eleven o’clock
Quite a nice little ride ! '' `` If we were within range , '' sighed the sportsman , `` I should amuse myself with dismounting a few of them . '' `` Exactly , '' said the doctor ; `` but then they would have you within range also , and our balloon would offer only too plain a target to the bullets from their long guns ; and , if they were to make a hole in it , I leave you to judge what our situation would be ! '' The pursuit of the Talabas continued all morning ; and by eleven o'clock the aeronauts had made scarcely fifteen miles to the westward . The doctor was anxiously watching for the least cloud on the horizon . He feared , above all things , a change in the atmosphere . Should he be thrown back toward the Niger , what would become of him ?