“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.