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 gale2 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 perfectly3 breathable atmosphere. To stand such driving the strength of the apparatus4 must have been prodigious5. The propellers6 spun7 round so swiftly that they seemed immovable, and it was with irresistible8 power that they screwed themselves through the air.
The last town that had been noticed was Astrakhan, situated9 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 momentary10 glance was afforded at its old walls, with their useless battlements, the ancient towers in the center of the city, the mosques11 and modern churches, the cathedral with its five domes12, gilded13 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 fabulous14 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 saluting15 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 Gulf16 of Finland, the Archipelago of Abo, the Baltic, Sweden in the latitude17 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 projection18 and the attraction of the earth would maintain her in an unvarying trajectory19 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 apparently20 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 lessened21. The "Albatross" glided22 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 seesaw23!" And Frycollin gulped24 down his sobs25 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 wrangling26 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 disappearance28, 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 distress29 and enclose in a bottle a document giving the place of shipwreck30 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 skull31 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 possessed32 a snuff-box, which was now empty. This box was made of aluminum33. 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 Conqueror34!
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 consternation35 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 vessels36 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 diminution37 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 whim38 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 propitious39 moment. It was important their action should not be seen.
The "Albatross," like a huge coleopter, glided gently over the mighty40 city. She took the line of the boulevards, then brilliantly lighted by the Edison lamps. Up to her there floated the rumble41 of the vehicles as they drove along the streets, and the roll of the trains on the numerous railways that converge42 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 hovered43 over the two minarets44 of the Trocadero and the metal tower of the Champ de Mars, where the enormous reflector was inundating45 the whole capital with its electric rays.
This aerial promenade46, 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 astronomers47. 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 trumpet48 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 upwards49, and past her, higher still, there mounted the noisy cheering of the crowd then thick on the boulevards—a hurrah50 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 obliquely51; and so as to lose no time in traversing the Alps or the Pyrenees, she flew over the face of Provence to the cape27 of Antibes. At nine o'clock next morning the San Pietrini assembled on the terrace of St. Peter at Rome were astounded52 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 Mediterranean53, 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 accomplished54 in less than twenty-three days!
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 Rue55 de Rivoli, opposite No. 200, when the street was deserted56. 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 untied57, examined, and opened with care.
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 observatories59 on the surface of the terrestrial globe.
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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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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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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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6
propellers
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| n.螺旋桨，推进器( propeller的名词复数 ) | |
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7
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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8
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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9
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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10
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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11
mosques
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| 清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 ) | |
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12
domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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14
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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15
saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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16
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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17
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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18
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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trajectory
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| n.弹道，轨道 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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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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seesaw
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| n.跷跷板 | |
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gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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26
wrangling
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| v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 ) | |
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27
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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28
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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29
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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30
shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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31
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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32
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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33
aluminum
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| n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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34
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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35
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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41
rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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converge
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| vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近 | |
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43
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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44
minarets
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| n.（清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的）光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
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45
inundating
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| v.淹没( inundate的现在分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付 | |
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46
promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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47
astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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48
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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49
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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50
hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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51
obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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52
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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53
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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54
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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55
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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56
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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57
untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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58
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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observatories
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| n.天文台，气象台( observatory的名词复数 ) | |
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