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.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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