Robur-le-conquerant. English

  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 menwho composed the crew of the aeronef they might have tried to succeedby main force. But as they were only two--for Frycollin could onlybe considered as a quantity of no importance--force was not to bethought of. Hence recourse must be had to strategy as soon as the"Albatross" again took the ground. Such was what Phil Evansendeavored to impress on his irascible colleague, though he was inconstant fear of Prudent aggravating matters by some prematureoutbreak.

  In any case the present was not the time to attempt anything of thesort. The aeronef was sweeping along over the North Pacific. On thefollowing morning, that of June 16th, the coast was out of sight. Andas the coast curves off from Vancouver Island up to theAleutians--belonging to that portion of America ceded by Russia tothe United States in 1867--it was highly probable that the "Albatross"would cross it at the end of the curve, if her course remainedunchanged.

  How long the night appeared to be to the two friends! How eager theywere to get out of their cabins! When they came on deck in themorning the dawn had for some hours been silvering the easternhorizon. They were nearing the June solstice, the longest day of theyear in the northern hemisphere, when there is hardly any night alongthe sixtieth parallel.

  Either from custom or intention Robur was in no hurry to leave hisdeck-house, When he came out this morning be contented himself withbowing to his two guests as he passed them in the stern of theaeronef.

  And now Frycollin ventured out of his cabin. His eyes red withsleeplessness, and dazed in their look, he tottered along, like a manwhose foot feels it is not on solid ground. His first glance was atthe suspensory screws, which were working with gratifying regularitywithout any signs of haste. That done, the Negro stumbled along tothe rail, and grasped it with both hands, so as to make sure of hisbalance. 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 itto make sure it was firm; then he drew himself up; then he bentforward; then he stretched out his head. It need not be said thatwhile he was executing these different maneuvers he kept his eyesshut. At last he opened them.

  What a shout! And how quickly he fled! And how deeply his head sankback into his shoulders! At the bottom of the abyss he had seen theimmense ocean. His hair would have risen on end--if it had not beenwool.

  "The sea! The sea!" he cried. And Frycollin would have fallen on thedeck had not the cook opened his arms to receive him.

  This cook was a Frenchman, and probably a Gascon, his name beingFrancois Tapage. If he was not a Gascon he must in his infancy haveinhaled the breezes of the Garonne. How did this Francois Tapage findhimself in the service of the engineer? By what chain of accidentshad 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!" hesaid, lifting the Negro by a vigorous clutch at the waist.

  "Master Tapage!" said the poor fellow, giving a despairing look atthe 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 ofhis cabin.

  During this day the aeronef was only driven at moderate speed. Sheseemed to skim the placid surface of the sea, which lay beneath.Uncle Prudent and his companion remained in their cabin, so that theydid not meet with Robur, who walked about smoking alone or talking tothe mate. Only half the screws were working, yet that was enough tokeep the apparatus afloat in the lower zones of the atmosphere.

  The crew, as a change from the ordinary routine, would haveendeavored to catch a few fish had there been any sign of them; butall that could be seen on the surface of the sea were a few of thoseyellow-bellied whales which measure about eighty feet in length.These are the most formidable cetaceans in the northern seas, andwhalers are very careful in attacking them, for their strength isprodigious. However, in harpooning one of these whales, either withthe ordinary harpoon, the Fletcher fuse, or the javelin-bomb, ofwhich there was an assortment on board, there would have been dangerto the men of the "Albatross."

  But what was the good of such useless massacre? Doubtless to show offthe powers of the aeronef to the members of the Weldon Institute. Andso Robur gave orders for the capture of one of these monstrouscetaceans.

  At the shout of "A whale! A whale!" Uncle Prudent and Phil Evanscame out of their cabin. Perhaps there was a whaler in sight! In thatcase all they had to do to escape from their flying prison was tojump 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 postsready to obey the orders signaled to them. The "Albatross" droppedtowards the sea, and remained, about fifty feet above it.

  There was no ship in sight--of that the two colleagues soon assuredthemselves--nor was there any land to be seen to which they couldswim, providing Robur made no attempt to recapture them.

  Several jets of water from the spout holes soon announced thepresence of the whales as they came to the surface to breathe. TomTurner and one of the men were in the bow. Within his reach was oneof those javelin-bombs, of Californian make, which are shot from anarquebus and which are shaped as a metallic cylinder terminated by acylindrical shell armed with a shaft having a barbed point. Robur wasa little farther aft, and with his right hand signaled to theengineers, while with his left, he directed the steersman. He thuscontrolled the aeronef in every way, horizontally and vertically, andit is almost impossible to conceive with what speed and precision the"Albatross" answered to his orders. She seemed a living being, ofwhich he was the soul.

  "A whale! A whale!" shouted Tom Turner, as the back of a cetaceanemerged from the surface about four cable-lengths in front of the"Albatross."

  The "Albatross" swept towards it, and when she was within sixty feetof it she stopped dead.

  Tom Turner seized the arquebus, which was resting against a cleat onthe rail. He fired, and the projectile, attached to a long line,entered the whale's body. The shell, filled with an explosivecompound, 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 greatlyinterested 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 plungedto a great depth, while the line, which had been previously wetted ina 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 anortherly direction.

  It may be imagined with what speed the "Albatross" was towed inpursuit. Besides, the propellers had been stopped. The whale was letgo as he would, and the ship followed him. Turner stood ready to cutthe 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 whalewas tiring. Then, at a gesture from Robur the assistant engineersstarted the propellers astern, so as to oppose a certain resistanceto the whale, who was gradually getting closer.

  Soon the aeronef was gliding about twenty-five feet above him. Histail was beating the waters with incredible violence, and as heturned over on his back an enormous wave was produced.

  Suddenly the
whale turned up again, so as to take a header, as itwere, and then dived with such rapidity that Turner had barely timeto cut the line.

  The aeronef was dragged to the very surface of the water. A whirlpoolwas formed where the animal had disappeared. A wave dashed up on tothe 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, andthe "Albatross," freed from her tug, sprang aloft six hundred feetunder the impulse of her ascensional screws. Robur had maneuvered hisship 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 theircries were enough to deafen a congress. The "Albatross," withoutstopping 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 wassighted on the horizon. This was the peninsula of Alaska, and thelong range of breakers of the Aleutian Islands.

  The "Albatross" glided over the barrier where the fur seals swarmfor the benefit of the Russo-American Company. An excellent businessis the capture of these amphibians, which are from six to seven feetlong, russet in color, and weigh from three hundred to four hundredpounds. There they were in interminable files, ranged in line ofbattle, and countable by thousands.

  Although they did not move at the passage of the "Albatross," it wasotherwise with the ducks, divers, and loons, whose husky cries filledthe air as they disappeared beneath the waves and fled terrified fromthe aerial monster.

  The twelve hundred miles of the Behring Sea between the first of theAleutians and the extreme end of Kamtschatka were traversed duringthe twenty-four hours of this day and the following night. UnclePrudent and Phil Evans found that here was no present chance ofputting their project of escape into execution. Flight was not to bethought of among the deserts of Eastern Asia, nor on the coast of thesea of Okhotsk. Evidently the "Albatross" was bound for Japan orChina, and there, although it was not perhaps quite safe to trustthemselves to the mercies of the Chinese or Japanese, the twofriends had made up their minds to run if the aeronef stopped.

  But would she stop? She was not like a bird which grows fatigued bytoo long a flight, or like a balloon which has to descend for want ofgas. She still had food for many weeks and her organs were ofmarvelous 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 thevolcano of Kloutschew. Then she rose again to cross the Sea ofOkhotsk, running down by the Kurile Isles, which seemed to be abreakwater pierced by hundreds of channels. On the 19th, in themorning, the "Albatross" was over the strait of La Perouse betweenSaghalien and Northern Japan, and had reached the mouth of the greatSiberian 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, noelevated monuments to hinder her passage, no mountains against whichthere was risk of being shattered in her flight. The country was onlyslightly varied. But the fog was very disagreeable, and madeeverything on board very damp.

  All that was necessary was to get above this bed of mist, which wasnearly thirteen hundred feet thick, and the ascensional screws beingincreased in speed, the "Albatross" was soon clear of the fog and inthe sunny regions of the sky. Under these circumstances, UnclePrudent and Phil Evans would have found some difficulty in carryingout their plan of escape, even admitting that they could leave theaeronef.

  During the day, as Robur passed them he stopped for a moment, andwithout seeming to attach any importance to what he said, addressedthem carelessly as follows: "Gentlemen, a sailing-ship or a steamshipcaught 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. Itmust reduce its speed, and any instant a collision may be expected.The "Albatross" has none of these things to fear. What does fogmatter to her? She can leave it when she chooses. The whole of spaceis hers." And Robur continued his stroll without waiting for ananswer, 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, withregrettable persistence. An ascent had to be made to clear theJapanese mountain of Fujiyama. When the curtain of mist was drawnaside there lay below them an immense city, with palaces, villas,gardens, and parks. Even without seeing it Robur had recognized it bythe barking of the innumerable dogs, the cries of the birds of prey,and above all, by the cadaverous odor which the bodies of itsexecuted criminals gave off into space.

  The two colleagues were out on the deck while the engineer was takinghis observations in case he thought it best to continue his coursethrough the fog.

  "Gentlemen," said he, "I have no reason for concealing from you thatthis town is Tokyo, the capital of Japan."

  Uncle Prudent did not reply. In the presence of the engineer he wasalmost 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 opportunityof judging."

  Impossible to be more agreeable!

  The "Albatross" then gliding southeast, had her course changed fourpoints, so as to head to the eastward.