorrow, and even dreamed every night that he was falling from a great height. During his nightmares, he even tumbled from the bed to the floor a couple of times. At that moment, his first thought was to show Ferguson the scars on his head. “You see, it was only 3 feet high!” he said with relief. “It wasn’t high at all! At just that height, he still got a big bruise! Think about it! You!” This touching hint failed to move the doctor. “We won’t fall,” Dr. Ferguson said. “But what if we do?” “We won’t fall,” with a tone of certainty, leaving Kennedy speechless. Dr. Ferguson seemed completely unconcerned with Kennedy’s personality, insisting that he was bound to become his aerial companion, which Kennedy found particularly frustrating. In Dr. Ferguson’s eyes, this was a matter of no negotiation, with nothing more to say. His repeated use of the pronoun “we” grated on Kennedy’s nerves. Every time Kennedy heard it, he felt a chill, even though he had no intention of going. Yet, to avoid further angering his friend, he even discreetly sent a few travel clothes and several fine rifles from his home in Edinburgh, though he himself wasn’t entirely sure why he was doing so. One day, Kennedy pretended to concede that with a bit of luck, there was always a one-in-a-thousand chance of success, and gave in to Ferguson. But to delay the trip, he began to fabricate excuses, questioning the purpose and timing of the exploration: “Is this exploration of the source of the Nile really that important?”