Short description of the plot of "Five weeks in a balloon" (second and third chapters)

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Mar 29th 2012 02:56
On the next day an article appeared in the “Daily Telegrah” and revealed all plans of Samuel Ferguson. The plan was to cross Africa from east to west on a balloon. This provoked a great sensation, many doubted in Samuel Ferguson and in his intentions, many doubted even in possibility of crossing continent on a balloon. Samuel was mocked by some newspapers but also he was praised by others. There was a lot of bets on result of his campaign: could he to start his travel or not, could he cross continent or not, if not – in which part he will fail, would he sirvive, etc. But in spit of all this, he continued his preparations. Many was encouraged by his resolution and courageous offered themselves to make him company and share with him the joy of victory or the bitterness of failure, but her refused them all without explaining the reason. Many inventors proposed him some of their mechanisms and gears but he turned them all down without explaining if he has his own inventions.
And, of course, such a man had a best friend. This friend was called Dick Kennedy and he was a scotch hunter. Dick and Samuel had met on their military service in India where they had been in one regiment. Dick had hunted for tigers and elephants and Samuel hunted for rare plants and insects. After military service they had continued to see each other and Samuel often had visited his friend in his home near Edinburg, when he was not in another expedition. But in las two years Samuel neither participated in any expedition nor expressed desire to participate in one so Dick had made a conclusion that Samuel had satisfied his thirst for adventures and from now would live a quiet life, and Dick was glad because of this as he had thought that a man couldn’t travel all his life among savages and cannibals and any misfortune could happen in any moment.
But this morning he saw in “Daily Telegraph” Samuel’s plan to cross Africa on a ballon and this enraged him, and he got an idea to prevent his friend from this mad adventure. He took train to London and next day he was before the door of his friend’s house. Samuel was not very surprised to see his friend before him but he was a little bit staggered by his friend’s reaction on his project. At first hi thought that Dick was angry because he had not invited him to the preparations of adventure and so he hastened to assure him that we would surely send him a letter after the preparations would have finished as he intended to take him on a ballon as a crew member. Dick became even more terrified with this statement and he said that he would have never accepted participate in such an insane expedition.
Samuel demanded Dick to hear him attentively, he explained him that the travelling by air is the safest way to travel across Africa as many pevios expeditions had failed due to an accidents on a surface as main danger had come from the savages who killed many explorers. After some hours of discussion Dick pretended to agree with him. But in fact he was not quite assured in safety of this expedition and he still had no intention to participate in it and even more he still planned to prevent his friend from getting into it.