In any case the present was not the time to attempt anything of the sort. The aeronef was sweeping4 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 ceded5 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 contented6 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 sleeplessness7, and dazed in their look, he tottered8 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 regularity9 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 bent10 forward; then he stretched out his head. It need not be said that while he was executing these different maneuvers11 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 infancy12 have inhaled13 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 spoke14 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 placid15 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 apparatus16 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 prodigious17. However, in harpooning18 one of these whales, either with the ordinary harpoon19, the Fletcher fuse, or the javelin-bomb, of which there was an assortment20 on board, there would have been danger to the men of the "Albatross."
But what was the good of such useless massacre21? 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 monstrous22 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 vessel23.
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 spout24 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 metallic25 cylinder26 terminated by a cylindrical27 shell armed with a shaft28 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 vertically29, 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 projectile30, 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 plunged32 to a great depth, while the line, which had been previously33 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 propellers34 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 plunge31 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 gliding35 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 hatchet36 the mate severed37 the line, and the "Albatross," freed from her tug38, sprang aloft six hundred feet under the impulse of her ascensional screws. Robur had maneuvered39 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 deafen40 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" glided41 over the barrier where the fur seals swarm42 for the benefit of the Russo-American Company. An excellent business is the capture of these amphibians43, 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 countable44 by thousands.
Although they did not move at the passage of the "Albatross," it was otherwise with the ducks, divers45, 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 fatigued46 by too long a flight, or like a balloon which has to descend47 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 Isles48, 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 dense49 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 varied50. 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 steamship51 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 puffs52 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 persistence53. An ascent54 had to be made to clear the Japanese mountain of Fujiyama. When the curtain of mist was drawn55 aside there lay below them an immense city, with palaces, villas56, gardens, and parks. Even without seeing it Robur had recognized it by the barking of the innumerable dogs, the cries of the birds of prey57, 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 concealing58 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 eastward59.
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1
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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aggravating
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| adj.恼人的，讨厌的 | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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ceded
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| v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的过去式 ) | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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7
sleeplessness
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| n.失眠，警觉 | |
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8
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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11
maneuvers
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| n.策略，谋略，花招( maneuver的名词复数 ) | |
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12
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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15
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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17
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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18
harpooning
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| v.鱼镖，鱼叉( harpoon的现在分词 ) | |
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19
harpoon
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| n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获 | |
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20
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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23
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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spout
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| v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱 | |
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25
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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26
cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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27
cylindrical
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| adj.圆筒形的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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vertically
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| adv.垂直地 | |
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projectile
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| n.投射物，发射体；adj.向前开进的；推进的；抛掷的 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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33
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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propellers
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器( propeller的名词复数 ) | |
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35
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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maneuvered
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵 | |
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deafen
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| vt.震耳欲聋；使听不清楚 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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42
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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amphibians
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| 两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 )； 水陆两用车； 水旱两生植物； 水陆两用飞行器 | |
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countable
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| adj.可数的，可以计算的 | |
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divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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50
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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51
steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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52
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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53
persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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54
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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55
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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56
villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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57
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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58
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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