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diff --git a/old/8robc10.txt b/old/8robc10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6474454 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8robc10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6882 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Robur the Conqueror +by Jules Verne +(#18 in our series by Jules Verne) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + + + + + + + +Produced by Norman Wolcott + + + + + +ROBUR THE CONQUEROR + +By Jules Verne + + + + + + +Contents + + + + + +I Mysterious sounds +II Agreement Impossible +III A Visitor is Announced +IV In Which a New Character Appears +V Another Disappearance +VI The President and Secretary Suspend Hostilities +VII On board the Albatross +VIII The Balloonists Refuse to be Convinced +IX Across the Prairie +X Westward--but Whither? +XI The Wide Pacific +XII Through the Himalayas +XIII Over the Caspian +XIV The Aeronef at Full Speed +XV A Skirmish in Dahomey +XVI Over the Atlantic +XVII The Shipwrecked Crew +XVIII Over the Volcano +XIX Anchored at Last +XX The Wreck of the Albatross +XXI The Institute Again +XXII The Go-Ahead is Launched +XXIII The Grand Collapse + + + + + +Chapter I + +MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS + + + + +BANG! Bang! + +The pistol shots were almost simultaneous. A cow peacefully grazing +fifty yards away received one of the bullets in her back. She had +nothing to do with the quarrel all the same. + +Neither of the adversaries was hit. + +Who were these two gentlemen? We do not know, although this would be +an excellent opportunity to hand down their names to posterity. All +we can say is that the elder was an Englishman and the younger an +American, and both of them were old enough to know better. + +So far as recording in what locality the inoffensive ruminant had +just tasted her last tuft of herbage, nothing can be easier. It was +on the left bank of Niagara, not far from the suspension bridge which +joins the American to the Canadian bank three miles from the falls. + +The Englishman stepped up to the American. + +"I contend, nevertheless, that it was 'Rule Britannia!'" + +"And I say it was 'Yankee Doodle!'" replied the young American. + +The dispute was about to begin again when one of the seconds-- +doubtless in the interests of the milk trade--interposed. + +"Suppose we say it was 'Rule Doodle' and 'Yankee Britannia' and +adjourn to breakfast?" + +This compromise between the national airs of Great Britain and the +United States was adopted to the general satisfaction. The Americans +and Englishmen walked up the left bank of the Niagara on their way to +Goat Island, the neutral ground between the falls. Let us leave them +in the presence of the boiled eggs and traditional ham, and floods +enough of tea to make the cataract jealous, and trouble ourselves no +more about them. It is extremely unlikely that we shall again meet +with them in this story. + +Which was right; the Englishman or the American? It is not easy to +say. Anyhow the duel shows how great was the excitement, not only in +the new but also in the old world, with regard to an inexplicable +phenomenon which for a month or more had driven everybody to +distraction. + +Never had the sky been so much looked at since the appearance of man +on the terrestrial globe. The night before an aerial trumpet had +blared its brazen notes through space immediately over that part of +Canada between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Some people had heard +those notes as "Yankee Doodle," others had heard them as "Rule +Britannia," and hence the quarrel between the Anglo-Saxons, which +ended with the breakfast on Goat Island. Perhaps it was neither one +nor the other of these patriotic tunes, but what was undoubted by all +was that these extraordinary sounds had seemed to descend from the +sky to the earth. + +What could it be? Was it some exuberant aeronaut rejoicing on that +sonorous instrument of which the Renommée makes such obstreperous use? + +No! There was no balloon and there were no aeronauts. Some strange +phenomenon had occurred in the higher zones of the atmosphere, a +phenomenon of which neither the nature nor the cause could be +explained. Today it appeared over America; forty-eight hours +afterwards it was over Europe; a week later it was in Asia over the +Celestial Empire. + +Hence in every country of the world--empire, kingdom, or republic-- +there was anxiety which it was important to allay. If you hear in +your house strange and inexplicable noises, do you not at once +endeavor to discover the cause? And if your search is in vain, do you +not leave your house and take up your quarters in another? But in +this case the house was the terrestrial globe! There are no means of +leaving that house for the moon or Mars, or Venus, or Jupiter, or +any other planet of the solar system. And so of necessity we have to +find out what it is that takes place, not in the infinite void, but +within the atmospherical zones. In fact, if there is no air there is +no noise, and as there was a noise--that famous trumpet, to wit-- +the phenomenon must occur in the air, the density of which invariably +diminishes, and which does not extend for more than six miles round +our spheroid. + +Naturally the newspapers took up the question in their thousands, and +treated it in every form, throwing on it both light and darkness, +recording many things about it true or false, alarming and +tranquillizing their readers--as the sale required--and almost +driving ordinary people mad. At one blow party politics dropped +unheeded--and the affairs of the world went on none the worse for it. + +But what could this thing be? There was not an observatory that was +not applied to. If an observatory could not give a satisfactory +answer what was the use of observatories? If astronomers, who doubled +and tripled the stars a hundred thousand million miles away, could +not explain a phenomenon occurring only a few miles off, what was the +use of astronomers? + +The observatory at Paris was very guarded in what it said. In the +mathematical section they had not thought the statement worth +noticing; in the meridional section they knew nothing about it; in +the physical observatory they had not come across it; in the geodetic +section they had had no observation; in the meteorological section +there had been no record; in the calculating room they had had +nothing to deal with. At any rate this confession was a frank one, +and the same frankness characterized the replies from the observatory +of Montsouris and the magnetic station in the park of St. Maur. The +same respect for the truth distinguished the Bureau des Longitudes. + +The provinces were slightly more affirmative. Perhaps in the night of +the fifth and the morning of the sixth of May there had appeared a +flash of light of electrical origin which lasted about twenty +seconds. At the Pic du Midi this light appeared between nine and ten +in the evening. At the Meteorological Observatory on the Puy de Dome +the light had been observed between one and two o'clock in the +morning; at Mont Ventoux in Provence it had been seen between two and +three o'clock; at Nice it had been noticed between three and four +o'clock; while at the Semnoz Alps between Annecy, Le Bourget, and Le +Léman, it had been detected just as the zenith was paling with the +dawn. + +Now it evidently would not do to disregard these observations +altogether. There could be no doubt that a light had been observed at +different places, in succession, at intervals, during some hours. +Hence, whether it had been produced from many centers in the +terrestrial atmosphere, or from one center, it was plain that the +light must have traveled at a speed of over one hundred and twenty +miles an hour. + +In the United Kingdom there was much perplexity. The observatories +were not in agreement. Greenwich would not consent to the proposition +of Oxford. They were agreed on one point, however, and that was: "It +was nothing at all!" + +But, said one, "It was an optical illusion!" While the, other +contended that, "It was an acoustical illusion!" And so they +disputed. Something, however, was, it will be seen, common to both +"It was an illusion." + +Between the observatory of Berlin and the observatory of Vienna the +discussion threatened to end in international complications; but +Russia, in the person of the director of the observatory at Pulkowa, +showed that both were right. It all depended on the point of view +from which they attacked the phenomenon, which, though impossible in +theory, was possible in practice. + +In Switzerland, at the observatory of Sautis in the canton of +Appenzell, at the Righi, at the Gäbriss, in the passes of the St. +Gothard, at the St. Bernard, at the Julier, at the Simplon, at +Zurich, at Somblick in the Tyrolean Alps, there was a very strong +disinclination to say anything about what nobody could prove--and +that was nothing but reasonable. + +But in Italy, at the meteorological stations on Vesuvius, on Etna in +the old Casa Inglesi, at Monte Cavo, the observers made no hesitation +in admitting the materiality of the phenomenon, particularly as they +had seen it by day in the form of a small cloud of vapor, and by +night in that of a shooting star. But of what it was they knew +nothing. + +Scientists began at last to tire of the mystery, while they continued +to disagree about it, and even to frighten the lowly and the +ignorant, who, thanks to one of the wisest laws of nature, have +formed, form, and will form the immense majority of the world's +inhabitants. Astronomers and meteorologists would soon have dropped +the subject altogether had not, on the night of the 26th and 27th, +the observatory of Kautokeino at Finmark, in Norway, and during the +night of the 28th and 29th that of Isfjord at Spitzbergen--Norwegian +one and Swedish the other--found themselves agreed in recording that +in the center of an aurora borealis there had appeared a sort of huge +bird, an aerial monster, whose structure they were unable to +determine, but who, there was no doubt, was showering off from his +body certain corpuscles which exploded like bombs. + +In Europe not a doubt was thrown on this observation of the stations +in Finmark and Spitzbergen. But what appeared the most phenomenal +about it was that the Swedes and Norwegians could find themselves in +agreement on any subject whatever. + +There was a laugh at the asserted discovery in all the observatories +of South America, in Brazil, Peru, and La Plata, and in those of +Australia at Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne; and Australian laughter +is very catching. + +To sum up, only one chief of a meteorological station ventured on a +decided answer to this question, notwithstanding the sarcasms that +his solution provoked. This was a Chinaman, the director of the +observatory at Zi-Ka-Wey which rises in the center of a vast plateau +less than thirty miles from the sea, having an immense horizon and +wonderfully pure atmosphere. "It is possible," said he, "that the +object was an aviform apparatus--a flying machine!" + +What nonsense! + +But if the controversy was keen in the old world, we can imagine what +it was like in that portion of the new of which the United States +occupy so vast an area. + +A Yankee, we know, does not waste time on the road. He takes the +street that leads him straight to his end. And the observatories of +the American Federation did not hesitate to do their best. If they +did not hurl their objectives at each other's heads, it was because +they would have had to put them back just when they most wanted to +use them. In this much-disputed question the observatories of +Washington in the District of Columbia, and Cambridge in +Massachusetts, found themselves opposed by those of Dartmouth College +in New Hampshire, and Ann Arbor in Michigan. The subject of their +dispute was not the nature of the body observed, but the precise +moment of its observation. All of them claimed to have seen it the +same night, the same hour, the same minute, the same second, although +the trajectory of the mysterious voyager took it but a moderate +height above the horizon. Now from Massachusetts to Michigan, from +New Hampshire to Columbia, the distance is too great for this double +observation, made at the same moment, to be considered possible. + +Dudley at Albany, in the state of New York, and West Point, the +military academy, showed that their colleagues were wrong by an +elaborate calculation of the right ascension and declination of the +aforesaid body. + +But later on it was discovered that the observers had been deceived +in the body, and that what they had seen was an aerolite. This +aerolite could not be the object in question, for how could an +aerolite blow a trumpet? + +It was in vain that they tried to get rid of this trumpet as an +optical illusion. The ears were no more deceived than the eyes. +Something had assuredly been seen, and something had assuredly been +heard. In the night of the 12th and 13th of May--a very dark night-- +the observers at Yale College, in the Sheffield Science School, had +been able to take down a few bars of a musical phrase in D major, +common time, which gave note for note, rhythm for rhythm, the chorus +of the Chant du Départ. + +"Good," said the Yankee wags. "There is a French band well up in the +air." + +"But to joke is not to answer." Thus said the observatory at Boston, +founded by the Atlantic Iron Works Society, whose opinions in matters +of astronomy and meteorology began to have much weight in the world +of science. + +Then there intervened the observatory at Cincinnati, founded in 1870, +on Mount Lookout, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Kilgour, and known +for its micrometrical measurements of double stars. Its director +declared with the utmost good faith that there had certainly been +something, that a traveling body had shown itself at very short +periods at different points in the atmosphere, but what were the +nature of this body, its dimensions, its speed, and its trajectory, +it was impossible to say. + +It was then a journal whose publicity is immense--the "New York +Herald"--received the anonymous contribution hereunder. + +"There will be in the recollection of most people the rivalry which +existed a few years ago between the two heirs of the Begum of +Ragginahra, the French doctor Sarrasin, the city of Frankville, and +the German engineer Schultze, in the city of Steeltown, both in the +south of Oregon in the United States. + +"It will not have been forgotten that, with the object of destroying +Frankville, Herr Schultze launched a formidable engine, intended to +beat down the town and annihilate it at a single blow. + +"Still less will it be forgotten that this engine, whose initial +velocity as it left the mouth of the monster cannon had been +erroneously calculated, had flown off at a speed exceeding by sixteen +times that of ordinary projectiles--or about four hundred and fifty +miles an hour--that it did not fall to the ground, and that it +passed into an aerolitic stage, so as to circle for ever round our globe. + +"Why should not this be the body in question?" + +Very ingenious, Mr. Correspondent on the "New York Herald!" but how +about the trumpet? There was no trumpet in Herr Schulze's projectile! + +So all the explanations explained nothing, and all the observers had +observed in vain. There remained only the suggestion offered by the +director of Zi-Ka-Wey. But the opinion of a Chinaman! + +The discussion continued, and there was no sign of agreement. Then +came a short period of rest. Some days elapsed without any object, +aerolite or otherwise, being described, and without any trumpet notes +being heard in the atmosphere. The body then had fallen on some part +of the globe where it had been difficult to trace it; in the sea, +perhaps. Had it sunk in the depths of the Atlantic, the Pacific, or +the Indian Ocean? What was to be said in this matter? + +But then, between the 2nd and 9th of June, there came a new series of +facts which could not possibly be explained by the unaided existence +of a cosmic phenomenon. + +In a week the Hamburgers at the top of St. Michael's Tower, the Turks +on the highest minaret of St. Sophia, the Rouennais at the end of the +metal spire of their cathedral, the Strasburgers at the summit of +their minister, the Americans on the head of the Liberty statue at +the entrance of the Hudson and on the Bunker Hill monument at Boston, +the Chinese at the spike of the temple of the Four Hundred Genii at +Canton, the Hindus on the sixteenth terrace of the pyramid of the +temple at Tanjore, the San Pietrini at the cross of St. Peter's at +Rome, the English at the cross of St. Paul's in London, the Egyptians +at the apex of the Great Pyramid of Ghizeh, the Parisians at the +lighting conductor of the iron tower of the Exposition of 1889, a +thousand feet high, all of them beheld a flag floating from some one +of these inaccessible points. + +And the flag was black, dotted with stars, and it bore a golden sun +in its center. + + + + + +Chapter II + +AGREEMENT IMPOSSIBLE + + + + +"And the first who says the contrary--" + +"Indeed! But we will say the contrary so long as there is a place to +say it in!" + +"And in spite of your threats--" + +"Mind what you are saying, Bat Fynn!" + +"Mind what you are saying, Uncle Prudent!" + +"I maintain that the screw ought to be behind!" + +"And so do we! And so do we!" replied half a hundred voices +confounded in one. + +"No! It ought to be in front!" shouted Phil Evans. + +"In front!" roared fifty other voices, with a vigor in no whit less +remarkable. + +"We shall never agree!" + +"Never! Never!" + +"Then what is the use of a dispute?" + +"It is not a dispute! It is a discussion!" + +One would not have thought so to listen to the taunts, objurgations, +and vociferations which filled the lecture room for a good quarter of +an hour. + +The room was one of the largest in the Weldon Institute, the +well-known club in Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U. S. +A. The evening before there had been an election of a lamplighter, +occasioning many public manifestations, noisy meetings, and even +interchanges of blows, resulting in an effervescence which had not +yet subsided, and which would account for some of the excitement just +exhibited by the members of the Weldon Institute. For this was merely +a meeting of balloonists, discussing the burning question of the +direction of balloons. + +In this great saloon there were struggling, pushing, gesticulating, +shouting, arguing, disputing, a hundred balloonists, all with their +hats on, under the authority of a president, assisted by a secretary +and treasurer. They were not engineers by profession, but simply +amateurs of all that appertained to aerostatics, and they were +amateurs in a fury, and especially foes of those who would oppose to +aerostats "apparatuses heavier than the air," flying machines, aerial +ships, or what not. That these people might one day discover the +method of guiding balloons is possible. There could be no doubt that +their president had considerable difficulty in guiding them. + +This president, well known in Philadelphia, was the famous Uncle +Prudent, Prudent being his family name. There is nothing surprising +in America in the qualificative uncle, for you can there be uncle +without having either nephew or niece. There they speak of uncle as +in other places they speak of father, though the father may have had +no children. + +Uncle Prudent was a personage of consideration, and in spite of his +name was well known for his audacity. He was very rich, and that is +no drawback even in the United States; and how could it be otherwise +when he owned the greater part of the shares in Niagara Falls? A +society of engineers had just been founded at Buffalo for working the +cataract. It seemed to be an excellent speculation. The seven +thousand five hundred cubic meters that pass over Niagara in a second +would produce seven millions of horsepower. This enormous power, +distributed amongst all the workshops within a radius of three +hundred miles, would return an annual income of three hundred million +dollars, of which the greater part would find its way into the pocket +of Uncle Prudent. He was a bachelor, he lived quietly, and for his +only servant had his valet Frycollin, who was hardly worthy of being +the servant to so audacious a master. + +Uncle Prudent was rich, and therefore he had friends, as was natural; +but he also had enemies, although he was president of the club-- +among others all those who envied his position. Amongst his bitterest +foes we may mention the secretary of the Weldon Institute. + +This was Phil Evans, who was also very rich, being the manager of the +Wheelton Watch Company, an important manufactory, which makes every +day five hundred movements equal in every respect to the best Swiss +workmanship. Phil Evans would have passed for one of the happiest men +in the world, and even in the United States, if it had not been for +Uncle Prudent. Like him he was in his forty-sixth year; like him of +invariable health; like him of undoubted boldness. They were two men +made to understand each other thoroughly, but they did not, for both +were of extreme violence of character. Uncle Prudent was furiously +hot; Phil Evans was abnormally cool. + +And why had not Phil Evans been elected president of the club? The +votes were exactly divided between Uncle Prudent and him. Twenty +times there had been a scrutiny, and twenty times the majority had +not declared for either one or the other. The position was +embarrassing, and it might have lasted for the lifetime of the +candidates. + +One of the members of the club then proposed a way out of the +difficulty. This was Jem Chip, the treasurer of the Weldon Institute. +Chip was a confirmed vegetarian, a proscriber of all animal +nourishment, of all fermented liquors, half a Mussulman, half a +Brahman. On this occasion Jem Chip was supported by another member of +the club, William T. Forbes, the manager of a large factory where +they made glucose by treating rags with sulphuric acid. A man of good +standing was this William T. Forbes, the father of two charming girls +-- Miss Dorothy, called Doll, and Miss Martha, called Mat, who gave +the tone to the best society in Philadelphia. + +It followed, then, on the proposition of Jem Chip, supported by +William T. Forbes and others, that it was decided to elect the +president "on the center point." + +This mode of election can be applied in all cases when it is desired +to elect the most worthy; and a number of Americans of high +intelligence are already thinking of employing it in the nomination +of the President of the Republic of the United States. + +On two boards of perfect whiteness a black line is traced. The length +of each of these lines is mathematically the same, for they have been +determined with as much accuracy as the base of the first triangle in +a trigonometrical survey. That done, the two boards were erected on +the same day in the center of the conference room, and the two +candidates, each armed with a fine needle, marched towards the board +that had fallen to his lot. The man who planted his needle nearest +the center of the line would be proclaimed President of the Weldon +Institute. + +The operation must be done at once--no guide marks or trial shots +allowed; nothing but sureness of eye. The man must have a compass in +his eye, as the saying goes; that was all. + +Uncle Prudent stuck in his needle at the same moment as Phil Evans +did his. Then there began the measurement to discover which of the +two competitors had most nearly approached the center. + +Wonderful! Such had been the precision of the shots that the measures +gave no appreciable difference. If they were not exactly in the +mathematical center of the line, the distance between the needles was +so small as to be invisible to the naked eye. + +The meeting was much embarrassed. + +Fortunately one of the members, Truck Milnor, insisted that the +measurements should be remade by means of a rule graduated by the +micrometrical machine of M. Perreaux, which can divide a millimeter +into fifteen-hundredths of a millimeter with a diamond splinter, was +brought to bear on the lines; and on reading the divisions through a +microscope the following were the results: Uncle Prudent had +approached the center within less than six fifteenth-hundredths of a +millimeter. Phil Evans was within nine fifteen-hundredths. + +And that is why Phil Evans was only secretary of the Weldon +Institute, whereas Uncle Prudent was president. A difference of three +fifteen-hundredths of a millimeter! And on account of it Phil Evans +vowed against Uncle Prudent one of those hatreds which are none the +less fierce for being latent. + + + + + +Chapter III + +A VISITOR IS ANNOUNCED + + + + +The many experiments made during this last quarter of the nineteenth +century have given considerable impetus to the question of guidable +balloons. The cars furnished with propellers attached in 1852 to the +aerostats of the elongated form introduced by Henry Giffard, the +machines of Dupuy de Lome in 1872, of the Tissandier brothers in +1883, and of Captain Krebs and Renard in 1884, yielded many important +results. But if these machines, moving in a medium heavier than +themselves, maneuvering under the propulsion of a screw, working at +an angle to the direction of the wind, and even against the wind, to +return to their point of departure, had been really "guidable," they +had only succeeded under very favorable conditions. In large, covered +halls their success was perfect. In a calm atmosphere they did very +well. In a light wind of five or six yards a second they still moved. +But nothing practical had been obtained. Against a miller's wind-- +nine yards a second--the machines had remained almost stationary. +Against a fresh breeze--eleven yards a second--they would have +advanced backwards. In a storm--twenty-seven to thirty-three yards a +second--they would have been blown about like a feather. In a +hurricane--sixty yards a second--they would have run the risk of +being dashed to pieces. And in one of those cyclones which exceed a +hundred yards a second not a fragment of them would have been left. +It remained, then, even after the striking experiments of Captains +Krebs and Renard, that though guidable aerostats had gained a little +speed, they could not be kept going in a moderate breeze. Hence the +impossibility of making practical use of this mode of aerial +locomotion. + +With regards to the means employed to give the aerostat its motion a +great deal of progress had been made. For the steam engines of Henry +Giffard, and the muscular force of Dupuy de Lome, electric motors had +gradually been substituted. The batteries of bichromate of potassium +of the Tissandier brothers had given a speed of four yards a second. +The dynamo-electric machines of Captain Krebs and Renard had +developed a force of twelve horsepower and yielded a speed of six and +a half yards per second. + +With regard to this motor, engineers and electricians had been +approaching more and more to that desideratum which is known as a +steam horse in a watch case. Gradually the results of the pile of +which Captains Krebs and Renard had kept the secret had been +surpassed, and aeronauts had become able to avail themselves of +motors whose lightness increased at the same time as their power. + +In this there was much to encourage those who believed in the +utilization of guidable balloons. But yet how many good people there +are who refuse to admit the possibility of such a thing! If the +aerostat finds support in the air it belongs to the medium in which +it moves; under such conditions, how can its mass, which offers so +much resistance to the currents of the atmosphere, make its way +against the wind? + +In this struggle of the inventors after a light and powerful motor, +the Americans had most nearly attained what they sought. A +dynamo-electric apparatus, in which a new pile was employed the +composition of which was still a mystery, had been bought from its +inventor, a Boston chemist up to then unknown. Calculations made with +the greatest care, diagrams drawn with the utmost exactitude, showed +that by means of this apparatus driving a screw of given dimensions a +displacement could be obtained of from twenty to twenty-two yards a +second. + +Now this was magnificent! + +"And it is not dear," said Uncle Prudent, as he handed to the +inventor in return for his formal receipt the last installment of the +hundred thousand paper dollars he had paid for his invention. + +Immediately the Weldon Institute set to work. When there comes along +a project of practical utility the money leaps nimbly enough from +American pockets. The funds flowed in even without its being +necessary to form a syndicate. Three hundred thousand dollars came +into the club's account at the first appeal. The work began under the +superintendence of the most celebrated aeronaut of the United States, +Harry W. Tinder, immortalized by three of his ascents out of a +thousand, one in which he rose to a height of twelve thousand yards, +higher than Gay Lussac, Coxwell, Sivet, Crocé-Spinelli, Tissandier, +Glaisher; another in which he had crossed America from New York to +San Francisco, exceeding by many hundred leagues the journeys of +Nadar, Godard, and others, to say nothing of that of John Wise, who +accomplished eleven hundred and fifty miles from St. Louis to +Jefferson county; the third, which ended in a frightful fall from +fifteen hundred feet at the cost of a slight sprain in the right +thumb, while the less fortunate Pilâtre de Rozier fell only seven +hundred feet, and yet killed himself on the spot! + +At the time this story begins the Weldon Institute had got their work +well in hand. In the Turner yard at Philadelphia there reposed an +enormous aerostat, whose strength had been tried by highly compressed +air. It well merited the name of the monster balloon. + +How large was Nadar's Géant? Six thousand cubic meters. How large was +John Wise's balloon? Twenty thousand cubic meters. How large was the +Giffard balloon at the 1878 Exhibition? Twenty-five thousand cubic +meters. Compare these three aerostats with the aerial machine of the +Weldon Institute, whose volume amounted to forty thousand cubic +meters, and you will understand why Uncle Prudent and his colleagues +were so justifiably proud of it. + +This balloon not being destined for the exploration of the higher +strata of the atmosphere, was not called the Excelsior, a name which +is rather too much held in honor among the citizens of America. No! +It was called, simply, the "Go-Ahead," and all it had to do was to +justify its name by going ahead obediently to the wishes of its +commander. + +The dynamo-electric machine, according to the patent purchased by the +Weldon Institute, was nearly ready. In less than six weeks the +"Go-Ahead" would start for its first cruise through space. + +But, as we have seen, all the mechanical difficulties had not been +overcome. Many evenings had been devoted to discussing, not the form +of its screw nor its dimensions, but whether it ought to be put +behind, as the Tissandier brothers had done, or before as Captains +Krebs and Renard had done. It is unnecessary to add that the +partisans of the two systems had almost come to blows. The group of +"Beforists" were equaled in number by the group of "Behindists." +Uncle Prudent, who ought to have given the casting vote--Uncle +Prudent, brought up doubtless in the school of Professor Buridan-- +could not bring himself to decide. + +Hence the impossibility of getting the screw into place. The dispute +might last for some time, unless the government interfered. But in +the United States the government meddles with private affairs as +little as it possibly can. And it is right. + +Things were in this state at this meeting on the 13th of June, which +threatened to end in a riot--insults exchanged, fisticuffs +succeeding the insults, cane thrashings succeeding the fisticuffs, +revolver shots succeeding the cane thrashings--when at thirty-seven +minutes past eight there occurred a diversion. + +The porter of the Weldon Institute coolly and calmly, like a +policeman amid the storm of the meeting, approached the presidential +desk. On it he placed a card. He awaited the orders that Uncle +Prudent found it convenient to give. + +Uncle Prudent turned on the steam whistle, which did duty for the +presidential bell, for even the Kremlin clock would have struck in +vain! But the tumult slackened not. + +Then the president removed his hat. Thanks to this extreme measure a +semi-silence was obtained. + +"A communication!" said Uncle Prudent, after taking a huge pinch from +the snuff-box which never left him. + +"Speak up!" answered eighty-nine voices, accidentally in agreement on +this one point. + +"A stranger, my dear colleagues, asks to be admitted to the meeting." + +"Never!" replied every voice. + +"He desires to prove to us, it would appear," continued Uncle +Prudent, "that to believe in guiding balloons is to believe in the +absurdest of Utopias!" + +"Let him in! Let him in!" + +"What is the name of this singular personage?" asked secretary Phil +Evans. + +"Robur," replied Uncle Prudent. + +"Robur! Robur! Robur!" yelled the assembly. And the welcome accorded +so quickly to the curious name was chiefly due to the Weldon +Institute hoping to vent its exasperation on the head of him who bore +it! + + + + + +Chapter IV + +IN WHICH A NEW CHARACTER APPEARS + + + + +"Citizens of the United States! My name is Robur. I am worthy of the +name! I am forty years old, although I look but thirty, and I have a +constitution of iron, a healthy vigor that nothing can shake, a +muscular strength that few can equal, and a digestion that would be +thought first class even in an ostrich!" + +They were listening! Yes! The riot was quelled at once by the totally +unexpected fashion of the speech. Was this fellow a madman or a +hoaxer? Whoever he was, he kept his audience in hand. There was not a +whisper in the meeting in which but a few minutes ago the storm was +in full fury. + +And Robur looked the man he said he was. Of middle height and +geometric breadth, his figure was a regular trapezium with the +greatest of its parallel sides formed by the line of his shoulders. +On this line attached by a robust neck there rose an enormous +spheroidal head. The head of what animal did it resemble from the +point of view of passional analogy? The head of a bull; but a bull +with an intelligent face. Eyes which at the least opposition would +glow like coals of fire; and above them a permanent contraction of +the superciliary muscle, an invariable sign of extreme energy. Short +hair, slightly woolly, with metallic reflections; large chest rising +and falling like a smith's bellows; arms, hands, legs, feet, all +worthy of the trunk. No mustaches, no whiskers, but a large American +goatee, revealing the attachments of the jaw whose masseter muscles +were evidently of formidable strength. It has been calculated--what +has not been calculated?--that the pressure of the jaw of an +ordinary crocodile can reach four hundred atmospheres, while that of +a hound can only amount to one hundred. From this the following +curious formula has been deduced: If a kilogram of dog produces eight +kilograms of masseteric force, a kilogram of crocodile could produce +twelve. Now, a kilogram of, the aforesaid Robur would not produce +less than ten, so that he came between the dog and the crocodile. + +From what country did this remarkable specimen come? It was difficult +to say. One thing was noticeable, and that was that he expressed +himself fluently in English without a trace of the drawling twang +that distinguishes the Yankees of New England. + +He continued: "And now, honorable citizens, for my mental faculties. +You see before you an engineer whose nerves are in no way inferior to +his muscles. I have no fear of anything or anybody. I have a strength +of will that has never had to yield. When I have decided on a thing, +all America, all the world, may strive in vain to keep me from it. +When I have an idea, I allow no one to share it, and I do not permit +any contradiction. I insist on these details, honorable citizens, +because it is necessary you should quite understand me. Perhaps you +think I am talking too much about myself? It does not matter if you +do! And now consider a little before you interrupt me, as I have come +to tell you something that you may not be particularly pleased to +hear." + +A sound as of the surf on the beach began to rise along the first row +of seats--a sign that the sea would not be long in getting stormy +again. + +"Speak, stranger!" said Uncle Prudent, who had some difficulty in +restraining himself. + +And Robur spoke as follows, without troubling himself any more about +his audience. + +"Yes! I know it well! After a century of experiments that have led to +nothing, and trials giving no results, there still exist ill-balanced +minds who believe in guiding balloons. They imagine that a motor of +some sort, electric or otherwise, might be applied to their +pretentious skin bags which are at the mercy of every current in the +atmosphere. They persuade themselves that they can be masters of an +aerostat as they can be masters of a ship on the surface of the sea. +Because a few inventors in calm or nearly calm weather have succeeded +in working an angle with the wind, or even beating to windward in a +gentle breeze, they think that the steering of aerial apparatus +lighter than the air is a practical matter. Well, now, look here; You +hundred, who believe in the realization of your dreams, are throwing +your thousands of dollars not into water but into space! You are +fighting the impossible!" + +Strange as it was that at this affirmation the members of the Weldon +Institute did not move. Had they become as deaf as they were patient? +Or were they reserving themselves to see how far this audacious +contradictor would dare to go? + +Robur continued: "What? A balloon! When to obtain the raising of a +couple of pounds you require a cubic yard of gas. A balloon +pretending to resist the wind by aid of its mechanism, when the +pressure of a light breeze on a vessel's sails is not less than that +of four hundred horsepower; when in the accident at the Tay Bridge +you saw the storm produce a pressure of eight and a half +hundredweight on a square yard. A balloon, when on such a system +nature has never constructed anything flying, whether furnished with +wings like birds, or membranes like certain fish, or certain mammalia +--" + +"Mammalia?" exclaimed one of the members. + +"Yes! Mammalia! The bat, which flies, if I am not mistaken! Is the +gentleman unaware that this flyer is a mammal? Did he ever see an +omelette made of bat's eggs?" + +The interrupter reserved himself for future interruption, and Robur +resumed: "But does that mean that man is to give up the conquest of +the air, and the transformation of the domestic and political manners +of the old world, by the use of this admirable means of locomotion? +By no means. As he has become master of the seas with the ship, by +the oar, the sail, the wheel and the screw, so shall he become master +of atmospherical space by apparatus heavier than the air--for it +must be heavier to be stronger than the air!" + +And then the assembly exploded. What a broadside of yells escaped +from all these mouths, aimed at Robur like the muzzles of so many +guns! Was not this hurling a declaration of war into the very camp of +the balloonists? Was not this a stirring up of strife between 'the +lighter' and 'the heavier' than air? + +Robur did not even frown. With folded arms he waited bravely till +silence was obtained. + +By a gesture Uncle Prudent ordered the firing to cease. + +"Yes," continued Robur, "the future is for the flying machine. The +air affords a solid fulcrum. If you will give a column of air an +ascensional movement of forty-five meters a second, a man can support +himself on the top of it if the soles of his boots have a superficies +of only the eighth of a square meter. And if the speed be increased +to ninety meters, he can walk on it with naked feet. Or if, by means +of a screw, you drive a mass of air at this speed, you get the same +result." + +What Robur said had been said before by all the partisans of +aviation, whose work slowly but surely is leading on to the solution +of the problem. To Ponton d'Amécourt, La Landelle, Nadar, De Luzy, De +Louvrié, Liais, Beleguir, Moreau, the brothers Richard, Babinet, +Jobert, Du Temple, Salives, Penaud, De Villeneuve, Gauchot and Tatin, +Michael Loup, Edison, Planavergne, and so many others, belongs the +honor of having brought forward ideas of such simplicity. Abandoned +and resumed times without number, they are sure, some day to triumph. +To the enemies of aviation, who urge that the bird only sustains +himself by warming the air he strikes, their answer is ready. Have +they not proved that an eagle weighing five kilograms would have to +fill fifty cubic meters with his warm fluid merely to sustain himself +in space? + +This is what Robur demonstrated with undeniable logic amid the +uproar that arose on all sides. And in conclusion these are the words +he hurled in the faces of the balloonists: "With your aerostats you +can do nothing--you will arrive at nothing--you dare do nothing! +The boldest of your aeronauts, John Wise, although he has made an +aerial voyage of twelve hundred miles above the American continent, +has had to give up his project of crossing the Atlantic! And you have +not advanced one step--not one step--towards your end." + +"Sir," said the president, who in vain endeavored to keep himself +cool, "you forget what was said by our immortal Franklin at the first +appearance of the fire balloon, 'It is but a child, but it will +grow!' It was but a child, and it has grown." + +"No, Mr. President, it has not grown! It has got fatter--and this is +not the same thing!" + +This was a direct attack on the Weldon Institute, which had decreed, +helped, and paid for the making of a monster balloon. And so +propositions of the following kind began to fly about the room: "turn +him out!" "throw him off the platform!" "Prove that he is heavier +than the air!" + +But these were only words, not means to an end. + +Robur remained impassible, and continued: "There is no progress for +your aerostats, my citizen balloonists; progress is for flying +machines. The bird flies, and he is not a balloon, he is a piece of +mechanism!" + +"Yes, he flies!" exclaimed the fiery Bat T. Fynn; "but he flies +against all the laws of mechanics." + +"Indeed!" said Robur, shrugging his shoulders, and resuming, "Since +we have begun the study of the flight of large and small birds one +simple idea has prevailed--to imitate nature, which never makes +mistakes. Between the albatross, which gives hardly ten beats of the +wing per minute, between the pelican, which gives seventy--" + +"Seventy-one," said the voice of a scoffer. + +"And the bee, which gives one hundred and ninety-two per second--" + +"One hundred and ninety-three!" said the facetious individual. + +"And, the common house fly, which gives three hundred and thirty--" + +"And a half!" + +"And the mosquito, which gives millions--" + +"No, milliards!" + +But Robur, the interrupted, interrupted not his demonstration. +"Between these different rates--" he continued. + +"There is a difference," said a voice. + +"There is a possibility of finding a practical solution. When De Lucy +showed that the stag beetle, an insect weighing only two grammes, +could lift a weight of four hundred grammes, or two hundred times its +own weight, the problem of aviation was solved. Besides, it has been +shown that the wing surface decreases in proportion to the increase +of the size and weight of the animal. Hence we can look forward to +such contrivances--" + +"Which would never fly!" said secretary Phil Evans. + +"Which have flown, and which will fly," said Robur, without being in +the least disconcerted, "and which we can call streophores, +helicopters, orthopters--or, in imitation of the word 'nef,' which +comes from 'navis,' call them from 'avis,' 'efs,'--by means of which +man will become the master of space. The helix--" + +"Ah, the helix!" replied Phil Evans. "But the bird has no helix; that +we know!" + +"So," said Robur; "but Penaud has shown that in reality the bird +makes a helix, and its flight is helicopteral. And the motor of the +future is the screw--" + +"From such a maladee Saint Helix keep us free!" sung out one of the +members, who had accidentally hit upon the air from Herold's "Zampa." + +And they all took up the chorus: "From such a maladee Saint Helix +keep us free!" with such intonations and variations as would have +made the French composer groan in his grave. + +As the last notes died away in a frightful discord Uncle Prudent took +advantage of the momentary calm to say, "Stranger, up to now, we let +you speak without interruption." It seemed that for the president of +the Weldon Institute shouts, yells, and catcalls were not +interruptions, but only an exchange of arguments. + +"But I may remind you, all the same, that the theory of aviation is +condemned beforehand, and rejected by the majority of American and +foreign engineers. It is a system which was the cause of the death of +the Flying Saracen at Constantinople, of the monk Volador at Lisbon, +of De Leturn in 1852, of De Groof in 1864, besides the victims I +forget since the mythological Icarus--" + +"A system," replied Robur, "no more to be condemned than that whose +martyrology contains the names of Pilâtre de Rozier at Calais, of +Blanchard at Paris, of Donaldson and Grimwood in Lake Michigan, of +Sivel and of Crocé-Spinelli, and others whom it takes good care, to +forget." + +This was a counter-thrust with a vengeance. + +"Besides," continued Robur, "With your balloons as good as you can +make them you will never obtain any speed worth mentioning. It would +take you ten years to go round the world--and a flying machine could +do it in a week!" + +Here arose a new tempest of protests and denials which lasted for +three long minutes. And then Phil Evans look up the word. + +"Mr. Aviator," he said "you who talk so much of the benefits of +aviation, have you ever aviated?" + +"I have." + +"And made the conquest of the air?" + +"Not unlikely." + +"Hooray for Robur the Conqueror!" shouted an ironical voice. + +"Well, yes! Robur the Conqueror! I accept the name and I will bear +it, for I have a right to it!" + +"We beg to doubt it!" said Jem Chip. + +"Gentlemen," said Robur, and his brows knit, "when I have just +seriously stated a serious thing I do not permit anyone to reply to +me by a flat denial, and I shall be glad to know the name of the +interrupter." + +"My name is Chip, and I am a vegetarian." + +"Citizen Chip," said Robur, "I knew that vegetarians had longer +alimentary canals than other men--a good foot longer at the least. +That is quite long enough; and so do not compel me to make you any +longer by beginning at your ears and--" + +"Throw him out." + +"Into the street with him!" + +"Lynch him!" + +"Helix him!" + +The rage of the balloonists burst forth at last. They rushed at the +platform. Robur disappeared amid a sheaf of hands that were thrown +about as if caught in a storm. In vain the steam whistle screamed its +fanfares on to the assembly. Philadelphia might well think that a +fire was devouring one of its quarters and that all the waters of the +Schuyllkill could not put it out. + +Suddenly there was a recoil in the tumult. Robur had put his hands +into his pockets and now held them out at the front ranks of the +infuriated mob. + +In each hand was one of those American institutions known as +revolvers which the mere pressure of the fingers is enough to fire-- +pocket mitrailleuses in fact. + +And taking advantage not only of the recoil of his assailants but +also of the silence which accompanied it. + +"Decidedly," said he, "it was not Amerigo that discovered the New +World, it was Cabot! You are not Americans, citizen balloonists! You +are only Cabo-" + +Four or five shots cracked out, fired into space. They hurt nobody. +Amid the smoke, the engineer vanished; and when it had thinned away +there was no trace of him. Robur the Conqueror had flown, as if some +apparatus of aviation had borne him into the air. + + + + + +Chapter V + +ANOTHER DISAPPEARANCE + + + + +This was not the first occasion on which, at the end of their stormy +discussions, the members of the Weldon Institute had filled Walnut +Street and its neighborhood with their tumult. Several times had the +inhabitants complained of the noisy way in which the proceedings +ended, and more than once had the policemen had to interfere to clear +the thoroughfare for the passersby, who for the most part were +supremely indifferent on the question of aerial navigation. But never +before had the tumult attained such proportions, never had the +complaints been better founded, never had the intervention of the +police been more necessary. + +But there was some excuse for the members of the Weldon Institute. +They had been attacked in their own house. To these enthusiasts for +"lighter than air" a no less enthusiast for "heavier than air" had +said things absolutely abhorrent. And at the moment they were about +to treat him as he deserved, he had disappeared. + +So they cried aloud for vengeance. To leave such insults unpunished +was impossible to all with American blood in their veins. Had not the +sons of Amerigo been called the sons of Cabot? Was not that an insult +as unpardonable as it happened to be just--historically? + +The members of the club in several groups rushed down Walnut Street, +then into the adjoining streets, and then all over the neighborhood. +They woke up the householders; they compelled them to search their +houses, prepared to indemnify them later on for the outrage on their +privacy. Vain were all their trouble and searching. Robur was nowhere +to be found; there was no trace of him. He might have gone off in the +"Go-Ahead," the balloon of the Institute, for all they could tell. +After an hour's hunt the members had to give in and separate, not +before they had agreed to extend their search over the whole +territory of the twin Americas that form the new continent. + +By eleven o'clock quiet had been restored in the neighborhood of +Walnut Street. Philadelphia was able to sink again into that sound +sleep which is the privilege of non-manufacturing towns. The +different members of the club parted to seek their respective houses. +To mention the most distinguished amongst them, William T. Forbes +sought his large sugar establishment, where Miss Doll and Miss Mat +had prepared for him his evening tea, sweetened with his own glucose. +Truck Milnor took the road to his factory in the distant suburb, +where the engines worked day and night. Treasurer Jim Chip, publicly +accused of possessing an alimentary canal twelve inches longer than +that of other men, returned to the vegetable soup that was waiting +for him. + +Two of the most important balloonists--two only--did not seem to +think of returning so soon to their domicile. They availed themselves +of the opportunity to discuss the question with more than usual +acrimony. These were the irreconcilables, Uncle Prudent and Phil +Evans, the president and secretary of the Weldon Institute. + +At the door of the club the valet Frycollin waited for Uncle Prudent, +his master, and at last he went after him, though he cared but little +for the subject which had set the two colleagues at loggerheads. + +It is only an euphemism that the verb "discuss" can be used to +express the way in which the duet between the president and secretary +was being performed. As a matter of fact they were in full wrangle +with an energy born of their old rivalry. + +"No, Sir, no," said Phil Evans. "If I had had the honor of being +president of the Weldon Institute, there never, no, never, would have +been such a scandal." + +"And what would you have done, if you had had the honor?" demanded +Uncle Prudent. + +"I would have stopped the insulter before he had opened his mouth." + +"It seems to me it would have been impossible to stop him until he +had opened his mouth," replied Uncle Prudent. + +"Not in America, Sir; not in America." + +And exchanging such observations, increasing in bitterness as they +went, they walked on through the streets farther and farther from +their homes, until they reached a part of the city whence they had to +go a long way round to get back. + +Frycollin followed, by no means at ease to see his master plunging +into such deserted spots. He did not like deserted spots, +particularly after midnight. In fact the darkness was profound, and +the moon was only a thin crescent just beginning its monthly life. +Frycollin kept a lookout to the left and right of him to see if he +was followed. And he fancied he could see five or six hulking follows +dogging his footsteps. Instinctively he drew nearer to his master, +but not for the world would he have dared to break in on the +conversation of which the fragments reached him. + +In short it so chanced that the president and secretary of the Weldon +Institute found themselves on the road to Fairmount Park. In the full +heat of their dispute they crossed the Schuyllkill river by the +famous iron bridge. They met only a few belated wayfarers, and +pressed on across a wide open tract where the immense prairie was +broken every now and then by the patches of thick woodland--which +make the park different to any other in the world. + +There Frycollin's terror became acute, particularly as he saw the +five or six shadows gliding after him across the Schuyllkill bridge. +The pupils of his eyes broadened out to the circumference of his +iris, and his limbs seemed to diminish as if endowed with the +contractility peculiar to the mollusca and certain of the articulate; +for Frycollin, the valet, was an egregious coward. + +He was a pure South Carolina Negro, with the head of a fool and the +carcass of an imbecile. Being only one and twenty, he had never been +a slave, not even by birth, but that made no difference to him. +Grinning and greedy and idle, and a magnificent poltroon, he had been +the servant of Uncle Prudent for about three years. Over and over +again had his master threatened to kick him out, but had kept him on +for fear of doing worse. With a master ever ready to venture on the +most audacious enterprises, Frycollin's cowardice had brought him +many arduous trials. But he had some compensation. Very little had +been said about his gluttony, and still less about his laziness. + +Ah, Valet Frycollin, if you could only have read the future! Why, oh +why, Frycollin, did you not remain at Boston with the Sneffels, and +not have given them up when they talked of going to Switzerland? Was +not that a much more suitable place for you than this of Uncle +Prudent's, where danger was daily welcomed? + +But here he was, and his master had become used to his faults. He had +one advantage, and that was a consideration. Although he was a Negro +by birth he did not speak like a Negro, and nothing is so irritating +as that hateful jargon in which all the pronouns are possessive and +all the verbs infinitive. Let it be understood, then, that Frycollin +was a thorough coward. + +And now it was midnight, and the pale crescent of the moon began to +sink in the west behind the trees in the park. The rays streaming +fitfully through the branches made the shadows darker than ever. +Frycollin looked around him anxiously. "Brrr!" he said, "There are +those fellows there all the time. Positively they are getting nearer! +Master Uncle!" he shouted. + +It was thus he called the president of the Weldon Institute, and thus +did the president desire to be called. + +At the moment the dispute of the rivals had reached its maximum, and +as they hurled their epithets at each other they walked faster and +faster, and drew farther and farther away from the Schuyllkill +bridge. They had reached the center of a wide clump of trees, whose +summits were just tipped by the parting rays of the moon. Beyond the +trees was a very large clearing--an oval field, a complete +amphitheater. Not a hillock was there to hinder the gallop of the +horses, not a bush to stop the view of the spectators. + +And if Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans had not been so deep in their +dispute, and had used their eyes as they were accustomed to, they +would have found the clearing was not in its usual state. Was it a +flour mill that had anchored on it during the night? It looked like +it, with its wings and sails--motionless and mysterious in the +gathering gloom. + +But neither the president nor the secretary of the Weldon Institute +noticed the strange modification in the landscape of Fairmount Park; +and neither did Frycollin. It seemed to him that the thieves were +approaching, and preparing for their attack; and he was seized with +convulsive fear, paralyzed in his limbs, with every hair he could +boast of on the bristle. His terror was extreme. His knees bent under +him, but he had just strength enough to exclaim for the last time, +"Master Uncle! Master Uncle!" + +"What is the matter with you?" asked Uncle Prudent. + +Perhaps the disputants would not have been sorry to have relieved +their fury at the expense of the unfortunate valet. But they had no +time; and neither even had he time to answer. + +A whistle was heard. A flash of electric light shot across the +clearing. + +A signal, doubtless? The moment had come for the deed of violence. In +less time that it takes to tell, six men came leaping across from +under the trees, two onto Uncle Prudent, two onto Phil Evans, two +onto Frycollin--there was no need for the last two, for the Negro +was incapable of defending himself. The president and secretary of +the Weldon Institute, although taken by surprise, would have resisted. + +They had neither time nor strength to do so. In a second they were +rendered speechless by a gag, blind by a bandage, thrown down, +pinioned and carried bodily off across the clearing. What could they +think except that they had fallen into the hands of people who +intended to rob them? The people did nothing of the sort, however. +They did not even touch Uncle Prudent's pockets, although, according +to his custom, they were full of paper dollars. + +Within a minute of the attack, without a word being passed, Uncle +Prudent, Phil Evans, and Frycollin felt themselves laid gently down, +not on the grass, but on a sort of plank that creaked beneath them. +They were laid down side by side. + +A door was shut; and the grating of a bolt in a staple told them that +they were prisoners. + +Then there came a continuous buzzing, a quivering, a frrrr, with the +rrr unending. + +And that was the only sound that broke the quiet of the night. + +Great was the excitement next morning in Philadelphia Very early was +it known what had passed at the meeting of the Institute. Everyone +knew of the appearance of the mysterious engineer named Robur--Robur +the Conqueror--and the tumult among the balloonists, and his +inexplicable disappearance. But it was quite another thing when all +the town heard that the president and secretary of the club had also +disappeared during the night. + +Long and keen was the search in the city and neighborhood! Useless! +The newspapers of Philadelphia, the newspapers of Pennsylvania, the +newspapers of the United States reported the facts and explained them +in a hundred ways, not one of which was the right one. Heavy rewards +were offered, and placards were pasted up, but all to no purpose. The +earth seemed to have opened and bodily swallowed the president and +secretary of the Weldon Institute. + + + + + +Chapter VI + +THE PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY SUSPEND HOSTILITIES + + + + +A bandage over the eyes, a gag in the mouth, a cord round the wrists, +a cord round the ankles, unable to see, to speak, or to move, Uncle +Prudent, Phil Evans, and Frycollin were anything but pleased with +their position. Knowing not who had seized them, nor in what they had +been thrown like parcels in a goods wagon, nor where they were, nor +what was reserved for them--it was enough to exasperate even the +most patient of the ovine race, and we know that the members of the +Weldon Institute were not precisely sheep as far as patience went. +With his violence of character we can easily imagine how Uncle +Prudent felt. One thing was evident, that Phil Evans and he would +find it difficult to attend the club next evening. + +As to Frycollin, with his eyes shut and his mouth closed, it was +impossible for him to think of anything. He was more dead than alive. + +For an hour the position of the prisoners remained unchanged. No one +came to visit them, or to give them that liberty of movement and +speech of which they lay in such need. They were reduced to stifled +sighs, to grunts emitted over and under their gags, to everything +that betrayed anger kept dumb and fury imprisoned, or rather bound +down. Then after many fruitless efforts they remained for some time +as though lifeless. Then as the sense of sight was denied them they +tried by their sense of hearing to obtain some indication of the +nature of this disquieting state of things. But in vain did they seek +for any other sound than an interminable and inexplicable f-r-r-r +which seemed to envelop them in a quivering atmosphere. + +At last something happened. Phil Evans, regaining his coolness, +managed to slacken the cord which bound his wrists. Little by little +the knot slipped, his fingers slipped over each other, and his hands +regained their usual freedom. + +A vigorous rubbing restored the circulation. A moment after he had +slipped off the bandage which bound his eyes, taken the gag out of +his mouth, and cut the cords round his ankles with his knife. An +American who has not a bowie-knife in his pocket is no longer an +American. + +But if Phil Evans had regained the power of moving and speaking, that +was all. His eyes were useless to him--at present at any rate. The +prison was quite dark, though about six feet above him a feeble gleam +of light came in through a kind of loophole. + +As may be imagined, Phil Evans did not hesitate to at once set free +his rival. A few cuts with the bowie settled the knots which bound +him foot and hand. + +Immediately Uncle Prudent rose to his knees and snatched away his +bandage and gag. + +"Thanks," said he, in stifled voice. + +"Phil Evans?" + +"Uncle Prudent?" + +"Here we are no longer the president and secretary of the Weldon +Institute. We are adversaries no more." + +"You are right," answered Evans. "We are now only two men agreed to +avenge ourselves on a third whose attempt deserves severe reprisals. +And this third is--" + +"Robur!" + +"It is Robur!" + +On this point both were absolutely in accord. On this subject there +was no fear of dispute. + +"And your servant?" said Phil Evans, pointing to Frycollin, who was +puffing like a grampus. "We must set him free." + +"Not yet," said Uncle Prudent. "He would overwhelm us with his +jeremiads, and we have something else to do than abuse each other." + +"What is that, Uncle Prudent?" + +"To save ourselves if possible." + +"You are right, even if it is impossible." + +"And even if it is impossible." + +There could be no doubt that this kidnapping was due to Robur, for an +ordinary thief would have relieved them of their watches, jewelry, +and purses, and thrown their bodies into the Schuyllkill with a good +gash in their throats instead of throwing them to the bottom of--Of +what? That was a serious question, which would have to be answered +before attempting an escape with any chance of success. + +"Phil Evans," began Uncle Prudent, "if, when we came away from our +meeting, instead of indulging in amenities to which we need not +recur, we had kept our eyes more open, this would not have happened. +Had we remained in the streets of Philadelphia there would have been +none of this. Evidently Robur foresaw what would happen at the club, +and had placed some of his bandits on guard at the door. When we left +Walnut Street these fellows must have watched us and followed us, and +when we imprudently ventured into Fairmount Park they went in for +their little game." + +"Agreed," said Evans. "We were wrong not to go straight home." + +"It is always wrong not to be right," said Prudent. + +Here a long-drawn sigh escaped from the darkest corner of the prison. +"What is that?" asked Evans. + +"Nothing! Frycollin is dreaming." + +"Between the moment we were seized a few steps out into the clearing +and the moment we were thrown in here only two minutes elapsed. It is +thus evident that those people did not take us out of Fairmount Park." + +"And if they had done so we should have felt we were being moved." + +"Undoubtedly; and consequently we must be in some vehicle, perhaps +some of those long prairie wagons, or some show-caravan--" + +"Evidently! For if we were in a boat moored on the Schuyllkill we +should have noticed the movement due to the current--" + +"That is so; and as we are still in the clearing, I think that now is +the time to get away, and we can return later to settle with this +Robur--" + +"And make him pay for this attempt on the liberty of two citizens of +the United States." + +"And he shall pay pretty dearly!" + +"But who is this man? Where does he come from? Is he English, or +German, or French--" + +"He is a scoundrel, that is enough!" said Uncle Prudent. "Now to +work." And then the two men, with their hands stretched out and their +fingers wide apart, began to feel round the walls to find a joint or +crack. + +Nothing. Nothing; not even at the door. It was closely shut and it +was impossible to shoot back the lock. All that could be done was to +make a hole, and escape through the hole. It remained to be seen if +the knives could cut into the walls. + +"But whence comes this never-ending rustling?" asked Evans, who was +much impressed at the continuous f-r-r-r. + +"The wind, doubtless," said Uncle Prudent. + +"The wind! But I thought the night was quite calm." + +"So it was. But if it isn't the wind, what can it be?" + +Phil Evans got out the best blade of his knife and set to work on the +wall near the door. Perhaps he might make a hole which would enable +him to open it from the outside should it be only bolted or should +the key have been left in the lock. He worked away for some minutes. +The only result was to nip up his knife, to snip off its point, and +transform what was left of the blade into a saw. + +"Doesn't it cut?" asked Uncle Prudent. + +"No." + +"Is the wall made of sheet iron?" + +"No; it gives no metallic sound when you hit it." + +"Is it of ironwood?" + +"No; it isn't iron and it isn't wood." + +"What is it then?" + +"Impossible to say. But, anyhow, steel doesn't touch it." Uncle +Prudent, in a sudden outburst of fury, began to rave and stamp on the +sonorous planks, while his hands sought to strangle an imaginary +Robur. + +"Be calm, Prudent, be calm! You have a try." + +Uncle Prudent had a try, but the bowie-knife could do nothing against +a wall which its best blades could not even scratch. The wall seemed +to be made of crystal. + +So it became evident that all flight was impracticable except through +the door, and for a time they must resign themselves to their fate-- +not a very pleasant thing for the Yankee temperament, and very much +to the disgust of these eminently practical men. But this conclusion +was not arrived at without many objurgations and loud-sounding +phrases hurled at this Robur--who, from what had been seen of him at +the Weldon Institute, was not the sort of man to trouble himself much +about them. + +Suddenly Frycollin began to give unequivocal signs of being unwell. +He began to writhe in a most lamentable fashion, either with cramp in +his stomach or in his limbs; and Uncle Prudent, thinking it his duty +to put an end to these gymnastics, cut the cords that bound him. + +He had cause to be sorry for it. Immediately there was poured forth +an interminable litany, in which the terrors of fear were mingled +with the tortures of hunger. Frycollin was no worse in his brain than +in his stomach, and it would have been difficult to decide to which +organ the chief cause of the trouble should be assigned. + +"Frycollin!" said Uncle Prudent. + +"Master Uncle! Master Uncle!" answered the Negro between two of his +lugubrious howls. + +"It is possible that we are doomed to die of hunger in this prison, +but we have made up our minds not to succumb until we have availed +ourselves of every means of alimentation to prolong our lives." + +"To eat me?" exclaimed Frycollin. + +"As is always done with a Negro under such circumstances! So you had +better not make yourself too obvious--" + +"Or you'll have your bones picked!" said Evans. + +And as Frycollin saw he might be used to prolong two existences more +precious than his own, he contented himself thenceforth with groaning +in quiet. + +The time went on and all attempts to force the door or get through +the wall proved fruitless. What the wall was made of was impossible +to say. It was not metal; it was not wood; it was not stone, And all +the cell seemed to be made of the same stuff. When they stamped on +the floor it gave a peculiar sound that Uncle Prudent found it +difficult to describe; the floor seemed to sound hollow, as if it was +not resting directly on the ground of the clearing. And the +inexplicable f-r-r-r-r seemed to sweep along below it. All of which +was rather alarming. + +"Uncle Prudent," said Phil Evans. + +"Well?" + +"Do you think our prison has been moved at all?" + +"Not that I know of." + +"Because when we were first caught I distinctly remember the fresh +fragrance of the grass and the resinous odor of the park trees. While +now, when I take in a good sniff of the air, it seems as though all +that had gone." + +"So it has." + +"Why?" + +"We cannot say why unless we admit that the prison has moved; and I +say again that if the prison had moved, either as a vehicle on the +road or a boat on the stream, we should have felt it." + +Here Frycollin gave vent to a long groan, which might have been taken +for his last had he not followed it up with several more. + +"I expect Robur will soon have us brought before him," said Phil +Evans. + +"I hope so," said Uncle Prudent. "And I shall tell him--" + +"What?" + +"That he began by being rude and ended in being unbearable." + +Here Phil Evans noticed that day was beginning to break. A gleam, +still faint, filtered through the narrow window opposite the door. It +ought thus to be about four o'clock in the morning for it is at that +hour in the month of June in this latitude that the horizon of +Philadelphia is tinged by the first rays of the dawn. + +But when Uncle Prudent sounded his repeater--which was a masterpiece +from his colleague's factory--the tiny gong only gave a quarter to +three, and the watch had not stopped. + +"That is strange!" said Phil Evans. "At a quarter to three it ought +still to be night." + +"Perhaps my watch has got slow," answered Uncle Prudent. + +"A watch of the Wheelton Watch Company!" exclaimed Phil Evans. + +Whatever might be the reason, there was no doubt that the day was +breaking. Gradually the window became white in the deep darkness of +the cell. However, if the dawn appeared sooner than the fortieth +parallel permitted, it did not advance with the rapidity peculiar to +lower latitudes. This was another observation--of Uncle Prudent's - +a new inexplicable phenomenon. + +"Couldn't we get up to the window and see where we are?" + +"We might," said Uncle Prudent. "Frycollin, get up!" + +The Negro arose. + +"Put your back against the wall," continued Prudent, "and you, Evans, +get on his shoulders while I buttress him up." + +"Right!" said Evans. + +An instant afterwards his knees were on Frycollin's shoulders, and +his eyes were level with the window. The window was not of lenticular +glass like those on shipboard, but was a simple flat pane. It was +small, and Phil Evans found his range of view was much limited. + +"Break the glass," said Prudent, "and perhaps you will be able to see +better." + +Phil Evans gave it a sharp knock with the handle of his bowie-knife. +It gave back a silvery sound, but it did not break. + +Another and more violent blow. The same result. + +"It is unbreakable glass!" said Evans. + +It appeared as though the pane was made of glass toughened on the +Siemens system--as after several blows it remained intact. + +The light had now increased, and Phil Evans could see for some +distance within the radius allowed by the frame. + +"What do you see?" asked Uncle Prudent. + +"Nothing." + +"What? Not any trees?" + +"No." + +"Not even the top branches?" + +"No." + +"Then we are not in the clearing?: + +"Neither in the clearing nor in the park." + +"Don't you see any roofs of houses or monuments?" said Prudent, whose +disappointment and anger were increasing rapidly. + +"No." + +"What! Not a flagstaff, nor a church tower, nor a chimney?" + +"Nothing but space." + +As he uttered the words the door opened. A man appeared on the +threshold. It was Robur. + +"Honorable balloonists" he said, in a serious voice, "you are now +free to go and come as you like." + +"Free!" exclaimed Uncle Prudent. + +"Yes--within the limits of the "Albatross!" + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans rushed out of their prison. And what did +they see? + +Four thousand feet below them the face of a country they sought in +vain to recognize. + + + + + +Chapter VII + +ON BOARD THE ALBATROSS + + + + +"When will man cease to crawl in the depths to live in the azure and +quiet of the sky?" + +To this question of Camille Flammarion's the answer is easy. It will +be when the progress of mechanics has enabled us to solve the problem +of aviation. And in a few years--as we can foresee--a more +practical utilization of electricity will do much towards that +solution. + +In 1783, before the Montgolfier brothers had built their +fire-balloon, and Charles, the physician, had devised his first +aerostat, a few adventurous spirits had dreamt of the conquest of +space by mechanical means. The first inventors did not think of +apparatus lighter than air, for that the science of their time did +not allow them to imagine. It was to contrivances heavier than air, +to flying machines in imitation of the birds, that they trusted to +realize aerial locomotion. + +This was exactly what had been done by that madman Icarus, the son of +Daedalus, whose wings, fixed together with wax, had melted as they +approached the sun. + +But without going back to mythological times, without dwelling on +Archytas of Tarentum, we find, in the works of Dante of Perugia, of +Leonardo da Vinci and Guidotti, the idea of machines made to move +through the air. Two centuries and a half afterwards inventors began +to multiply. In 1742 the Marquis de Bacqueville designed a system of +wings, tried it over the Seine, and fell and broke his arm. In 1768 +Paucton conceived the idea of an apparatus with two screws, +suspensive and propulsive. In 1781 Meerwein, the architect of the +Prince of Baden, built an orthopteric machine, and protested against +the tendency of the aerostats which had just been invented. In 1784 +Launoy and Bienvenu had maneuvered a helicopter worked by springs. In +1808 there were the attempts at flight by the Austrian Jacques Degen. +In 1810 came the pamphlet by Denian of Nantes, in which the +principles of "heavier than air" are laid down. From 1811 to 1840 +came the inventions and researches of Derblinger, Vigual, Sarti, +Dubochet, and Cagniard de Latour. In 1842 we have the Englishman +Henson, with his system of inclined planes and screws worked by +steam. In 1845 came Cossus and his ascensional screws. In 1847 came +Camille Vert and his helicopter made of birds' wings. in 1852 came +Letur with his system of guidable parachutes, whose trial cost him +his life; and in the same year came Michel Loup with his plan of +gliding through the air on four revolving wings. In 1853 came +Béléguic and his aeroplane with the traction screws, +Vaussin-Chardannes with his guidable kite, and George Cauley with his +flying machines driven by gas. From 1854 to 1863 appeared Joseph +Pline with several patents for aerial systems. Bréant, Carlingford, +Le Bris, Du Temple, Bright, whose ascensional screws were +left-handed; Smythies, Panafieu, Crosnier, &c. At length, in 1863, +thanks to the efforts of Nadar, a society of "heavier than air" was +founded in Paris. There the inventors could experiment with the +machines, of which many were patented. Ponton d'Amécourt and his +steam helicopter, La Landelle and his system of combining screws with +inclined planes and parachutes, Louvrié and his aeroscape, Esterno +and his mechanical bird, Groof and his apparatus with wings worked by +levers. The impetus was given, inventors invented, calculators +calculated all that could render aerial locomotion practicable. +Bourcart, Le Bris, Kaufmann, Smyth, Stringfellow, Prigent, Danjard, +Pomés and De la Pauze, Moy, Pénaud, Jobert, Haureau de Villeneuve, +Achenbach, Garapon, Duchesne, Danduran, Pariesel, Dieuaide, +Melkiseff, Forlanini, Bearey, Tatin, Dandrieux, Edison, some with +wings or screws, others with inclined planes, imagined, created, +constructed, perfected, their flying machines, ready to do their +work, once there came to be applied to thereby some inventor a motor +of adequate power and excessive lightness. + +This list may be a little long, but that will be forgiven, for it is +necessary to give the various steps in the ladder of aerial +locomotion, on the top of which appeared Robur the Conqueror. Without +these attempts, these experiments of his predecessors, how could the +inquirer have conceived so perfect an apparatus? And though he had +but contempt for those who obstinately worked away in the direction +of balloons, he held in high esteem all those partisans of "heavier +than air," English, American, Italian, Austrian, French--and +particularly French--whose work had been perfected by him, and led +him to design and then to build this flying engine known as the +"Albatross," which he was guiding through the currents of the +atmosphere. + +"The pigeon flies!" had exclaimed one of the most persistent adepts +at aviation. + +"They will crowd the air as they crowd the earth!" said one of his +most excited partisans. + +"From the locomotive to the aeromotive!" shouted the noisiest of all, +who had turned on the trumpet of publicity to awaken the Old and New +Worlds. + +Nothing, in fact, is better established, by experiment and +calculation, than that the air is highly resistant. A circumference +of only a yard in diameter in the shape of a parachute can not only +impede descent in air, but can render it isochronous. That is a fact. + +It is equally well known that when the speed is great the work of the +weight varies in almost inverse ratio to the square of the speed, and +therefore becomes almost insignificant. + +It is also known that as the weight of a flying animal increases, the +less is the proportional increase in the surface beaten by the wings +in order to sustain it, although the motion of the wings becomes +slower. + +A flying machine must therefore be constructed to take advantage of +these natural laws, to imitate the bird, "that admirable type of +aerial locomotion," according to Dr. Marcy, of the Institute of +France. + +In short the contrivances likely to solve the problem are of three +kinds:-- + +1. Helicopters or spiralifers, which are simply screws with vertical +axes. + +2. Ornithopters, machines which endeavour to reproduce the natural +flight of birds. + +3. Aeroplanes, which are merely inclined planes like kites, but towed +or driven by screws. + +Each of these systems has had and still has it partisans obstinately +resolved to give way in not the slightest particular. However, Robur, +for many reasons, had rejected the two first. + +The ornithopter, or mechanical bird, offers certain advantages, no +doubt. That the work and experiments of M. Renard in 1884 have +sufficiently proved. But, as has been said, it is not necessary to +copy Nature servilely. Locomotives are not copied from the hare, nor +are ships copied from the fish. To the first we have put wheels which +are not legs; to the second we have put screws which are not fins. +And they do not do so badly. Besides, what is this mechanical +movement in the flight of birds, whose action is so complex? Has not +Doctor Marcy suspected that the feathers open during the return of +the wings so as to let the air through them? And is not that rather a +difficult operation for an artificial machine? + +On the other hand, aeroplanes have given many good results. Screws +opposing a slanting plane to the bed of air will produce an +ascensional movement, and the models experimented on have shown that +the disposable weight, that is to say the weight it is possible to +deal with as distinct from that of the apparatus, increases with the +square of the speed. Herein the aeroplane has the advantage over the +aerostat even when the aerostat is furnished with the means of +locomotion. + +Nevertheless Robur had thought that the simpler his contrivance the +better. And the screws--the Saint Helices that had been thrown in +his teeth at the Weldon Institute--had sufficed for all the needs of +his flying machine. One series could hold it suspended in the air, +the other could drive it along under conditions that were marvelously +adapted for speed and safety. + +If the ornithopter--striking like the wings of a bird--raised +itself by beating the air, the helicopter raised itself by striking +the air obliquely, with the fins of the screw as it mounted on an +inclined plane. These fins, or arms, are in reality wings, but wings +disposed as a helix instead of as a paddle wheel. The helix advances +in the direction of its axis. Is the axis vertical? Then it moves +vertically. Is the axis horizontal? Then it moves horizontally. + +The whole of Robur's flying apparatus depended on these two +movements, as will be seen from the following detailed description, +which can be divided under three heads--the platform, the engines of +suspension and propulsion, and the machinery. + +Platform.--This was a framework a hundred feet long and twelve wide, +a ship's deck in fact, with a projecting prow. Beneath was a hull +solidly built, enclosing the engines, stores, and provisions of all +sorts, including the watertanks. Round the deck a few light uprights +supported a wire trellis that did duty for bulwarks. On the deck were +three houses, whose compartments were used as cabins for the crew, or +as machine rooms. In the center house was the machine which drove the +suspensory helices, in that forward was the machine that drove the +bow screw, in that aft was the machine that drove the stern screw. In +the bow were the cook's galley and the crew's quarters; in the stern +were several cabins, including that of the engineer, the saloon, and +above them all a glass house in which stood the helmsman, who steered +the vessel by means of a powerful rudder. All these cabins were +lighted by port-holes filled with toughened glass, which has ten +times the resistance of ordinary glass. Beneath the hull was a system +of flexible springs to ease off the concussion when it became +advisable to land. + +Engines of suspension and propulsion.--Above the deck rose +thirty-seven vertical axes, fifteen along each side, and seven, more +elevated, in the centre. The "Albatross" might be called a clipper +with thirty-seven masts. But these masts instead of sails bore each +two horizontal screws, not very large in spread or diameter, but +driven at prodigious speed. Each of these axes had its own movement +independent of the rest, and each alternate one spun round in a +different direction from the others, so as to avoid any tendency to +gyration. Hence the screws as they rose on the vertical column of air +retained their equilibrium by their horizontal resistance. +Consequently the apparatus was furnished with seventy-four suspensory +screws, whose three branches were connected by a metallic circle +which economized their motive force. In front and behind, mounted on +horizontal axes, were two propelling screws, each with four arms. +These screws were of much larger diameter than the suspensory ones, +but could be worked at quite their speed. In fact, the vessel +combined the systems of Cossus, La Landelle, and Ponton d'Amécourt, as +perfected by Robur. But it was in the choice and application of his +motive force that he could claim to be an inventor. + +Machinery.--Robur had not availed himself of the vapor of water or +other liquids, nor compressed air and other mechanical motion. He +employed electricity, that agent which one day will be the soul of +the industrial world. But he required no electro-motor to produce it. +All he trusted to was piles and accumulators. What were the elements +of these piles, and what were the acids he used, Robur only knew. And +the construction of the accumulators was kept equally secret. Of what +were their positive and negative plates? None can say. The engineer +took good care--and not unreasonably--to keep his secret +unpatented. One thing was unmistakable, and that was that the piles +were of extraordinary strength; and the accumulators left those of +Faure-Sellon-Volckmar very far behind in yielding currents whose +ampères ran into figures up to then unknown. Thus there was obtained +a power to drive the screws and communicate a suspending and +propelling force in excess of all his requirements under any +circumstances. + +But--it is as well to repeat it--this belonged entirely to Robur. +He kept it a close secret. And, if the president and secretary of the +Weldon Institute did not happen to discover it, it would probably be +lost to humanity. + +It need not be shown that the apparatus possessed sufficient +stability. Its center of gravity proved that at once. There was no +danger of its making alarming angles with the horizontal, still less +of its capsizing. + +And now for the metal used by Robur in the construction of his +aeronef--a name which can be exactly applied to the "Albatross." +What was this material, so hard that the bowie-knife of Phil Evans +could not scratch it, and Uncle Prudent could not explain its nature? +Simply paper! + +For some years this fabrication had been making considerable +progress. Unsized paper, with the sheets impregnated with dextrin and +starch and squeezed in hydraulic presses, will form a material as +hard as steel. There are made of it pulleys, rails, and wagon-wheels, +much more solid than metal wheels, and far lighter. And it was this +lightness and solidity which Robur availed himself of in building his +aerial locomotive. Everything--framework, hull, houses, cabins-- +were made of straw-paper turned hard as metal by compression, and-- +what was not to be despised in an apparatus flying at great heights-- +incombustible. The different parts of the engines and the screws were +made of gelatinized fiber, which combined in sufficient degree +flexibility with resistance. This material could be used in every +form. It was insoluble in most gases and liquids, acids or essences, +to say nothing of its insulating properties, and it proved most +valuable in the electric machinery of the "Albatross." + +Robur, his mate Tom Turner, an engineer and two assistants, two +steersman and a cook--eight men all told--formed the crew of the +aeronef, and proved ample for all the maneuvers required in aerial +navigation. There were arms of the chase and of war; fishing +appliances; electric lights; instruments of observation, compasses, +and sextants for checking the course, thermometers for studying the +temperature, different barometers, some for estimating the heights +attained, others for indicating the variations of atmospheric +pressure; a storm-glass for forecasting tempests; a small library; a +portable printing press; a field-piece mounted on a pivot; breech +loading and throwing a three-inch shell; a supply of powder, bullets, +dynamite cartridges; a cooking-stove, warmed by currents from the +accumulators; a stock of preserves, meats and vegetables sufficient +to last for months. Such were the outfit and stores of the aeronef-- +in addition to the famous trumpet. + +There was besides a light india-rubber boat, insubmersible, which +could carry eight men on the surface of a river, a lake, or a calm +sea. + +But were there any parachutes in case of accident? No. Robur did not +believe in accidents of that kind. The axes of the screws were +independent. The stoppage of a few would not affect the motion of the +others; and if only half were working, the "Albatross" could still +keep afloat in her natural element. + +"And with her," said Robur to his guests--guests in spite of +themselves--"I am master of the seventh part of the world, larger +than Africa, Oceania, Asia, America, and Europe, this aerial Icarian +sea, which millions of Icarians will one day people." + + + + + +Chapter VIII + +THE BALLOONISTS REFUSE TO BE CONVINCED + + + + +The President of the Weldon Institute was stupefied; his companion +was astonished. But neither of them would allow any of their very +natural amazement to be visible. + +The valet Frycollin did not conceal his terror at finding himself +borne through space on such a machine, and he took no pains whatever +to hide it. + +The suspensory screws were rapidly spinning overhead. Fast as they +were going, they would have to triple their speed if the "Albatross" +was to ascend to higher zones. The two propellers were running very +easily and driving the ship at about eleven knots an hour. + +As they leaned over the rail the passengers of the "Albatross" could +perceive a long sinuous liquid ribbon which meandered like a mere +brook through a varied country amid the gleaming of many lagoons +obliquely struck by the rays of the sun. The brook was a river, one +of the most important in that district. Along its left bank was a +chain of mountains extending out of sight. + +"And will you tell us where we are?" asked Uncle Prudent, in a voice +tremulous with anger. + +"I have nothing to teach you," answered Robur. + +"And will you tell us where we are going?" asked Phil Evans. + +"Through space." + +"And how long will that last?" + +"Until it ends." + +"Are we going round the world?" asked Phil Evans ironically. + +"Further than that," said Robur. + +"And if this voyage does not suit us?" asked Uncle Prudent. + +"It will have to suit you." + +That is a foretaste of the nature of the relations that were to +obtain between the master of the "Albatross" and his guests, not to +say his prisoners. Manifestly he wished to give them time to cool +down, to admire the marvelous apparatus which was bearing them +through the air, and doubtless to compliment the inventor. And so he +went off to the other end of the deck, leaving them to examine the +arrangement of the machinery and the management of the ship or to +give their whole attention to the landscape which was unrolling +beneath them. + +"Uncle Prudent," said Evans, "unless I am mistaken we are flying over +Central Canada. That river in the northwest is the St. Lawrence. That +town we are leaving behind is Quebec." + +It was indeed the old city of Champlain, whose zinc roofs were +shining like reflectors in the sun. The "Albatross" must thus have +reached the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, and thus was +explained the premature advance of the day with the abnormal +prolongation of the dawn. + +"Yes," said Phil Evans, "There is the town in its amphitheater, the +hill with its citadel, the Gibraltar of North America. There are the +cathedrals. There is the Custom House with its dome surmounted by the +British flag!" + +Phil Evans had not finished before the Canadian city began to slip +into the distance. + +The clipper entered a zone of light clouds, which gradually shut off +a view of the ground. + +Robur, seeing that the president and secretary of the Weldon +Institute had directed their attention to the external arrangements +of the "Albatross," walked up to them and said: "Well, gentlemen, do +you believe in the possibility of aerial locomotion by machines +heavier than air?" + +It would have been difficult not to succumb to the evidence. But +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans did not reply. + +"You are silent," continued the engineer. "Doubtless hunger makes you +dumb! But if I undertook to carry you through the air, I did not +think of feeding you on such a poorly nutritive fluid. Your first +breakfast is waiting for you." + +As Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans were feeling the pangs of hunger +somewhat keenly they did not care to stand upon ceremony. A meal +would commit them to nothing; and when Robur put them back on the +ground they could resume full liberty of action. + +And so they followed into a small dining-room in the aftermost house. +There they found a well-laid table at which they could take their +meals during the voyage. There were different preserves; and, among +other things, was a sort of bread made of equal parts of flour and +meat reduced to powder and worked together with a little lard, which +boiled in water made excellent soup; and there were rashers of fried +ham, and for drink there was tea. + +Neither had Frycollin been forgotten. He was taken forward and there +found some strong soup made of this bread. In truth he had to be very +hungry to eat at all, for his jaws shook with fear, and almost +refused to work. "If it was to break! If it was to break!" said the +unfortunate Negro. Hence continual faintings. Only think! A fall of +over four thousand feet, which would smash him to a jelly! + +An hour afterwards Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans appeared on the deck. +Robur was no longer there. At the stem the man at the wheel in his +glass cage, his eyes fixed on the compass, followed imperturbably +without hesitation the route given by the engineer. + +As for the rest of the crew, breakfast probably kept them from their +posts. An assistant engineer, examining the machinery, went from one +house to the other. + +If the speed of the ship was great the two colleagues could only +estimate it imperfectly, for the "Albatross" had passed through the +cloud zone which the sun showed some four thousand feet below. + +"I can hardly believe it," said Phil Evans. + +"Don't believe it!" said Uncle Prudent. And going to the bow they +looked out towards the western horizon. + +"Another town," said Phil Evans. + +"Do you recognize it?" + +"Yes! It seems to me to be Montreal." + +"Montreal? But we only left Quebec two hours ago!" + +"That proves that we must be going at a speed of seventy-five miles +an hour." + +Such was the speed of the aeronef; and if the passengers were not +inconvenienced by it, it was because they were going with the wind. +In a calm such speed would have been difficult and the rate would +have sunk to that of an express. In a head-wind the speed would have +been unbearable. + +Phil Evans was not mistaken. Below the "Albatross" appeared Montreal, +easily recognizable by the Victoria Bridge, a tubular bridge thrown +over the St. Lawrence like the railway viaduct over the Venice +lagoon. Soon they could distinguish the town's wide streets, its huge +shops, its palatial banks, its cathedral, recently built on the model +of St. Peter's at Rome, and then Mount Royal, which commands the city +and forms a magnificent park. + +Luckily Phil Evans had visited the chief towns of Canada, and could +recognize them without asking Robur. After Montreal they passed +Ottawa, whose falls, seen from above, looked like a vast cauldron in +ebullition, throwing off masses of steam with grand effect. + +"There is the Parliament House." + +And he pointed out a sort of Nuremburg toy planted on a hill top. +This toy with its polychrome architecture resembled the House of +Parliament in London much as the Montreal cathedral resembles St. +Peter's at Rome. But that was of no consequence; there could be no +doubt it was Ottawa. + +Soon the city faded off towards the horizon, and formed but a +luminous spot on the ground. + +It was almost two hours before Robur appeared. His mate, Tom Turner, +accompanied him. He said only three words. These were transmitted to +the two assistant engineers in the fore and aft engine-houses. At a +sign the helmsman changed the-direction of the "Albatross" a couple +of points to the southwest; at the same time Uncle Prudent and Phil +Evans felt that a greater speed had been given to the propellers. + +In fact, the speed had been doubled, and now surpassed anything that +had ever been attained by terrestrial Engines. Torpedo-boats do their +twenty-two knots an hour; railway trains do their sixty miles an +hour; the ice-boats on the frozen Hudson do their sixty-five miles an +hour; a machine built by the Patterson company, with a cogged wheel, +has done its eighty miles; and another locomotive between Trenton and +Jersey City has done its eighty-four. + +But the "Albatross," at full speed, could do her hundred and twenty +miles an hour, or 176 feet per second. This speed is that of the +storm which tears up trees by the roots. It is the mean speed of the +carrier pigeon, and is only surpassed by the flight of the swallow +(220 feet per second) and that of the swift (274 feet per second). + +In a word, as Robur had said, the "Albatross," by using the whole +force of her screws, could make the tour of the globe in two hundred +hours, or less than eight days. + +Is it necessary to say so? The phenomenon whose appearance had so +much puzzled the people of both worlds was the aeronef of the +engineer. The trumpet which blared its startling fanfares through the +air was that of the mate, Tom Turner. The flag planted on the chief +monuments of Europe, Asia, America, was the flag of Robur the +Conqueror and his "Albatross." + +And if up to then the engineer had taken many precautions against +being recognized, if by preference he traveled at night, clearing the +way with his electric lights, and during the day vanishing into the +zones above the clouds, he seemed now to have no wish to keep his +secret hidden. And if he had come to Philadelphia and presented +himself at the meeting of the Weldon Institute, was it not that they +might share in his prodigious discovery, and convince "ipso facto" +the most incredulous? We know how he had been received, and we see +what reprisals he had taken on the president and secretary of the +club. + +Again did Robur approach his prisoners, who affected to be in no way +surprised at what they saw, of what had succeeded in spite of them. +Evidently beneath the cranium of these two Anglo-Saxon heads there +was a thick crust of obstinacy, which would not be easy to remove. + +On his part, Robur did not seem to notice anything particular, and +coolly continued the conversation which he had begun two hours before. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "you ask yourselves doubtless if this +apparatus, so marvelously adapted for aerial locomotion, is +susceptible of receiving greater speed. It is not worth while to +conquer space if we cannot devour it. I wanted the air to be a solid +support to me, and it is. I saw that to struggle against the wind I +must be stronger than the wind, and I am. I had no need of sails to +drive me, nor oars nor wheels to push me, nor rails to give me a +faster road. Air is what I wanted, that was all. Air surrounds me as +it surrounds the submarine boat, and in it my propellers act like the +screws of a steamer. That is how I solved the problem of aviation. +That is what a balloon will never do, nor will any machine that is +lighter than air." + +Silence, absolute, on the part of the colleagues, which did not for a +moment disconcert the engineer. He contented himself with a +half-smile, and continued in his interrogative style, "Perhaps you +ask if to this power of the "Albatross" to move horizontally there is +added an equal power of vertical movement--in a word, if, when, we +visit the higher zones of the atmosphere, we can compete with an +aerostat? Well, I should not advise you to enter the "Go-Ahead" +against her!" + +The two colleagues shrugged their shoulders. That was probably what +the engineer was waiting for. + +Robur made a sign. The propelling screws immediately stopped, and +after running for a mile the "Albatross" pulled up motionless. + +At a second gesture from Robur the suspensory helices revolved at a +speed that can only be compared to that of a siren in acoustical +experiments. Their f-r-r-r-r rose nearly an octave in the scale of +sound, diminishing gradually in intensity as the air became more +rarified, and the machine rose vertically, like a lark singing his +song in space. + +"Master! Master!" shouted Frycollin. "See that it doesn't break!" + +A smile of disdain was Robur's only reply. In a few minutes the +"Albatross" had attained the height of 8,700 feet, and extended the +range of vision by seventy miles, the barometer having fallen 480 +millimeters. + +Then the "Albatross" descended. The diminution of the pressure in +high altitudes leads to the diminution of oxygen in the air, and +consequently in the blood. This has been the cause of several serious +accidents which have happened to aeronauts, and Robur saw no reason +to run any risk. + +The "Albatross" thus returned to the height she seemed to prefer, and +her propellers beginning again, drove her off to the southwest. + +"Now, sirs, if that is what you wanted you can reply." Then, leaning +over the rail, he remained absorbed in contemplation. + +When he raised his head the president and secretary of the Weldon +Institute stood by his side. + +"Engineer Robur," said Uncle Prudent, in vain endeavoring to control +himself, "we have nothing to ask about what you seem to believe, but +we wish to ask you a question which we think you would do well to +answer." + +"Speak." + +"By what right did you attack us in Philadelphia in Fairmount Park? +By what right did you shut us up in that prison? By what right have +you brought us against our will on board this flying machine?" + +"And by what right, Messieurs Balloonists, did you insult and +threaten me in your club in such a way that I am astonished I came +out of it alive?" + +"To ask is not to answer," said Phil Evans, "and I repeat, by what +right?" + +"Do you wish to know?" + +"If you please." + +"Well, by the right of the strongest!" + +"That is cynical." + +"But it is true." + +"And for how long, citizen engineer," asked Uncle Prudent, who was +nearly exploding, "for how long do you intend to exercise that right?" + +"How can you?" said Robur, ironically, "how can you ask me such a +question when you have only to cast down your eyes to enjoy a +spectacle unparalleled in the world?" + +The "Albatross" was then sweeping across the immense expanse of Lake +Ontario. She had just crossed the country so poetically described by +Cooper. Then she followed the southern shore and headed for the +celebrated river which pours into it the waters of Lake Erie, +breaking them to powder in its cataracts. + +In an instant a majestic sound, a roar as of the tempest, mounted +towards them and, as if a humid fog had been projected into the air, +the atmosphere sensibly freshened. Below were the liquid masses. They +seemed like an enormous flowing sheet of crystal amid a thousand +rainbows due to refraction as it decomposed the solar rays. The sight +was sublime. + +Before the falls a foot-bridge, stretching like a thread, united one +bank to the other. Three miles below was a suspension-bridge, across +which a train was crawling from the Canadian to the American bank. + +"The falls of Niagara!" exclaimed Phil Evans. And as the exclamation +escaped him, Uncle Prudent was doing all could do to admire nothing +of these wonders. + +A minute afterwards the "Albatross" had crossed the river which +separates the United States from Canada, and was flying over the vast +territories of the West. + + + + + +Chapter IX + +ACROSS THE PRAIRIE + + + + +In one, of the cabins of the after-house Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +had found two excellent berths, with clean linen, change of clothes, +and traveling-cloaks and rugs. No Atlantic liner could have offered +them more comfort. If they did not sleep soundly it was that they did +not wish to do so, or rather that their very real anxiety prevented +them. In what adventure had they embarked? To what series of +experiments had they been invited? How would the business end? And +above all, what was Robur going to do with them? + +Frycollin, the valet, was quartered forward in a cabin adjoining that +of the cook. The neighborhood did not displease him; he liked to rub +shoulders with the great in this world. But if he finally went to +sleep it was to dream of fall after fall, of projections through +space, which made his sleep a horrible nightmare. + +However, nothing could be quieter than this journey through the +atmosphere, whose currents had grown weaker with the evening. Beyond +the rustling of the blades of the screws there was not a sound, +except now and then the whistle from some terrestrial locomotive, or +the calling of some animal. Strange instinct! These terrestrial +beings felt the aeronef glide over them, and uttered cries of terror +as it passed. On the morrow, the 14th of June, at five o'clock, Uncle +Prudent and Phil Evans were walking on the deck of the "Albatross." + +Nothing had changed since the evening; there was a lookout forward, +and the helmsman was in his glass cage. Why was there a look-out? Was +there any chance of collision with another such machine? Certainly +not. Robur had not yet found imitators. The chance of encountering an +aerostat gliding through the air was too remote to be regarded. In +any case it would be all the worse for the aerostat--the earthen pot +and the iron pot. The "Albatross" had nothing to fear from the +collision. + +But what could happen? The aeronef might find herself like a ship on +a lee shore if a mountain that could not be outflanked or passed +barred the way. These are the reefs of the air, and they have to be +avoided as a ship avoids the reefs of the sea. The engineer, it is +true, had given the course, and in doing so had taken into account +the altitude necessary to clear the summits of the high lands in the +district. But as the aeronef was rapidly nearing a mountainous +country, it was only prudent to keep a good lookout, in case some +slight deviation from the course became necessary. + +Looking at the country beneath them, Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +noticed a large lake, whose lower southern end the "Albatross" had +just reached. They concluded, therefore, that during the night the +whole length of Lake Erie had been traversed, and that, as they were +going due west, they would soon be over Lake Michigan. "There can be +no doubt of it," said Phil Evans, "and that group of roofs on the +horizon is Chicago." + +He was right. It was indeed the city from which the seventeen +railways diverge, the Queen of the West, the vast reservoir into +which flow the products of Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, and +all the States which form the western half of the Union. + +Uncle Prudent, through an excellent telescope he had found in his +cabin, easily recognized the principal buildings. His colleague +pointed out to him the churches and public edifices, the numerous +"elevators" or mechanical, granaries, and the huge Sherman Hotel, +whose windows seemed like a hundred glittering points on each of its +faces. + +"If that is Chicago," said Uncle Prudent, "it is obvious that we are +going farther west than is convenient for us if we are to return to +our starting-place." + +And, in fact, the "Albatross" was traveling in a straight line from +the Pennsylvania capital. + +But if Uncle Prudent wished to ask Robur to take him eastwards he +could not then do so. That morning the engineer did not leave his +cabin. Either he was occupied in some work, or else he was asleep, +and the two colleagues sat down to breakfast without seeing him. + +The speed was the same as that during last evening. The wind being +easterly the rate was not interfered with at all, and as the +thermometer only falls a degree centigrade for every seventy meters +of elevation the temperature was not insupportable. And so, in +chatting and thinking and waiting for the engineer, Uncle Prudent and +Phil Evans walked about beneath the forest of screws, whose gyratory +movement gave their arms the appearance of semi-diaphanous disks. + +The State of Illinois was left by its northern frontier in less than +two hours and a half; and they crossed the Father of Waters, the +Mississippi, whose double-decked steam-boats seemed no bigger than +canoes. Then the "Albatross" flew over Iowa after having sighted Iowa +City about eleven o'clock in the morning. + +A few chains of hills, "bluffs" as they are called, curved across the +face of the country trending from the south to the northwest, whose +moderate height necessitated no rise in the course of the aeronef. +Soon the bluffs gave place to the large plains of western Iowa and +Nebraska--immense prairies extending all the way to the foot of the +Rocky Mountains. Here and there were many rios, affluents or minor +affluents of the Missouri. On their banks were towns and villages, +growing more scattered as the "Albatross" sped farther west. + +Nothing particular happened during this day. Uncle Prudent and Phil +Evans were left entirely to themselves. They hardly noticed Frycollin +sprawling at full length in the bow, keeping his eyes shut so that he +could see nothing. And they were not attacked by vertigo, as might +have been expected. There was no guiding mark, and there was nothing +to cause the vertigo, as there would have been on the top of a lofty +building. The abyss has no attractive power when it is gazed at from +the car of a balloon or deck of an aeronef. It is not an abyss that +opens beneath the aeronaut, but an horizon that rises round him on +all sides like a cup. + +In a couple of hours the "Albatross" was over Omaha, on the Nebraskan +frontier--Omaha City, the real head of the Pacific Railway, that +long line of rails, four thousand five hundred miles in length, +stretching from New York to San Francisco. For a moment they could +see the yellow waters of the Missouri, then the town, with its houses +of wood and brick in the center of a rich basin, like a buckle in the +iron belt which clasps North America round the waist. Doubtless, +also, as the passengers in the aeronef could observe all these +details, the inhabitants of Omaha noticed the strange machine. Their +astonishment at seeing it gliding overhead could be no greater than +that of the president and secretary of the Weldon Institute at +finding themselves on board. + +Anyhow, the journals of the Union would be certain to notice the +fact. It would be the explanation of the astonishing phenomenon which +the whole world had been wondering over for some time. + +In an hour the "Albatross" had left Omaha and crossed the Platte +River, whose valley is followed by the Pacific Railway in its route +across the prairie. Things looked serious for Uncle Prudent and Phil +Evans. + +"It is serious, then, this absurd project of taking us to the +Antipodes." + +"And whether we like it or not!" exclaimed the other. + +"Robur had better take care! I am not the man to stand that sort of +thing." + +"Nor am I!" replied Phil Evans. "But be calm, Uncle Prudent, be calm." + +"Be calm!" + +"And keep your temper until it is wanted." + +By five o'clock they had crossed the Black Mountains covered with +pines and cedars, and the "Albatross" was over the appropriately +named Bad Lands of Nebraska--a chaos of ochre-colored hills, of +mountainous fragments fallen on the soil and broken in their fall. At +a distance these blocks take the most fantastic shapes. Here and +there amid this enormous game of knucklebones there could be traced +the imaginary ruins of medieval cities with forts and dungeons, +pepper-box turrets, and machicolated towers. And in truth these Bad +Lands are an immense ossuary where lie bleaching in the sun myriads +of fragments of pachyderms, chelonians, and even, some would have us +believe, fossil men, overwhelmed by unknown cataclysms ages and ages +ago. + +When evening came the whole basin of the Platte River had been +crossed, and the plain extended to the extreme limits of the horizon, +which rose high owing to the altitude of the "Albatross." + +During the night there were no more shrill whistles of locomotives or +deeper notes of the river steamers to trouble the quiet of the starry +firmament. Long bellowing occasionally reached the aeronef from the +herds of buffalo that roamed over the prairie in search of water and +pasturage. And when they ceased, the trampling of the grass under +their feet produced a dull roaring similar to the rushing of a flood, +and very different from the continuous f-r-r-r-r of the screws. + +Then from time to time came the howl of a wolf, a fox, a wild cat, or +a coyote, the "Canis latrans," whose name is justified by his +sonorous bark. + +Occasionally came penetrating odors of mint, and sage, and absinthe, +mingled with the more powerful fragrance of the conifers which rose +floating through the night air. + +At last came a menacing yell, which was not due to the coyote. It was +the shout of a Redskin, which no Tenderfoot would confound with the +cry of a wild beast. + + + + + +Chapter X + +WESTWARD--BUT WHITHER? + + + + +The next day, the 15th of June, about five o'clock in the morning, +Phil Evans left his cabin. Perhaps he would today have a chance of +speaking to Robur? Desirous of knowing why he had not appeared the +day before, Evans addressed himself to the mate, Tom Turner. + +Tom Turner was an Englishman of about forty-five, broad in the +shoulders and short in the legs, a man of iron, with one of those +enormous characteristic heads that Hogarth rejoiced in. + +"Shall we see Mr. Robur to-day?" asked Phil Evans. + +"I don't know," said Turner. + +"I need not ask if he has gone out." + +"Perhaps he has." + +"And when will he come back?" + +"When he has finished his cruise." + +And Tom went into his cabin. + +With this reply they had to be contented. Matters did not look +promising, particularly as on reference to the compass it appeared +that the "Albatross" was still steering southwest. + +Great was the contrast between the barren tract of the Bad Lands +passed over during the night and the landscape then unrolling beneath +them. + +The aeronef was now more than six hundred miles from Omaha, and over +a country which Phil Evans could not recognize because he had never +been there before. A few forts to keep the Indians in order crowned +the bluffs with their geometric lines, formed oftener of palisades +than walls. There were few villages, and few inhabitants, the country +differing widely from the auriferous lands of Colorado many leagues +to the south. + +In the distance a long line of mountain crests, in great confusion as +yet, began to appear. They were the Rocky Mountains. + +For the first time that morning Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans were +sensible of a certain lowness of temperature which was not due to a +change in the weather, for the sun shone in superb splendor. + +"It is because of the "Albatross" being higher in the air," said Phil +Evans. + +In fact the barometer outside the central deck-house had fallen 540 +millimeters, thus indicating an elevation of about 10,000 feet above +the sea. The aeronef was at this altitude owing to the elevation of +the ground. An hour before she had been at a height of 13,000 feet, +and behind her were mountains covered with perpetual snow. + +There was nothing Uncle Prudent and his companion could remember +which would lead them to discover where they were. During the night +the "Albatross" had made several stretches north and south at +tremendous speed, and that was what had put them out of their +reckoning. + +After talking over several hypotheses more or less plausible they +came to the conclusion that this country encircled with mountains +must be the district declared by an Act of Congress in March, 1872, +to be the National Park of the United States. A strange region it +was. It well merited the name of a park--a park with mountains for +hills, with lakes for ponds, with rivers for streamlets, and with +geysers of marvelous power instead of fountains. + +In a few minutes the "Albatross" glided across the Yellowstone River, +leaving Mount Stevenson on the right, and coasting the large lake +which bears the name of the stream. Great was the variety on the +banks of this basin, ribbed as they were with obsidian and tiny +crystals, reflecting the sunlight on their myriad facets. Wonderful +was the arrangement of the islands on its surface; magnificent were +the blue reflections of the gigantic mirror. And around the lake, one +of the highest in the globe, were multitudes of pelicans, swans, +gulls and geese, bernicles and divers. In places the steep banks were +clothed with green trees, pines and larches, and at the foot of the +escarpments there shot upwards innumerable white fumaroles, the vapor +escaping from the soil as from an enormous reservoir in which the +water is kept in permanent ebullition by subterranean fire. + +The cook might have seized the opportunity of securing an ample +supply of trout, the only fish the Yellowstone Lake contains in +myriads. But the "Albatross" kept on at such a height that there was +no chance of indulging in a catch which assuredly would have been +miraculous. + +In three quarters of an hour the lake was overpassed, and a little +farther on the last was seen of the geyser region, which rivals the +finest in Iceland. Leaning over the rail, Uncle Prudent and Phil +Evans watched the liquid columns which leaped up as though to furnish +the aeronef with a new element. There were the Fan, with the jets +shot forth in rays, the Fortress, which seemed to be defended by +waterspouts, the Faithful Friend, with her plume crowned with the +rainbows, the Giant, spurting forth a vertical torrent twenty feet +round and more than two hundred feet high. + +Robur must evidently have been familiar with this incomparable +spectacle, unique in the world, for he did not appear on deck. Was +it, then, for the sole pleasure of his guests that he had brought the +aeronef above the national domain? If so, he came not to receive +their thanks. He did not even trouble himself during the daring +passage of the Rocky Mountains, which the "Albatross" approached at +about seven o'clock. + +By increasing the speed of her wings, as a bird rising in its flight, +the "Albatross" would clear the highest ridges of the chain, and sink +again over Oregon or Utah, But the maneuver was unnecessary. The +passes allowed the barrier to be crossed without ascending for the +higher ridges. There are many of these canyons, or steep valleys, +more or less narrow, through which they could glide, such as Bridger +Gap, through which runs the Pacific Railway into the Mormon +territory, and others to the north and south of it. + +It was through one of these that the "Albatross" headed, after +slackening speed so as not to dash against the walls of the canyon. +The steersman, with a sureness of hand rendered more effective by the +sensitiveness of the rudder, maneuvered his craft as if she were a +crack racer in a Royal Victoria match. It was really extraordinary. +In spite of all the jealousy of the two enemies of "lighter than +air," they could not help being surprised at the perfection of this +engine of aerial locomotion. + +In less than two hours and a half they were through the Rockies, and +the "Albatross" resumed her former speed of sixty-two miles an hour. +She was steering southwest so as to cut across Utah diagonally as she +neared the ground. She had even dropped several hundred yards when +the sound of a whistle attracted the attention of Uncle Prudent and +Phil Evans. It was a train on the Pacific Railway on the road to Salt +Lake City. + +And then, in obedience to an order secretly given, the "Albatross" +dropped still lower so as to chase the train, which was going at full +speed. She was immediately sighted. A few heads showed themselves at +the doors of the cars. Then numerous passengers crowded the gangways. +Some did not hesitate to climb on the roof to get a better view of +the flying machine. Cheers came floating up through the air; but no +Robur appeared in answer to them. + +The "Albatross" continued her descent, slowing her suspensory screws +and moderating her speed so as not to leave the train behind. She +flew about it like an enormous beetle or a gigantic bird of prey. She +headed off, to the right and left, and swept on in front, and hung +behind, and proudly displayed her flag with the golden sun, to which +the conductor of the train replied by waving the Stars and Stripes. + +In vain the prisoners, in their desire to take advantage of the +opportunity, endeavored to make themselves known to those below. In +vain the president of the Weldon Institute roared forth at the top of +his voice, "I am Uncle Prudent of Philadelphia!" And the secretary +followed suit with, "I am Phil Evans, his colleague!" Their shouts +were lost in the thousand cheers with which the passengers greeted +the aeronef. + +Three or four of the crew of the "Albatross" had appeared on the +deck, and one of them, like sailors when passing a ship less speedy +than their own, held out a rope, an ironical way of offering to tow +them. + +And then the "Albatross" resumed her original speed, and in half an +hour the express was out of sight. About one o'clock there appeared a +vast disk, which reflected the solar rays as if it were an immense +mirror. + +"That ought to be the Mormon capital, Salt Lake City," said Uncle +Prudent. And so it was, and the disk was the roof of the Tabernacle, +where ten thousand saints can worship at their ease. This vast dome, +like a convex mirror, threw off the rays of the sun in all directions. + +It vanished like a shadow, and the "Albatross" sped on her way to the +southwest with a speed that was not felt, because it surpassed that +of the chasing wind. Soon she was in Nevada over the silver regions, +which the Sierra separates from the golden lands of California. + +"We shall certainly reach San Francisco before night," said Phil +Evans. + +"And then?" asked Uncle Prudent. + +It was six o'clock precisely when the Sierra Nevada was crossed by +the same pass as that taken by the railway. Only a hundred and eighty +miles then separated them from San Francisco, the Californian capital. + +At the speed the "Albatross" was going she would be over the dome by +eight o'clock. + +At this moment Robur appeared on deck. The colleagues walked up to +him. + +"Engineer Robur," said Uncle Prudent, "we are now on the very +confines of America! We think the time has come for this joke to end." + +"I never joke," said Robur. + +He raised his hand. The "Albatross" swiftly dropped towards the +ground, and at the same time such speed was given her as to drive the +prisoners into their cabin. As soon as the door was shut, Uncle +Prudent exclaimed, + +"I could strangle him!" + +"We must try to escape." said Phil Evans. + +"Yes; cost what it may!" + +A long murmur greeted their ears. It was the beating of the surf on +the seashore. It was the Pacific Ocean! + + + + + +Chapter XI + +THE WIDE PACIFIC + + + + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans had quite made up their minds to escape. +If they had not had to deal with the eight particularly vigorous men +who composed the crew of the aeronef they might have tried to succeed +by main force. But as they were only two--for Frycollin could only +be considered as a quantity of no importance--force was not to be +thought of. Hence recourse must be had to strategy as soon as the +"Albatross" again took the ground. Such was what Phil Evans +endeavored to impress on his irascible colleague, though he was in +constant fear of Prudent aggravating matters by some premature +outbreak. + +In any case the present was not the time to attempt anything of the +sort. The aeronef was sweeping along over the North Pacific. On the +following morning, that of June 16th, the coast was out of sight. And +as the coast curves off from Vancouver Island up to the Aleutians-- +belonging to that portion of America ceded by Russia to the United +States in 1867--it was highly probable that the "Albatross" would +cross it at the end of the curve, if her course remained unchanged. + +How long the night appeared to be to the two friends! How eager they +were to get out of their cabins! When they came on deck in the +morning the dawn had for some hours been silvering the eastern +horizon. They were nearing the June solstice, the longest day of the +year in the northern hemisphere, when there is hardly any night along +the sixtieth parallel. + +Either from custom or intention Robur was in no hurry to leave his +deck-house, When he came out this morning be contented himself with +bowing to his two guests as he passed them in the stern of the +aeronef. + +And now Frycollin ventured out of his cabin. His eyes red with +sleeplessness, and dazed in their look, he tottered along, like a man +whose foot feels it is not on solid ground. His first glance was at +the suspensory screws, which were working with gratifying regularity +without any signs of haste. That done, the Negro stumbled along to +the rail, and grasped it with both hands, so as to make sure of his +balance. Evidently he wished to view the country over which the +"Albatross" was flying at the height of seven hundred feet or more. + +At first he kept himself well back behind the rail. Then he shook it +to make sure it was firm; then he drew himself up; then he bent +forward; then he stretched out his head. It need not be said that +while he was executing these different maneuvers he kept his eyes +shut. At last he opened them. + +What a shout! And how quickly he fled! And how deeply his head sank +back into his shoulders! At the bottom of the abyss he had seen the +immense ocean. His hair would have risen on end--if it had not been +wool. + +"The sea! The sea!" he cried. And Frycollin would have fallen on the +deck had not the cook opened his arms to receive him. + +This cook was a Frenchman, and probably a Gascon, his name being +Francois Tapage. If he was not a Gascon he must in his infancy have +inhaled the breezes of the Garonne. How did this Francois Tapage find +himself in the service of the engineer? By what chain of accidents +had he become one of the crew of the "Albatross?" We can hardly say; +but in any case be spoke English like a Yankee. "Eh, stand up!" he +said, lifting the Negro by a vigorous clutch at the waist. + +"Master Tapage!" said the poor fellow, giving a despairing look at +the screws. + +"At your service, Frycollin." + +"Did this thing ever smash?" + +"No, but it will end by smashing." + +"Why? Why?" + +"Because everything must end. + +"And the sea is beneath us!" + +"If we are to fall, it is better to fall in the sea." + +"We shall be drowned." + +"We shall be drowned, but we shall not be smashed to a jelly." + +The next moment Frycollin was on all fours, creeping to the back of +his cabin. + +During this day the aeronef was only driven at moderate speed. She +seemed to skim the placid surface of the sea, which lay beneath. +Uncle Prudent and his companion remained in their cabin, so that they +did not meet with Robur, who walked about smoking alone or talking to +the mate. Only half the screws were working, yet that was enough to +keep the apparatus afloat in the lower zones of the atmosphere, + +The crew, as a change from the ordinary routine, would have +endeavored to catch a few fish had there been any sign of them; but +all that could be seen on the surface of the sea were a few of those +yellow-bellied whales which measure about eighty feet in length. +These are the most formidable cetaceans in the northern seas, and +whalers are very careful in attacking them, for their strength is +prodigious. However, in harpooning one of these whales, either with +the ordinary harpoon, the Fletcher fuse, or the javelin-bomb, of +which there was an assortment on board, there would have been danger +to the men of the "Albatross." + +But what was the good of such useless massacre? Doubtless to show off +the powers of the aeronef to the members of the Weldon Institute. And +so Robur gave orders for the capture of one of these monstrous +cetaceans. + +At the shout of "A whale! A whale!" Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +came out of their cabin. Perhaps there was a whaler in sight! In that +case all they had to do to escape from their flying prison was to +jump into the sea, and chance being picked up by the vessel. + +The crew were all on deck. "Shall we try, sir?" asked Tom Turner. + +"Yes," said Robur. + +In the engine-room the engineer and his assistant were at their posts +ready to obey the orders signaled to them. The "Albatross" dropped +towards the sea, and remained, about fifty feet above it. + +There was no ship in sight--of that the two colleagues soon assured +themselves--nor was there any land to be seen to which they could +swim, providing Robur made no attempt to recapture them. + +Several jets of water from the spout holes soon announced the +presence of the whales as they came to the surface to breathe. Tom +Turner and one of the men were in the bow. Within his reach was one +of those javelin-bombs, of Californian make, which are shot from an +arquebus and which are shaped as a metallic cylinder terminated by a +cylindrical shell armed with a shaft having a barbed point. Robur was +a little farther aft, and with his right hand signaled to the +engineers, while with his left, he directed the steersman. He thus +controlled the aeronef in every way, horizontally and vertically, and +it is almost impossible to conceive with what speed and precision the +"Albatross" answered to his orders. She seemed a living being, of +which he was the soul. + +"A whale! A whale!" shouted Tom Turner, as the back of a cetacean +emerged from the surface about four cable-lengths in front of the +"Albatross." + +The "Albatross" swept towards it, and when she was within sixty feet +of it she stopped dead. + +Tom Turner seized the arquebus, which was resting against a cleat on +the rail. He fired, and the projectile, attached to a long line, +entered the whale's body. The shell, filled with an explosive +compound, burst, and shot out a small harpoon with two branches, +which fastened into the animal's flesh. + +"Look out!" shouted Turner. + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans, much against their will, became greatly +interested in the spectacle. + +The whale, seriously wounded, gave the sea such a slap with his tail, +that the water dashed up over the bow of the aeronef. Then he plunged +to a great depth, while the line, which had been previously wetted in +a tub of water to prevent its taking fire, ran out like lightning. +When the whale rose to the surface he started off at full speed in a +northerly direction. + +It may be imagined with what speed the "Albatross" was towed in +pursuit. Besides, the propellers had been stopped. The whale was let +go as he would, and the ship followed him. Turner stood ready to cut +the line in case a fresh plunge should render this towing dangerous. + +For half an hour, and perhaps for a distance of six miles, the +"Albatross" was thus dragged along, but it was obvious that the whale +was tiring. Then, at a gesture from Robur the assistant engineers +started the propellers astern, so as to oppose a certain resistance +to the whale, who was gradually getting closer. + +Soon the aeronef was gliding about twenty-five feet above him. His +tail was beating the waters with incredible violence, and as he +turned over on his back an enormous wave was produced. + +Suddenly the whale turned up again, so as to take a header, as it +were, and then dived with such rapidity that Turner had barely time +to cut the line. + +The aeronef was dragged to the very surface of the water. A whirlpool +was formed where the animal had disappeared. A wave dashed up on to +the deck as if the aeronef were a ship driving against wind and tide. + +Luckily, with a blow of the hatchet the mate severed the line, and +the "Albatross," freed from her tug, sprang aloft six hundred feet +under the impulse of her ascensional screws. Robur had maneuvered his +ship without losing his coolness for a moment. + +A few minutes afterwards the whale returned to the surface--dead. +From every side the birds flew down on to the carcass, and their +cries were enough to deafen a congress. The "Albatross," without +stopping to share in the spoil, resumed her course to the west. + +In the morning of the 17th of June, at about six o'clock, land was +sighted on the horizon. This was the peninsula of Alaska, and the +long range of breakers of the Aleutian Islands. + +The "Albatross" glided over the barrier where the fur seals swarm +for the benefit of the Russo-American Company. An excellent business +is the capture of these amphibians, which are from six to seven feet +long, russet in color, and weigh from three hundred to four hundred +pounds. There they were in interminable files, ranged in line of +battle, and countable by thousands. + +Although they did not move at the passage of the "Albatross," it was +otherwise with the ducks, divers, and loons, whose husky cries filled +the air as they disappeared beneath the waves and fled terrified from +the aerial monster. + +The twelve hundred miles of the Behring Sea between the first of the +Aleutians and the extreme end of Kamtschatka were traversed during +the twenty-four hours of this day and the following night. Uncle +Prudent and Phil Evans found that here was no present chance of +putting their project of escape into execution. Flight was not to be +thought of among the deserts of Eastern Asia, nor on the coast of the +sea of Okhotsk. Evidently the "Albatross" was bound for Japan or +China, and there, although it was not perhaps quite safe to trust +themselves to the mercies of the Chinese or Japanese, the two +friends had made up their minds to run if the aeronef stopped. + +But would she stop? She was not like a bird which grows fatigued by +too long a flight, or like a balloon which has to descend for want of +gas. She still had food for many weeks and her organs were of +marvelous strength, defying all weakness and weariness. + +During the 18th of June she swept over the peninsula of Kamtschatka, +and during the day there was a glimpse of Petropaulovski and the +volcano of Kloutschew. Then she rose again to cross the Sea of +Okhotsk, running down by the Kurile Isles, which seemed to be a +breakwater pierced by hundreds of channels. On the 19th, in the +morning, the "Albatross" was over the strait of La Perouse between +Saghalien and Northern Japan, and had reached the mouth of the great +Siberian river, the Amoor. + +Then there came a fog so dense that the aeronef had to rise above it. +At the altitude she was there was no obstacle to be feared, no +elevated monuments to hinder her passage, no mountains against which +there was risk of being shattered in her flight. The country was only +slightly varied. But the fog was very disagreeable, and made +everything on board very damp. + +All that was necessary was to get above this bed of mist, which was +nearly thirteen hundred feet thick, and the ascensional screws being +increased in speed, the "Albatross" was soon clear of the fog and in +the sunny regions of the sky. Under these circumstances, Uncle +Prudent and Phil Evans would have found some difficulty in carrying +out their plan of escape, even admitting that they could leave the +aeronef. + +During the day, as Robur passed them he stopped for a moment, and +without seeming to attach any importance to what he said, addressed +them carelessly as follows: "Gentlemen, a sailing-ship or a steamship +caught in a fog from which it cannot escape is always much delayed. +It must not move unless it keeps its whistle or its horn going. It +must reduce its speed, and any instant a collision may be expected. +The "Albatross" has none of these things to fear. What does fog +matter to her? She can leave it when she chooses. The whole of space +is hers." And Robur continued his stroll without waiting for an +answer, and the puffs of his pipe were lost in the sky. + +"Uncle Prudent," said Phil Evans, "it seems that this astonishing +"Albatross" never has anything to fear." + +"That we shall see!" answered the president of the Weldon Institute. + +The fog lasted three days, the 19th, 20th, and 21st of June, with +regrettable persistence. An ascent had to be made to clear the +Japanese mountain of Fujiyama. When the curtain of mist was drawn +aside there lay below them an immense city, with palaces, villas, +gardens, and parks. Even without seeing it Robur had recognized it by +the barking of the innumerable dogs, the cries of the birds of prey, +and above all, by the cadaverous odor which the bodies of its +executed criminals gave off into space. + +The two colleagues were out on the deck while the engineer was taking +his observations in case he thought it best to continue his course +through the fog. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "I have no reason for concealing from you that +this town is Tokyo, the capital of Japan." + +Uncle Prudent did not reply. In the presence of the engineer he was +almost choked, as if his lungs were short of air. + +"This view of Tokyo," continued Robur, "is very curious." + +"Curious as it may be--" replied Phil Evans. + +"It is not as good as Peking?" interrupted the engineer. + +"That is what I think, and very shortly you shall have an opportunity +of judging." + +Impossible to be more agreeable! + +The "Albatross" then gliding southeast, had her course changed four +points, so as to head to the eastward. + + + + + +Chapter XII + +THROUGH THE HIMALAYAS + + + + +During the night the fog cleared off. There were symptoms of an +approaching typhoon--a rapid fall of the barometer, a disappearance +of vapor, large clouds of ellipsoid form clinging to a copper sky, +and, on the opposite horizon, long streaks of carmine on a +slate-colored field, with a large sector quite clear in the north. +Then the sea was smooth and calm and at sunset assumed a deep scarlet +hue. + +Fortunately the typhoon broke more to the south, and had no other +result than to sweep away the mist which had been accumulating during +the last three days. + +In an hour they had traversed the hundred and twenty-five miles of +the Korean strait, and while the typhoon was raging on the coast of +China, the "Albatross" was over the Yellow Sea. During the 22nd and +23rd she was over the Gulf of Pechelee, and on the 24th she was +ascending the valley of the Peiho on her way to the capital of the +Celestial Empire. + +Leaning over the rail, the two colleagues, as the engineer had told +them, could see distinctly the immense city, the wall which divides +it into two parts--the Manchu town, and the Chinese town--the +twelve suburbs which surround it, the large boulevards which radiate +from its center, the temples with their green and yellow roofs bathed +in the rising sun, the grounds surrounding the houses of the +mandarins; then in the middle of the Manchu town the eighteen hundred +acres of the Yellow town, with its pagodas, its imperial gardens, its +artificial lakes, its mountain of coal which towers above the +capital; and in the center of the Yellow town, like a square of +Chinese puzzle enclosed in another, the Red town, that is the +imperial palace, with all the peaks of its outrageous architecture. + +Below the "Albatross" the air was filled with a singular harmony. It +seemed to be a concert of Aeolian harps. In the air were a hundred +kites of different forms, made of sheets of palm-leaf, and having at +their upper end a sort of bow of light wood with a thin slip of +bamboo beneath. In the breath of the wind these slips, with all their +notes varied like those of a harmonicon, gave forth a most melancholy +murmuring. It seemed as though they were breathing musical oxygen. + +It suited Robur's whim to run close up to this aerial orchestra, and +the "Albatross" slowed as she glided through the sonorous waves which +the kites gave off through the atmosphere. + +But immediately an extraordinary effect was produced amongst the +innumerable population. Beatings of the tomtoms and sounds of other +formidable instruments of the Chinese orchestra, gun reports by the +thousand, mortars fired in hundreds, all were brought into play to +scare away the aeronef. Although the Chinese astronomers may have +recognized the aerial machine as the moving body that had given rise +to such disputes, it was to the Celestial million, from the humblest +tankader to the best-buttoned mandarin, an apocalyptical monster +appearing in the sky of Buddha. + +The crew of the "Albatross" troubled themselves very little about +these demonstrations. But the strings which held the kites, and were +tied to fixed pegs in the imperial gardens, were cut or quickly +hauled in; and the kites were either drawn in rapidly, sounding +louder as they sank, or else fell like a bird shot through both +wings, whose song ends with its last sigh. + +A noisy fanfare escaped from Tom Turner's trumpet, and drowned the +final notes of the aerial concert. It did not interrupt the +terrestrial fusillade. At last a shell exploded a few feet below the +"Albatross," and then she mounted into the inaccessible regions of +the sky. + +Nothing happened during the few following days of which the prisoners +could take advantage. The aeronef kept on her course to the +southwest, thereby showing that it was intended to take her to India. +Twelve hours after leaving Peking, Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +caught a glimpse of the Great Wall in the neighborhood of Chen-Si. +Then, avoiding the Lung Mountains, they passed over the valley of the +Hoangho and crossed the Chinese border on the Tibet side. + +Tibet consists of high table-lands without vegetation, with here and +there snowy peaks and barren ravines, torrents fed by glaciers, +depressions with glittering beds of salt, lakes surrounded by +luxurious forests, with icy winds sweeping over all. + +The barometer indicated an altitude of thirteen thousand feet above +the level of the sea. At that height the temperature, although it was +in the warmest months of the northern hemisphere, was only a little +above freezing. This cold, combined with the speed of the +"Albatross," made the voyage somewhat trying, and although the +friends had warm traveling wraps, they preferred to keep to their +cabin. + +It need hardly be said that to keep the aeronef in this rarefied +atmosphere the suspensory screws had to be driven at extreme speed. +But they worked with perfect regularity, and the sound of their wings +almost acted as a lullaby. + +During this day, appearing from below about the size of a carrier +pigeon, she passed over Garlock, a town of western Tibet, the capital +of the province of Cari Khorsum. + +On the 27th of June, Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans sighted an enormous +barrier, broken here and there by several peaks, lost in the snows +that bounded the horizon. + +Leaning against the fore-cabin, so as to keep their places +notwithstanding the speed of the ship, they watched these colossal +masses, which seemed to be running away from the aeronef. + +"The Himalayas, evidently," said Phil Evans; "and probably Robur is +going round their base, so as to pass into India." + +"So much the worse," answered Uncle Prudent. "On that immense +territory we shall perhaps be able to--" + +"Unless he goes round by Burma to the east, or Nepal to the west." + +"Anyhow, I defy him to go through them." + +"Indeed!" said a voice. + +The next day, the 28th of June, the "Albatross" was in front of the +huge mass above the province of Zang. On the other side of the chain +was the province of Nepal. These ranges block the road into India +from the north. The two northern ones, between which the aeronef was +gliding like a ship between enormous reefs are the first steps of the +Central Asian barrier. The first was the Kuen Lung, the other the +Karakorum, bordering the longitudinal valley parallel to the +Himalayas, from which the Indus flows to the west and the +Brahmapootra to the east. + +What a superb orographical system! More than two hundred summits have +been measured, seventeen of which exceed twenty-five thousand feet. +In front of the "Albatross," at a height of twenty-nine thousand +feet, towered Mount Everest. To the right was Dhawalagiri, reaching +twenty-six thousand eight hundred feet, and relegated to second place +since the measurement of Mount Everest. + +Evidently Robur did not intend to go over the top of these peaks; but +probably he knew the passes of the Himalayas, among others that of +Ibi Ganim, which the brothers Schlagintweit traversed in 1856 at a +height of twenty-two thousand feet. And towards it he went. + +Several hours of palpitation, becoming quite painful, followed; and +although the rarefaction of the air was not such as to necessitate +recourse being had to the special apparatus for renewing oxygen in +the cabins, the cold was excessive. + +Robur stood in the bow, his sturdy figure wrapped in a great-coat. He +gave the orders, while Tom Turner was at the helm. The engineer kept +an attentive watch on his batteries, the acid in which fortunately +ran no risk of congelation. The screws, running at the full strength +of the current, gave forth a note of intense shrillness in spite of +the trifling density of the air. The barometer showed twenty-three +thousand feet in altitude. + +Magnificent was the grouping of the chaos of mountains! Everywhere +were brilliant white summits. There were no lakes, but glaciers +descending ten thousand feet towards the base. There was no herbage, +only a few phanerogams on the limit of vegetable life. Down on the +lower flanks of the range were splendid forests of pines and cedars. +Here were none of the gigantic ferns and interminable parasites +stretching from tree to tree as in the thickets of the jungle. There +were no animals--no wild horses, or yaks, or Tibetan bulls. +Occasionally a scared gazelle showed itself far down the slopes. +There were no birds, save a couple of those crows which can rise to +the utmost limits of the respirable air. + +The pass at last was traversed. The "Albatross" began to descend. +Coming from the hills out of the forest region there was now beneath +them an immense plain stretching far and wide. + +Then Robur stepped up to his guests, and in a pleasant voice +remarked, "India, gentlemen!" + + + + + +Chapter XIII + +OVER THE CASPIAN + + + + +The engineer had no intention of taking his ship over the wondrous +lands of Hindustan. To cross the Himalayas was to show how admirable +was the machine he commanded; to convince those who would not be +convinced was all he wished to do. + +But if in their hearts Uncle Prudent and his colleague could not help +admiring so perfect an engine of aerial locomotion, they allowed none +of their admiration to be visible. All they thought of was how to +escape. They did not even admire the superb spectacle that lay +beneath them as the "Albatross" flew along the river banks of the +Punjab. + +At the base of the Himalayas there runs a marshy belt of country, the +home of malarious vapors, the Terai, in which fever is endemic. But +this offered no obstacle to the "Albatross," or, in any way, affected +the health of her crew. She kept on without undue haste towards the +angle where India joins on to China and Turkestan, and on the 29th of +June, in the early hours of the morning, there opened to view the +incomparable valley of Cashmere. + +Yes! Incomparable is this gorge between the major and the minor +Himalayas--furrowed by the buttresses in which the mighty range dies +out in the basin of the Hydaspes, and watered by the capricious +windings of the river which saw the struggle between the armies of +Porus and Alexander, when India and Greece contended for Central +Asia. The Hydaspes is still there, although the two towns founded by +the Macedonian in remembrance of his victory have long since +disappeared. + +During the morning the aeronef was over Serinuggur, which is better +known under the name of Cashmere. Uncle Prudent and his companion +beheld the superb city clustered along both banks of the river; its +wooden bridges stretching across like threads, its villas and their +balconies standing out in bold outline, its hills shaded by tall +poplars, its roofs grassed over and looking like molehills; its +numerous canals, with boats like nut-shells, and boatmen like ants; +its palaces, temples, kiosks, mosques, and bungalows on the +outskirts; and its old citadel of Hari-Pawata on the slope of the +hill like the most important of the forts of Paris on the slope of +Mont Valerien. + +"That would be Venice," said Phil Evans, "if we were in Europe." + +"And if we were in Europe," answered Uncle Prudent, "we should know +how to find the way to America." + +The "Albatross" did not linger over the lake through which the river +flows, but continued her flight down the valley of the Hydaspes. + +For half an hour only did she descend to within thirty feet of the +river and remained stationary. Then, by means of an india-rubber +pipe, Tom Turner and his men replenished their water supply, which +was drawn up by a pump worked by the accumulators. Uncle Prudent and +Phil Evans stood watching the operation. The same idea occurred to +each of them. They were only a few feet from the surface of the +stream. They were both good swimmers. A plunge would give them their +liberty; and once they had reached the river, how could Robur get +them back again? For his propellers to work, he must keep at least +six feet above the ground. + +In a moment all the chances pro and con were run over in their heads. +In a moment they were considered, and the prisoners rushed to throw +themselves overboard, when several pairs of hands seized them by the +shoulders. + +They had been watched; and flight was utterly impossible. + +This time they did not yield without resisting. They tried to throw +off those who held them. But these men of the "Albatross" were no +children. + +"Gentlemen," said the engineer, "when people, have the pleasure of +traveling with Robur the Conqueror, as you have so well named him, on +board his admirable "Albatross," they do not leave him in that way. I +may add you never leave him." + +Phil Evans drew away his colleague, who was about to commit some act +of violence. They retired to their cabin, resolved to escape, even if +it cost them their lives. + +Immediately the "Albatross" resumed her course to the west. During +the day at moderate speed she passed over the territory of +Cabulistan, catching a momentary glimpse of its capital, and crossed +the frontier of the kingdom of Herat, nearly seven hundred miles from +Cashmere. + +In these much-disputed countries, the open road for the Russians to +the English possessions in India, there were seen many columns and +convoys, and, in a word, everything that constitutes in men and +material an army on the march. There were heard also the roar of the +cannon and the crackling of musketry. But the engineer never meddled +with the affairs of others where his honor or humanity was not +concerned. He passed above them. If Herat as we are told, is the key +of Central Asia, it mattered little to him if it was kept in an +English or Muscovite pocket. Terrestrial interests were nothing to +him who had made the air his domain. + +Besides, the country soon disappeared in one of those sandstorms +which are so frequent in these regions. The wind called the "tebbad" +bears along the seeds of fever in the impalpable dust it raises in +its passage. And many are the caravans that perish in its eddies. + +To escape this dust, which might have interfered with the working of +the screws, the "Albatross" shot up some six thousand feet into a +purer atmosphere. + +And thus vanished the Persian frontier and the extensive plains. The +speed was not excessive, although there were no rocks ahead, for the +mountains marked on the map are of very moderate altitude. But as the +ship approached the capital, she had to steer clear of Demavend, +whose snowy peak rises some twenty-two thousand feet, and the chain +of Elbruz, at whose foot is built Teheran. + +As soon as the day broke on the 2nd of July the peak of Demavend +appeared above the sandstorm, and the "Albatross" was steered so as +to pass over the town, which the wind had wrapped in a mantle of dust. + +However, about six o'clock her crew could see the large ditches that +surround it, and the Shah's palace, with its walls covered with +porcelain tiles, and its ornamental lakes, which seemed like huge +turquoises of beautiful blue. + +It was but a hasty glimpse. The "Albatross" now headed for the north, +and a few hours afterwards she was over a little hill at the northern +angle of the Persian frontier, on the shores of a vast extent of +water which stretched away out of sight to the north and east. + +The town was Ashurada, the most southerly of the Russian stations. +The vast extent of water was a sea. It was the Caspian. + +The eddies of sand had been passed. There was a view of a group of +European houses rising along a promontory, with a church tower in the +midst of them. + +The "Albatross" swooped down towards the surface of the sea. Towards +evening she was running along the coast--which formerly belonged to +Turkestan, but now belongs to Russia--and in the morning of the 3rd +of July she was about three hundred feet above the Caspian. + +There was no land in sight, either on the Asiatic or European side. +On the surface of the sea a few white sails were bellying in the +breeze. These were native vessels recognizable by their peculiar +rig--kesebeys, with two masts; kayuks, the old pirate-boats, with one +mast; teimils, and smaller craft for trading and fishing. Here and +there a few puffs of smoke rose up to the "Albatross" from the +funnels of the Ashurada steamers, which the Russians keep as the +police of these Turcoman waters. + +That morning Tom Turner was talking to the cook, Tapage, and to a +question of his replied, "Yes; we shall be about forty-eight hours +over the Caspian." + +"Good!" said the cook; "Then we can have some fishing." + +"Just so." + +They were to remain for forty-eight hours over the Caspian, which is +some six hundred and twenty-five miles long and two hundred wide, +because the speed of the "Albatross" had been much reduced, and while +the fishing was going on she would be stopped altogether. + +The reply was heard by Phil Evans, who was then in the bow, where +Frycollin was overwhelming him with piteous pleadings to be put "on +the ground." + +Without replying to this preposterous request, Evans returned aft to +Uncle Prudent; and there, taking care not to be overheard, he +reported the conversation that had taken place. + +"Phil Evans," said Uncle Prudent, "I think there can be no mistake as +to this scoundrel's intention with regard to us." + +"None," said Phil Evans. "He will only give us our liberty when it +suits him, and perhaps not at all." + +"In that case we must do all we can to get away from the 'Albatross'." + +"A splendid craft, she is, I must admit." + +"Perhaps so," said Uncle Prudent; "but she belongs to a scoundrel who +detains us on board in defiance of all right. For us and ours she is +a constant danger. If we do not destroy her--" + +"Let us begin by saving ourselves" answered Phil Evans; "we can see +about the destruction afterwards." + +"Just so," said Uncle Prudent. "And we must avail ourselves of every +chance that comes, along. Evidently the "Albatross" is going to cross +the Caspian into Europe, either by the north into Russia or by the +west into the southern countries. Well, no matter where we stop, +before we get to the Atlantic, we shall be safe. And we ought to be +ready at any moment." + +"But," asked Evans, "how are we to get out?" + +"Listen to me," said Uncle Prudent. "It may happen during the night +that the "Albatross" may drop to within a few hundred feet of the +ground. Now there are on board several ropes of that length, and, +with a little pluck we might slip down them--" + +"Yes," said Evans. "If the case is desperate I don't mind--" + +"Nor I. During the night there's no one about except the man at the +wheel. And if we can drop one of the ropes forward without being seen +or heard--" + +"Good! I am glad to see you are so cool; that means business. But +just now we are over the Caspian. There are several ships in sight. +The "Albatross" is going down to fish. Cannot we do something now?" + +"Sh! They are watching us much more than you think," said Uncle +Prudent. "You saw that when we tried to jump into the Hydaspes." + +"And who knows that they don't watch us at night?" asked Evans. + +"Well, we must end this; we must finish with this "Albatross" and her +master." + +It will be seen how in the excitement of their anger the colleagues-- +Uncle Prudent in particular--were prepared to attempt the most +hazardous things. The sense of their powerlessness, the ironical +disdain with which Robur treated them, the brutal remarks he indulged +in--all contributed towards intensifying the aggravation which daily +grew more manifest. + +This very day something occurred which gave rise to another most +regrettable altercation between Robur and his guests. This was +provoked by Frycollin, who, finding himself above the boundless sea, +was seized with another fit of terror. Like a child, like the Negro +he was, he gave himself over to groaning and protesting and crying, +and writhing in a thousand contortions and grimaces. + +"I want to get out! I want to get out! I am not a bird! Boohoo! I +don't want to fly, I want to get out!" + +Uncle Prudent, as may be imagined, did not attempt to quiet him. In +fact, he encouraged him, and particularly as the incessant howling +seemed to have a strangely irritating effect on Robur. + +When Tom Turner and his companions were getting ready for fishing, +the engineer ordered them to shut up Frycollin in his cabin. But the +Negro never ceased his jumping about, and began to kick at the wall +and yell with redoubled power. + +It was noon. The "Albatross" was only about fifteen or twenty feet +above the water. A few ships, terrified at the apparition, sought +safety in flight. + +As may be guessed, a sharp look-out was kept on the prisoners, whose +temptation to escape could not but be intensified. Even supposing +they jumped overboard they would have been picked up by the +india-rubber boat. As there was nothing to do during the fishing, in +which Phil Evans intended to take part, Uncle Prudent, raging +furiously as usual, retired to his cabin. + +The Caspian Sea is a volcanic depression. Into it flow the waters of +the Volga, the Ural, the Kour, the Kouma, the Jemba, and others. +Without the evaporation which relieves it of its overflow, this +basin, with an area of 17,000 square miles, and a depth of from sixty +to four hundred feet, would flood the low marshy ground to its north +and east. Although it is not in communication with the Black Sea or +the Sea of Aral, being at a much lower level than they are, it +contains an immense number of fish--such fish, be it understood, as +can live in its bitter waters, the bitterness being due to the naphtha +which pours in from the springs on the south. + +The crew of the "Albatross" made no secret of their delight at the +change in their food the fishing would bring them. + +"Look out!" shouted Turner, as he harpooned a good-size fish, not +unlike a shark. + +It was a splendid sturgeon seven feet long, called by the Russians +beluga, the eggs of which mixed up with salt, vinegar, and white wine +form caviar. Sturgeons from the river are, it may be, rather better +than those from the sea; but these were welcomed warmly enough on +board the "Albatross." + +But the best catches were made with the drag-nets, which brought up +at each haul carp, bream, salmon, saltwater pike, and a number of +medium-sized sterlets, which wealthy gourmets have sent alive to +Astrakhan, Moscow, and Petersburg, and which now passed direct from +their natural element into the cook's kettle without any charge for +transport. + +An hour's work sufficed to fill up the larders of the aeronef, and +she resumed her course to the north. + +During the fishing Frycollin had continued shouting and kicking at +his cabin wall, and making a tremendous noise. + +"That wretched nigger will not be quiet, then?" said Robur, almost +out of patience. + +"It seems to me, sir, he has a right to complain," said Phil Evans. + +"Yes, and I have a right to look after my ears," replied Robur. + +"Engineer Robur!" said Uncle Prudent, who had just appeared on deck. + +"President of the Weldon Institute!" + +They had stepped up to one another, and were looking into the whites +of each other's eyes. Then Robur shrugged his shoulders. "Put him at +the end of a line," he said. + +Turner saw his meaning at once. Frycollin was dragged out of his +cabin. Loud were his cries when the mate and one of the men seized +him and tied him into a tub, which they hitched on to a rope--one of +those very ropes, in fact, that Uncle Prudent had intended to use as +we know. + +The Negro at first thought he was going to be hanged. Not he was only +going to be towed! + +The rope was paid out for a hundred feet and Frycollin found himself +hanging in space. + +He could then shout at his ease. But fright contracted his larynx, +and he was mute. + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans endeavored to prevent this performance. +They were thrust aside. + +"It is scandalous! It is cowardly!" said Uncle Prudent, quite beside +himself with rage. + +"Indeed!" said Robur. + +"It is an abuse of power against which I protest." + +"Protest away!" + +"I will be avenged, Mr. Robur." + +"Avenge when you like, Mr. Prudent." + +"I will have my revenge on you and yours." + +The crew began to close up with anything but peaceful intentions. +Robur motioned them away. + +"Yes, on you and yours!" said Uncle Prudent, whom his colleague in +vain tried to keep quiet. + +"Whenever you please!" said the engineer. + +"And in every possible way!" + +"That is enough now," said Robur, in a threatening tone. "There are +other ropes on board. And if you don't be quiet I'll treat you as I +have done your servant!" + +Uncle Prudent was silent, not because he was afraid, but because his +wrath had nearly choked him; and Phil Evans led him off to his cabin. + +During the last hour the air had been strangely troubled. The +symptoms could not be mistaken. A storm was threatening. The electric +saturation of the atmosphere had become so great that about half-past +two o'clock Robur witnessed a phenomenon that was new to him. + +In the north, whence the storm was traveling, were spirals of +half-luminous vapor due to the difference in the electric charges of +the various beds of cloud. The reflections of these bands came +running along the waves in myriads of lights, growing in intensity as +the sky darkened. + +The "Albatross" and the storm were sure to meet, for they were +exactly in front of each other. + +And Frycollin? Well! Frycollin was being towed--and towed is exactly +the word, for the rope made such an angle, with the aeronef, now +going at over sixty knots an hour, that the tub was a long way behind +her. + +The crew were busy in preparing for the storm, for the "Albatross" +would either have to rise above it or drive through its lowest +layers. She was about three thousand feet above the sea when a clap +of thunder was heard. Suddenly the squall struck her. In a few +seconds the fiery clouds swept on around her. + +Phil Evans went to intercede for Frycollin, and asked for him to be +taken on board again. But Robur had already given orders to that +effect, and the rope was being hauled in, when suddenly there took +place an inexplicable slackening in the speed of the screws. + +The engineer rushed to the central deck-house. "Power! More power!" +he shouted. "We must rise quickly and get over the storm!" + +"Impossible, sir!" + +"What is the matter?" + +"The currents are troubled! They are intermittent!" And, in fact, the +"Albatross" was falling fast. + +As with the telegraph wires on land during a storm, so was it with +the accumulators of the aeronef. But what is only an inconvenience in +the case of messages was here a terrible danger. + +"Let her down, then," said Robur, "and get out of the electric zone! +Keep cool, my lads!" + +He stepped on to his quarter-deck and his crew went to their stations. + +Although the "Albatross" had sunk several hundred feet she was still +in the thick of the cloud, and the flashes played across her as if +they were fireworks. It seemed as though she was struck. The screws +ran more and more slowly, and what began as a gentle descent +threatened to become a collapse. + +In less than a minute it was evident they would get down to the +surface of the sea. Once they were immersed no power could drag them +from the abyss. + +Suddenly the electric cloud appeared above them. The "Albatross" was +only sixty feet from the crest of the waves. In two or three seconds +the deck would be under water. + +But Robur, seizing the propitious moment, rushed to the central house +and seized the levers. He turned on the currents from the piles no +longer neutralized by the electric tension of the surrounding +atmosphere. In a moment the screws had regained their normal speed +and checked the descent; and the "Albatross" remained at her slight +elevation while her propellers drove her swiftly out of reach of the +storm. + +Frycollin, of course, had a bath--though only for a few seconds. +When he was dragged on deck he was as wet as if he had been to the +bottom of the sea. As may be imagined, he cried no more. + +In the morning of the 4th of July the "Albatross" had passed over the +northern shore of the Caspian. + + + + + +Chapter XIV + +THE AERONEF AT FULL SPEED + + + + +If ever Prudent and Evans despaired on escaping from the "Albatross" +it was during the two days that followed. It may be that Robur +considered it more difficult to keep a watch on his prisoners while +he was crossing Europe, and he knew that they had made up their minds +to get away. + +But any attempt to have done so would have been simply committing +suicide. To jump from an express going sixty miles an hour is to risk +your life, but to jump from a machine going one hundred and twenty +miles an hour would be to seek your death. + +And it was at this speed, the greatest that could be given to her, +that the "Albatross" tore along. Her speed exceeded that of the +swallow, which is one hundred and twelve miles an hour. + +At first the wind was in the northeast, and the "Albatross" had it +fair, her general course being a westerly one. But the wind began to +drop, and it soon became impossible for the colleagues to remain on +the deck without having their breath taken away by the rapidity of +the flight. And on one occasion they would have been blown overboard +if they had not been dashed up against the deck-house by the pressure +of the wind. + +Luckily the steersman saw them through the windows of his cage, and +by the electric bell gave the alarm to the men in the fore-cabin. +Four of them came aft, creeping along the deck. + +Those who have been at sea, beating to windward in half a gale of +wind, will understand what the pressure was like. But here it was the +"Albatross" that by her incomparable speed made her own wind. + +To allow Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans to get back to their cabin the +speed had to be reduced. Inside the deck-house the "Albatross" bore +with her a perfectly breathable atmosphere. To stand such driving the +strength of the apparatus must have been prodigious. The propellers +spun round so swiftly that they seemed immovable, and it was with +irresistible power that they screwed themselves through the air. + +The last town that had been noticed was Astrakhan, situated at the +north end of the Caspian Sea. The Star of the Desert--it must have +been a poet who so called it--has now sunk from the first rank to +the fifth or sixth. A momentary glance was afforded at its old walls, +with their useless battlements, the ancient towers in the center of +the city, the mosques and modern churches, the cathedral with its +five domes, gilded and dotted with stars as if it were a piece of the +sky, as they rose from the bank of the Volga, which here, as it joins +the sea, is over a mile in width. + +Thenceforward the flight of the "Albatross" became quite a race +through the heights of the sky, as if she had been harnessed to one +of those fabulous hippogriffs which cleared a league at every sweep +of the wing. + +At ten o'clock in the morning, of the 4th of July the aeronef, +heading northwest, followed for a little the valley of the Volga. The +steppes of the Don and the Ural stretched away on each side of the +river. Even if it had been possible to get a glimpse of these vast +territories there would have been no time to count the towns and +villages. In the evening the aeronef passed over Moscow without +saluting the flag on the Kremlin. In ten hours she had covered the +twelve hundred miles which separate Astrakhan from the ancient +capital of all the Russias. + +From Moscow to St. Petersburg the railway line measures about seven +hundred and fifty miles. This was but a half-day's journey, and the +"Albatross," as punctual as the mail, reached St. Petersburg and the +banks of the Neva at two o'clock in the morning. + +Then came the Gulf of Finland, the Archipelago of Abo, the Baltic, +Sweden in the latitude of Stockholm, and Norway in the latitude of +Christiania. Ten hours only for these twelve hundred miles! Verily it +might be thought that no human power would henceforth be able to +check the speed of the "Albatross," and as if the resultant of her +force of projection and the attraction of the earth would maintain +her in an unvarying trajectory round the globe. + +But she did stop nevertheless, and that was over the famous fall of +the Rjukanfos in Norway. Gousta, whose summit dominates this +wonderful region of Tellermarken, stood in the west like a gigantic +barrier apparently impassable. And when the "Albatross" resumed her +journey at full speed her head had been turned to the south. + +And during this extraordinary flight what was Frycollin doing? He +remained silent in a corner of his cabin, sleeping as well as he +could, except at meal times. + +Tapage then favored him with his company and amused himself at his +expense. "Eh! eh! my boy!" said he. "So you are not crying any more? +Perhaps it hurt you too much? That two hours hanging cured you of it? +At our present rate, what a splendid air-bath you might have for your +rheumatics!" + +"It seems to me we shall soon go to pieces!" + +"Perhaps so; but we shall go so fast we shan't have time to fall! +That is some comfort!" + +"Do you think so?" + +"I do." + +To tell the truth, and not to exaggerate like Tapage, it was only +reasonable that owing to the excessive speed the work of the +suspensory screws should be somewhat lessened. The "Albatross" glided +on its bed of air like a Congreve rocket. + +"And shall we last long like that?" asked Frycollin. + +"Long? Oh, no, only as long as we live!" + +"Oh!" said the Negro, beginning his lamentations. + +"Take care, Fry, take care! For, as they say in my country, the +master may send you to the seesaw!" And Frycollin gulped down his +sobs as he gulped down the meat which, in double doses, he was +hastily swallowing. + +Meanwhile Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans, who were not men to waste +time in wrangling when nothing could come of it, agreed upon doing +something. It was evident that escape was not to be thought of. But +if it was impossible for them to again set foot on the terrestrial +globe, could they not make known to its inhabitants what had become +of them since their disappearance, and tell them by whom they had +been carried off, and provoke--how was not very clear--some +audacious attempt on the part of their friends to rescue them from +Robur? + +Communicate? But how? Should they follow the example of sailors in +distress and enclose in a bottle a document giving the place of +shipwreck and throw it into the sea? But here the sea was the +atmosphere. The bottle would not swim. And if it did not fall on +somebody and crack his skull it might never be found. + +The colleagues were about to sacrifice one of the bottles on board +when an idea occurred to Uncle Prudent. He took snuff, as we know, +and we may pardon this fault in an American, who might do worse. And +as a snuff-taker he possessed a snuff-box, which was now empty. This +box was made of aluminum. If it was thrown overboard any honest +citizen that found it would pick it up, and, being an honest citizen, +he would take it to the police-office, and there they would open it +and discover from the document what had become of the two victims of +Robur the Conqueror! + +And this is what was done. The note was short, but it told all, and +it gave the address of the Weldon Institute, with a request that it +might be forwarded. Then Uncle Prudent folded up the note, shut it in +the box, bound the box round with a piece of worsted so as to keep it +from opening it as it fell. And then all that had to be done was to +wait for a favorable opportunity. + +During this marvelous flight over Europe it was not an easy thing to +leave the cabin and creep along the deck at the risk of being +suddenly and secretly blown away, and it would not do for the +snuff-box to fall into the sea or a gulf or a lake or a watercourse, +for it would then perhaps be lost. At the same time it was not +impossible that the colleagues might in this way get into +communication with the habitable globe. + +It was then growing daylight, and it seemed as though it would be +better to wait for the night and take advantage of a slackening speed +or a halt to go out on deck and drop the precious snuff-box into some +town. + +When all these points had been thought over and settled, the +prisoners, found they could not put their plan into execution--on +that day, at all events--for the "Albatross," after leaving Gousta, +had kept her southerly course, which took her over the North Sea, +much to the consternation of the thousands of coasting craft engaged +in the English, Dutch, French, and Belgian trade. Unless the +snuff-box fell on the deck of one of these vessels there was every +chance of its going to the bottom of the sea, and Uncle Prudent and +Phil Evans were obliged to wait for a better opportunity. And, as we +shall immediately see, an excellent chance was soon to be offered +them. + +At ten o'clock that evening the "Albatross" reached the French coast +near Dunkirk. The night was rather dark. For a moment they could see +the lighthouse at Grisnez cross its electric beam with the lights +from Dover on the other side of the strait. Then the "Albatross" flew +over the French territory at a mean height of three thousand feet. + +There was no diminution in her speed. She shot like a rocket over the +towns and villages so numerous in northern France. She was flying +straight on to Paris, and after Dunkirk came Doullens, Amiens, Creil, +Saint Denis. She never left the line; and about midnight she was over +the "city of light," which merits its name even when its inhabitants +are asleep or ought to be. + +By what strange whim was it that she was stopped over the city of +Paris? We do not know; but down she came till she was within a few +hundred feet of the ground. Robur then came out of his cabin, and the +crew came on to the deck to breathe the ambient air. + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans took care not to miss such an excellent +opportunity. They left their deck-house and walked off away from the +others so as to be ready at the propitious moment. It was important +their action should not be seen. + +The "Albatross," like a huge coleopter, glided gently over the mighty +city. She took the line of the boulevards, then brilliantly lighted +by the Edison lamps. Up to her there floated the rumble of the +vehicles as they drove along the streets, and the roll of the trains +on the numerous railways that converge into Paris. Then she glided +over the highest monuments as if she was going to knock the ball off +the Pantheon or the cross off the Invalides. She hovered over the two +minarets of the Trocadero and the metal tower of the Champ de Mars, +where the enormous reflector was inundating the whole capital with +its electric rays. + +This aerial promenade, this nocturnal loitering, lasted for about an +hour. It was a halt for breath before the voyage was resumed. + +And probably Robur wished to give the Parisians the sight of a meteor +quite unforeseen by their astronomers. The lamps of the "Albatross" +were turned on. Two brilliant sheaves of light shot down and moved +along over the squares, the gardens, the palaces, the sixty thousand +houses, and swept the space from one horizon to the other. + +Assuredly the "Albatross" was seen this time--and not only well seen +but heard, for Tom Turner brought out his trumpet and blew a rousing +tarantaratara. + +At this moment Uncle Prudent leant over the rail, opened his hand, +and let his snuff-box fall. + +Immediately the "Albatross" shot upwards, and past her, higher still, +there mounted the noisy cheering of the crowd then thick on the +boulevards--a hurrah of stupefaction to greet the imaginary meteor. + +The lamps of the aeronef were turned off, and the darkness and the +silence closed in around as the voyage was resumed at the rate of one +hundred and twenty miles an hour. + +This was all that was to be seen of the French capital. At four +o'clock in the morning the "Albatross" had crossed the whole country +obliquely; and so as to lose no time in traversing the Alps or the +Pyrenees, she flew over the face of Provence to the cape of Antibes. +At nine o'clock next morning the San Pietrini assembled on the +terrace of St. Peter at Rome were astounded to see her pass over the +eternal city. Two hours afterwards she crossed the Bay of Naples and +hovered for an instant over the fuliginous wreaths of Vesuvius. Then, +after cutting obliquely across the Mediterranean, in the early hours +of the afternoon she was signaled by the look-outs at La Goulette on +the Tunisian coast. + +After America, Asia! After Asia, Europe! More than eighteen thousand +miles had this wonderful machine accomplished in less than +twenty-three clays! + +And now she was off over the known and unknown regions of Africa! + +It may be interesting to know what had happened to the famous +snuff-box after its fall? + +It had fallen in the Rue de Rivoli, opposite No. 200, when the street +was deserted. In the morning it was picked up by an honest sweeper, +who took it to the prefecture of police. There it was at first +supposed to be an infernal machine. And it was untied, examined, and +opened with care. + +Suddenly a sort of explosion took place. It was a terrific sneeze on +the part of the inspector. + +The document was then extracted from the snuff-box, and to the +general surprise, read as follows: + +"Messrs. Prudent and Evans, president and secretary of the Weldon +Institute, Philadelphia, have been carried off in the aeronef +Albatross belonging to Robur the engineer." + +"Please inform our friends and acquaintances." + +"P. and P. E." + +Thus was the strange phenomenon at last explained to the people of +the two worlds. Thus was peace given to the scientists of the +numerous observatories on the surface of the terrestrial globe. + + + + + +Chapter XV + +A SKIRMISH IN DAHOMEY + + + + +At this point in the circumnavigatory voyage of the "Albatross" it is +only natural that some such questions as the following should be +asked. Who was this Robur, of whom up to the present we know nothing +but the name? Did he pass his life in the air? Did his aeronef never +rest? Had he not some retreat in some inaccessible spot in which, if +he had need of repose or revictualing, he could betake himself? It +would be very strange if it were not so. The most powerful flyers +have always an eyrie or nest somewhere. + +And what was the engineer going to do with his prisoners? Was he +going to keep them in his power and condemn them to perpetual +aviation? Or was he going to take them on a trip over Africa, South +America, Australasia, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the Pacific, +to convince them against their will, and then dismiss them with, "And +now gentlemen, I hope you will believe a little more in heavier than +air?" + +To these questions, it is now impossible to reply. They are the +secrets of the future. Perhaps the answers will be revealed. Anyhow +the bird-like Robur was not seeking his nest on the northern frontier +of Africa. By the end of the day he had traversed Tunis from Cape Bon +to Cape Carthage, sometimes hovering, and sometimes darting along at +top speed. Soon he reached the interior, and flew down the beautiful +valley of Medjeida above its yellow stream hidden under its luxuriant +bushes of cactus and oleander; and scared away the hundreds of +parrots that perch on the telegraph wires and seem to wait for the +messages to pass to bear them away beneath their wings. + +Two hours after sunset the helm was put up and the "Albatross" bore +off to the southeast; and on the morrow, after clearing the Tell +Mountains, she saw the rising of the morning star over the sands of +the Sahara. + +On the 30th of July there was seen from the aeronef the little +village of Geryville, founded like Laghouat on the frontier of the +desert to facilitate the future conquest of Kabylia. Next, not +without difficulty, the peaks of Stillero were passed against a +somewhat boisterous wind. Then the desert was crossed, sometimes +leisurely over the Ksars or green oases, sometimes at terrific speed +that far outstripped the flight of the vultures. Often the crew had +to fire into the flocks of these birds which, a dozen or so at a +time, fearlessly hurled them selves on to the aeronef to the extreme +terror of Frycollin. + +But if the vultures could only reply with cries and blows of beaks +and talons, the natives, in no way less savage, were not sparing of +their musket-shots, particularly when crossing the Mountain of Sel, +whose green and violet slope bore its cape of white. Then the +"Albatross" was at last over the grand Sahara; and at once she rose +into the higher zones so as to escape from a simoom which was +sweeping a wave of ruddy sand along the surface of the ground like a +bore on the surface of the sea. + +Then the desolate tablelands of Chetka scattered their ballast in +blackish waves up to the fresh and verdant valley of Ain-Massin. It +is difficult to conceive the variety of the territories which could +be seen at one view. To the green hills covered with trees and shrubs +there succeeded long gray undulations draped like the folds of an +Arab burnous and broken in picturesque masses. In the distance could +be seen the wadys with their torrential waters, their forests of +palm-trees, and blocks of small houses grouped on a hill around a +mosque, among them Metlili, where there vegetates a religious chief, +the grand marabout Sidi Chick. + +Before night several hundred miles had been accomplished above a +flattish country ridged occasionally with large sandhills. If the +"Albatross" had halted, she would have come to the earth in the +depths of the Wargla oasis hidden beneath an immense forest of +palm-trees. The town was clearly enough displayed with its three +distinct quarters, the ancient palace of the Sultan, a kind of +fortified Kasbah, houses of brick which had been left to the sun to +bake, and artesian wells dug in the valley--where the aeronef could +have renewed her water supply. But, thanks to her extraordinary +speed, the waters of the Hydaspes taken in the vale of Cashmere still +filled her tanks in the center of the African desert. + +Was the "Albatross" seen by the Arabs, the Mozabites, and the Negroes +who share amongst them the town of Wargla? Certainly, for she was +saluted with many hundred gunshot, and the bullets fell back before +they reached her. + +Then came the night, that silent night in the desert of which +Felicien David has so poetically told us the secrets. + +During the following hours the course lay southwesterly, cutting +across the routes of El Golea, one of which was explored in 1859 by +the intrepid Duveyrier. + +The darkness was profound. Nothing could be seen of the Trans- +Saharan Railway constructing on the plans of Duponchel--a long +ribbon of iron destined to bind together Algiers and Timbuktu by way +of Laghouat and Gardaia, and destined eventually to run down into the +Gulf of Guinea. + +Then the "Albatross" entered the equatorial region below the tropic +of Cancer. Six hundred miles from the northern frontier of the Sahara +she crossed the route on which Major Laing met his, death in 1846, +and crossed the road of the caravans from Morocco to the Sudan, and +that part of the desert swept by the Tuaregs, where could be heard +what is called "the song of the sand," a soft and plaintive murmur +that seems to escape from the ground. + +Only one thing happened. A cloud of locusts came flying along, and +there fell such a cargo of them on board as to threaten to sink the +ship. But all hands set to work to clear the deck, and the locusts +were thrown over except a few hundred kept by Tapage for his larder. +And he served them up in so succulent a fashion that Frycollin forgot +for the moment his perpetual trances and said, "these are as good as +prawns." + +The aeronef was then eleven hundred miles from the Wargla oasis and +almost on the northern frontier of the Sudan. About two o'clock in +the afternoon a city appeared in the bend of a large river. The river +was the Niger. The city was Timbuktu. + +If, up to then, this African Mecca had only been visited by the +travelers of the ancient world Batouta, Khazan, Imbert, Mungo Park, +Adams, Laing, Caillé, Barth, Lenz, on that day by a most singular +chance the two Americans could boast of having seen, heard, and smelt +it, on their return to America--if they ever got back there. + +Of having seen it, because their view included the whole triangle of +three or four miles in circumference; of having heard it, because the +day was one of some rejoicing and the noise was terrible; of having +smelt it, because the olfactory nerve could not but be very +disagreeably affected by the odors of the Youbou-Kamo square, where +the meatmarket stands close to the palace of the ancient Somai kings. + +The engineer had no notion of allowing the president and secretary of +the Weldon Institute to be ignorant that they had the honor of +contemplating the Queen of the Sudan, now in the power of the Tuaregs +of Taganet. + +"Gentlemen, Timbuktu!" he said, in the same tone as twelve days +before he had said, "Gentlemen, India!" Then he continued, "Timbuktu +is an important city of from twelve to thirteen thousand inhabitants, +formerly illustrious in science and art. Perhaps you would like to +stay there for a day or two?" + +Such a proposal could only have been made ironically. "But," +continued he, "it would be dangerous among the Negroes, Berbers, and +Foullanes who occupy, it--particularly as our arrival in an aeronef +might prejudice them against you." + +"Sir," said Phil Evans, in the same tone, "for the pleasure of +leaving you we would willingly risk an unpleasant reception from the +natives. Prison for prison, we would rather be in Timbuktu than on +the "Albatross."" + +"That is a matter of taste," answered the engineer. "Anyhow, I shall +not try the adventure, for I am responsible for the safety of the +guests who do me the honor to travel with me." + +"And so," said Uncle Prudent, explosively, "you are not content with +being our jailer, but you insult us." + +"Oh! a little irony, that is all!" + +"Are there any weapons on board?" + +"Oh, quite an arsenal." + +"Two revolvers will do, if I hold one and you the other." + +"A duel!" exclaimed Robur, "a duel, which would perhaps cause the +death of one of us." + +"Which certainly would cause it." + +"Well! No, Mr. President of the Weldon Institute, I very much prefer +keeping you alive." + +"To be sure of living yourself. That is wise." + +"Wise or not, it suits me. You are at liberty to think as you like, +and to complain to those who have the power to help you--if you can." + +"And that we have done, Mr. Robur." + +"Indeed!" + +"Was it so difficult when we were crossing the inhabited part of +Europe to drop a letter overboard?" + +"Did you do that?" said Robur, in a paroxysm of rage. + +"And if we have done it?" + +"If you have done it--you deserve--" + +"What, sir?" + +"To follow your letter overboard." + +"Throw us over, then. We did do it." + +Robur stepped towards them. At a gesture from him Tom Turner and some +of the crew ran up. The engineer was seriously tempted to put his +threat into execution, and, fearful perhaps of yielding to it, he +precipitately rushed into his cabin. + +"Good!" exclaimed Phil Evans. + +"And what he will dare not do," said Uncle Prudent, "I Will do! Yes, +I Will do!" + +At the moment the population of Timbuktu were crowding onto the +squares and roads and the terraces built like amphitheaters. In the +rich quarters of Sankere and Sarahama, as in the miserable huts at +Raguidi, the priests from the minarets were thundering their loudest +maledictions against the aerial monster. These were more harmless +than the rifle-bullets; though assuredly, if the aeronef had come to +earth she would have certainly been torn to pieces. + +For some miles noisy flocks of storks, francolins, and ibises +escorted the "Albatross" and tried to race her, but in her rapid +flight she soon distanced them. + +The evening came. The air was troubled by the roarings of the +numerous herds of elephants and buffaloes which wander over this +land, whose fertility is simply marvelous. For forty-eight hours the +whole of the region between the prime meridian and the second degree, +in the bend of the Niger, was viewed from the "Albatross." + +If a geographer had only such an apparatus at his command, with what +facility could he map the country, note the elevations, fix the +courses of the rivers and their affluents, and determine the +positions of the towns and villages! There would then be no huge +blanks on the map of Africa, no dotted lines, no vague designations +which are the despair of cartographers. + +In the morning of the 11th the "Albatross" crossed the mountains of +northern Guinea, between the Sudan and the gulf which bears their +name. On the horizon was the confused outline of the Kong mountains +in the kingdom of Dahomey. + +Since the departure from Timbuktu Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +noticed that the course had been due south. If that direction was +persisted in they would cross the equator in six more degrees. The +"Albatross" would then abandon the continents and fly not over the +Bering Sea, or the Caspian Sea, or the North Sea, or the +Mediterranean, but over the Atlantic Ocean. + +This look-out was not particularly pleasing to the two friends, whose +chances of escape had sunk to below zero. But the "Albatross" had +slackened speed as though hesitating to leave Africa behind. Was +Robur thinking of going back? No; but his attention had been +particularly attracted to the country which he was then crossing. + +We know--and he knew--that the kingdom of Dahomey is one of the +most powerful on the West Coast of Africa. Strong enough to hold its +own with its neighbor Ashantee, its area is somewhat small, being +contained within three hundred and sixty leagues from north to south, +and one hundred and eighty from east to west. But its population +numbers some seven or eight hundred thousand, including the +neighboring independent territories of Whydah and Ardrah. + +If Dahomey is not a large country, it is often talked about. It is +celebrated for the frightful cruelties which signalize its annual +festivals, and by its human sacrifices--fearful hecatombs intended +to honor the sovereign it has lost and the sovereign who has +succeeded him. It is even a matter of politeness when the King of +Dahomey receives a visit from some high personage or some foreign +ambassador to give him a surprise present of a dozen heads, cut off +in his honor by the minister of justice, the "minghan," who is +wonderfully skillful in that branch of his duties. + +When the "Albatross" came flying over Dahomey, the old King Bahadou +had just died, and the whole population was proceeding to the +enthronization of his successor. Hence there was great agitation all +over the country, and it did not escape Robur that everybody was on +the move. + +Long lines of Dahomians were hurrying along the roads from the +country into the capital, Abomey. Well kept roads radiating among +vast plains clothed with giant trees, immense fields of manioc, +magnificent forests of palms, cocoa-trees, mimosas, orange-trees, +mango-trees--such was the country whose perfumes mounted to the +"Albatross," while many parrots and cardinals swarmed among the trees. + +The engineer, leaning over the rail, seemed deep in thought, and +exchanged but a few words with Tom Turner. It did not look as though +the "Albatross" had attracted the attention of those moving masses, +which were often invisible under the impenetrable roof of trees. This +was doubtless due to her keeping at a good altitude amid a bank of +light cloud. + +About eleven o'clock in the morning the capital was sighted, +surrounded by its walls, defended by a fosse measuring twelve miles +round, with wide, regular streets on the flat plain, and a large +square on the northern side occupied by the king's palace. This huge +collection of buildings is commanded by a terrace not far from the +place of sacrifice. During the festival days it is from this high +terrace that they throw the prisoners tied up in wicker baskets, and +it can be imagined with what fury these unhappy wretches are cut in +pieces. + +In one of the courtyards which divide the king's palace there were +drawn up four thousand warriors, one of the contigents of the royal +army--and not the least courageous one. If it is doubtful if there +are any Amazons an the river of that name, there is no doubt of there +being Amazons at Dahomey. Some have a blue shirt with a blue or red +scarf, with white-and-blue striped trousers and a white cap; others, +the elephant-huntresses, have a heavy carbine, a short-bladed dagger, +and two antelope horns fixed to their heads by a band of iron. The +artillery-women have a blue-and-red tunic, and, as weapons, +blunderbusses and old cast cannons; and another brigade, consisting +of vestal virgins, pure as Diana, have blue tunics and white +trousers. If we add to these Amazons, five or six thousand men in +cotton drawers and shirts, with a knotted tuft to increase their +stature, we shall have passed in review the Dahomian army. + +Abomey on this day was deserted. The sovereign, the royal family, the +masculine and feminine army, and the population had all gone out of +the capital to a vast plain a few miles away surrounded by +magnificent forests. + +On this plain the recognition of the new king was to take place. Here +it was that thousands of prisoners taken during recent razzias were +to be immolated in his honor. + +It was about two o'clock when the "Albatross" arrived over the plain +and began to descend among the clouds which still hid her from the +Dahomians. + +There were sixteen thousand people at least come from all parts of +the kingdom, from Whydah, and Kerapay, and Ardrah, and Tombory, and +the most distant villages. + +The new king--a sturdy fellow named Bou-Nadi--some five-and-twenty +years old, was seated on a hillock shaded by a group of wide-branched +trees. Before him stood his male army, his Amazons, and his people. + +At the foot of the mound fifty musicians were playing on their +barbarous instruments, elephants' tusks giving forth a husky note, +deerskin drums, calabashes, guitars, bells struck with an iron +clapper, and bamboo flutes, whose shrill whistle was heard over all. +Every other second came discharges of guns and blunderbusses, +discharges of cannons with the carriages jumping so as to imperil the +lives of the artillery-women, and a general uproar so intense that +even the thunder would be unheard amidst it. + +In one corner of the plain, under a guard of soldiers, were grouped +the prisoners destined to accompany the defunct king into the other +world. At the obsequies of Ghozo, the father of Bahadou, his son had +dispatched three thousand, and Bou-Nadi could not do less than his +predecessor. For an hour there was a series of discourses, harangues, +palavers and dances, executed not only by professionals, but by the +Amazons, who displayed much martial grace. + +But the time for the hecatomb was approaching. Robur, who knew the +customs of Dahomey, did not lose sight of the men, women, and +children reserved for butchery. + +The minghan was standing at the foot of the hillock. He was +brandishing his executioner's sword, with its curved blade surmounted +by a metal bird, whose weight rendered the cut more certain. + +This time he was not alone. He could not have performed the task. +Near him were grouped a hundred executioners, all accustomed to cut +off heads at one blow. + +The "Albatross" came slowly down in an oblique direction. Soon she +emerged from the bed of clouds which hid her till she was within +three hundred feet of the ground, and for the first time she was +visible from below. + +Contrary to what had hitherto happened, the savages saw in her a +celestial being come to render homage to King Baha-dou. The +enthusiasm was indescribable, the shouts were interminable, the +prayers were terrific--prayers addressed to this supernatural +hippogriff, which "had doubtless come to" take the king's body to the +higher regions of the Dahomian heaven. And now the first head fell +under the minghan's sword, and the prisoners were led up in hundreds +before the horrible executioners. + +Suddenly a gun was fired from the "Albatross." The minister of +justice fell dead on his face! + +"Well aimed, Tom!" said Robur, + +His comrades, armed as he was, stood ready to fire when the order was +given. + +But a change came over the crowd below. They had understood. The +winged monster was not a friendly spirit, it was a hostile spirit. +And after the fall of the minghan loud shouts for revenge arose on +all sides. Almost immediately a fusillade resounded over the plain. + +These menaces did not prevent the "Albatross" from descending boldly +to within a hundred and fifty feet of the ground. Uncle Prudent and +Phil Evans, whatever were their feelings towards Robur, could not +help joining him in such a work of humanity. + +"Let us free the prisoners!" they shouted. + +"That is what I am going to do!" said the engineer. + +And the magazine rifles of the "Albatross" in the hands of the +colleagues, as in the hands of the crew, began to rain down the +bullets, of which not one was lost in the masses below. And the +little gun shot forth its shrapnel, which really did marvels. + +The prisoners, although they did not understand how the help had come +to them, broke their bonds, while the soldiers were firing at the +aeronef. The stern screw was shot through by a bullet, and a few +holes were made in the hull. Frycollin, crouching in his cabin, +received a graze from a bullet that came through the deck-house. + +"Ah! They will have them!" said Tom Turner. And, rushing to the +magazine, he returned with a dozen dynamite cartridges, which he +distributed to the men. At a sign from Robur, these cartridges were +fired at the hillock, and as they reached the ground exploded like so +many small shells. + +The king and his court and army and people were stricken with fear at +the turn things had taken. They fled under the trees, while the +prisoners ran off without anybody thinking of pursuing them. + +In this way was the festival interfered with. And in this way did +Uncle Prudent and, Phil Evans recognize the power of the aeronef and +the services it could render to humanity. + +Soon the "Albatross" rose again to a moderate height, and passing +over Whydah lost to view this savage coast which the southwest wind +hems round with an inaccessible surf. And she flew out over the +Atlantic. + + + + + +Chapter XVI + +OVER THE ATLANTIC + + + + +Yes, the Atlantic! The fears of the two colleagues were realized; but +it did not seem as though Robur had the least anxiety about venturing +over this vast ocean. Both he and his men seemed quite unconcerned +about it and had gone back to their stations. + +Whither was the "Albatross" bound? Was she going more than round the +world as Robur had said? Even if she were, the voyage must end +somewhere. That Robur spent his life in the air on board the aeronef +and never came to the ground was impossible. How could he make up his +stock of provisions and the materials required for working his +machines? He must have some retreat, some harbor of refuge--in some +unknown and inaccessible spot where the "Albatross" could revictual. +That he had broken off all connections with the inhabitants of the +land might be true, but with every point on the surface of the earth, +certainly not. + +That being the case, where was this point? How had the engineer come +to choose it? Was he expected by a little colony of which he was the +chief? Could he there find a new crew? + +What means had he that he should be able to build so costly a vessel +as the "Albatross" and keep her building secret? It is true his +living was not expensive. But, finally, who was this Robur? Where did +he come from? What had been his history? Here were riddles impossible +to solve; and Robur was not the man to assist willingly in their +solution. + +It is not to be wondered at that these insoluble problems drove the +colleagues almost to frenzy. To find themselves whipped off into the +unknown without knowing what the end might be doubting even if the +adventure would end, sentenced to perpetual aviation, was this not +enough to drive the President and secretary of the Weldon Institute +to extremities? + +Meanwhile the "Albatross" drove along above the Atlantic, and in the +morning when the sun rose there was nothing to be seen but the +circular line where earth met sky. Not a spot of land was insight in +this huge field of vision. Africa had vanished beneath the northern +horizon. + +When Frycollin ventured out of his cabin and saw all this water +beneath him, fear took possession of him. + +Of the hundred and forty-five million square miles of which the area +of the world's waters consists, the Atlantic claims about a quarter; +and it seemed as though the engineer was in no hurry to cross it. +There was now no going at full speed, none of the hundred and twenty +miles an hour at which the "Albatross" had flown over Europe. Here, +where the southwest winds prevail, the wind was ahead of them, and +though it was not very strong, it would not do to defy it and the +"Albatross" was sent along at a moderate speed, which, however, +easily outstripped that of the fastest mail-boat. + +On the 13th of July she crossed the line, and the fact was duly +announced to the crew. It was then that Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +ascertained that they were bound for the southern hemisphere. The +crossing of the line took place without any of the Neptunian +ceremonies that still linger on certain ships. Tapage was the only +one to mark the event, and he did so by pouring a pint of water down +Frycollin's neck. + +On the 18th of July, when beyond the tropic of Capricorn, another +phenomenon was noticed, which would have been somewhat alarming to a +ship on the sea. A strange succession of luminous waves widened out +over the surface of the ocean with a speed estimated at quite sixty +miles an hour. The waves ran along at about eight feet from one +another, tracing two furrows of light. As night fell a bright +reflection rose even to the "Albatross," so that she might have been +taken for a flaming aerolite. Never before had Robur sailed on a sea +of fire--fire without heat--which there was no need to flee from as +it mounted upwards into the sky. + +The cause of this light must have been electricity; it could not be +attributed to a bank of fish spawn, nor to a crowd of those +animalculae that give phosphorescence to the sea, and this showed +that the electrical tension of the atmosphere was considerable. + +In the morning an ordinary ship would probably have been lost. But +the "Albatross" played with the winds and waves like the powerful +bird whose name she bore. If she did not walk on their surface like +the petrels, she could like the eagles find calm and sunshine in the +higher zones. + +They had now passed the forty-seventh parallel. The day was but +little over seven hours long, and would become even less as they +approached the Pole. + +About one o'clock in the afternoon the "Albatross" was floating along +in a lower current than usual, about a hundred feet from the level of +the sea. The air was calm, but in certain parts of the sky were thick +black clouds, massed in mountains, on their upper surface, and ruled +off below by a sharp horizontal line. From these clouds a few lengthy +protuberances escaped, and their points as they fell seemed to draw +up hills of foaming water to meet them. + +Suddenly the water shot up in the form of a gigantic hourglass, and +the "Albatross" was enveloped in the eddy of an enormous waterspout, +while twenty others, black as ink, raged around her. Fortunately the +gyratory movement of the water was opposite to that of the suspensory +screws, otherwise the aeronef would have been hurled into the sea. +But she began to spin round on herself with frightful rapidity. The +danger was immense, and perhaps impossible to escape, for the +engineer could not get through the spout which sucked him back in +defiance of his propellers. The men, thrown to the ends of the deck +by centrifugal force, were grasping the rail to save themselves from +being shot off. + +"Keep cool!" shouted Robur. + +They wanted all their coolness, and their patience, too. Uncle +Prudent and Phil Evans, who had just come out of their cabin, were +hurled back at the risk of flying overboard. As she spun the +"Albatross" was carried along by the spout, which pirouetted along +the waves with a speed enough to make the helices jealous. And if she +escaped from the spout she might be caught by another, and jerked to +pieces with the shock. + +"Get the gun ready!" said Robur. + +The order was given to Tom Turner, who was crouching behind the +swivel amidships where the effect of the centrifugal force was least +felt. He understood. In a moment he had opened the breech and slipped +a cartridge from the ammunition-box at hand. The gun went off, and the +waterspouts collapsed, and with them vanished the platform of cloud +they seemed to bear above them. + +"Nothing broken on board?" asked Robur. + +"No," answered Tom Turner. "But we don't want to have another game of +humming-top like that!" + +For ten minutes or so the "Albatross" had been in extreme peril. Had +it not been for her extraordinary strength of build she would have +been lost. + +During this passage of the Atlantic many were the hours whose +monotony was unbroken by any phenomenon whatever. The days grew +shorter and shorter, and the cold became keen. Uncle Prudent and Phil +Evans saw little of Robur. Seated in his cabin, the engineer was busy +laying out his course and marking it on his maps, taking his +observations whenever he could, recording the readings of his +barometers, thermometers, and chronometers, and making full entries +in his log-book. + +The colleagues wrapped themselves well up and eagerly watched for the +sight of land to the southward. At Uncle Prudent's request Frycollin +tried to pump the cook as to whither the engineer was bound, but what +reliance could be placed on the information given by this Gascon? +Sometimes Robur was an ex-minister of the Argentine Republic, +sometimes a lord of the Admiralty, sometimes an ex-President of the +United States, sometimes a Spanish general temporarily retired, +sometimes a Viceroy of the Indies who had sought a more elevated +position in the air. Sometimes he possessed millions, thanks to +successful razzias in the aeronef, and he had been proclaimed for +piracy. Sometimes he had been ruined by making the aeronef, and had +been forced to fly aloft to escape from his creditors. As to knowing +if he were going to stop anywhere, no! But if he thought of going to +the moon, and found there a convenient anchorage, he would anchor +there! "Eh! Fry! My boy! That would just suit you to see what was +going on up there." + +"I shall not go! I refuse!" said the Negro, who took all these things +seriously. + +"And why, Fry, why? You might get married to some pretty bouncing +Lunarian!" + +Frycollin reported this conversation to his master, who saw it was +evident that nothing was to be learnt about Robur. And so he thought +still more of how he could have his revenge on him. + +"Phil," said he one day, "is it quite certain that escape is +impossible?" + +"Impossible." + +"Be it so! But a man is always his own property; and if necessary, by +sacrificing his life--" + +"If we are to make that sacrifice," said Phil Evans, "the sooner the +better. It is almost time to end this. Where is the "Albatross" +going? Here we are flying obliquely over the Atlantic, and if we keep +on we shall get to the coast of Patagonia or Tierra del Fuego. And +what are we to do then? Get into the Pacific, or go to the continent +at the South Pole? Everything is possible with this Robur. We shall +be lost in the end. It is thus a case of legitimate self-defence, and +if we must perish--" + +"Which we shall not do," answered Uncle Prudent, "without being +avenged, without annihilating this machine and all she carries." + +The colleagues had reached a stage of impotent fury, and were +prepared to sacrifice themselves if they could only destroy the +inventor and his secret. A few months only would then be the life of +this prodigious aeronef, of whose superiority in aerial locomotion +they had such convincing proofs! The idea took such hold of them that +they thought of nothing else but how to put it into execution. And +how? By seizing on some of the explosives on board and simply blowing +her up. But could they get at the magazines? + +Fortunately for them, Frycollin had no suspicion of their scheme. At +the thought of the "Albatross" exploding in midair, he would not have +shrunk from betraying his master. + +It was on the 23rd of July that the land reappeared in the southwest +near Cape Virgins at the entrance of the Straits of Magellan. Under +the fifty-second parallel at this time of year the night was eighteen +hours long and the temperature was six below freezing. + +At first the "Albatross," instead of keeping on to the south, +followed the windings of the coast as if to enter the Pacific. After +passing Lomas Bay, leaving Mount Gregory to the north and the +Brecknocks to the west, they sighted Puerto Arena, a small Chilean +village, at the moment the churchbells were in full swing; and a few +hours later they were over the old settlement at Port Famine. + +If the Patagonians, whose fires could be seen occasionally, were +really above the average in stature, the passengers in the aeronef +were unable to say, for to them they seemed to be dwarfs. But what a +magnificent landscape opened around during these short hours of the +southern day! Rugged mountains, peaks eternally capped with snow, +with thick forests rising on their flanks, inland seas, bays deep set +amid the peninsulas, and islands of the Archipelago. Clarence Island, +Dawson Island, and the Land of Desolation, straits and channels, +capes and promontories, all in inextricable confusion, and bound by +the ice in one solid mass from Cape Forward, the most southerly point +of the American continent, to Cape Horn the most southerly point of +the New World. + +When she reached Fort Famine the "Albatross" resumed her course to +the south. Passing between Mount Tam on the Brunswick Peninsula and +Mount Graves, she steered for Mount Sarmiento, an enormous peak +wrapped in snow, which commands the Straits of Magellan, rising six +thousand four hundred feet from the sea. And now they were over the +land of the Fuegians, Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire. Six months +later, in the height of summer, with days from fifteen to sixteen +hours long, how beautiful and fertile would most of this country be, +particularly in its northern portion! Then, all around would be seen +valleys and pasturages that could form the feeding-grounds of +thousands of animals; then would appear virgin forests, gigantic +trees-birches, beeches, ash-trees, cypresses, tree-ferns--and broad +plains overrun by herds of guanacos, vicunas, and ostriches. Now +there were armies of penguins and myriads of birds; and, when the +"Albatross" turned on her electric lamps the guillemots, ducks, and +geese came crowding on board enough to fill Tapage's larder a hundred +times and more. + +Here was work for the cook, who knew how to bring out the flavor of +the game and keep down its peculiar oiliness. And here was work for +Frycollin in plucking dozen after dozen of such interesting feathered +friends. + +That day, as the sun was setting about three o'clock in the +afternoon, there appeared in sight a large lake framed in a border of +superb forest. The lake was completely frozen over, and a few natives +with long snowshoes on their feet were swiftly gliding over it. + +At the sight of the "Albatross," the Fuegians, overwhelmed with +terror--scattered in all directions, and when they could not get +away they hid themselves, taking, like the animals, to the holes in +the ground. + +The "Albatross" still held her southerly course, crossing the Beagle +Channel, and Navarin Island and Wollaston Island, on the shores of +the Pacific. Then, having accomplished 4,700 miles since she left +Dahomey, she passed the last islands of the Magellanic archipelago, +whose most southerly outpost, lashed by the everlasting surf, is the +terrible Cape Horn. + + + + + +Chapter XVII + +THE SHIPWRECKED CREW + + + + +Next day was the 24th of July; and the 24th of July in the southern +hemisphere corresponds to the 24th of January in the northern. The +fifty-sixth degree of latitude had been left behind. The similar +parallel in northern Europe runs through Edinburgh. + +The thermometer kept steadily below freezing, so that the machinery +was called upon to furnish a little artificial heat in the cabins. +Although the days begin to lengthen after the 21st day of June in the +southern hemisphere, yet the advance of the "Albatross" towards the +Pole more than neutralized this increase, and consequently the +daylight became very short. There was thus very little to be seen. At +night time the cold became very keen; but as there was no scarcity of +clothing on board, the colleagues, well wrapped up, remained a good +deal on deck thinking over their plans of escape, and watching for an +opportunity. Little was seen of Robur; since the high words that had +been exchanged in the Timbuktu country, the engineer had left off +speaking to his prisoners. Frycollin seldom came out of the +cook-house, where Tapage treated him most hospitably, on condition +that he acted as his assistant. This position was not without its +advantages, and the Negro, with his master's permission, very +willingly accepted it. Shut up in the galley, he saw nothing of what +was passing outside, and might even consider himself beyond the reach +of danger. He was, in fact, very like the ostrich, not only in his +stomach, but in his folly. + +But whither went the "Albatross?" Was she in mid-winter bound for the +southern seas or continents round the Pole? In this icy atmosphere, +even granting that the elements of the batteries were unaffected by +such frost, would not all the crew succumb to a horrible death from +the cold? That Robur should attempt to cross the Pole in the warm +season was bad enough, but to attempt such a thing in the depth of +the winter night would be the act of a madman. + +Thus reasoned the President and Secretary of the Weldon Institute, +now they had been brought to the end of the continent of the New +World, which is still America, although it does not belong to the +United States. + +What was this intractable Robur going to do? Had not the time arrived +for them to end the voyage by blowing up the ship? + +It was noticed that during the 24th of July the engineer had frequent +consultations with his mate. He and Tom Turner kept constant watch on +the barometer--not so much to keep themselves informed of the height +at which they were traveling as to be on the look-out for a change in +the weather. Evidently some indications had been observed of which it +was necessary to make careful note. + +Uncle Prudent also remarked that Robur had been taking stock of the +provisions and stores, and everything seemed to show that he was +contemplating turning back. + +"Turning back!" said Phil Evans. "But where to?" + +"Where he can reprovision the ship," said Uncle Prudent. + +"That ought to be in some lonely island in the Pacific with a colony +of scoundrels worthy of their chief." + +"That is what I think. I fancy he is going west, and with the speed +he can get up it would not take, him long to get home." + +"But we should not be able to put our plan into execution. If we get +there--" + +"We shall not get there!" + +The colleagues had partly guessed the engineer's intentions. During +the day it became no longer doubtful that when the "Albatross" +reached the confines of the Antarctic Sea her course was to be +changed. When the ice has formed about Cape Horn the lower regions of +the Pacific are covered with icefields and icebergs. The floes then +form an impenetrable barrier to the strongest ships and the boldest +navigators. Of course, by increasing the speed of her wings the +"Albatross" could clear the mountains of ice accumulated on the ocean +as she could the mountains of earth on the polar continent--if it is +a continent that forms the cap of the southern pole. But would she +attempt it in the middle of the polar night, in an atmosphere of +sixty below freezing? + +After she had advanced about a hundred miles to the south the +"Albatross" headed westerly, as if for some unknown island of the +Pacific. Beneath her stretched the liquid plain between Asia and +America. The waters now had assumed that singular color which has +earned for them the name of the Milky Sea. In the half shadow, which +the enfeebled rays of the sun were unable to dissipate, the surface +of the Pacific was a milky white. It seemed like a vast snowfield, +whose undulations were imperceptible at such a height. If the sea had +been solidified by the cold, and converted into an immense icefield, +its aspect could not have been much different. They knew that the +phenomenon was produced by myriads of luminous particles of +phosphorescent corpuscles; but it was surprising to come across such +an opalescent mass beyond the limits of the Indian Ocean. + +Suddenly the barometer fell after keeping somewhat high during the +earlier hours of the day. Evidently the indications were such as a +shipmaster might feel anxious at, though the master of an aeronef +might despise them. There was every sign that a terrible storm had +recently raged in the Pacific. + +It was one o'clock in the afternoon when Tom Turner came up to the +engineer and said, "Do you see that black spot on the horizon, sir-- +there away to due north of us? That is not a rock?" + +"No, Tom; there is no land out there." + +"Then it must be a ship or a boat." + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans, who were in the bow, looked in the +direction pointed out by the mate. + +Robur asked for the glass and attentively observed the object. + +"It is a boat," said he, "and there are some men in it." + +"Shipwrecked?" asked Tom. + +"Yes! They have had to abandon their ship, and, knowing nothing of +the nearest land, are perhaps dying of hunger and thirst! Well, it +shall not be said that the "Albatross" did not come to their help!" + +The orders were given, and the aeronef began to sink towards the sea. +At three hundred yards from it the descent was stopped, and the +propellers drove ahead full speed towards the north. + +It was a boat. Her sail flapped against the mast as she rose and fell +on the waves. There was no wind, and she was making no progress. +Doubtless there was no one on board with strength enough left to work +the oars. In the boat were five men asleep or helpless, if they were +not dead. + +The "Albatross" had arrived above them, and slowly descended. On the +boat's stern was the name of the ship to which she belonged--the +"Jeannette" of Nantes. + +"Hallo, there!" shouted Turner, loud enough for the men to hear, for +the boat was only eighty feet below him. + +There was no answer. "Fire a gun!" said Robur. + +The gun was fired and the report rang out over the sea. + +One of the men looked up feebly. His eyes were haggard and his face +was that of a skeleton. As he caught sight of the "Albatross" he made +a gesture as of fear. + +"Don't be afraid," said Robur in French, "we have come to help you. +Who are you?" + +"We belong to the barque "Jeannette," and I am the mate. We left her +a fortnight ago as she was sinking. We have no water and no food." + +The four other men had now sat up. Wan and exhausted, in a terrible +state of emaciation, they lifted their hands towards the "Albatross." + +"Look-out!" shouted Robur. + +A line was let down, and a pail of fresh water was lowered into the +boat. The men snatched at it and drank it with an eagerness awful to +see. + +"Bread, bread!" they exclaimed. + +Immediately a basket with some food and five pints of coffee +descended towards them. The mate with difficulty restrained them in +their ravenousness. + +"Where are we?" asked the mate at last. + +"Fifty miles from the Chili coast and the Chonos Archipelago," +answered Robur. + +"Thanks. But we are becalmed, and--?" + +"We are going to tow you." + +"Who are you?" + +"People who are glad to be of assistance to you," said Robur. + +The mate understood that the incognito was to be respected. But had +the flying machine sufficient power to tow them through the water? + +Yes; and the boat, attached to a hundred feet of rope, began to move +off towards the east. At ten o'clock at night the land was sighted-- +or rather they could see the lights which indicated its position. +This rescue from the sky had come just in time for the survivors of +the "Jeannette," and they had good reason to believe it miraculous. + +When they had been taken to the mouth of the channel leading among +the Chonos Islands, Robur shouted to them to cast off the tow-line. +This, with many a blessing to those who had saved them, they did, and +the "Albatross" headed out to the offing. + +Certainly there was some good in this aeronef, which could thus help +those who were lost at sea! What balloon, perfect as it might be, +would be able to perform such a service? And between themselves Uncle +Prudent and Phil Evans could not but admire it, although they were +quite disposed to deny the evidence of their senses. + + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +OVER THE VOLCANO + + + + +The sea was as rough as ever, and the symptoms became alarming. The +barometer fell several millimeters. The wind came in violent gusts, +and then for a moment or so failed altogether. Under such +circumstances a sailing vessel would have had to reef in her topsails +and her foresail. Everything showed that the wind was rising in the +northwest. The storm-glass became much troubled and its movements +were most disquieting. + +At one o'clock in the morning the wind came on again with extreme +violence. Although the aeronef was going right in its teeth she was +still making progress at a rate of from twelve to fifteen miles an +hour. But that was the utmost she could do. + +Evidently preparations must be made for a cyclone, a very rare +occurrence in these latitudes. Whether it be called a hurricane, as +in the Atlantic, a typhoon, as in Chinese waters a simoom, as in the +Sahara, or a tornado, as on the western coast, such a storm is always +a gyratory one, and most dangerous for any ship caught in the current +which increases from the circumference to the center, and has only +one spot of calm, the middle of the vortex. + +Robur knew this. He also knew it was best to escape from the cyclone +and get beyond its zone of attraction by ascending to the higher +strata. Up to then he had always succeeded in doing this, but now he +had not an hour, perhaps not a minute, to lose. + +In fact the violence of the wind sensibly increased. The crests of +the waves were swept off as they rose and blown into white dust on +the surface of the sea. It was manifest that the cyclone was +advancing with fearful velocity straight towards the regions of the +pole. + +"Higher!" said Robur. + +"Higher it is," said Tom Tumor. + +An extreme ascensional power was communicated to the aeronef, and she +shot up slantingly as if she was traveling on a plane sloping +downwards from the southwest. Suddenly the barometer fell more than a +dozen millimeters and the "Albatross" paused in her ascent. + +What was the cause of the stoppage? Evidently she was pulled back by +the air; some formidable current had diminished the resistance to the +screws. When a steamer travels upstream more work is got out of her +screw than when the water is running between the blades. The recoil +is then considerable, and may perhaps be as great as the current. It +was thus with the "Albatross" at this moment. + +But Robur was not the man to give in. His seventy-four screws, +working perfectly together, were driven at their maximum speed. But +the aeronef could not escape; the attraction of the cyclone was +irresistible. During the few moments of calm she began to ascend, but +the heavy pull soon drew her back, and she sunk like a ship as she +founders. + +Evidently if the violence of the cyclone went on increasing the +"Albatross" would be but as a straw caught in one of those whirlwinds +that root up the trees, carry off roofs, and blow down walls. + +Robur and Tom could only speak by signs. Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +clung to the rail and wondered if the cyclone was not playing their +game in destroying the aeronef and with her the inventor--and with +the inventor the secret of his invention. + +But if the "Albatross" could not get out of the cyclone vertically +could she not do something else? Could she not gain the center, where +it was comparatively calm, and where they would have more control +over her? Quite so, but to do this she would have to break through +the circular currents which were sweeping her round with them. Had +she sufficient mechanical power to escape through them? + +Suddenly the upper part of the cloud fell in. The vapor condensed in +torrents of rain. It was two o'clock in the morning. The barometer, +oscillating over a range of twelve millimeters, had now fallen to +27.91, and from this something should be taken on account of the +height of the aeronef above the level of the sea. + +Strange to say, the cyclone was out of the zone to which such storms +are generally restricted, such zone being bounded by the thirtieth +parallel of north latitude and the twenty-sixth parallel of south +latitude. This may perhaps explain why the eddying storm suddenly +turned into a straight one. But what a hurricane! The tempest in +Connecticut on the 22nd of March, 1882, could only have been compared +to it, and the speed of that was more than three hundred miles an +hour. + +The "Albatross" had thus to fly before the wind or rather she had to +be left to be driven by the current, from which she could neither +mount nor escape. But in following this unchanging trajectory she was +bearing due south, towards those polar regions which Robur had +endeavored to avoid. And now he was no longer master of her course; +she would go where the hurricane took her. + +Tom Turner was at the helm, and it required all his skill to keep her +straight. In the first hours of the morning--if we can so call the +vague tint which began to rise over the horizon--the "Albatross" was +fifteen degrees below Cape Horn; twelve hundred miles more and she +would cross the antarctic circle. Where she was, in this month of +July, the night lasted nineteen hours and a half. The sun's disk-- +without warmth, without light--only appeared above the horizon to +disappear almost immediately. At the pole the night lengthened into +one of a hundred and seventy-nine hours. Everything showed that the +"Albatross" was about to plunge into an abyss. + +During the day an observation, had it been possible, would have given +66° 40' south latitude. The aeronef was within fourteen hundred miles +of the pole. + +Irresistibly was she drawn towards this inaccessible corner of the +globe, her speed eating up, so to speak, her weight, although she +weighed less than before, owing to the flattening of the earth at the +pole. It seemed as though she could have dispensed altogether with +her suspensory screws. And soon the fury of the storm reached such a +height that Robur thought it best to reduce the speed of her helices +as much as possible, so as to avoid disaster. And only enough speed +was given to keep the aeronef under control of the rudder. + +Amid these dangers the engineer retained his imperturbable coolness, +and the crew obeyed him as if their leader's mind had entered into +them. Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans had not for a moment left the +deck; they could remain without being disturbed. The air made but +slight resistance. The aeronef was like an aerostat, which drifts +with the fluid masses in which it is plunged. + +Is the domain of the southern pole a continent or an archipelago? Or +is it a palaeocrystic sea, whose ice melts not even during the long +summer? We know not. But what we do know is that the southern pole is +colder than the northern one--a phenomenon due to the position of +the earth in its orbit during winter in the antarctic regions. + +During this day there was nothing to show that the storm was abating. +It was by the seventy-fifth meridian to the west that the "Albatross" +crossed into the circumpolar region. By what meridian would she come +out--if she ever came out? + +As she descended more to the south the length of the day diminished. +Before long she would be plunged in that continuous night which is +illuminated only by the rays of the moon or the pale streamers of the +aurora. But the moon was then new, and the companions of Robur might +see nothing of the regions whose secret has hitherto defied human +curiosity, There was not much inconvenience on board from the cold, +for the temperature was not nearly so low as was expected. + +It seemed as though the hurricane was a sort of Gulf Stream, carrying +a certain amount of heat along with it. + +Great was the regret that the whole region was in such profound +obscurity. Even if the moon had been in full glory but few +observations could have been made. At this season of the year an +immense curtain of snow, an icy carapace, covers up the polar +surface. There was none of that ice "blink" to be seen, that whitish +tint of which the reflection is absent from dark horizons. Under such +circumstances, how could they distinguish the shape of the ground, +the extent of the seas, the position of the islands? How could they +recognize the hydrographic network of the country or the orographic +configuration, and distinguish the hills and mountains from the +icebergs and floes? + +A little after midnight an aurora illuminated the darkness. With its +silver fringes and spangles radiating over space, it seemed like a +huge fan open over half the sky. Its farthest electric effluences +were lost in the Southern Cross, whose four bright stars were +gleaming overhead. The phenomenon was one of incomparable +magnificence, and the light showed the face of the country as a +confused mass of white. + +It need not be said that they had approached so near to the pole that +the compass was constantly affected, and gave no precise indication +of the course pursued. Its inclination was such that at one time +Robur felt certain they were passing over the magnetic pole +discovered by Sir James Ross. And an hour later, in calculating the +angle the needle made with the vertical, he exclaimed: "the South +Pole is beneath us!" + +A white cap appeared, but nothing could be seen of what it bid under +its ice. + +A few minutes afterwards the aurora died away, and the point where +all the world's meridians cross is still to be discovered. + +If Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans wished to bury in the most mysterious +solitudes the aeronef and all she bore, the moment was propitious. If +they did not do so it was doubtless because the explosive they +required was still denied to them. + +The hurricane still raged and swept along with such rapidity that had +a mountain been met with the aeronef would have been dashed to pieces +like a ship on a lee shore. Not only had the power gone to steer her +horizontally, but the control of her elevation had also vanished. + +And it was not unlikely that mountains did exist in these antarctic +lands. Any instant a shock might happen which would destroy the +"Albatross." Such a catastrophe became more probable as the wind +shifted more to the east after they passed the prime meridian. Two +luminous points then showed themselves ahead of the "Albatross." +There were the two volcanos of the Ross Mountains--Erebus and +Terror. Was the "Albatross" to be shriveled up in their flames like a +gigantic butterfly? + +An hour of intense excitement followed. One of the volcanoes, Erebus, +seemed to be rushing at the aeronef, which could not move from the +bed of the hurricane. The cloud of flame grew as they neared it. A +network of fire barred their road. A brilliant light shone round over +all. The figures on board stood out in the bright light as if come +from another world. Motionless, without a sound or a gesture, they +waited for the terrible moment when the furnace would wrap them in +its fires. + +But the storm that bore the "Albatross" saved them from such a +fearful fate. The flames of Erebus were blown down by the hurricane +as it passed, and the "Albatross" flew over unhurt. She swept through +a hail of ejected material, which was fortunately kept at bay by the +centrifugal action of the suspensory screws. And she harmlessly +passed over the crater while it was in full eruption. + +An hour afterwards the horizon hid from their view the two colossal +torches which light the confines of the world during the long polar +night. + +At two o'clock in the morning Balleny Island was sighted on the coast +of Discovery Land, though it could not be recognized owing to its +being bound to the mainland by a cement of ice. + +And the "Albatross" emerged from the polar circle on the hundred and +seventy-fifth meridian. The hurricane had carried her over the +icebergs and icefloes, against which she was in danger of being +dashed a hundred times or more. She was not in the hands of the +helmsman, but in the hand of God--and God is a good pilot. + +The aeronef sped along to the north, and at the sixtieth parallel the +storm showed signs of dying away. Its violence sensibly diminished. +The "Albatross" began to come under control again. And, what was a +great comfort, had again entered the lighted regions of the globe; +and the day reappeared about eight o'clock in the morning. + +Robur had been carried by the storm into the Pacific over the polar +region, accomplishing four thousand three hundred and fifty miles in +nineteen hours, or about three miles a minute, a speed almost double +that which the "Albatross" was equal to with her propellers under +ordinary circumstances. But he did not know where he then was owing +to the disturbance of the needle in the neighborhood of the magnetic +pole, and he would have to wait till the sun shone out under +convenient conditions for observation. Unfortunately, heavy clouds +covered the sky all that day and the sun did not appear. + +This was a disappointment more keenly felt as both propelling screws +had sustained damage during the tempest. Robur, much disconcerted at +this accident, could only advance at a moderate speed during this +day, and when he passed over the antipodes of Paris was only going +about eighteen miles an hour. It was necessary not to aggravate the +damage to the screws, for if the propellers were rendered useless the +situation of the aeronef above the vast seas of the Pacific would be +a very awkward one. And the engineer began to consider if he could +not effect his repairs on the spot, so as to make sure of continuing +his voyage. + +In the morning of the 27th of July, about seven o'clock, land was +sighted to the north. It was soon seen to be an island. But which +island was it of the thousands that dot the Pacific? However, Robur +decided to stop at it without landing. He thought, that he could +repair damages during the day and start in the evening. + +The wind had died away completely and this was a favorable +circumstance for the maneuver he desired to execute. At least, if she +did not remain stationary the "Albatross" would be carried he knew +not where. + +A cable one hundred and fifty feet long with an anchor at the end was +dropped overboard. When the aeronef reached the shore of the island +the anchor dragged up the first few rocks and then got firmly fixed +between two large blocks. The cable then stretched to full length +under the influence of the suspensory screws, and the "Albatross" +remained motionless, riding like a ship in a roadstead. + +It was the first time she had been fastened to the earth since she +left Philadelphia. + + + + + +Chapter XIX + +ANCHORED AT LAST + + + + +When the "Albatross" was high in the air the island could be seen to +be of moderate size. But on what parallel was it situated? What +meridian ran through it? Was it an island in the Pacific, in +Australasia, or in the Indian Ocean? When the sun appeared, and Robur +had taken his observations, they would know; but although they could +not trust to the indications of the compass there was reason to think +they were in the Pacific. + +At this height--one hundred and fifty feet--the island which +measured about fifteen miles round, was like a three-pointed star in +the sea. + +Off the southwest point was an islet and a range of rocks. On the +shore there were no tide-marks, and this tended to confirm Robur in +his opinion as to his position for the ebb and flow are almost +imperceptible in the Pacific. + +At the northwest point there was a conical mountain about two hundred +feet high. + +No natives were to be seen, but they might be on the opposite coast. +In any case, if they had perceived the aeronef, terror had made them +either hide themselves or run away. The "Albatross" had anchored on +the southwest point of the island. Not far off, down a little creek, +a small river flowed in among the rocks. Beyond were several winding +valleys; trees of different kinds; and birds--partridges and +bustards--in great numbers. If the island was not inhabited it was +habitable. Robur might surely have landed on it; if he had not done +so it was probably because the ground was uneven and did not offer a +convenient spot to beach the aeronef. + +While he was waiting for the sun the engineer began the repairs he +reckoned on completing before the day was over. The suspensory screws +were undamaged and had worked admirably amid all the violence of the +storm, which, as we have said, had considerably lightened their work. +At this moment half of them were in action, enough to keep the +"Albatross" fixed to the shore by the taut cable. But the two +propellers had suffered, and more than Robur had thought. Their +blades would have to be adjusted and the gearing seen to by which +they received their rotatory movement. + +It was the screw at the bow which was first attacked under Robur's +superintendence. It was the best to commence with, in case the +"Albatross" had to leave before the work was finished. With only this +propeller he could easily keep a proper course. + +Meanwhile Uncle Prudent and his colleague, after walking about the +deck, had sat down aft. Frycollin was strangely reassured. What a +difference! To be suspended only one hundred and fifty feet from the +ground! + +The work was only interrupted for a moment while the elevation of the +sun above the horizon allowed Robur to take an horary angle, so that +at the time of its culmination he could calculate his position. + +The result of the observation, taken with the greatest exactitude, +was as follows: + + Longitude, 176° 10' west. + Latitude, 44° 25' south. + +This point on the map answered to the position of the Chatham +Islands, and particularly of Pitt Island, one of the group. + +"That is nearer than I supposed," said Robur to Tom Turner. + +"How far off are we?" + +"Forty-six degrees south of X Island, or two thousand eight hundred +miles." + +"All the more reason to get our propellers into order," said the +mate. "We may have the wind against us this passage, and with the +little stores we have left we ought to get to X as soon as possible." + +"Yes, Tom, and I hope to get under way tonight, even if I go with one +screw, and put the other to-rights on the voyage." + +"Mr. Robur," said Tom "What is to be done with those two gentlemen +and their servant?" + +"Do you think they would complain if they became colonists of X +Island?" + +But where was this X? It was an island lost in the immensity of the +Pacific Ocean between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer--an +island most appropriately named by Robur in this algebraic fashion. +It was in the north of the South Pacific, a long way out of the route +of inter-oceanic communication. There it was that Robur had founded +his little colony, and there the "Albatross" rested when tired with +her flight. There she was provisioned for all her voyages. In X +Island, Robur, a man of immense wealth, had established a shipyard in +which he built his aeronef. There he could repair it, and even +rebuild it. In his warehouses were materials and provisions of all +sorts stored for the fifty inhabitants who lived on the island. + +When Robur had doubled Cape Horn a few days before his intention had +been to regain X Island by crossing the Pacific obliquely. But the +cyclone had seized the "Albatross," and the hurricane had carried her +away to the south. In fact, he had been brought back to much the same +latitude as before, and if his propellers had not been damaged the +delay would have been of no importance. + +His object was therefore to get back to X Island, but as the mate had +said, the voyage would be a long one, and the winds would probably be +against them. The mechanical power of the "Albatross" was, however, +quite equal to taking her to her destination, and under ordinary +circumstances she would be there in three or four days. + +Hence Robur's resolve to anchor on the Chatham Islands. There was +every opportunity for repairing at least the fore-screw. He had no +fear that if the wind were to rise he would be driven to the south +instead of to the north. When night came the repairs would be +finished, and he would have to maneuver so as to weigh anchor. If it +were too firmly fixed in the rocks he could cut the cable and resume +his flight towards the equator. + +The crew of the "Albatross," knowing there was no time to lose, set +to work vigorously. + +While they were busy in the bow of the aeronef, Uncle Prudent and +Phil Evans held a little conversation together which had +exceptionally important consequences. + +"Phil Evans," said Uncle Prudent, "you have resolved, as I have, to +sacrifice your life?" + +"Yes, like you." + +"It is evident that we can expect nothing from Robur." + +"Nothing." + +"Well, Phil Evans, I have made up my mind. If the "Albatross" leaves +this place tonight, the night will not pass without our having +accomplished our task. We will smash the wings of this bird of +Robur's! This night I will blow it into the air!" + +"The sooner the better," said Phil Evans. + +It will be seen that the two colleagues were agreed on all points +even in accepting with indifference the frightful death in store for +them. "Have you all you want?" asked Evans. + +"Yes. Last night, while Robur and his people had enough to do to look +after the safety of the ship, I slipped into the magazine and got +hold of a dynamite cartridge." + +"Let us set to work, Uncle Prudent." + +"No. Wait till tonight. When the night comes we will go into our +cabin, and you shall see something that will surprise you." + +At six o'clock the colleagues dined together as usual. Two hours +afterwards they retired to their cabin like men who wished to make up +for a sleepless night. + +Neither Robur nor any of his companions had a suspicion of the +catastrophe that threatened the "Albatross." + +This was Uncle Prudent's plan. As he had said, he had stolen into the +magazine, and there had possessed himself of some powder and +cartridge like those used by Robur in Dahomey. Returning to his +cabin, he had carefully concealed the cartridge with which he had +resolved to blow up the "Albatross" in mid-air. + +Phil Evans, screened by his companion, was now examining the infernal +machine, which was a metallic canister containing about two pounds of +dynamite, enough to shatter the aeronef to atoms. If the explosion +did not destroy her at once, it would do so in her fall. Nothing was +easier than to place this cartridge in a corner of the cabin, so that +it would blow in the deck and tear away the framework of the hull. + +But to obtain the explosion it was necessary to adjust the +fulminating cap with which the cartridge was fitted. This was the +most delicate part of the operation, for the explosion would have to +be carefully timed, so as not to occur too soon or too late. + +Uncle Prudent had carefully thought over the matter. His conclusions +were as follows. As soon as the fore propeller was repaired the +aeronef would resume her course to the north, and that done Robur and +his crew would probably come aft to put the other screw into order. +The presence of these people about the cabin might interfere with his +plans, and so he had resolved to make a slow match do duty as a +time-fuse. + +"When I got the cartridge," said he to Phil Evans, "I took some +gunpowder as well. With the powder I will make a fuse that will take +some time to burn, and which will lead into the fulminate. My idea is +to light it about midnight, so that the explosion will take place +about three or four o'clock in the morning." + +"Well planned!" said Phil Evans. + +The colleagues, as we see, had arrived at such a stage as to look with +the greatest nonchalance on the awful destruction in which they were +about to perish. Their hatred against Robur and his people had so +increased that they would sacrifice their own lives to destroy the +"Albatross" and all she bore. The act was that of madmen, it was +horrible; but at such a pitch had they arrived after five weeks of +anger that could not vent itself, of rage that could not be gratified. + +"And Frycollin?" asked Phil Evans, "have we the right to dispose of +his life?" + +"We shall sacrifice ours as well!" said Uncle Prudent. But it is +doubtful if Frycollin would have thought the reason sufficient. + +Immediately Uncle Prudent set to work, while Evans kept watch in the +neighborhood of the cabin. The crew were all at work forward. There +was no fear of being surprised. Uncle Prudent began by rubbing a +small quantity of the powder very fine; and then, having slightly +moistened it, he wrapped it up in a piece of rag in the shape of a +match. When it was lighted he calculated it would burn about an inch +in five minutes, or a yard in three hours. The match was tried and +found to answer, and was then wound round with string and attached to +the cap of the cartridge. Uncle Prudent had all finished about ten +o'clock in the evening without having excited the least suspicion. + +During the day the work on the fore screw had been actively carried +on, but it had had to be taken on board to adjust the twisted blades. +Of the piles and accumulators and the machinery that drove the ship +nothing was damaged. + +When night fell Robur and his men knocked off work. The fore +propeller not been got into place, and to finish it would take +another three hours. After some conversation with Tom Turner it was +decided to give the crew a rest, and postpone what required to be +done to the next morning. + +The final adjustment was a matter of extreme nicety, and the electric +lamps did not give so suitable a light for such work as the daylight. + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans were not aware of this. They had +understood that the screw would be in place during the night, and +that the "Albatross" would be on her way to the north. + +The night was dark and moonless. Heavy clouds made the darkness +deeper. A light breeze began to rise. A few puffs came from the +southwest, but they had no effect on the "Albatross." She remained +motionless at her anchor, and the cable stretched vertically downward +to the ground. + +Uncle Prudent and his colleague, imagining they were under way again, +sat shut up in their cabin, exchanging but a few words, and listening +to the f-r-r-r-r of the suspensory screws, which drowned every other +sound on board. They were waiting till the time of action arrived. + +A little before midnight Uncle Prudent said, "It is time!" Under the +berths in the cabin was a sliding box, forming a small locker, and in +this locker Uncle Prudent put the dynamite and the slow-match. In +this way the match would burn without betraying itself by its smoke +or spluttering. Uncle Prudent lighted the end and pushed back the box +under the berth with "Now let us go aft, and wait." + +They then went out, and were astonished not to find the steersman at +his post. + +Phil Evans leant out over the rail. + +"The "Albatross" is where she was," said he in a low voice. "The work +is not finished. They have not started!" + +Uncle Prudent made a gesture of disappointment. "We shall have to put +out the match," said he. + +"No," said Phil Evans, "we must escape!" + +"Escape?" + +"Yes! down the cable! Fifty yards is nothing!" + +"Nothing, of course, Phil Evans, and we should be fools not to take +the chance now it has come." + +But first they went back to the cabin and took away all they could +carry, with a view to a more or less prolonged stay on the Chatham +Islands. Then they shut the door and noiselessly crept forward, +intending to wake Frycollin and take him with them. + +The darkness was intense. The clouds were racing up from the +southwest, and the aeronef was tugging at her anchor and thus +throwing the cable more and more out of the vertical. There would be +no difficulty in slipping down it. + +The colleagues made their way along the deck, stopping in the shadow +of the deckhouses to listen if there was any sound. The silence was +unbroken. No light shone from the portholes. The aeronef was not only +silent; she was asleep. + +Uncle Prudent was close to Frycollin's cabin when Phil Evans stopped +him. "The look-out!" he said. + +A man was crouching near the deck-house. He was only half asleep. All +flight would be impossible if he were to give the alarm. Close by +were a few ropes, and pieces of rag and waste used in the work at the +screw. + +An instant afterwards the man was gagged and blindfolded and lashed +to the rail unable to utter a sound or move an inch. This was done +almost without a whisper. + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans listened. All was silent within the +cabins. Every one on board was asleep. They reached Frycollin's +cabin. Tapage was snoring away in a style worthy of his name, and +that promised well. + +To his great surprise, Uncle Prudent had not even to push Frycollin's +door. It was open. He stepped into the doorway and looked around. +"Nobody here!" he said. + +"Nobody! Where can he be?" asked Phil Evans. + +They went into the bow, thinking Frycollin might perhaps be asleep in +the corner. Still they found nobody. + +"Has the fellow got the start of us?" asked Uncle Prudent. + +"Whether he has or not," said Phil Evans, "we can't wait any longer. +Down you go." + +Without hesitation the fugitives one after the other clambered over +the side and, seizing the cable with hands and feet slipped down it +safe and sound to the ground. + +Think of their joy at again treading the earth they had lost for so +long--at walking on solid ground and being no longer the playthings +of the atmosphere! + +They were staring up the creek to the interior of the island when +suddenly a form rose in front of them. It was Frycollin. The Negro +had had the same idea as his master and the audacity to start without +telling him. But there was no time for recriminations, and Uncle +Prudent was in search of a refuge in some distant part of the island +when Phil Evans stopped him. + +"Uncle Prudent," said he. "Here we are safe from Robur. He is doomed +like his companions to a terrible death. He deserves it, we know. But +if he would swear on his honor not to take us prisoners again--" + +"The honor of such a man--" + +Uncle Prudent did not finish his sentence. + +There was a noise on the "Albatross." Evidently, the alarm had been +given. The escape was discovered. + +"Help! Help!" shouted somebody. It was the look-out man, who had got +rid of his gag. Hurried footsteps were heard on deck. Almost +immediately the electric lamps shot beams over a large circle. + +"There they are! There they are!" shouted Tom Turner. The fugitives +were seen. + +At the same instant an order was given by Robur, and the suspensory +screws being slowed, the cable was hauled in on board, and the +"Albatross" sank towards the ground. + +At this moment the voice of Phil Evans was heard shouting, "Engineer +Robur, will you give us your word of honor to leave us free on this +island?" + +"Never!" said Robur. And the reply was followed by the report of a +gun, and the bullet grazed Phil's shoulder. + +"Ah! The brutes!" said Uncle Prudent. Knife in hand, he rushed +towards the rocks where the anchor had fixed itself. The aeronef was +not more than fifty feet from the ground. + +In a few seconds the cable was cut, and the breeze, which had +increased considerably, striking the "Albatross" on the quarter, +carried her out over the sea. + + + + + +Chapter XX + +THE WRECK OF THE ALBATROSS + + + + + +It was then twenty minutes after midnight. Five or six shots had been +fired from the aeronef. Uncle Prudent and Frycollin, supporting Phil +Evans, had taken shelter among the rocks. They had not been hit. For +the moment there was nothing to fear. + +As the "Albatross" drifted off from Pitt Island she rose obliquely to +nearly three thousand feet. It was necessary to increase the +ascensional power to prevent her falling into the sea. + +When the look-out man had got clear of his gag and shouted, Robur and +Tom Turner had rushed up to him and torn off his bandage. The mate +had then run back to the stern cabin. It was empty! Tapage had +searched Frycollin's cabin, and that also was empty. + +When he saw that the prisoners had escaped, Robur was seized with a +paroxysm of anger. The escape meant the revelation of his secret to +the world. He had not been much concerned at the document thrown +overboard while they were crossing Europe, for there were so many +chances that it would be lost in its fall; but now! + +As he grew calm, "They have escaped," said he. "Be it so! But they +cannot get away from Pitt Island, and in a day or so I will go back! +I will recapture them! And then--" + +In fact, the safety of the three fugitives was by no means assured. +The "Albatross" would be repaired, and return well in hand. Before +the day was out they might again be in the power of the engineer. + +Before the day was out! But in two hours the "Albatross" would be +annihilated! The dynamite cartridge was like a torpedo fastened to +her hull, and would accomplish her destruction in mid-air. The breeze +freshened, and the aeronef was carried to the northeast. Although her +speed was but moderate, she would be out of sight of the Chatham +Islands before sunrise. To return against the wind she must have her +propellers going, particularly the one in the bow. + +"Tom," said the engineer, "turn the lights full on." + +"Yes, Sir." + +"And all hands to work." + +"Yes, Sir." + +There was no longer any idea of putting off the work till tomorrow. +There was now no thought of fatigue. Not one of the men of the +"Albatross" failed to share in the feelings of his chief. Not one but +was ready to do anything to recapture the fugitives! + +As soon as the screw was in place they would return to the island and +drop another anchor, and give chase to the fugitives. Then only would +they begin repairing the stern-screw; and then the aeronef could +resume her voyage across the Pacific to X Island. + +It was important, above all things, that the "Albatross" should not +be carried too far to the northeast, but unfortunately the breeze +grew stronger, and she could not head against it, or even remain +stationary. Deprived of her propellers she was an unguidable balloon. +The fugitives on the shore knew that she would have disappeared +before the explosion blew her to pieces. + +Robur felt much disappointment at seeing his plans so interfered +with. Would it not take him much longer than he thought to get back +to his old anchorage? + +While the work at the screw was actively pushed on, he resolved to +descend to the surface of the sea, in the hope that the wind would +there be lighter. Perhaps the "Albatross" would be able to remain in +the neighborhood until she was again fit to work to windward. + +The maneuver was instantly executed. If a passing ship had sighted +the aerial machine as she sunk through the air, with her electric +lights in full blaze, with what terror would she have been seized! + +When the "Albatross" was a few hundred feet from the waves she +stopped. Unfortunately Robur found that the breeze was stronger here +than above, and the aeronef drifted off more rapidly. He risked being +blown a long, way off to the northeast, and that would delay his +return to Pitt Island. In short, after several experiments, he found +it better to keep his ship well up in the air, and the "Albatross" +went aloft to about ten thousand feet. There, if she did not remain +stationary, the drifting was very slight. The engineer could thus +hope that by sunrise at such an altitude he would still be in sight +of the island. + +Robur did not trouble himself about the reception the fugitives might +have received from the natives--if there were any natives. That they +might help them mattered little to him. With the powers of offense +possessed by the "Albatross" they would be promptly terrified and +dispersed. The capture of the prisoners was certain, and once he had +them again, "They will not escape from X Island!" + +About one o'clock in the morning the fore-screw was finished, and all +that had to be done was to get it back to its place. This would take +about an hour. That done, the "Albatross" would be headed southwest +and the stern-screw could be taken in hand. + +And how about the match that was burning in the deserted cabin? The +match of which more than a third was now consumed? And the spark that +was creeping along to the dynamite? + +Assuredly if the men of the aeronef had not been so busy one of them +would have heard the feeble sputtering that was going on in the +deck-house. Perhaps he would have smelt the burning powder! He would +doubtless have become uneasy! And told Tom Turner! And then they +would have looked about, and found the box and the infernal machine; +and then there would have been time to save this wonderful +"Albatross" and all she bore! + +But the men were at work in the bow, twenty yards away from the +cabin. Nothing brought them to that part of the deck; nothing called +off their attention from their work. Robur was there working with his +hands, excellent mechanic as he was. He hurried on the work, but +nothing was neglected, everything was carefully done. Was it not +necessary that he should again become absolute master of his +invention? If he did not recapture the fugitives they would get away +home. They would begin inquiring into matters. They might even +discover X Island, and there would be an end to this life, which the +men of the "Albatross" had created for themselves, a life that seemed +superhuman and sublime. + +Tom Turner came up to the engineer. It was a quarter past one. "It +seems to me, sir, that the breeze is falling, and going round to the +west." + +"What does the barometer say?" asked Robur, after looking up at the +sky. + +"It is almost stationary, and the clouds seem gathering below us." + +"So they are, and it may be raining down at the sea; but if we keep +above the rain it makes no difference to us. It will not interfere +with the work." + +"If it is raining it is not a heavy rain," said Tom. "The clouds do +not look like it, and probably the wind has dropped altogether." + +"Perhaps so, but I think we had better not go down yet. Let us get +into going order as soon as we can, and then we can do as we like." + +At a few minutes after two the first part of the work was finished. +The fore-screw was in its place, and the power was turned on. The +speed was gradually increased, and the "Albatross," heading to the +southwest, returned at moderate speed towards the Chatham Islands. + +"Tom," said Robur, "it is about two hours and a half since we got +adrift. The wind has not changed all the time. I think we ought to be +over the island in an hour." + +"Yes, sir. We are going about forty feet a second. We ought to be +there about half-past three." + +"All the better. It would suit us best to get back while it is dark, +and even beach the "Albatross" if we can. Those fellows will fancy we +are a long way off to the northward, and never think of keeping a +look-out. If we have to stop a day or two on the island--" + +"We'll stop, and if we have to fight an army of natives?" + +"We'll fight," said Robur. "We'll fight then for our "Albatross."" + +The engineer went forward to the men, who were waiting for orders. +"My lads," he said to them, "we cannot knock off yet. We must work +till day comes." + +They were all ready to do so. The stern-screw had now to be treated +as the other had been. The damage was the same, a twisting from the +violence of the hurricane during the passage across the southern pole. + +But to get the screw on board it seemed best to stop the progress of +the aeronef for a few minutes, and even to drive her backwards. The +engines were reversed. The aeronef began to fall astern, when Tom +Turner was surprised by a peculiar odor. + +This was from the gas given off by the match, which had accumulated +in the box, and was now escaping from the cabin. "Hallo!" said the +mate, with a sniff. + +"What is the matter?" asked Robur. + +"Don't you smell something? Isn't it burning powder?" + +"So it is, Tom." + +"And it comes from that cabin." + +"Yes, the very cabin--" + +"Have those scoundrels set it on fire?" + +"Suppose it is something else!" exclaimed Robur. "Force the door, +Tom; drive in the door!" + +But the mate had not made one step towards it when a fearful +explosion shook the "Albatross." The cabins flew into splinters. The +lamps went out. The electric current suddenly failed. The darkness +was complete. Most of the suspensory screws were twisted or broken, +but a few in the bow still revolved. + +At the same instant the hull of the aeronef opened just behind the +first deck-house, where the engines for the fore-screw were placed; +and the after-part of the deck collapsed in space. + +Immediately the last suspensory screw stopped spinning, and the +"Albatross" dropped into the abyss. + +It was a fall of ten thousand feet for the eight men who were +clinging to the wreck; and the fall was even faster than it might +have been, for the fore propeller was vertical in the air and still +working! + +It was then that Robur, with extraordinary coolness, climbed up to +the broken deck-house, and seizing the lever reversed the rotation, +so that the propeller became a suspender. The fall continued, but it +was checked, and the wreck did not fall with the accelerating +swiftness of bodies influenced solely by gravitation; and if it was +death to the survivors of the "Albatross" from their being hurled +into the sea, it was not death by asphyxia amid air which the +rapidity of descent rendered unbreathable. + +Eighty seconds after the explosion, all that remained of the +"Albatross" plunged into the waves! + + + + + +Chapter XXI + +THE INSTITUTE AGAIN + + + + +Some weeks before, on the 13th of June, on the morning after the +sitting during which the Weldon Institute had been given over to such +stormy discussions, the excitement of all classes of the Philadelphia +population, black or white, had been much easier to imagine than to +describe. + +From a very early hour conversation was entirely occupied with the +unexpected and scandalous incident of the night before. A stranger +calling himself an engineer, and answering to the name of Robur, a +person of unknown origin, of anonymous nationality, had unexpectedly +presented himself in the club-room, insulted the balloonists, made +fun of the aeronauts, boasted of the marvels of machines heavier than +air, and raised a frightful tumult by the remarks with which he +greeted the menaces of his adversaries. After leaving the desk, amid +a volley of revolver shots, he had disappeared, and in spite of every +endeavor, no trace could be found of him. + +Assuredly here was enough to exercise every tongue and excite every +imagination. But by how much was this excitement increased when in +the evening of the 13th of June it was found that neither the +president nor secretary of the Weldon Institute had returned to their +homes! Was it by chance only that they were absent? No, or at least +there was nothing to lead people to think so. It had even been agreed +that in the morning they would be back at the club, one as president, +the other as secretary, to take their places during a discussion on +the events of the preceding evening. + +And not only was there the complete disappearance of these two +considerable personages in the state of Pennsylvania, but there was +no news of the valet Frycollin. He was as undiscoverable as his +master. Never had a Negro since Toussaint L'Ouverture, Soulouque, or +Dessaline had so much talked about him. + +The next day there was no news. Neither the colleagues nor Frycollin +had been found. The anxiety became serious. Agitation commenced. A +numerous crowd besieged the post and telegraph offices in case any +news should be received. There was no news. + +And they had been seen coming out of the Weldon Institute loudly +talking together, and with Frycollin in attendance, go down Walnut +Street towards Fairmount Park! Jem Chip, the vegetarian, had even +shaken hands with the president and left him with "Tomorrow!" + +And William T. Forbes, the manufacturer of sugar from rags, had +received a cordial shake from Phil Evans who had said to him twice, +"Au revoir! Au revoir!" + +Miss Doll and Miss Mat Forbes, so attached to Uncle Prudent by the +bonds of purest friendship, could not get over the disappearance, and +in order to obtain news of the absent, talked even more than they +were accustomed to. + +Three, four, five, six days passed. Then a week, then two weeks, and +there was nothing to give a clue to the missing three. The most +minute search had been made in every quarter. Nothing! In the park, +even under the trees and brushwood. Nothing! Always nothing! Although +here it was noticed that the grass looked to be pressed down in a way +that seemed suspicious and certainly was inexplicable; and at the +edge of the clearing there were traces of a recent struggle. Perhaps +a band of scoundrels had attacked the colleagues here in the deserted +park in the middle of the night! + +It was possible. The police proceeded with their inquiries in all due +form and with all lawful slowness. They dragged the Schuyllkill +river, and cut into the thick bushes that fringe its banks; and if +this was useless it was not quite a waste, for the Schuyllkill is in +great want of a good weeding, and it got it on this occasion. +Practical people are the authorities of Philadelphia! + +Then the newspapers were tried. Advertisements and notices and +articles were sent to all the journals in the Union without +distinction of color. The "Daily Negro," the special organ of the +black race, published a portrait of Frycollin after his latest +photograph. Rewards were offered to whoever would give news of the +three absentees, and even to those who would find some clue to put +the police on the track. "Five thousand dollars! Five thousand +dollars to any citizen who would--" + +Nothing was done. The five thousand dollars remained with the +treasurer of the Weldon Institute. + +Undiscoverable! Undiscoverable! Undiscoverable! Uncle Prudent and +Phil Evans, of Philadelphia! + +It need hardly be said that the club was put to serious inconvenience +by this disappearance of its president and secretary. And at first +the assembly voted urgency to a measure which suspended the work on +the "Go-Ahead." How, in the absence of the principal promoters of the +affair, of those who had devoted to the enterprise a certain part of +their fortune in time and money--how could they finish the work when +these were not present? It were better, then, to wait. + +And just then came the first news of the strange phenomenon which had +exercised people's minds some weeks before. The mysterious object +had been again seen at different times in the higher regions of the +atmosphere. But nobody dreamt of establishing a connection between +this singular reappearance and the no less singular disappearance of +the members of the Weldon Institute. In fact, it would have required +a very strong dose of imagination to connect one of these facts with +the other. + +Whatever it might be, asteroid or aerolite or aerial monster, it had +reappeared in such a way that its dimensions and shape could be much +better appreciated, first in Canada, over the country between Ottawa +and Quebec, on the very morning after the disappearance of the +colleagues, and later over the plains of the Far West, where it had +tried its speed against an express train on the Union Pacific. + +At the end of this day the doubts of the learned world were at an +end. The body was not a product of nature, it was a flying machine, +the practical application of the theory of "heavier than air." And if +the inventor of the aeronef had wished to keep himself unknown he +could evidently have done better than to try it over the Far West. As +to the mechanical force he required, or the engines by which it was +communicated, nothing was known, but there could be no doubt the +aeronef was gifted with an extraordinary faculty of locomotion. In +fact, a few days afterwards it was reported from the Celestial +Empire, then from the southern part of India, then from the Russian +steppes. + +Who was then this bold mechanician that possessed such powers of +locomotion, for whom States had no frontiers and oceans no limits, +who disposed of the terrestrial atmosphere as if it were his domain? +Could it be this Robur whose theories had been so brutally thrown in +the face of the Weldon Institute the day he led the attack against +the utopia of guidable balloons? Perhaps such a notion occurred to +some of the wide-awake people, but none dreamt that the said Robur +had anything to do with the disappearance of the president and +secretary of the Institute. + +Things remained in this state of mystery when a telegram arrived from +France through the New York cable at 11-37 A.M. on July 13. And what +was this telegram? It was the text of the document found at Paris in +a snuff-box revealing what had happened to the two personages for +whom the Union was in mourning. + +So, then, the perpetrator of this kidnapping "was" Robur the +engineer, come expressly to Philadelphia to destroy in its egg the +theory of the balloonists. He it was who commanded the "Albatross!" +He it was who carried off by way of reprisal Uncle Prudent, Phil +Evans and Frycollin; and they might be considered lost for ever. At +least until some means were found of constructing an engine capable +of contending with this powerful machine their terrestrial friends +would never bring them back to earth. + +What excitement! What stupor! The telegram from Paris had been +addressed to the members of the Weldon Institute. The members of the +club were immediately informed of it. Ten minutes later all +Philadelphia received the news through its telephones, and in less +than an hour all America heard of it through the innumerable electric +wires of the new continent. + +No one would believe it! "It is an unseasonable joke," said some. "It +is all smoke," said others. How could such a thing be done in +Philadelphia, and so secretly, too? How could the "Albatross" have +been beached in Fairmount Park without its appearance having been +signaled all over Pennsylvania? + +Very good. These were the arguments. The incredulous had the right of +doubting. But the right did not last long. Seven days after the +receipt of the telegram the French mail-boat "Normandie" came into the +Hudson, bringing the famous snuff-box. The railway took it in all +haste from New York to Philadelphia. + +It was indeed the snuff-box of the President of the Weldon Institute. +Jem Chip would have done on at day to take some more substantial +nourishment, for he fell into a swoon when he recognized it. How many +a time had he taken from it the pinch of friendship! And Miss Doll +and Miss Mat also recognized it, and so did William T. Forbes, Truck +Milnor, Bat T. Fynn, and many other members. And not only was it the +president's snuff-box, it was the president's writing! + +Then did the people lament and stretch out their hands in despair to +the skies. Uncle Prudent and his colleague carried away in a flying +machine, and no one able to deliver them! + +The Niagara Falls Company, in which Uncle Prudent was the largest +shareholder, thought of suspending its business and turning off its +cataracts. The Wheelton Watch Company thought of winding up its +machinery, now it had lost its manager. + +Nothing more was heard of the aeronef. July passed, and there was no +news. August ran its course, and the uncertainty on the subject of +Robur's prisoners was as great as ever. Had he, like Icarus, fallen a +victim to his own temerity? + +The first twenty-seven days of September went by without result, but +on the 28th a rumor spread through Philadelphia that Uncle Prudent +and Phil Evans had during the afternoon quietly walked into the +president's house. And, what was more extraordinary, the rumor was +true, although very few believed it. + +They had, however, to give in to the evidence. There could be no +doubt these were the two men, and not their shadows. And Frycollin +also had come back! The members of the club, then their friends, then +the crowd, swarmed into the president's house, and shook hands with +the president and secretary, and cheered them again and again. Jem +Chip was there, having left his luncheon's joint of boiled lettuces, +and William T. Forbes and his daughters, and all the members of the +club. It is a mystery how Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans emerged alive +from the thousands who welcomed them. + +On that evening was the weekly meeting of the Institute. It was +expected that the colleagues would take their places at the desk. As +they had said nothing of their adventures, it was thought they would +then speak, and relate the impressions of their voyage. But for some +reason or other both were silent. And so also was Frycollin, whom his +congeners in their delirium had failed to dismember. + +But though the colleagues did not tell what had happened to them, +that is no reason why we should not. We know what occurred on the +night of the 27th and 28th of July; the daring escape to the earth, +the scramble among the rocks, the bullet fired at Phil Evans, the cut +cable, and the "Albatross" deprived of her propellers, drifting off +to the northeast at a great altitude. Her electric lamps rendered her +visible for some time. And then she disappeared. + +The fugitives had little to fear. Now could Robur get back to the +island for three or four hours if his screws were out of gear? By +that time the "Albatross" would have been destroyed by the explosion, +and be no more than a wreck floating on the sea; those whom she bore +would be mangled corpses, which the ocean would not even give up +again. The act of vengeance would be accomplished. + +Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans looked upon it as an act of legitimate +self-defence, and felt no remorse whatever. Evans was but slightly +wounded by the rifle bullet, and the three made their way up from the +shore in the hope of meeting some of the natives. The hope was +realized. About fifty natives were living by fishing off the western +coast. They had seen the aeronef descend on the island, and they +welcomed the fugitives as if they were supernatural beings. They +worshipped them, we ought rather to say. They accommodated them in +the most comfortable of their huts. + +As they had expected, Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans saw nothing more +of the aeronef. They concluded that the catastrophe had taken place +in some high region of the atmosphere, and that they would hear no +more of Robur and his prodigious machine. + +Meanwhile they had to wait for an opportunity of returning to +America. The Chatham Islands are not much visited by navigators, and +all August passed without sign of a ship. The fugitives began to ask +themselves if they had not exchanged one prison for another. + +At last a ship came to water at the Chatham Islands. It will not have +been forgotten that when Uncle Prudent was seized he had on him +several thousand paper dollars, much more than would take him back to +America. After thanking their adorers, who were not sparing of their +most respectful demonstrations, Uncle Prudent, Phil Evans, and +Frycollin embarked for Auckland. They said nothing of their +adventures, and in two weeks landed in New Zealand. + +At Auckland, a mail-boat took them on board as passengers, and after +a splendid passage the survivors of the "Albatross" stepped ashore at +San Francisco. They said nothing as to who they were or whence they +had come, but as they had paid full price for their berths no +American captain would trouble them further. At San Francisco they +took the first train out on the Pacific Railway, and on the 27th of +September, they arrived at Philadelphia, That is the compendious +history of what had occurred since the escape of the fugitives. And +that is why this very evening the president and secretary of the +Weldon Institute took their seats amid a most extraordinary +attendance. + +Never before had either of them been so calm. To look at them it did +not seem as though anything abnormal had happened since the memorable +sitting of the 12th of June. Three months and a half had gone, and +seemed to be counted as nothing. After the first round of cheers, +which both received without showing the slightest emotion, Uncle +Prudent took off his hat and spoke. + +"Worthy citizens," said he, "the meeting is now open." + +Tremendous applause. And properly so, for if it was not extraordinary +that the meeting was open, it was extraordinary that it should be +opened by Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans. + +The president allowed the enthusiasm to subside in shouts and +clappings; then he continued: "At our last meeting, gentlemen, the +discussion was somewhat animated--(hear, hear)--between the +partisans of the screw before and those of the screw behind for our +balloon the "Go-Ahead." (Marks of surprise.) We have found a way to +bring the beforists and the behindists in agreement. That way is as +follows: we are going to use two screws, one at each end of the +car!." Silence, and complete stupefaction. + +That was all. + +Yes, all! Of the kidnapping of the president and secretary of the +Weldon Institute not a word! Not a word of the "Albatross" nor of +Robur! Not a word of the voyage! Not a word of the way in which the +prisoners had escaped! Not a word of what had become of the aeronef, +if it still flew through space, or if they were to be prepared for +new reprisals on the member's of the club! + +Of course the balloonists were longing to ask Uncle Prudent and the +secretary about all these things, but they looked so close and so +serious that they thought it best to respect their attitude. When +they thought fit to speak they would do so, and it would be an honor +to hear. After all, there might be in all this some secret which +would not yet be divulged. + +And then Uncle Prudent, resuming his speech amid a silence up to then +unknown in the meetings of the Weldon Institute, said, "Gentlemen, it +now only remains for us to finish the aerostat 'Go-Ahead.' It is left +to her to effect the conquest of the air! The meeting is at an end!" + + + + + +Chapter XXII + +THE GO-AHEAD IS LAUNCHED + + + + +On the following 19th of April, seven months after the unexpected +return of Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans, Philadelphia was in a state +of unwonted excitement. There were neither elections nor meetings +this time. The aerostat "Go-Ahead," built by the Weldon Institute, +was to take possession of her natural element. + +The celebrated Harry W. Tinder, whose name we mentioned at the +beginning of this story, had been engaged as aeronaut. He had no +assistant, and the only passengers were to be the president and +secretary of the Weldon Institute. + +Did they not merit such an honor? Did it not come to them +appropriately to rise in person to protest against any apparatus that +was heavier than air? + +During the seven months, however, they had said nothing of their +adventures; and even Frycollin had not uttered a whisper of Robur and +his wonderful clipper. Probably Uncle Prudent and his friend desired +that no question should arise as to the merits of the aeronef, or any +other flying machine. + +Although the "Go-Ahead" might not claim the first place among aerial +locomotives, they would have nothing to say about the inventions of +other aviators. They believed, and would always believe, that the +true atmospheric vehicle was the aerostat, and that to it alone +belonged the future. + +Besides, he on whom they had been so terribly--and in their idea so +justly--avenged, existed no longer. None of those who accompanied +him had survived. The secret of the "Albatross" was buried in the +depths of the Pacific! + +That Robur had a retreat, an island in the middle of that vast ocean, +where he could put into port, was only a hypothesis; and the +colleagues reserved to themselves the right of making inquiries on +the subject later on. The grand experiment which the Weldon Institute +had been preparing for so long was at last to take place. The +"Go-Ahead" was the most perfect type of what had up to then been +invented in aerostatic art--she was what an "Inflexible" or a +"Formidable" is in ships of war. + +She possessed all the qualities of a good aerostat. Her dimensions +allowed of her rising to the greatest height a balloon could attain; +her impermeability enabled her to remain for an indefinite time in +the atmosphere; her solidity would defy any dilation of gas or +violence of wind or rain; her capacity gave her sufficient +ascensional force to lift with all their accessories an electric +engine that would communicate to her propellers a power superior to +anything yet obtained. The "Go-Ahead" was of elongated form, so as to +facilitate her horizontal displacement. Her car was a platform +somewhat like that of the balloon used by Krebs and Renard; and it +carried all the necessary outfit, instruments, cables, grapnels, +guide-ropes, etc., and the piles and accumulators for the mechanical +power. The car had a screw in front, and a screw and rudder behind. +But probably the work done by the machines would be very much less +than that done by the machines of the "Albatross." + +The "Go-Ahead" had been taken to the clearing in Fairmount Park, to +the very spot where the aeronef had landed for a few hours. + +Her ascensional power was due to the very lightest of gaseous bodies. +Ordinary lighting gas possesses an elevating force of about 700 grams +for every cubic meter. But hydrogen possesses an ascensional force +estimated at 1,100 grams per cubic meter. Pure hydrogen prepared +according to the method of the celebrated Henry Gifford filled the +enormous balloon. And as the capacity of the "Go-Ahead" was 40,000 +cubic meters, the ascensional power of the gas she contained was +40,000 multiplied by 1,100 or 44,000 kilograms. + +On this 29th of April everything was ready. Since eleven o'clock the +enormous aerostat had been floating a few feet from the ground ready +to rise in mid-air. It was splendid weather and seemed to have been +made specially for the experiment, although if the breeze had been +stronger the results might have been more conclusive. There had never +been any doubt that a balloon could be guided in a calm atmosphere; +but to guide it when the atmosphere is in motion is quite another +thing; and it is under such circumstances that the experiment should +be tried. + +But there was no wind today, nor any sign of any. Strange to say, +North America on that day omitted to send on to Europe one of those +first-class storms which it seems to have in such inexhaustible +numbers. A better day could not have been chosen for an aeronautic +experiment. + +The crowd was immense in Fairmount Park; trains had poured into the +Pennsylvania capital sightseers from the neighboring states; +industrial and commercial life came to a standstill that the people +might troop to the show-master, workmen, women, old men, children, +members of Congress, soldiers, magistrates, reporters, white natives +and black natives, all were there. We need not stop to describe the +excitement, the unaccountable movements, the sudden pushings, which +made the mass heave and swell. Nor need we recount the number of +cheers which rose from all sides like fireworks when Uncle Prudent +and Phil Evans appeared on the platform and hoisted the American +colors. Need we say that the majority of the crowd had come from afar +not so much to see the "Go-Ahead" as to gaze on these extraordinary +men? + +Why two and not three? Why not Frycollin? Because Frycollin thought +his campaign in the "Albatross" sufficient for his fame. He had +declined the honor of accompanying his master, and he took no part in +the frenzied declamations that greeted the president and secretary of +the Weldon Institute. + +Of the members of the illustrious assembly not one was absent from +the reserved places within the ropes. There were Truck Milnor, Bat T. +Fynn, and William T. Forbes with his two daughters on his arm. All +had come to affirm by their presence that nothing could separate them +from the partisans of "lighter than air." + +About twenty minutes past eleven a gun announced the end of the final +preparations. The "Go-Ahead" only waited the signal to start. At +twenty-five minutes past eleven the second gun was fired. + +The "Go-Ahead" was about one hundred and fifty feet above the +clearing, and was held by a rope. In this way the platform commanded +the excited crowd. Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans stood upright and +placed their left hands on their hearts, to signify how deeply they +were touched by their reception. Then they extended their right hands +towards the zenith, to signify that the greatest of known balloons +was about to take possession of the supra-terrestrial domain. + +A hundred thousand hands were placed in answer on a hundred thousand +hearts, and a hundred thousand other hands were lifted to the sky. + +The third gun was fired at half-past eleven. "Let go!" shouted Uncle +Prudent; and the "Go-Ahead" rose "majestically"--an adverb +consecrated by custom to all aerostatic ascents. + +It really was a superb spectacle. It seemed as if a vessel were just +launched from the stocks. And was she not a vessel launched into the +aerial sea? The "Go-Ahead" went up in a perfectly vertical line--a +proof of the calmness of the atmosphere--and stopped at an altitude +of eight hundred feet. + +Then she began her horizontal maneuvering. With her screws going she +moved to the east at a speed of twelve yards a second. That is the +speed of the whale--not an inappropriate comparison, for the balloon +was somewhat of the shape of the giant of the northern seas. + +A salvo of cheers mounted towards the skillful aeronauts. Then under +the influence of her rudder, the "Go-Ahead" went through all the +evolutions that her steersman could give her. She turned in a small +circle; she moved forwards and backwards in a way to convince the +most refractory disbeliever in the guiding of balloons. And if there +had been any disbeliever there he would have been simply annihilated. + +But why was there no wind to assist at this magnificent experiment? +It was regrettable. Doubtless the spectators would have seen the +"Go-Ahead" unhesitatingly execute all the movements of a +sailing-vessel in beating to windward, or of a steamer driving in the +wind's eye. + +At this moment the aerostat rose a few hundred yards. The maneuver +was understood below. Uncle Prudent and his companions were going in +search of a breeze in the higher zones, so as to complete the +experiment. The system of cellular balloons--analogous to the +swimming bladder in fishes--into which could be introduced a certain +amount of air by pumping, had provided for this vertical motion. +Without throwing out ballast or losing gas the aeronaut was able to +rise or sink at his will. Of course there was a valve in the upper +hemisphere which would permit of a rapid descent if found necessary. +All these contrivances are well known, but they were here fitted in +perfection. + +The "Go-Ahead" then rose vertically. Her enormous dimensions +gradually grew smaller to the eye, and the necks of the crowd were +almost cricked as they gazed into the air. Gradually the whale became +a porpoise, and the porpoise became a gudgeon. The ascensional +movement did not cease until the "Go-Ahead" had reached a height of +fourteen thousand feet. But the air was so free from mist that she +remained clearly visible. + +However, she remained over the clearing as if she were a fixture. An +immense bell had imprisoned the atmosphere and deprived it of +movement; not a breath of wind was there, high or low. The aerostat +maneuvered without encountering any resistance, seeming very small +owing to the distance, much as if she were being looked at through +the wrong end of a telescope. + +Suddenly there was a shout among the crowd, a shout followed by a +hundred thousand more. All hands were stretched towards a point on the +horizon. That point was the northwest. There in the deep azure +appeared a moving body, which was approaching and growing larger. Was +it a bird beating with its wings the higher zones of space? Was it an +aerolite shooting obliquely through the atmosphere? In any case, its +speed was terrific, and it would soon be above the crowd. A suspicion +communicated itself electrically to the brains of all on the clearing. + +But it seemed as though the "Go-Ahead" had sighted this strange +object. Assuredly it seemed as though she feared some danger, for her +speed was increased, and she was going east as fast as she could. + +Yes, the crowd saw what it meant! A name uttered by one of the +members of the Weldon Institute was repeated by a hundred thousand +mouths: + +"The "Albatross!" The "Albatross!"" + + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +THE GRAND COLLAPSE + + + + +It was indeed the "Albatross!" It was indeed Robur who had reappeared +in the heights of the sky! It was he who like a huge bird of prey was +going to strike the "Go-Ahead." + +And yet, nine months before, the aeronef, shattered by the explosion, +her screws broken, her deck smashed in two, had been apparently +annihilated. + +Without the prodigious coolness of the engineer, who reversed the +gyratory motion of the fore propeller and converted it into a +suspensory screw, the men of the "Albatross" would all have been +asphyxiated by the fall. But if they had escaped asphyxia, how had +they escaped being drowned in the Pacific? + +The remains of the deck, the blades of the propellers, the +compartments of the cabins, all formed a sort of raft. When a wounded +bird falls on the waves its wings keep it afloat. For several hours +Robur and his men remained unhelped, at first on the wreck, and +afterwards in the india-rubber boat that had fallen uninjured. A few +hours after sunrise they were sighted by a passing ship, and a boat +was lowered to their rescue. + +Robur and his companions were saved, and so was much of what remained +of the aeronef. The engineer said that his ship had perished in a +collision, and no further questions were asked him. + +The ship was an English three-master, the "Two Friends," bound for +Melbourne, where she arrived a few days afterwards. + +Robur was in Australia, but a long way from X Island, to which he +desired to return as soon as possible. + +In the ruins of the aftermost cabin he had found a considerable sum +of money, quite enough to provide for himself and companions without +applying to anyone for help. A short time after he arrived in +Melbourne he became the owner of a small brigantine of about a +hundred tons, and in her he sailed for X Island. + +There he had but one idea--to be avenged. But to secure his +vengeance he would have to make another "Albatross." This after all +was an easy task for him who made the first. He used up what he could +of the old material; the propellers and engines he had brought back +in the brigantine. The mechanism was fitted with new piles and new +accumulators, and, in short, in less than eight months, the work was +finished, and a new "Albatross," identical with the one destroyed by +the explosion, was ready to take flight. And he had the same crew. + +The "Albatross" left X Island in the first week of April. During this +aerial passage Robur did not want to be seen from the earth, and he +came along almost always above the clouds. When he arrived over North +America he descended in a desolate spot in the Far West. There the +engineer, keeping a profound incognito, learnt with considerable +pleasure that the Weldon Institute was about to begin its +experiments, and that the "Go-Ahead," with Uncle Prudent and Phil +Evans, was going to start from Philadelphia on the 29th of April. + +Here was a chance for Robur and his crew to gratify their longing for +revenge. Here was a chance for inflicting on their foes a terrible +vengeance, which in the "Go-Ahead" they could not escape. A public +vengeance, which would at the same time prove the superiority of the +aeronef to all aerostats and contrivances of that nature! + +And that is why, on this very day, like a vulture from the clouds, +the aeronef appeared over Fairmount Park. + +Yes! It was the "Albatross," easily recognizable by all those who had +never before seen her. + +The "Go-Ahead" was in full flight; but it soon appeared that she +could not escape horizontally, and so she sought her safety in a +vertical direction, not dropping to the ground, for the aeronef would +have cut her off, but rising to a zone where she could not perhaps be +reached. This was very daring, and at the same time very logical. + +But the "Albatross" began to rise after her. Although she was smaller +than the "Go-Ahead," it was a case of the swordfish and the whale. + +This could easily be seen from below and with what anxiety! In a few +moments the aerostat had attained a height of sixteen thousand feet. + +The "Albatross" followed her as she rose. She flew round her flanks, +and maneuvered round her in a circle with a constantly diminishing +radius. She could have annihilated her at a stroke, and Uncle Prudent +and his companions would have been dashed to atoms in a frightful +fall. + +The people, mute with horror, gazed breathlessly; they were seized +with that sort of fear which presses on the chest and grips the legs +when we see anyone fall from a height. An aerial combat was beginning +in which there were none of the chances of safety as in a sea-fight. +It was the first of its kind, but it would not be the last, for +progress is one of the laws of this world. And if the "Go-Ahead" was +flying the American colors, did not the "Albatross" display the stars +and golden sun of Robur the Conqueror? + +The "Go-Ahead" tried to distance her enemy by rising still higher. +She threw away the ballast she had in reserve; she made a new leap of +three thousand feet; she was now but a dot in space. The "Albatross," +which followed her round and round at top speed, was now invisible. + +Suddenly a shout of terror rose from the crowd. The "Go-Ahead" +increased rapidly in size, and the aeronef appeared dropping with +her. This time it was a fall. The gas had dilated in the higher zones +of the atmosphere and had burst the balloon, which, half inflated +still, was falling rapidly. + +But the aeronef, slowing her suspensory screws, came down just as +fast. She ran alongside the "Go-Ahead" when she was not more than +four thousand feet from the ground. + +Would Robur destroy her? + +No; he was going to save her crew! + +And so cleverly did he handle his vessel that the aeronaut jumped on +board. + +Would Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans refuse to be saved by him? They +were quite capable of doing so. But the crew threw themselves on them +and dragged them by force from the "Go-Ahead" to the "Albatross." + +Then the aeronef glided off and remained stationary, while the +balloon, quite empty of gas, fell on the trees of the clearing and +hung there like a gigantic rag. + +An appalling silence reigned on the ground. It seemed as though life +were suspended in each of the crowd; and many eyes had been closed so +as not to behold the final catastrophe. Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans +had again become the prisoners of the redoubtable Robur. Now he had +recaptured them, would he carry them off into space, where it was +impossible to follow him? + +It seemed so. + +However, instead of mounting into the sky the "Albatross" stopped six +feet from the ground. Then, amid profound silence, the engineer's +voice was heard. + +"Citizens of the United States," he said, "The president and +secretary of the Weldon Institute are again in my power. In keeping +them I am only within my right. But from the passion kindled in them +by the success of the "Albatross" I see that their minds are not +prepared for that important revolution which the conquest of the air +will one day bring, Uncle Prudent and Phil Evans, you are free!" + +The president, the secretary, and the aeronaut had only to jump down. + +Then Robur continued. + +"Citizens of the United States, my experiment is finished; but my +advice to those present is to be premature in nothing, not even in +progress. It is evolution and not revolution that we should seek. In +a word, we must not be before our time. I have come too soon today to +withstand such contradictory and divided interests as yours. Nations +are not yet fit for union. + +"I go, then; and I take my secret with me. But it will not be lost to +humanity. It will belong to you the day you are educated enough to +profit by it and wise enough not to abuse it. Citizens of the United +States--Good-by!" + +And the "Albatross," beating the air with her seventy-four screws, +and driven by her propellers, shot off towards the east amid a +tempest of cheers. + +The two colleagues, profoundly humiliated, and through them the whole +Weldon Institute, did the only thing they could. They went home. + +And the crowd by a sudden change of front greeted them with +particularly keen sarcasms, and, at their expense, are sarcastic +still. + +And now, who is this Robur? Shall we ever know? + +We know today. Robur is the science of the future. Perhaps the +science of tomorrow. Certainly the science that will come! + +Does the "Albatross" still cruise in the atmosphere in the realm that +none can take from her? There is no reason to doubt it. + +Will Robur, the Conqueror, appear one day as he said? Yes! He will +come to declare the secret of his invention, which will greatly +change the social and political conditions of the world. + +As for the future of aerial locomotion, it belongs to the aeronef and +not the aerostat. + +It is to the "Albatross" that the conquest of the air will assuredly +fall. + +--End of Voyage Extraordinaire--Robur the Conqueror-- + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Robur the Conqueror +by Jules Verne + |