"My friends, if you want to swim across the senegal river, the only thing we can do now is to reduce the weight in the hanging basket. Because there is neither a bridge nor a boat on the river. " The doctor said after studying the map.
"But everything was thrown away." Kenedi said.
"yes! There are still things to throw! " The doctor thought for a moment, as if he had decided a very important thing, and said, "Throw away the water tank, bunsen burner battery and snake tube connected to the burner, which weighs about 500 kilograms."
"But once these things are thrown away, we can't let the hydrogen expand."
"It doesn't matter, we can still fly."
Then everyone started to do it. One instrument was thrown out of the hanging basket and fell into the ancient lush forest. This is a very laborious job. Working until midnight, the doctor told his friends to go to bed, and he came to watch the night.
On a quiet night, the doctor leaned against the hanging basket and looked around. But his sight was blocked by dark leaves. But he watched carefully, even if the leaves swayed gently, he wouldn't let go. He felt particularly lonely in this terrible environment. I don't know how many difficulties and obstacles I overcame in this balloon adventure, but at the end of the trip, he felt uneasy and flustered.
Under the action of this idea, the doctor seems to hear a strange sound in the forest and a flash of fire. The doctor immediately observed with a night-vision telescope, but it was too quiet at night to see anything. He is a little suspicious of his nervousness. But when I paid attention, I heard nothing.
The hanging basket swayed gently in the breeze, like a baby's cradle. The doctor felt a little sleepy, his eyelids drooped, and finally fell asleep against the hanging basket.
I don't know how long it took, but an unexpected light and crackle suddenly woke the doctor. He smelled a hot air and a blazing flame rose from the forest.
"What's the matter?" Kenedy and Joe are awake, too.
"It's a savage!" The doctor shouted, "They want to burn us!"
At this time, the flames were soaring, and the shouts were intermittent and the flames were everywhere. The Victoria was surrounded by a network of wars. The dead branches crackled and burned, the flames hissed upwards, and the natives howled nearby.
Without hesitation, the doctor cut off the anchor cable with an axe, and the balloon that got rid of the bondage jumped to an altitude of more than 300 meters and quickly flew west. By this time it was almost dawn.
"It's a good thing that we threw away those heavy instruments last night, otherwise we would have died." The doctor was scared out in a cold sweat just now, and he was glad that he had recovered three lives.
When the balloon flew over the edge of the forest, Joe was sharp-eyed and found more than 30 indigenous people riding horses chasing the balloon with local guns and spears in their hands. These people looked at each other and shouted savagely. They looked very angry and waved weapons. These people look particularly ferocious with dark faces and sparse beards.
"These Talibans are fierce." The doctor said to his two companions, "It is more painful to fall into their hands than into the tiger's mouth."
"Fortunately, I kept the gun." Kenai loaded the gun chamber first and said happily, "Fortunately, there are enough bullets."
The burner has been thrown away, hydrogen can't be made, and the balloon can't be controlled. As the balloon deflated, the Victoria continued to descend. After a while, the hanging basket basically stuck to the ground.
"Throw away the remaining 15 kg of dry meat pie!" The doctor decisively ordered.
Victoria went up a little, but it dropped sharply after more than 30 minutes. The hanging basket finally collided with the ground and the balloon bounced up after landing. The balloon that flew some distance landed on the ground.
The aborigines on horseback approached slowly. The situation of the three travelers is very dangerous.
"There are still 100 kilograms of things to throw!" The doctor suddenly had an idea.
"What is it?" Kenedy asked.
"Hanging basket!" The doctor replied. "Let's climb into the rope net of the balloon, and the balloon will definitely fly over senegal river."
This is the only way to live. Three people immediately climbed the rope net and then cut the rope with an axe. After losing the basket, the balloon suddenly rose 100 meters. Just then, a gust of wind blew up the balloon. The pursuers were left behind. Seeing that the balloon was about to cross the river, the wind suddenly stopped. The balloon soon landed on the edge of Okawa.
The 700-meter-wide senegal river is choppy and the sound of the waves is deafening. All the guns and ammunition were thrown away, and there was a river ahead, and then someone was chasing it. Kenedy couldn't help feeling desperate: "This life is hard to protect!"
"Yes!" The doctor was fearless in the face of danger and suddenly thought of an idea.
"What way?" Joe asked quickly.
"Cross the river with hot air instead of hydrogen!" The doctor said happily. "Let's hurry to collect dry wood. We can't delay. The aborigines will come in an hour. "
Act now! Joe and Kenedy went to pick up dry wood, while the doctor opened the valve to release hydrogen, made a hole under the airbag, and put the dry wood under the hole to burn.
After a while, the balloon began to expand because it was filled with hot air. The doctor increased the fire and the balloon became bigger and bigger. The hunted Taliban appeared several kilometers away. Doctor, they can already hear shouts and hooves.
"Add wood! Add firewood quickly! " Cried the doctor.
Due to the increase of hot air, the balloon began to shake, as if to fly. However, the Taliba people are only three or four hundred meters away from the doctor. At this critical time, the doctor stirred up a shed of hay in the fire with a stick, and the flame suddenly rose, and the balloon finally rose to the sky.
At a height of more than 200 meters, a powerful airflow came and blew the hydrogen balloon over senegal river. The balloon landed a few meters offshore and all three people fell into the water. It happened that there were more than a dozen French soldiers on the shore and saved three people, including the doctor. Withered Victoria is like a huge bubble, drifting downstream of the fast-flowing senegal river.
Fortunately, the doctor couldn't help crying and held the two friends together with open arms. From April 18 to May 23 in senegal river, the west coast of Africa, three brave explorers completed their great "African Mystery" exploration plan in five weeks.
On June 10, three explorers arrived in St. Louis and were warmly welcomed. They arrived in London on June 26th on a British warship. Almost all European newspapers reported their adventures on the front page. Dr. Ferguson and his two friends won the Gold Medal for Excellent Exploration awarded by the Royal Geographical Society of London 1862 for their bravery.