Five Weeks in a Balloon | Page 9

be supposed, the foregoing article had an enormous echo
among scientific people. At first, it stirred up a storm of incredulity; Dr.
Ferguson passed for a purely chimerical personage of the Barnum
stamp, who, after having gone through the United States, proposed to
"do" the British Isles.
A humorous reply appeared in the February number of the Bulletins de

la Societe Geographique of Geneva, which very wittily showed up the
Royal Society of London and their phenomenal sturgeon.
But Herr Petermann, in his Mittheilungen, published at Gotha, reduced
the Geneva journal to the most absolute silence. Herr Petermann knew
Dr. Ferguson personally, and guaranteed the intrepidity of his dauntless
friend.
Besides, all manner of doubt was quickly put out of the question:
preparations for the trip were set on foot at London; the factories of
Lyons received a heavy order for the silk required for the body of the
balloon; and, finally, the British Government placed the transport-ship
Resolute, Captain Bennett, at the disposal of the expedition.
At once, upon word of all this, a thousand encouragements were
offered, and felicitations came pouring in from all quarters. The details
of the undertaking were published in full in the bulletins of the
Geographical Society of Paris; a remarkable article appeared in the
Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, de la Geographie, de l'Histoire, et de
l'Archaeologie de M. V. A. Malte-Brun ("New Annals of Travels,
Geography, History, and Archaeology, by M. V. A. Malte-Brun"); and
a searching essay in the Zeitschrift fur Allgemeine Erdkunde, by Dr. W.
Koner, triumphantly demonstrated the feasibility of the journey, its
chances of success, the nature of the obstacles existing, the immense
advantages of the aerial mode of locomotion, and found fault with
nothing but the selected point of departure, which it contended should
be Massowah, a small port in Abyssinia, whence James Bruce, in 1768,
started upon his explorations in search of the sources of the Nile. Apart
from that, it mentioned, in terms of unreserved admiration, the
energetic character of Dr. Ferguson, and the heart, thrice panoplied in
bronze, that could conceive and undertake such an enterprise.
The North American Review could not, without some displeasure,
contemplate so much glory monopolized by England. It therefore rather
ridiculed the doctor's scheme, and urged him, by all means, to push his
explorations as far as America, while he was about it.
In a word, without going over all the journals in the world, there was
not a scientific publication, from the Journal of Evangelical Missions to
the Revue Algerienne et Coloniale, from the Annales de la Propagation
de la Foi to the Church Missionary Intelligencer, that had not
something to say about the affair in all its phases.

Many large bets were made at London and throughout England
generally, first, as to the real or supposititious existence of Dr.
Ferguson; secondly, as to the trip itself, which, some contended, would
not be undertaken at all, and which was really contemplated, according
to others; thirdly, upon the success or failure of the enterprise; and
fourthly, upon the probabilities of Dr. Ferguson's return. The
betting-books were covered with entries of immense sums, as though
the Epsom races were at stake.
Thus, believers and unbelievers, the learned and the ignorant, alike had
their eyes fixed on the doctor, and he became the lion of the day,
without knowing that he carried such a mane. On his part, he willingly
gave the most accurate information touching his project. He was very
easily approached, being naturally the most affable man in the world.
More than one bold adventurer presented himself, offering to share the
dangers as well as the glory of the undertaking; but he refused them all,
without giving his reasons for rejecting them.
Numerous inventors of mechanism applicable to the guidance of
balloons came to propose their systems, but he would accept none; and,
when he was asked whether he had discovered something of his own
for that purpose, he constantly refused to give any explanation, and
merely busied himself more actively than ever with the preparations for
his journey.


CHAPTER THIRD
.
The Doctor's Friend.--The Origin of their Friendship.--Dick Kennedy at
London.--An unexpected but not very consoling Proposal.--A Proverb
by no means cheering.--A few Names from the African
Martyrology.--The Advantages of a Balloon.--Dr. Ferguson's Secret.
Dr. Ferguson had a friend--not another self, indeed, an alter ego, for
friendship could not exist between two beings exactly alike.
But, if they possessed different qualities, aptitudes, and temperaments,
Dick Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson lived with one and the same heart,
and that gave them no great trouble. In fact, quite the reverse.

Dick Kennedy was a Scotchman, in the full acceptation of the
word--open, resolute, and headstrong. He lived in the town of Leith,
which is near Edinburgh, and, in truth, is a mere