Five Weeks in a Balloon · Chapter
Chapter XXVII explained
The travelers, suffering from extreme thirst and despair, are saved by a simoom that lifts their balloon.
What happens
The travelers, suffering from extreme thirst and despair, are saved by a simoom that lifts their balloon. They land at an oasis where Kennedy and Joe find water, but are confronted by a lioness. After a struggle, Dr. Ferguson kills the lioness, and they finally drink.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Resilience
The chapter focuses on the travelers' struggle against thirst, their near-death experiences, and their eventual rescue by the simoom and the oasis.
Courage and Heroism
Joe's quick thinking with the jacket, Kennedy's fight against despair, and Dr. Ferguson's decisive actions all demonstrate courage in the face of mortal danger.
Humanity vs. Nature
The extreme desert heat, the simoom, and the lioness represent nature's hostility, which the travelers must overcome to survive.
Characters to notice
- Joe
Joe shows resourcefulness by using his jacket to decoy the lioness, and later struggles with Kennedy over the rifle to prevent suicide.
- Dick Kennedy
Kennedy suffers severely from thirst, becomes delirious, attempts suicide with his rifle, and later drinks ravenously at the oasis.
- Dr. Samuel Ferguson
The doctor remains composed, identifies the simoom as a means of escape, and shoots the lioness to save his companions.
- Victoria
The balloon is lightened by discarding ore and quartz, allowing it to rise above the simoom and travel 240 miles to an oasis.
Key passages
“Joe followed suit, and for some minutes nothing was heard but the sound they made with their mouths, drinking more like maddened beasts than men.”
Joe also drank eagerly, and for a while the only noise was the sound of them gulping water, as if they were wild animals.
Highlights their desperate thirst and animalistic behavior upon finding water.
“The plain was agitated like the sea shaken by the fury of a tempest; billows of sand went tossing over each other amid blinding clouds of dust; an immense pillar was seen whirling toward them through the air from the southeast, with terrific velocity.”
The desert floor churned like a stormy ocean, with waves of sand and dust clouds, as a huge spinning column rushed at them from the southeast.
Vivid description of the approaching simoom, a turning point in the chapter.
“Kennedy! shouted Joe, throwing himself upon his friend. Let go! hands off! moaned the Scot, in a hoarse, grating voice—and then the two struggled desperately for the rifle.”
Joe yelled Kennedy's name and lunged at him, but Kennedy, with a rough, strained voice, told him to let go, and they fought fiercely over the gun.
Shows the intense conflict between Kennedy's suicidal impulse and Joe's intervention.